Densho Digital Archive - Emi Yamamoto Interview (denshovh-yemi-01-0016)

<Begin Segment 16>

MA: So do you remember the time when they transferred people out of Tule Lake and brought others in?

EY: Yes, that was segregation.

MA: The segregation. Can you tell me about that time, when that happened?

EY: Well, people that was for America, the "yes-yes" people, went out. And lot of different relocation centers came into Tule Lake, and they had quite a... what do you call it? This kind of problem.

MA: So it had to do with the "loyalty questionnaire"?

EY: Uh-huh.

MA: And people's, based on people's responses, they would either send them out or bring them back in.

EY: Stay out. So it came, lot of 'em came from a different relocation camp, and they were prepared to go back to Japan.

MA: And how did the camp change after that happened?

EY: There was all kind of demonstrations. So my, my brother-in-law asked to tell his mother that we had all these little children, and what are you gonna do? Take 'em back to Japan and let them suffer? They didn't believe that they lost, see. That's the main thing. And so we, she didn't want to stay here, but then we convinced her to, "You better, you could always go back there if you want to." So we stayed 'til the end before they released us.

MA: Right. So your mother-in-law wanted to return to Japan, but your brother-in-law and the rest of the family convinced her not to go.

EY: Uh-huh. So that was quite a thing, but lot of family did that. But they stayed 'til the end.

MA: And you stayed until the end of the war in Tule Lake.

EY: Uh-huh. And then we got released.

MA: Do you remember hearing about the end of the war and about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

EY: I lost my grandmother in Hiroshima. Well, she didn't die right away, but the radiation got, 'cause she was an invalid, see. That's war, can't be helped.

MA: Yeah.