Densho Digital Archive
Frank Abe Collection
Title: Jim Akutsu Interview
Narrator: Jim Akutsu
Interviewers: Frank Abe (primary); Frank Chin (secondary)
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: August 28, 1993
Densho ID: denshovh-ajim-02-0004

<Begin Segment 4>

FA: So you finally got to see Min Yasui. Tell me again, why did you go see him, what did you want from him?

JA: Well, what I want was he, his being a attorney, I thought maybe that I could get some clarification on a few things. And why he did his thing and that I'm gonna pick up from where he left off and pick it up in camp, and to bring it to court. Number one, it wasn't too much as the induction, it was the citizenship, loss of our citizenship status. That was the main thing. And the only way to bring it up, to have my day in court was to say I'm not going, not answer the draft. Okay? Then I will have a day in court, at which time I'll bring up the documents to prove that I'm an alien, that the alien does not have to meet the military obligation. Therefore, nobody in camp. And that was my strategy, to pass out --

FA: Jim --

JA: Yeah?

FA: What did Min Yasui tell you?

JA: Well, he said, "You better, you better take it easy." In fact, he says, "forget about it." And he said, "What you should do is go along with the draft." And he, and then the next thing, he told about the case -- his case, that you don't get any real justice. He said, "All you do is get, it's a kangaroo court at best, and therefore you won't get a fair trial." So he said, "You better just go along with it and just comply." So I said, "No, I'm just going to go through with it," and he tried to talk me out of it. But I told him, "Well, even if I have to do it alone, I'll do it." And he mentioned about, "You might get killed. They're pretty rough people." See? So I said, "Well, either way, in the battlefield or in jail, I've only got one life." But he kept telling me that I should forget about it and comply. So when, by that time, I kind of felt where he's coming from, so I just said, "Well, thank you very much," and that's it. Left.

FA: Given the fact that you had looked up to him as someone who had launched a test case and stood up for Japanese American rights, for your rights, he says, "Forget it," how'd that make you feel?

JA: Well, I just lost confidence in him. I just said, "Well, I'll forget you, and I'll go on my own." Just like I just said, you know, I'll go on my own, if I had to do it all by myself. But in the meantime, I've got all of these documents in hand.

FA: And I think I must have missed something, but you said that when Min tried to, he said, "Forget about it," he told you something else? I didn't quite...

JA: Like what?

FA: He said that you might get persecuted.

JA: Yeah, I just said -- I told you that.

FA: Yeah, I missed that. I'm sorry. Tell me again.

JA: Yeah, my --

FC: Who would beat you up?

JA: Yeah, they would beat you up or get killed.

FC: Who would kill you?

JA: The inmates.

[Interruption]

JA: Min Yasui told me that I have a chance of getting beat up or even get killed in the federal penitentiary, and he said, "There are lots of tough people there and for what you're doing, they may harm you." So I told him that, "So? That's my chance. That I either get killed out in the battlefield or get killed. It's... but I'm going through with it."

FA: Why not go out and get killed in the battlefield, Jim? That's the, supposedly the honorable --

JA: Well, to me, okay, to me, there was a priority. To me, this was number one priority on my list. Because going out to field, to battlefield, all I have to say is, "Yes," and just go out and chance that you wouldn't get killed. But the thing is, the priority, this is the biggest priority. It meant the citizenship of any American. And therefore I felt that that is number one, and that's the thing I had to bring up, you know, at court.

[Interruption]

FC: Did Yasui give you the impression that he had been beaten up in federal penitentiary?

JA: No. He didn't.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 1993, 2005 Frank Abe and Densho. All Rights Reserved.