<Begin Segment 2>

FA: Where was this, the Tolan Commission hearings?

JO: At the War Memorial building on Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco.

FA: Did you have a particular feeling about walking up there and approaching the building and the hearing?

JO: No, not in approaching the building, it was a natural thing, you know. [Laughs] No.

FA: How about once you got inside the room?

JO: Well, I had never appeared before a committee or a congressional committee, and of course I didn't know procedures or anything of the sort. So I had to reorient myself as to everything during the, well, half hour, forty-five minute panel ahead of me was testifying.

FA: Who was testifying ahead of you?

JO: There were four religious leaders, a panel of four religious leaders.

FA: Okay, so they finished, and then they called you.

JO: That's right. So I went on at 6:12. I remember going on at 6:12 and I thought to myself, "This is awful late in the evening," and the committee's been interviewing for all day, and I could understand that they would be hungry. [Laughs] I was hungry since I had been at work. So I appreciate the fact that they must be tired and hungry.

FA: What did you tell them that you felt good about?

JO: Well, actually, I was disappointed at myself because since I had no text, I went, I just grabbed thoughts that came to me out of the air. And my understanding was that the committee would question so I just gave them a skeleton protest or outline of what I felt. Actually, what I told them is that I opposed the eviction and that I asked the determination of loyalty of the Japanese Americans be done in their present domicile. Because the reason being, that I felt that if they postponed it to a later date and a later site, it could be much worse.

FA: How was that received by them? Could you tell anything about their reactions?

JO: Not at that time. I thought that, that I had done a poor job of testifying when I stepped into the corridors and because they never asked me a question, so I couldn't enlarge on any, any of the topics, which I had fervently hoped I would have the opportunity, feeling that that was my strong suit. [Laughs]

FA: You told me earlier that you felt there would be a whole bunch of people protesting.

JO: Yes, I felt that there would be a multitude, to use my words, a multitude of Japanese Americans who would appear before this committee at their various hearings in Portland, Seattle and Los Angeles and would protest this eviction.

FA: And?

JO: As it turned out, there was not a single protest. And, which was a great disappointment to me.

FA: Why do you think that was?

JO: That's a hard question to answer, except for the fact it might have been a cultural thing. For instance, we were taught not to be too forward at meetings, if people criticize you for making statements, if you're too brash or too arrogant or something of that sort and they spread that word around the community and pretty soon you were ostracized by the community.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 1990, 2005 Frank Abe and Densho. All Rights Reserved.