<Begin Segment 3>

FA: So December 7th, where were you? Or what, what were you doing?

SH: I was, I was in the theater. That's right. I was seeing The Four Roses. Then, the screen it come up: "Japan declare war" on the screen. It came on the screen then, I think, yeah, that's it. I can't forget that because that's a long, long picture, The Four Roses. You get tired of it before the end. So I used to go in the lobby, and come out, go in.

FA: Is that the name of the theater?

SH: No, no, no, that was Chinese... Chinese theater, I think it was. Loew? Chinese, in Hollywood. It was a beautiful place. I was in the theater watching that, went to see the picture that night. That night, and it went on the screen. It's a funny thing, though. After the picture come out, everybody started going home. They, all the people around me thought I was the poison ivy. You know what they do? They go walk way around me. [Laughs] I thought, gee, look, they recognize I'm Japanese right away, I think. But that's my impression at that time.

FA: What did you think when you saw that on the screen?

SH: Huh?

FA: What was your reaction?

SH: My reaction, I didn't have any. I knew the war was coming, though. There was no way out.

FA: So you weren't surprised.

SH: No. I wasn't. But I was, I thought they would renegotiate, negotiate. Then I thought we were negotiating. I thought they were talking about going to Canada, you know. Let's, let's make on the common ground list, huh? Talk this over, so, I mean, that's according to the paper. Japanese paper was saying that. Fuji say, of course.

FA: So then you, then Pearl Harbor, then there was talk about evacuation.

SH: Yeah, evacuation. But I thought that doesn't apply, that doesn't apply to me. That was in my mind all the time.

FA: Why wouldn't it apply to you?

SH: Because I'm an American citizen. Born here.

FA: In school, did you learn much about the Constitution, Bill of Rights?

SH: Yeah, that's very true. I think I, I liked that more than I did any other subject.

FA: What subject was that?

SH: That current event, affairs. I think that's what teaching, that class introduced that to us, you know. And I liked that. And otherwise I didn't care. As long as I get a passing grade. [Laughs] I don't know why, because I didn't have any desire of going any further you know, after, maybe high school, and maybe get into semi-pro. That's it. You know, get into a private school and learning more about the government.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 1993, 2005 Frank Abe and Densho. All Rights Reserved.