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Bainbridge Japanese Wistful and Willing

Aliens Register to Leave Island Monday

Bainbridge Island Japanese ordered evacuated from the island by next Monday, went willingly but wistfully today to the evacuation center established at the old Winslow dock to register for removal.

There were aged Japanese, not citizens of this nation, members of a younger generation, who were born in this country and are citizens, and younger persons, some as young as 4 years old, who congregated at the registration center.

There was no apparent antagonism to the evacuation order. The aliens and the American-born seemed resigned to the fact that the Army had deemed it necessary for all persons of Japanese blood to be removed from the island.

Many Are Pupils

Many of those who registered at the center are pupils of Bainbridge High School and must leave their classes this week when the evacuation is made.

May Katayama, high-school junior, registered for herself and the rest of her family. She was cheerful.

"I know it has to be done," she said. "I'm not bitter but I hate to leave the island. I was born here."

At the registration center was Shijeko Tamaki of the Employment Service office from Olympia, who took the names of many of those registering. She said she had sorrow for most of those who are to be removed. But she, also, said

there was no dissatisfaction with the order.

The evacuation center was guarded by infantrymen under command of Maj. C.F. Bisenuis. The soldiers stood guard in front of the evacuation office, bayonets fixed, but there was no sign of disorder.

Some of the soldiers became well acquainted with the registering Japanese, chatting with them and assuring them that there was no ill feeling.

One private hoisted 5-year-old Frances Kitamoto to his shoulder outside the evacuation center. The little girl, unaware of what was going on, was highly pleased with the attention she received. She took a great fancy to Pvt. Edward Anningiata.

Authorities had one puzzling question with which to contend.

Fathers and Sons

Evaristo Arota, a Filipino who is married to a Japanese woman, appeared at the center with his wife and asked if his wife must be evacuated. She had not been listed among those to be removed from the island. Arota also wanted to know if he could go along if his wife was removed. Mrs. Arota was registered, but her status was not determined immediately.

There were several fathers and sons who registered during the forenoon. In most cases the father was an alien and the son American-born.

Registration was held in the premises formerly occupied by the Anderson Hardware Company. Some Japanese were at the door when the office opened this morning. Representatives were on hand from the Federal Farm Security Administration, the State Employment Service, the Federal Reserve Bank and the State Social Security Department.

The status of other Japanese in the Puget Sound area was in doubt, temporarily. Officials of the Federal Farm Security Administration in Seattle said that an announcement yesterday from Tacoma that complete registration of Tacoma Japanese had been ordered today was premature.

Japanese were not being registered either in Tacoma or Seattle, although such an order is expected shortly.

Officials estimated there are about 274 Japanese still on the island to be registered, approximately 100 having left voluntarily before the registration began. A number of Japanese pupils from Bainbridge High School left their classes to register.

Mostly heads of families put in appearances, registering for their relatives. Officials said most of the Bainbridge Island Japanese probably will go to the Owens Valley colony being established for evacuees about 90 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

James Y. Sakamoto, general chairman of the Emergency Defense Council of Seattle Chapter, Japanese American Citizens' League, yesterday wrote a letter to President Roosevelt asking him to "point out to our fellow-citizens that we are not traitors" and "give to us some refuge in the heart of the country, far removed from even the suspicion or possibility of doing harm."

"We have helped to feed the nation in the past," Sakamoto wrote, "and will continue to do so now that it is needed the more. Only let us do so freely and not under the compulsion made notorious in an enemy country. We do not have to be driven to work for a country in which we believe."

Officials in the Seattle Alien Custodian Office, 808 Second Ave., said they had no information as to when a general Seattle Japanese evacuation will be ordered.

"We're still just talking to them," one official said.