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TI: And so you, you mentioned the, so your father was part of a group, kind of a formal group. Can you talk a little bit more about that group and what they called themselves and what they...

RT: Yeah, it's called Heieki Gimusha Kai and it means people of draft eligible age. It was an organization of men of draft eligible age.

TI: And who would be the members of this? Was it pretty much all the Issei men or just a few of them?

RT: I think it was mostly Isseis around Salinas Valley that were in their late twenties, thirties. My father at that time was thirty-five when the, in 1937. And the farm was, he had a little time on his hands. I mean, he was able to go around and collect donations, so that's what he did.

TI: Good, and so they did these care packages and they also raised money, and what did they do with some of that money? Do you recall, like in your notes you mentioned the purifying or basin for the for the Yasukuni --

RT: Yes, the Yasukuni Shrine, that's the shrine for the, it's a war memorial shrine in Tokyo, and they donated a basin. It was from the Japanese immigrants from Northern, from Northern California -- or maybe it was from United States. I don't know.

TI: And your father helped, again, raise the money for this?

RT: For the Northern California area, anyway, my father was, and Mr. Yonemoto of Sunnyvale. Mr. Yonemoto was the president of that club and my father was underneath him or something.

SF: Is that basin still at Yasukuni?

RT: I beg your pardon?

SF: Is that basin still at Yasukuni? Have you seen it?

RT: Yasukuni? I think so. Yes. I, I think I've seen a picture of it, but I'm sure it's there.

TI: And do you have any sense of how much money they raised in this process to do that?

RT: No. All I know is that in those days, well, I think the Isseis all ate Arkansas Blue Rose rice and it came in this very sturdy, what is it, cloth and -- sack, I should say -- and so the ladies, my grandmother, my mother and their friends, used to gather and sew these rice sacks and they would stuff it with whatever, Hershey Kisses, lots of canned goods that the normal Japanese didn't send to the war front. So it was very much appreciated.

TI: And how would the Japanese military show their appreciation for this work?

RT: Well, I don't know if it was the military or, anyway, Mr. Yonemoto and my father was invited in 2,600 -- well, supposedly it was the 2,600th year of Japan's founding in 1940, so they were invited to the ceremony in Tokyo, and they toured, I guess they toured the Yasukuni shrine where they had donated that. And then the military invited them to tour the battlefronts where their care packages were being appreciated.

TI: Now, did your father ever tell you about the trip and what it was like, if there were other people on the trip or was it just the two of them?

RT: No. Just, it was just the two of them with the military people, from what I understand. And then when he came back in early 1941, I think, or maybe it was late '40, then he was, he found out that he and Mr. Yonemoto were on the FBI's blacklist.

TI: And how did he find that out?

RT: I don't know.

TI: But for some, but he knew that the FBI was, had him on a list and they were watching him?

RT: Yeah.

TI: Now, how did the community react to your father being invited to Japan and, and then when he came back, did you see anything in terms of a reaction?

RT: No. We had Big Boy to take of the farm and also our family friend, the Ikedas, their oldest son, George Kazuo, he was a very brilliant young man and he was high school valedictorian when he graduated from Salinas High School, and he was a hero. The Japanese Isseis all looked up to this young man, Kazuo, because he was a valedictorian in his class, and he, when we went back to Japan, my father entrusted the farm to Kazuo to run the farm, and he, my father didn't sell any of the farm equipment or anything, so I'm sure his intention was to come back after leaving my grandfather in Japan.

TI: And was there a close family connection, or it was just because your father was impressed with this young man so he said he wanted him to run the farm?

RT: Well, in those days we were very close to several Japanese families and the Ikeda family was one of them. And their farm wasn't doing too good and so I think my father felt that leaving, entrusting Kazuo with the farm, his family might be, have a little better luck at farming.

TI: And do you remember when that happened, was the Ikeda family really happy about this, or do you remember the exchange?

RT: Oh, I'm sure they were happy about it, but I don't know. I was only eleven years old.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.