<Begin Segment 9>

TI: Okay, so Peter, we're going to start the second session. And kind of where we left it off, the first session was you were in high school, I think your first year of high school, and this is around 1939. And so this is a time when your life made a big change, and I want to talk first about how that change came about in terms of you being the one to go to Japan. So can you talk about why you went to Japan?

IS: Yes. The book says, I think in the introduction part, my brother said 1937, but actually it's 1934, I think, when my mother went back to Japan to bring Yoneko, my sister, to the United States. I think at that time, her brother asked her to give one of her sons. And at that time, so in 1934, I think, I was told that in the future I was gonna go to Japan as a youshi, and I started preparing for that at that time. And my parents used to have this devotional time every evening, and they read a couple of chapters from the Bible, sing couple of hymns, and then pray. And I was told at that time that I should join them, that I should read a chapter, one chapter of the Bible, and I got extra allowance for that. And that was because, I guess, my mother wanted to try to make me become more Christian because I was going to go to a non-Christian family.

TI: And how did it make you feel to know that back in 1934, when you first heard that, you must have been eleven years old or so, that you were gonna go to Japan? What did that mean to you?

IS: Well, that's a question I'm asked quite often. And I guess I just thought it was, well, my duty to do that because here was an uncle and an aunt that had no child, and this was, and my mother was the closest to that family, and blood-wise, we were all connected and that was my duty. So I didn't, I really didn't object to that. And then like some friends pointed out, well, one thing, it was a wealthy uncle, "That made it easy for you, I'll bet." And my brother sort of touches on that, and that probably was. Of course, it turned out that I, that relationship didn't work out. But I remember one of the first book reading I did after that book came out, that was in Palo Alto, that question was asked. And then one Nisei responded to that after I talked. He says, "Well, why do you think all the Niseis went so quietly to the camp?" I said, "That was, you know, they listened to what authorities say." He sort of was answering for me, this person in the audience. And I said, "I guess that is another way of looking at it."

TI: Interesting. So when you knew, though, so 1934, when you heard that you were gonna go to Japan, did you start in some ways preparing? Like Japanese language or other things to make sure that you would be ready?

IS: No more than reading the Bible, yeah. Because I used to go to the Japanese school every Saturday, but I didn't say, "Well, other kids aren't studying, but I'd better." I didn't think that way. And so it turned out that when I went, when I finally arrived in Japan, a few weeks after I arrived, they said, "You've got to start studying now." And the tutor that they hired, and my parents talked it over and they said, "You know, he said he's been going to Japanese school, but we better just forget about it and start from Book 1." And I don't know if you're familiar, but they had Maki no Ichi, book one was, "Saita saita sakura ga saita." [Laughs] Just like, "I am a boy," or, "This is my dog." It was that type of thing, I was fifteen years old and reading that type of book.

TI: And before we talk more about Japan, I want to go back in terms of the decision that you were the one to go to Japan. Why not Patrick, for instance?

IS: Okay. That really came up the first time. When I went to Japan, we were not registered. The Sano family, my father did not register us, so we had no record of existing in Japan. So first, what we had to do was Sano had to register, register me. But if they had registered only me, then I couldn't be adopted because I'm the only son. But if they, if they registered me and my, and Roy, then I couldn't be given away because I would be the oldest. So they had to register at least Pat, and then me. And what they did, though, my Japanese father and my father's uncle, when they went to the village office in Shizuoka, they said, "Gee, if we're gonna have to register two," they have to register Pat, then me, then I could be adopted. They said, "Well, if we're gonna register those two, let's register all the rest," so they did. I answered your question?

TI: Yeah, so I guess the reason that Pat wasn't...

IS: Couldn't, because he was the oldest.

TI: He was the oldest.

IS: Yes.

TI: I see, okay.

IS: And going into -- it's not necessary maybe -- but if it's a woman, the oldest, if the family only has girls, the oldest daughter has to take over the family, so she can't marry out. But a woman can retire, so to speak. She can say, "I give my right to take over that family to my younger sister," then she could get married. But a male, the oldest, has to die. That person has to take that family.

SF: In 1935 and '36, '37, '38, when you were getting ready to go to Japan, did you have any thoughts about how Japan was developing politically, and did any of that come up, or was that just too, I mean, you were just a youngster then, so... what was your thinking about Japan as a nation and what was going on in the world about that?

IS: No. I knew about the war in China, and about the Manchurian war, yeah. I knew that, but I didn't have any... I wasn't rooting for them or against them or anything. And one thing I remember was, one thing they did in those days, they gathered or collected tinfoil and rolled 'em up, and I don't know where they took that, but they did send that to Japan. And then I remember, our family had this red book about that big and about that thick, and it had all pictures in it, and it was all about Manchuria when Japan took Manchuria, set up this puppet government. And I remember, I think somebody from Japan came and spoke at the temple and at the church, and my parents went to that meeting. And this speaker must have come from the government, and he sold this book. And I remember looking at those pictures, and it must have been Japan's explanation of what was going on, and it must be very, very pro-government of Japan.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.