Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Toyoko Okumura Interview
Narrator: Toyoko Okumura
Interviewer: Tom Ikeda
Location: Denver, Colorado
Date: July 6, 2008
Densho ID: denshovh-otoyoko-01-0013

<Begin Segment 13>

TI: So after a while, the government sent out these questionnaires to all the families and people, the adults. Essentially it was to help them, or try to figure out loyalty to the United States. Do you remember when that happened? Or not the date, but do you recall when the government just did that?

TO: Oh, yes.

TI: So what happened with you and your family when you got these, these questionnaires?

TO: I really don't remember just what it was. It was a loyalty... or whether you want to go back to Japan, that was one of the questions. And my dad wanted to go back, so all of us had to fill it in according to what he had to say.

TI: So how did that, what did you think about that, when your father said, "We want to go back to Japan," how did you feel? Because you were a U.S. citizen.

TO: That's right.

TI: And you were in your twenties, so what were you thinking when your dad wanted to do that?

TO: Thing was, always felt that I had to take care of my crippled sister. And so I'd go along with her.

TI: And when your sister was "crippled," how was she crippled?

TO: Oh, we had a caretaker, a distant relative of ours who couldn't work, and he came and lived with us, taking care of my sister when she was a baby. She was a year and a half, and it was raining outside, and this relative of ours went someplace and got drunk, came over, and picked up my sister, and went outside and dropped her right in the muddy water. And from that day on, the doctor couldn't do anything for her. She had a real high fever. So we thought that she wasn't gonna live, and about ten days, she was unconscious for about ten days. And then she perked up again, but she had convulsion all that time. But somehow, she lived to be sixty-three.

TI: And so when you say "crippled," is it her legs?

TO: Half of her, like a stroke.

TI: Okay. So half her body was sort of paralyzed.

TO: Yes, right side.

TI: And so going back, so you felt, in terms of your father wanted you to go to Japan, you mentioned you wanted to be there to help your crippled sister.

TO: That's right.

TI: And so that meant staying with the family?

TO: Uh-huh.

TI: How about your, your younger brother? What, how was, what did he think?

TO: He didn't have too much to say, really. But see, he was about twelve, fourteen, I guess.

TI: So after your family made that decision, then what happened? What was the next thing that happened?

TO: We had to all pack and go.

TI: So describe that. Did you go with other families or separately? Can you describe...

TO: Our relatives were all there, too, so we all, well, they all gathered us and took us over to the railroad station.

TI: And did you know where you were going to go?

TO: No.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.