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-01-0019

<Begin Segment 19>

TI: So your family's now in Japan. So what did you do? What did your father and mother and now your sister, your brother and you, what did you do?

TO: Well, I worked for the military. That was the first thing, we landed in Yokosuka, they wanted all of us to work for the U.S. Army. But we said we wanted to go back to the country to see our, where our folks were from, and we'd let them know later, after we get back to Tokyo, if we ever do. Well, the second day we arrived out in the country, we got cable after cable asking us to help them.

TI: So I want to understand this. So you land, how did you know that they wanted you to work for the military?

TO: Oh, they came, the U.S. Army people, right there waiting for us. "Do you speak English?" and that's the first thing they asked.

TI: And so you went there, you talked with them, and they want to offer you a job. So you go to, you say first you want to go to the country, and while you're there, they're sending you cables to come and work.

TO: Yeah.

TI: It seems almost ironic, I mean, here you left the United States, to leave the United States, and here now they're recruiting you to work for the U.S. military.

TO: That's right. [Laughs]

TI: So you get these cables, and then what happens?

TO: So there was a Japanese company called Nikyogumi, it's a construction company. And I had a relative there, and he wanted me to work there. So I had two jobs when I got into Tokyo, working for Nikyogumi and for the army, also.

TI: And were you the only family member doing this work, or did your brother, your brother was probably too young, still.

TO: Yeah. But he did come into Tokyo, and he was working for the army also.

TI: But that probably was a big help to the family, that you can get two jobs in Tokyo, and then you could send your money back to the family to help them.

TO: Yeah, that's right.

TI: And what did your mother and father and your older sister do in the country?

TO: Well, my sister was a cripple, you know, so she couldn't do too much. My dad was trying to organize the, they call it the mura where my dad was from. They want democracy, so that's what, he had to explain what democracy was, he had to go to school and give a speech. So he was busy from one school to the other, wanted him to talk about United States, what kind of life it was and what democracy is, things like that.

TI: Now, was your father at all bitter about the United States? I mean, here they had put them in all these camps, and picked up and did this to his family. And here he's now talking about democracy.

TO: Well, when he was in United States, in the camp, they had some of the same questions. Mr. Best, I remember he was the director of the Tule Lake, and he says, "What do you think of going back to Japan?" He says, well this is forty years, he's never been back, since he left Japan, and he wants to go and see what his relatives are like, then he probably would return to the United States. Maybe he got a VIP treatment in Tule Lake. They always sent him a staff car, pick him up, and take him over to give some information.

TI: This was your father?

TO: Yeah, my dad.

TI: So he had this relationship with the camp director, that he knew them?

TO: Didn't know him, but somehow, Mr. Best called him and then got friendly with them.

TI: So I'm trying to understand, so why did this happen again, do you think? Do you think it's because your father was like a leader, perhaps? Is that why?

TO: That's right. Japanese Association, and then judo.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.