<Begin Segment 20>

RP: So later on you ran into Japanese Americans who had been in these camps sometimes called concentration camps. How do you, in hearing what their experiences were and you sharing your experiences, how does that put your experience in context to what they had to go through?

TM: Well, there's a lot of similarities, yes, lots of similarities. You mean from the evacuation camps or our camp? What they went through in evacuation, you mean? Well, ours, there isn't any, that much of a similarity because they were in large groups and had to go to the mess halls and all that. But we had our own family unit.

RP: And most importantly, you preserved that.

TM: Right, right, yes.

RP: You didn't see the disintegration even though a couple of sisters went to college.

TM: Yes, that's right.

RP: Your brothers were serving, still had to serve the corps. You didn't see the you know, the same type of thing happening in the camps you were at? I wanted to ask you about how you feel your experience shaped the rest of your life.

TM: Well, it made us realize the injustice that was inflicted on us.

AF: Well, I think I've become more tolerant of other races and other people so when I hear of the Muslims and the Latinos getting persecuted I just really feel for them, you know. When the Muslims started coming over here and they were being treated so badly, I thought, oh my gosh, you know, they're going through what we just did. But I'm sure I feel much more tolerant of people.

RP: Do you have any thoughts about that, Taka?

TM: Well, I feel the same way. It just really makes you, you know, appreciate your freedom.

AF: And I think our kids are very interested in this, our generation, I mean, you've probably heard this before that we never speak about these things until just lately and now our kids are just beginning to find out what's been happening. So every time they see something in the books or on TV they email it to me thinking that it's something of interest. And I've kept lots of things on the war and the relocation.

RP: So what prompted you to recently share your stories with your children?

AF: Well, I think when you get together with seniors and you talk about what happened during the war, it becomes something you kind of want to remember and pass on to your kids.

TM: Legacy.

AF: So I think this is a real good thing, what you're doing.

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 2010 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.