<Begin Segment 9>

RP: And so when you did learn that the government had created an exclusion policy for Japanese Americans on the West Coast, do you have any remembrances of your emotions during that time?

TM: Well, as I recall, it was a time that I thought well, we have to move, I know my mother and dad, my mother was in tears, you know, she was very upset thinking that we'd have to leave and become uprooted, but in my mind I thought well, this is going to be kind of an adventure, we never moved in my life. My friends all said well, they're moving and I thought gee, that must be fun living in another place, I mean, you know. And so I thought, well, this is going to be an adventure.

AF: Well our folks were young, I mean, you know, when you think back, I mean, they were like, you know, mid-life when all this happened so can imagine with such a big family and so it was probably a big burden.

TM: Well, it was but I know Mom just cried, she just didn't know what to pack and what to take, you know, she was very upset.

RP: Aya, you expressed a statement about the emotion of excitement. Again like Taka mentioned about that you never moved before. It was almost exciting to what else might be in store for you in that situation. And apparently there had to be some concern about what was going to happen the farm?

TM: Oh, definitely, well, see that was more of our brothers' concern than ours and so they had... we had good neighbors.

RP: Who did take over the farm?

TM: Well, they rented the farm out and had good neighbors to oversee.

RP: So they continued farming?

TM: Right.

RP: Do you remember ever seeing any of the money? Sort of arrangement was made to split the profits.

TM: Right.

RP: And so that helped support your family at the time that you were out. And we talked about the items that were stored. How about... this was always such a real difficulty to sort of boil your life down into one suitcase.

TM: You mean into the camp?

RP: Right, what do you take and what do you leave?

TM: I know. That was more than a shock, you know, to have to do.

AF: We could only carry this one suitcase and I think I wrote in there that one day we went to, I don't know whether you went too, but I remember going to JC Penney's. JC Penney's and these big black suitcases that were like cardboard, you know, not metal and with white paint we wrote our initials on the edge and I think we packed fun things rather than essentials.

RP: What kind of fun things?

AF: Probably games and stuff, you know, and probably our party clothes because we thought they were nice, you know, rather than the essentials. But I know Mom had a big duffle bag, she sewed this duffle bag and just stuffed everything in it. And I kind of remember that the only thing left on the table when we left was an alarm clock, a Big Ben alarm clock and I don't know why that sticks to my mind but...

RP: Was it kind of a ritual with your mom that the house be really nice and clean before you left?

AF: I think so.

TM: I don't recall that but probably.

RP: I've heard stories of Issei women that just immaculately scrub the house even if nobody was going to be living in there just to leave it that way. A couple of other situations changed after Pearl Harbor too when restrictions were placed on again being Japanese American being singled out for specific restrictions, a curfew being one of them. Also the travel restriction, now you were still, both of you were going to high school at that time. Did that have any personal impact on your lives so you couldn't attend certain events because of this?

TM: I don't think so because this curfew, well, it was right after the war when the curfew was placed, was in place.

AF: I don't know when that order came that you couldn't travel more than five miles but then it could've been only a couple months really that it would impact us. I don't think that we would have traveled.

RP: How about your father traveling into Portland with his produce?

TM: I don't think there was... and if there were he probably had connections to have his needs met.

RP: You mentioned that your mother had a pretty significant outpouring of emotion about the thought of leaving the farm. How about your father, I mean, you know, we always hear about the stoic Issei guy, the dad. Did your dad fit that description too or did he... did you sense anything from him?

TM: Well, you know, we did have his suitcase packed because he may be, you know, because we heard about all these Japanese, prominent Japanese in Portland being deported right away. But because Dad was kind of community leader we thought he would be but he didn't so we were pretty --

AF: I don't think anybody came to the house to question him.

RP: No FBI visits?

AF: I don't recall.

TM: I don't recall anybody, yes, so we were pretty pleased. But we did have his suitcase packed.

RP: How about some of the panic and fear that spread through Japanese American families and you just expressed it about, god, our dad might be picked up, pack a suitcase. There was also the concern that any item with a connection with Japan, whether it was a picture of the emperor or a Japanese doll or something might land you in a more difficult situation.

TM: Well, I do remember that I think we had a lot of Japanese records, the phonograph records and I think we said, "Oh, we got to bury those." And I don't know if we buried 'em or not.

AF: No, I think they went down through the outhouse toilet. You know, I think that's where they were dropped.

TM: Yes, we kind of scurried and checked out the house to see if there's any, you know.

RP: Any damning evidence.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2010 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.