Densho Digital Archive - George Yoshinaga Interview (denshovh-ygeorge

<Begin Segment 5>

AL: What do you remember of December 7th?

GY: Of the what?

AL: Of December 7, 1941.

GY: Well, we used to... we never subscribed to a newspaper so on Sundays my parents or my family would send me to a local pharmacy to buy the paper. And I remember on that Sunday I did my usual, I walked over to the store and that's the first shock I got. One of my classmates was at the store and that was the one moment that I suddenly realized I was different, a little different. 'Cause he looked at me and said, "Do you know what your people did?" I said, "What do you mean my people?" He says, "They bombed Hawaii." And in those days I didn't even know where Hawaii was so I said, "What are you talking about?" He says, "Well, listen to the radio." we didn't have televisions and you'll get the news. So I went back and talking about Pearl Harbor I said I don't know where Pearl Harbor is.

AL: Do you remember the name of the newspaper you were going to pick up?

GY: The Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle.

AL: So your parents did they subscribe to any Japanese papers?

GY: Yes, they had a San Francisco, there were two papers then.

AL: Do you remember the names of them?

GY: Yeah, they went out of business about a year ago. Nichi Bei Times and Hokubei Mainichi.

AL: That's 'cause you weren't writing for them, that's why they went of business right? They didn't syndicate your column. Do you recall your parent's reaction? Were you the one that told them about Pearl Harbor?

GY: My brother told me after I got home. And at that time my father had passed away already so I guess my mother and my brother and sister were living at home. The rest were all married and the thing was we still had to go back to school and I just sensed that complete difference in the people's attitude.

AL: When did your, just stepping back for a second, when did your father pass away?

GY: 1937.

AL: And from what?

GY: I guess just general aging and deterioration of health.

AL: So it was illness, not an accident.

GY: No. The thing is in those days, you know, even if they were diagnosed with any kind of... they didn't have the medication and things like they do today.

AL: And your brother, Kay, is that right, your brother's name?

GY: Brother, yeah.

AL: How much older is he than you?

GY: He passed away at age ninety-two so today... he died five years ago so he would be what, eighty-seven or eighty-eight or something like that if my mathematics right.

AL: Or ninety-seven or ninety-eight, yeah. So did he sort of take over the role of your father? Or was your mother, who was in charge of the farm?

GY: No, my brother took over most of that.

AL: And was he the one who made decisions in your family?

GY: Yeah, and that's where we had problems too because you know, he and I really didn't get along like brothers.

AL: What was the age difference about between you?

GY: He was about ten years or thereabouts.

AL: That's a big difference when you're a kid. Do you remember, and I'm sort of skipping around a little bit but I want to make sure we get the whole picture, do you remember just emotionally other than being confused about where Hawaii was, at what point did it sort of hit you that this was going be... or did it hit you that this was going to be serious for you personally?

GY: Well, among our Japanese American friends, after that, because we all sensed that feeling among the non-Japanese Americans so we... it may sound strange but we became a little closer as Japanese Americans whereas before Pearl Harbor we were kind of, generally sort of fit in with everybody.