<Begin Segment 10>

RP: This tape two of a continuing interview with Kaz Yamamoto. And Kaz, we were just talking about the attack on Pearl Harbor and how that affected you. Can you tell us a little bit about the time after Pearl Harbor? The time between Pearl Harbor and when you went to camp, what was life like for you in the three or four months before you went to camp?

KY: Well, strangely enough it, it didn't affect me at all. And we did the normal thing, going to school and stuff like that. But, no one ever... no one ever threatened me or anything like that, because I'm Japanese. I never got into any conflict with other people. I guess the people in Santa Monica are nice people.

RP: So you didn't feel, was there any signs put up or...

KY: [Shakes head] No.

RP: You didn't, you didn't feel that.

KY: I didn't feel threatened at all.

RP: Uh-huh. Now, a lot of Japanese, Japanese families were concerned that if they had anything in their house that was Japanese that they might be visited by the FBI and they...

KY: Well, there might have been some scared incidents and they tried to probably destroy them. And I wouldn't blame them, but...

RP: Did your family, was, did that happen in your family where things were destroyed or burned or...

KY: No.

RP: No?

KY: Nothing like that. But I heard stories like that. And there is some people, not in Santa Monica especially, I don't think... well, there was one family I remember, they moved inland. I don't know where they went but they moved inland to some city to get away from the Japanese neighborhood. But, so they didn't go to camp like we did. But it was no picnic for them either. This one girl that I know, she had a very hard time to where she moved to.

RP: Do you know where they moved to?

KY: I can't think where it was. But...

RP: Was it outside of California?

KY: Yes, I think so. And but they didn't have an easy time of it either. I think we were better off going to camp. Being among our own people more or less.

RP: Do you recall any restrictions that were placed on Japanese Americans?

KY: Restrictions?

RP: Travel restrictions or curfew.

KY: Well, there were certain curfews or restrictions. We were told you can't have cameras. And some things, I can't think now, but we were told we couldn't own, own some, some things. I can't at this moment think what they were but there was some restrictions. But that never came to my family or anything that I had.

RP: Was your father affected because he traveled?

KY: No, no, he wasn't affected in any way. He did his normal work and it didn't affect him at all.

RP: Did you have any friends whose families were visited by the FBI?

KY: They may have but I don't know of any. I'm sure there must have been. But there was one incident, my older sister, she used to go around with this guy who was a Kibei. You know what a Kibei is? And so anyway, this Kibei friend was inducted into the army. Well, I noticed that by the time that we got into camp he was, he was joining us in camp. So they must have discharged him. You know what I mean? Because he was raised and educated in Japan, I think that must, must have made a difference. Because there was other guys that weren't Kibeis and were also sent to the army about the same time that he was but they served their time in the camp, in the army. So it must have been the reason why he was discharged.

RP: And so he joined the army before Pearl Harbor?

KY: Yeah. I think so. It might have... I don't know. I don't know when he got, was in... it might have been after Pearl Harbor too.

RP: And then later on, ironically, they were interested in those Kibei because of their language skills.

KY: Yeah.

RP: So life went on for you. But then a little later on in February an executive order was signed by the president and the zones were established, military zones, and what was your, do you recall what your thinking was at the time? Did you have any concerns or fears of what was going to happen to you and your family as time...

KY: What kind of zones are you talking about?

RP: Like a military, these military zones where, where Japanese Americans could be excluded from.

KY: Gee, I don't recall anything like that. Isn't that funny? I don't recall us having a restricted zone where we couldn't go, anything like that. But I'm sure that must have happened. But I wasn't aware of it, anything like that.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright &copy; 2011 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.