<Begin Segment 31>
AL: I just realized I have one more question, I promise, last one. Did your parents become citizens when the law changed?
AN: What?
AL: Did your parents ever become U.S... your dad, I should say, did he ever become a citizen?
AN: No, I don't think he did. No, I don't think he did.
AL: Did your mom --
AN: My mom is very...
AL: She was Nisei, but did she lose her citizenship when she married your father?
AN: Yeah, I think so. I never, I never dug into his background that deep yet.
AL: Because there's... I don't know if it was a California law, I think it might have been a U.S. law that a Nisei woman who married an Issei lost her citizenship.
AN: Yeah.
AL: So I was just curious if they got their citizenship in 1952.
AN: That I don't know. All I know, us kids, like me, for instance, I became a dual citizen, I know that.
AL: So they registered you at birth?
AN: They registered me in Japan. And so that's how I found out. So when I went to Japan, sure enough, I was in the records, they crossed it off. My friend living out here just recently told me his son, his son gave up his U.S. citizenship and took up Japanese citizenship, that's the opposite.
AL: Yeah, you have dual. So you visited Japan, right?
AN: Yeah.
AL: What is it like? Have you ever gone back to your ancestral home?
AN: Huh?
AL: Have you ever gone back to Shikoku, right, to your family, where your family was from in Japan, have you visited that area?
AN: Yeah, I did. I did.
AL: You said you have grandparents from Hiroshima. Have you ever visited Hiroshima?
AN: Yeah. I was stationed there, in fact.
AL: Do you have any... what is your personal feeling about how the war ended, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
AN: Well, I think... I believe that had to be done. I know it's cruel, because I went there. I was stationed there after the war. I went to Hiroshima and I saw all the people, the skin blistered and all that. As a matter of fact, I almost got out of the army, almost going to work for them, the American APCC, Atomic Bomb Commission. I was going to take a civil service job and work for them, but I thought I might as well stay in the military. I was stationed there, I saw the place where it was bombed, and I didn't see too many patients, but I saw enough evidence, pictures.
AL: What year were you there?
AN: I was there 1950, I guess. So it wasn't too long after the war was over. At that time, I wasn't stationed at that time there, I was stationed in... I went to Japan about three times. The first time I wasn't stationed there, but I went to visit there. But that did it, though, that ended the war. That's the reason why, today, the United States is very touchy about, what's that Iran and all that, they're working on nuclear bombs, North Korea and all that. And, of course, the world knows what we can do, too. But that's a horrible thing to do to humanity.
AL: Well, that's a heavy subject, but like I said, I hope... I went to Hiroshima and I felt guilty. I wasn't born until 1966, but I was horrified. I've also been to Pearl Harbor, and being in all of these places, it's like it's, I think every person should see that. But I really, like I said, I really appreciate, we really appreciate your time and sharing your story and your memories. So thank you, Colonel Nishimoto.
AN: You're welcome. Thank you.
<End Segment 31> - Copyright © 2012 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.