Densho Digital Archive - Mas Okabe Interview (denshovh-omas

<Begin Segment 17>

KL: Did you know already you were going to go to Japan? When did you learn you were going to go to Japan?

MO: Oh, I didn't learn until late '45. They said, "We're going." I said, "Where are we going?" "We're going to Japan." Oh. Then you start talking to your friends and find out who's going and who's not going, things like that. So it was not traumatic, but it was a shock. I guess we figure we're always coming back.

KL: You figured you would come back to the United States?

MO: Yeah, I didn't think I was going to live there.

KL: You didn't think you'd live in Japan?

MO: No, I don't think I could. I couldn't speak the language that well, you know.

KL: How did you prepare to go?

MO: Just pack up. I mean, there's not much preparation, not much you could do. If you're going to go, you just start packing. Because we were going to Japanese school. But that's not like a preparation for going to Japan, you just did it because there was a school there, and you just went.

KL: Did your parents renounce their U.S. citizen -- oh, your parents were not U.S. citizens.

MO: No, they weren't citizens.

KL: What about your brothers?

MO: No, they didn't renounce. But they didn't... remember that "loyalty oath" kind of thing, that "no-no," "yes-yes"?

KL: Yeah, you said those questions came up in Crystal City.

MO: That came up in Crystal City, and they declined to serve, yeah. I remember seeing that paper. I didn't know at the time.

KL: Were you still young, were you asked those questions?

MO: Yeah, I was only fourteen or fifteen at the time.

KL: Do you... I think I cut you off. Did you say that you do remember your brothers deciding how to answer those at the time? Do you remember your brothers being asked those questions?

MO: I don't remember that. I don't remember that. I just saw the papers from the Justice Department.

KL: So for you it was just, we're going back to Japan...

MO: Yeah, that's it.

KL: And how much notice did you have?

MO: I guess they gave you enough time. I mean, my father would say, I guess they ask if you want to go or not go. And if you say you're gonna go, I guess there's a lot of time to get ready to go. It's not like, okay, we're going tomorrow.

KL: Do you think he told you right away when you learned you were gonna go, or was there a gap?

MO: I think there was some space in there.

KL: When did he tell you?

MO: I don't remember exactly.

KL: Late in '45?

MO: Yeah, late in '45. Because we left in early December, December 2nd, we left Crystal City.

KL: Do you have a recollection of the end of the fighting in Europe or in Japan?

MO: I just remember they said the war ended. I remember that. I was kind of glad to hear that. And I guess my dad was sad to hear that they lost. In fact, I still think he believed that they didn't lose. There were some people that figured they didn't lose, that's why they went back.

KL: Had he gone back to Japan at all?

MO: My dad?

KL: Yeah, before that?

MO: I don't remember. I don't remember. He might have been too busy to go, couldn't leave his business. No, I don't really remember that.