Densho Digital Archive - Mas Okabe Interview (denshovh-omas

<Begin Segment 21>

MO: Anyway, I came back, and my dad sent me to live with the Kakimis.

KL: What had their experience been since the assembly center?

MO: Kakimis? Well, after camp they went to this town called Walnut Grove.

KL: Were they in Amache, too?

MO: Yes. From Amache they went to Walnut Grove, which is about thirty miles south of Sacramento. And he worked in the farming area, and Mrs. Kakimi worked in a cannery. So that's how they made their living, and my dad corresponded with them and asked them if they would take me in so that I could finish my high school, so they took me in.

KL: How was it seeing them again?

MO: It was good. It was good to see them, so happy. Like I said, she's my second mother.

KL: Did they meet you at the ship, at the port, or how did you connect?

MO: No. I came back... I think I went there on a bus.

KL: Where, did you come back to San Francisco?

MO: Yes. Then from there I went to Walnut Grove on the bus, I think. And then I moved in with them, and that's where I went to high school for a year and a half.

KL: So you were a little older than the other students?

MO: Well, I was sixteen when I came back. I graduated high school there in '49. I got two years behind. I should have graduated in '47. But I finished high school in Walnut Grove in '49, then I went to Stockton.

KL: How did you feel when you saw the United States again, backing up a little bit?

MO: I was kind of glad to be back. But I missed my friend back in Japan, all the people from Crystal City that were there, we used to hang out.

KL: You'd been through a lot together.

MO: Yeah, yeah, quite a bit. We were real close. Even to this day, we're still close. We get together. I went through high school there in Walnut Grove. From there, I wanted to go to junior college, so I went to Stockton and made arrangements to work for this family as a houseboy. I stayed there and get room and board, and they gave me an allowance. And from there I would go to college. I did that for two years.