Densho Digital Archive - Mas Okabe Interview (denshovh-omas

<Begin Segment 8>

KL: What do you remember of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and learning about it?

MO: Well, I was at school, came back home, and then they told me. You know, to me, at that time, war with Japan was something far away, you know. I know I'm Japanese, but Japan is something else. And after that, I think it's two or three days later, I came home from school, my dad's gone. I said, "Where's Dad?" and she said, "The FBI took him away." And that really shocked me, you know, and I was really angry. I was really, really angry then.

KL: What was your mom's condition when you came home from school that day?

MO: Subdued. She was very subdued. She used to rely on my father for everything, and now that he's gone, she had to sort of be the head of the household. Fortunately, my brothers were old enough, they were out of junior college, so that they could sort of handle the stuff like that.

KL: Were they living with your family?

MO: Yeah, we were all together. So they had to take care of most of the stuff to evacuate.

KL: Did they... do you know why the FBI targeted your dad, do you have any idea?

MO: Well, you know, looking back, we got some papers from the Justice Department on my father, we sent in for our papers.

KL: Recently you mean?

MO: Yeah. What do you call that, Disclosure Act? And my father had sent my oldest brother to Japan, and we got to some kind of anniversary in Japan, it was the emperor's birthday or Japan's birthday or some sort, and had to do with some kind of group, and the Justice Department called it the Black Dragon. And I never heard of the Black Dragon before, but in the paper it says Black Dragon. I guess belonging to this group made you alliance to Japan, you know, you supported to Japan.

KL: Your dad sent those to your brother when he was in Japan?

MO: No, no, he belonged to the group.

KL: Your father belonged to the group?

MO: Yeah. And he sent my brother under the sponsorship of this group, so I guess that didn't look good on paper. So the FBIs thought, well, he, his allegiance is to Japan, so they took him.

KL: Did you have any idea at the time, or your family?

MO: No, I didn't know anything about it.

KL: Do you think your brothers had ideas, or your mom?

MO: My brother that went probably didn't know why he was going, you know.

KL: What did they tell you about the FBI's visit?

MO: Nothing. They just said they took him, you know, they came, and that's it. I wasn't there to witness it.

KL: When did you next hear from your father?

MO: I didn't hear from him for a long time until we went to camp. I guess...

KL: That's like at least six months, right?

MO: Yeah.

KL: Did anyone in your family hear?

MO: I think my mom or my brother might have corresponded with him, but you know, they censored everything. Some of those letters were just blacked out, everything is blacked out.

KL: Did your family know where your father was taken?

MO: Yeah, I think they sent him to Bismarck first, and then I think later he was sent to Lordsburg.

KL: Did, like when they took him, when they arrested him, did you know where he was going, did anyone know?

MO: No, no.

KL: Do you know how long it was before your family learned that he was in Bismarck?

MO: I have no recollection of that, because I didn't handle any of that.

KL: Yeah, I know I'm asking you things that probably an eight or ten year old wouldn't know.

MO: Sorry.

KL: It's okay, it's okay.