<Begin Segment 5>

AL: So you were born, you said, in San Francisco. Were you born at home or were you born in a hospital?

SO: No, in a hospital.

AL: Do you know which one?

SO: I think it was St. (Francis) Hospital.

AL: And where did your family live?

SO: Right across the street from the church.

AL: Do you remember your address at home?

SO: No, I don't.

AL: Do you know if it still exists, the building?

SO: Yeah, I'm sure it does, because all the homes are... we've been to the church, and all the homes are still there.

AL: Did you know where your father felt, or your mother, both of them felt more comfortable in Los Angeles or San Francisco, or any of the differences?

SO: I think it was the same. I think it was the same, because they served the Japanese community, so there's no language barrier there. So I think they felt comfortable both places, they made good friends both places.

AL: Did they have a car?

SO: I don't know if it was a church car or not, but I know my father used to go to the San Mateo Buddhist Church from San Francisco, and he used to go to West Los Angeles or Sawtelle and serve the people there. So I'm not sure whether...

AL: So what is your earliest childhood memory?

SO: My earliest childhood memory, I think when they came to get my father, it was the first time two Caucasians came to our house, because we lived within the Buddhist community, it was mostly Japanese Americans. So when two Caucasian gentlemen came, and then my father said, "I'll be back in a while," then he didn't come back until evening, and then he said he was being questioned.

AL: This was after Pearl Harbor?

SO: Uh-huh. But he came home, whereas a lot of other ministers did not have that opportunity to come home once, so I guess they were detained right away.

AL: Did he ever explain what they had asked him or where they took him, did he ever talk about...

SO: No, no.

AL: Did you find anything in his records about that?

SO: No.

AL: But he came home the same evening?

SO: Uh-huh.

AL: How did your parents, I mean, at that time you were how old?

SO: Five.

AL: Five years old. How did they explain to you what was happening, you know, with, after Pearl Harbor?

SO: Well, my mother just said that Japan had dropped a bomb, and now there's a war, so we have to move. I guess she put it in language that we would understand, so we moved to Tanforan.

AL: Do you remember any of your emotions at that time?

SO: No, because our family was always intact, we were never separated. And so I think one, when you have your family with you, then it's not as traumatic as some of the families who were separated from their fathers.

AL: So you had not started school yet, then?

SO: No, no.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2013 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.