<Begin Segment 15>

KL: You said that you were pretty sure your father was going to be arrested and others were. Were there other men, or other people?

AO: Oh, yeah, there were other men who were. But he had been trying to encourage younger people to take leadership roles, and so he'd taken a backseat. And I guess, I don't know, they didn't go back too far to get who was... I guess just the current leaders.

KL: Leadership roles in organizations?

AO: Well, there was... in things that happened within the Japanese community, like when they did the fundraiser of the movies.

KL: What were the funds for?

AO: To keep the Japanese school going, and I guess they had some to help with the cemetery, because there was a Japanese section of the cemetery, and to keep it clean, people helped to clean it, too.

KL: What was the cemetery called? Was it just Gilroy Cemetery?

AO: It was just part of... yeah, Gilroy Cemetery. And they had what in Japanese is Nihonjinkai, Japanese club, and that sponsored. And so whenever like the consul general in San Francisco would meet with groups in various cities, wherever there were Japanese, and so my father was the one they talked to. There were like about three different men in the city, in Gilroy, who took leadership.

KL: Who was the membership of the Nihonjinkai?

AO: It was just all the Japanese in the... they didn't have dues or anything, I don't think, it's just that if you're Japanese, you automatically could be...

KL: Were there women who were part of the membership?

AO: Oh, yeah. The whole families participated. Once a year they'd have a big picnic and all the kids would go, too, and they'd have games.

AL: Could you translate Nihonjinkai, for people who don't know what that means?

AO: Oh, Nihonjin is Japanese, the people of Japanese ancestry. Kai is club.

KL: What percentage of Gilroy's population do you think was of Japanese ancestry?

AO: Oh, I don't think it was very large. I couldn't even guess a percentage.

KL: How did your dad feel seeing the arrests or hearing about the arrests of these people he had kind of trained and encouraged?

AO: Oh, very upset and concerned, very concerned. What's going to happen to them? Because at that juncture, you had no idea if they were leading them off to imprison them or to execute them or to send them back to Japan or what. And thought that we may never see him again.

KL: What did people say about the FBI's demeanor or their treatment when they made the arrests? What kind of stories did people tell?

AO: We were... if my father and mother heard of any stories or anything, they kept it to themselves and just discussed it between them. They did not want to frighten us.

KL: Did you think your dad would be taken?

AO: Yes, I did, because I knew he had, you know, people looked at him for anything happening in the community, he was there.

KL: What was that like for you?

AO: Because this is something that you don't think happened in this country. And in the first place, the fact that Japan and America were at war, I couldn't really grasp it. I mean, if this is thought to be a fluke type of thing. And when we were evacuated, oh, "We won't be gone long." We'll be back in a couple of weeks, maybe, at the most.

KL: That's what you were thinking?

AO: Yeah. I never thought that it would be years. And so when I said goodbye to my friends, it's like going on a vacation, "I'll be back, I'll see you."

KL: Do you remember some of the names of the people out of Gilroy who were arrested, the family names?

AO: I think Mr. Hirazaki was, I'm not a hundred percent sure. And Morita... and I can't remember who else might have been. But they were also leaders.

KL: Who was the leader of the Buddhist community that you were a part of?

AO: Well, Gilroy does not have a church, so they would go to San Jose. So whoever was priest there at San Jose Betsuin would be the ones who...

KL: How often did you go into San Jose?

AO: Very seldom. But like for Memorial Day service, the priest comes out to Gilroy, and for funerals the priest would come to the Hayden Mortuary, and that's where the services were held.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2013 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.