Densho Digital Archive - Rose Tanaka Interview (denshovh-trose

<Begin Segment 23>

AL: What about the "loyalty questionnaire"?

RT: What?

AL: The "loyalty questionnaire." Could you explain to us what that was and how it impacted your family, any discussions or observations you had?

RT: Well, my own personal feeling was that outside of it being an insult to be forced to ask, answer those questions, that it was just to be able to continue our lives. You had to answer in a way that allowed you to do so. And I respect the people who questioned its legitimacy, but I'm more of a practical person, I guess. And I felt like while it insulted you by asking you a question that assumed that you had loyalties to the emperor, that was the worst part of it. It was bad for the Isseis who had no country if they gave up their association after the way they were treated here and not allowed to become citizens here. And then they were asked to give up their loyalty to the emperor of Japan, or their government of Japan. And so if you put your feet in their shoes, then you could see how difficult it was for them. And I know of people who did say they would repatriate to Japan if they had to, and it was strictly because of the way they were treated here. It wasn't because they had loyalties, but they felt like that was the only alternative. Now for the Niseis, it was an insult to be asked if you would give up your allegiance, or forswear allegiance to Japan or whatever way it was worded, because it assumed that you had allegiance to Japan and that why would we have allegiance to Japan to begin with. It was the wording that bothered me. But I figured for practical purposes, this was my country and this is where I wanted to stay. And we were all questioned individually, you know, we were interviewed by a person, and I happened to know the person who... I mean, I was acquainted with her. She lived in our block, but she lived in a community, her background was living in a Japanese community. And I think she did the wrong thing when she showed a reaction to my answers when I said I would forswear allegiance, yes, I would forswear allegiance and I would fight for this country. And she looked at me and she said, "You would?" [Laughs] And I thought, well, that was not very impartial on her part to say that, like, "Why would you do that?" It's like telling me I made the wrong answer.

AL: Was she Japanese American?

RT: She was a Nisei like me, and that was a mistake to have, perhaps, but it was just a matter of allowing people to... she was a questioner, she had a job.

AL: I know a number of, like, teachers and administrators were questioners. I guess I didn't realize that other Nisei were questioners.

RT: Yes, this was somebody I knew that asked me that, and she expected me to be loyal to the Japanese government or something, I don't know, but I just didn't like the way she reacted to my "yes" answer.

AL: Do you recall, do you know how your parents answered?

RT: Well, they answered the right way, so that they were practical people. They just... my father was very practical and said, well, we have to answer it the way we want us to so we could stay in this country. The people who lived in the next unit to ours was a father, and he was widowed. And his oldest daughter was over twenty-one, his older son was over twenty-one, and they had three younger children. So Jeanette, the oldest daughter, was the surrogate mother. She took care of the younger children. The father of that family was so unhappy about it, he answered "no," and he forced his two Nisei children to say "no," and they got sent to Japan. Little story behind this. My brother Henry was friendly with, had made friends with Jeanette, I mean, they were just, they weren't in an intimate relationship or anything like that, they were just friends. But when that family got sent to Japan and Henry and Jeanette kept up their correspondence and decided they liked each other and loved each other enough that they would want to get married at some point, well, Jeanette had already answered "no" and had gone because of her father forcing her. He said, "You have to go with us." The younger kids were okay because they were under the ages of seventeen and younger, were allowed to keep their citizenship, but they had to go where their parents went. And so that became a problem, because after Henry got out of the service, he wanted to, he and Jeanette wanted to marry. He had to hire an attorney, and was able to negotiate with her, and, of course, they went through the Hiroshima bombing, because their land was in Hiroshima, and it was a terrible life. And her father realized what he had done to this family in making them go back to Japan, to a devastated country, and what he had done to them was on his conscience. And he said, "Well, do whatever you want to do," and he released her from her commitment to serving, taking care of the children, the younger children. And so Henry was able, through a lot of negotiation, and probably got a congressman to help or something like that, and so she was able to reverse her renouncement and then come to the United States and they were married.

AL: So she was actually a renunciant.

RT: Yes. She was over twenty-one, and so her father told her she had to renounce her American citizenship and go back with them. Because she had the duty of being the caregiver to the younger three children, and he was that much of a patriarch that he was the boss, and you didn't go against your father's wishes.

AL: There were a lot of renunciants, there was like five thousand people.

RT: There must have been. Well, anyhow, it happened.

AL: So they were able to marry?

RT: They were able to marry.

AL: Is she still living?

RT: No, both of them are gone. They married, lived in Texas, raised three boys. They had four children, but three of them survived. It was a difficult situation, but in the end it was good because she was able to come back to the United States. She didn't want to leave, but she had to.

AL: Do you think that was common for people who went to Tule Lake, that they didn't really want to go?

RT: Well, I think they had regrets, but it was what their parents decided.

AL: What was the camp like after those 2,200 people went to Tule Lake? Did it change the character of the camp?

RT: One of my best friends in that camp that I'd bonded with, I remember her on the truck and we were holding hands until the truck pulled away and we let go. And then when she got to Tule Lake, her family decided that wasn't the right thing and they reversed their decision, and they were able to stay. So they had one last chance to reverse their decision. So a lot of the people who went to Tule Lake were able to reverse their decisions. They realized what they had given up, what they were giving up, and changed their attitudes. And the parents decided what they were doing to their children was a large injustice to them.

AL: Did you keep in touch with her after she went to Tule Lake?

RT: For a few years. She married and had children, but eventually our lives, you know, we just couldn't keep up with each other.

AL: Do you know what her life was like at Tule Lake as far as how it would be different than Manzanar?

RT: It was probably similar to Manzanar, had she gone to, had she stayed there, she would have ended up going to Japan. Because she didn't, I think she was glad she was able to change her decision.