<Begin Segment 6>

KL: What about your parents' reaction to the U.S. entering the war and to Japan's bombing?

SK: Of course we didn't believe it, and Father didn't think the Nisei would be taken, that, "You're U.S. citizens after all."

KL: Was he worried about his own security or your mother's, or how that would play out for the family?

SK: Well, he knew what was going to happen. So shikata ga nai, you know.

KL: You mentioned him burning the books and your family putting everything into storage. Were there other things that stand out about those several months before you guys had to leave.

SK: I remember, again, I don't know how we got... I guess we drove ourselves to Newcastle, and I remember getting on buses from there.

KL: Did the teachers or the principal ever say anything in school about...

SK: [Shakes head]

KL: Nothing, just kind of same. Did the other students' treatment of you change in the wake of the war?

SK: No, except for that one kid.

KL: Who said something about the plane?

SK: Uh-huh.

KL: But you don't remember if it was something that was derogatory?

SK: Probably was, because Mr. Welty was so angry.

KL: Yeah. So you guys had a car you think you drove to Newcastle?

SK: I think we did, yeah.

KL: Can you walk us through the departing Newcastle, what you saw, what you felt, what was going on around you?

SK: No, it was all a blur, just lots of people with lots of luggage, various size and shapes. And my brother points out that we could take only what we could carry, and he remembers my sister Tomiye... oh, back up a little bit, Mrs. Fountain had given us Raggedy Ann dolls for Christmas, and this was the first individual dolls we had, 'cause we didn't have toys. And so Taka remembers Tomiye wanting to take that doll with her, and she knew she couldn't, so she kept running back and forth to the house, putting it down and coming back with it and then bringing it back in and putting it down, and ultimately she left it. But he remembers that, and I remember him telling them about that. So we went to Newcastle and we were placed on buses, and then we went to Arboga, and that's when we first saw the guard towers and met our neighbors and had barracks. My first experience with asthma because my neighbor had had an asthmatic attack because it was so dusty. That's what I remember most about Arboga.

KL: The asthma attack and the dust?

SK: Yeah, uh-huh. Oh, and another thing... it's funny to remember, just in about in those days, two pieces of clothing was coming into... we wore dresses. So I thought I wanted to be like everyone else, so I took one of my dresses and cut it in half. [Laughs]

KL: To make, like, pants?

SK: No, to make a two-piece outfit.

KL: What was your mother's reaction to that?

SK: It was probably more around my father's, but I remember that. Then, before we know it, we're being taken off to Tule Lake.

KL: Well, especially somebody for somebody who was used to a rural life before, 20 acres, to be in Arboga, I mean, can you say anything more about what that was like, the quarters and having so many people around and what it was like to see the towers?

SK: You're eight years old, and you're just all confused. You don't know what's going on. But at one point I said to my father, "Papa kaerou yo," meaning, "Papa, let's go home." I was told that I said that. But, of course, we didn't.

KL: Were you scared? Did you have any interaction with the military presence, or were you aware?

SK: At that point, no, we just saw the guard towers. Of course, when we got on the... well, we did have military interaction when we got on the buses, got in on the buses. And then when we got on and off the trains, there was a military presence. Then my sister got lost the first day we were... my sister Tomiye got lost. At that time, the mess hall was not ready in our block, so we had to go across the firebreak to another mess hall, and then coming back, she got lost.

KL: This was at Tule Lake?

SK: Uh-huh.

KL: How long were you in Arboga? When did you go there?

SK: Let's see, we left Newcastle, I think...

KL: I think it was only there for about six weeks.

SK: Probably, because we were there mid-April, I think we left Newcastle, and then we went to Arboga, and then from Arboga we went to Tule Lake. Shinobu was born August 28th.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2015 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.