<Begin Segment 9>

KL: And you think that your father was taken out of Tule Lake pretty soon after Shinobu was born, like in 1942 that same year?

SK: Whenever they started coming, came into, started recruiting for the army.

KL: For the military?

SK: Yeah. And again...

KL: Did he have to answer the questionnaire, was he still there at that time?

SK: He probably did. And probably said no, because especially about the emperor and all that, because he was very strong and pro-Japan.

KL: Was that a change since being forced into Tule Lake, or do you think he was always supportive of Japan?

SK: No, he was always supportive of Japan. So he was, when Japan lost the war, he was crushed.

KL: Did your parents ever talk to you, or have you seen copies of their responses to the questionnaire, do you know what that was like for them?

SK: No. At one point, the whole family was almost deported.

KL: When you were in Tule Lake?

SK: Yeah. But they consulted with my Neesan, Nobu, the older ones, and they said no, so we didn't go.

KL: Was that after the war had ended, or before?

SK: Uh-huh.

KL: After.

SK: And then they almost deported my father, but they decided not to. And he was amazed because he knew he was a bad boy. [Laughs] And so he was amazed that they let him join the family.

KL: Yeah. So what was it like when he was taken away? I was just gonna look and see, sometimes it tells if someone renounced their U.S. citizenship on the roster.

SK: Well, he didn't have his citizenship to renounce.

KL: Oh, that's true. Yeah, I'm sorry, I forgot.

SK: Yeah, he was an Issei.

KL: Yeah, okay.

SK: And it's interesting, when you hear people talk about Santa Fe, they talk about that most of them were citizens. Not true, my father wasn't a citizen.

KL: Did he say what that was like to be kind of in the minority?

SK: No, but, again, I'm sure he was just defined as... he thought he was right, he'll never back down.

KL: What do you remember about, sort of, his activities in Tule Lake? Like was it mostly in big block meetings that he would speak out, or were people in your barracks talking about his questions?

SK: Probably at the block meeting or whatever he went to. After the war, he started working for the Japanese school system. And so apparently he did very well, because again, in my sister's papers, we saw these two letters of commendation that he did very well for this school thing.

KL: Was the school in California or in Japan?

SK: No, there was a Japanese school in camp.

KL: Oh, I see.

SK: So we went to Japanese school in the afternoon with American school in the morning, Japanese school in the afternoon, Japanese school on Saturday, and Sunday we went to Sunday school.

KL: Yeah, I was going to... okay, I should start taking notes. So did he want to go to Japan when the war ended, do you think? I mean like in 1943 or so, about halfway through the time at Tule Lake, what do you think his plans were for after the war?

SK: As I said, he was almost deported, but I think if they said, he probably would have gone. The authorities decided, well, he had family here, so...

KL: What did your mother want?

SK: She didn't say. Again, being the obedient wife kind of thing...

KL: She stayed quiet?

SK: Right, pretty much.

KL: Just followed along.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2015 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.