Densho Digital Archive - Ko Nishimura Interview (denshovh-nko-01-0008)

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KL: Well, backing up to Pasadena, after your grandfather's arrest, what else can you tell us about those months, December, January, February, March, before going into the camps, and it'd be all hearsay from later.

KN: I don't know when we decided to pull out of Pasadena, we decided we'd get out of this defense zone, so we went to Reedley in the Central Valley, we thought we'd be safe. Of course, they come looking for you out there, too, you know. And it turns out, one of the funny story is Sam Araki, my partner here, they went from Campbell, they actually left half packed. They left with the door open, because no sooner they left, they came after him. They were just one step ahead, so they came to Reedley. And Sam could tell you stories about they pitched a tent inside of a barn in Reedley. And some people that were willing to put 'em up, and we lived in Reedley but I think we both got tired of running, and we finally went to camp. So if you look at where we came from, it says we came from the Fresno area, look at it. The reason I know is, I didn't know that, but one of my friends in Pasadena says he made a mistake on you, Ko, I said, "What do you mean?" "It says you guys are from the Fresno area." I said, "No, no, that's where we came from." Because we moved from Pasadena inland to get away from the war zone.

KL: Did you have some connection in Reedley? Why'd you choose Reedley?

KN: I don't know. And I think it was some German, I think there was a German descent family that put us up. I'm not sure how we knew him. I could never find that house, I went back there about five times to find it, I couldn't find it.

KL: Your family was in a house?

KN: Yeah, we were in a house. Matter of fact, we got shot at, I know.

KL: What do you know about that?

KN: That's all I know. My dad told me we got shot at, I remember we got shot at. I'm sure it was frightening for them, you know. Because they didn't have guns or anything.

KL: Did your dad have any idea if it was a local person or some...

KN: No, that was at nighttime, so obviously the person was not brave enough to come and confront him. It was almost like a bad prank, I think.

KL: Yeah.

KN: We were lucky, you know.

KL: And you have no awareness of what the German person's connection to your family was or how...

KN: No, I don't know. I never found out. What you got to realize is most parents and relatives that don't talk to the kids about wartime experience. If you don't ask, they don't want to talk to you about it. I can only remember a little, what I experienced and I what I remember.

KL: Yeah. I wondered if you had any memories that are previous to your grandfather's arrest, or is that your first real memory?

KN: Like I told you, I have memories of Mr. Hata. I don't know if I told you this, but Mr. Hata one day was sort of sitting around, because he says, "What does your mother call you?" Because I only spoke Japanese, and Mr. Hata only spoke Japanese. And I said, "Urusai." Urusai means "noisy."

KL: So that was in Pasadena that you had that conversation?

KN: Yeah.

KL: I see.

KN: And after the war, Mr. Hata used to tell me all the time, he used to call me Urusai. They were real close family friends.

KL: How do you spell urusai, if you're writing it in English characters?

KN: U-R-U-S-A-I, urusai.

KL: So do you know when you went to Reedley and how long you stayed there?

KN: We couldn't have stayed there more than three or four months, what I could tell. When you're a young man, it seems like a long time. There was a river next to the house. I presume that was the Kings River. It's too big to be a canal.

KL: Was your family farming in Reedley, do you know?

KN: I don't know what we were doing. When you're on the run, you can't be working in the field and stuff. They might have went and worked in the fields.