<Begin Segment 16>

KL: So we're back after a quick break.

LP: And so we were talking about the names of specific people that you might remember. Did you take any music classes by chance, or art classes or anything?

EY: I wished I did, I had no chance to do that.

KL: You were talking about how there were Japanese almost college students, Japanese American teachers, and then the administration got on board and brought in credentialed teachers. Can you say any more about that? Because that had to have been a pretty interesting dynamic. What do you remember about how the teachers reacted and how the students reacted?

EY: On the whole, I think all of us accepted the fact that there had to be a change eventually. Because in order for us, especially because we were seniors, that we were more aware that if we were to go on to college, and we needed some kind of a person who would fulfill the credential, whatever had to be done, and then earn our credits so that we could be accepted outside. So I think we were more aware of that more than the younger ones. And we did have a student body, there were quite a nucleus of so-called "in kids" that got together, and so it was kind of like a regular high school. I think they got approval from the administration to do that, to make it more like a high school back home, if we were still normally back there. As far as I was concerned, I thought it met the needs of a typical school. I've not heard any negative things from different people who did attend Tule Lake High School at the time. So I want to think that we were all accepting whatever it was offered to us, and that it was okay. I couldn't elaborate too much because I was not really aware, but it would be interesting to find out.

KL: So when you graduated from high school, what did you foresee for your future?

EY: Not too very much. Although just about the time we were to graduate, then this questionnaire came up. And I said, I was going "yes-yes" because I wanted to go to college out east, and I thought by answering that way, that I would have a good chance to do that. Well, it turns out, my father didn't want the families to be split yet, we were too young. And I think in the back of his mind, he knew that he needed someone to take care of Mom, and I was it. So he said, "If you're gonna go out to college, then you can't do that." I asked him, "Why? I want to go to college?" "No, you can't do that." So then in the meantime, how he answered, I have no idea, never talked about it. So we got the notice that we were going to be sent to Jerome. So I thought then that my chance of going to college is out the window, I couldn't go. And in the back of my mind, I also knew too that he needed me to take care of Mom. So anyway, we went on to Jerome.

KL: Did anyone ever approach your family about offering social services or medical care or anything for your mom?

EY: Nothing, nothing. And I think we were too naive even before war, that there was such things available for us. And if I had known then what I know now, that would have been the place to go to find out what was making her do what she was doing, and spending so much time in bed. But now that I think about it and I'm talking about it, and then I found out later on that when her sisters came from Japan, then she made herself go to a hospital. To what extent, I don't know, but this is what I'm hearing from my sister-in-law. And when she was in the hospital, her sisters from Japan went to visit her, but she never turned around and talked to them all that time. And she never went back to Japan. My father had enough money to send her there many times after the war, but she refused to go. So sadly, she passed on here, but that was her choice. I think that if she had maybe made up her mind more or whether she was in depression or what, I have no idea. But maybe if there was help, maybe she might have just gotten out of that, but I don't know. Actually, when I think about it, she had a sad life, because she never helped herself. It's kind of bad, bad in that she didn't realize how it affected my father, myself, and even the boys, you know. But I guess maybe if you're in a state of that, maybe that's the way it goes, I don't know.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2015 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.