Densho Digital Archive - Shig Kaseguma Interview (denshovh-kshig-01-0010)

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RP: And how did you, did you find out about the tragic attack on Pearl Harbor?

SK: The war? Well, I had Sunday off at the college club, I mean, the Seattle Tennis Club, so I used to go home. And, somebody said, it came over the radio that, you know, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. I said, "Oh, no. Now what happened?" But then I had to go back on Sunday night, so, next morning I go to school from the Tennis Club, and I thought, "Oh, boy. This is going to be something else when I go back there," to be Japanese. But they were very kind to me. I felt almost like they were sorry for me. So I thought, gee, that's not going to be too bad. I thought they would kick me out right there, being Japanese. But they were very kind to me. And they said, "You could stay as long as you want." But then, finally, when we were shipped out of Seattle, they told me I could go home about a week or two ahead, and then I'd quit school by then. There was no animosity or name-calling. Not that I was grateful for it, but I was kinda surprised, more than anything else, yeah.

RP: So what was your mindset like after Pearl Harbor, before you got, between the Pearl Harbor and evacuation? Did you feel like something was going to happen to Niseis?

SK: Yeah, I thought sure, there's something was going to happen. But I didn't think the enormity of the situation would be what they were doing to us.

RP: Right. You were aware that Isseis were being--

SK: I knew that it wasn't going to be very comfortable, number one. What they were going to do, because, would they come after us, are the Caucasians gonna come after us? Or the rest of the world would be against us? Because already Germany was being, German, Italy, the tripartite was already signed. So I thought, well, we're in trouble. Deep trouble. But I didn't think of the enormity of the situation would be that we'd all be evacuated from Seattle. Of course, by this time, the tension was building anyway. Something was gonna happen. So on, on December 24th, when the general of the western hemisphere, western part of the United States, he said that, "Don't worry about it. Nobody will be evacuated." American citizen... are American citizen. Well, he changed his mind real quick in about three weeks.

RP: Yeah, how could you trust the government after --

SK: Yeah, so I said, "Oh, well." But then, by then, when they signed the 9066, you probably heard about that, the President signed that. I don't think it meant that we would, everyone was to be sent out of the area, especially the American citizens. We were greatly surprised. But even the Supreme Court said it was okay.

RP: Did you ever have any sense of, you know, a sense of outrage about it?

SK: Not so much the outrage then. By then, it just felt like well, this is just gonna come, and what can you do about it attitude. It was kind of resignation that we're sorry it was our parents' country that did it. But there's not much we could say about it, because our face is Japanese. If we were Italian or German, it would never happen. Because how can you segregate people, picking out, "Are you German? Or what are you?" But the Japanese or Chinese, were just like blacks are black, we're yellow. We were called the "Yellow Peril' for many years, down in California. So, I figured that sooner or later, something was gonna happen. But I didn't think of the enormity of the whole thing, when everybody gets... I thought maybe California might. Because those are active people, vigilantes down there. But I didn't think it would happen to us. But it did. I think it was forty-eight hours to go, or so.