Densho Digital Archive - Art Imagire Interview (denshovh-iart-01-0016)

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RP: One other question about the, the war time. There's some people who kind of feel like they missed out in not going to camp, or they feel...

AI: Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's what I tell them. I tell people because that's, that's a main topic of conversation, "What camp did you go to?"

RP: Yeah. And it's such a part of Japanese American history.

AI: Yeah.

RP: And in this country it's almost like a badge that you carry.

AI: Yeah.

RP: And so you didn't and how do you... is there a little, is there a gap when you get together with other people that were in camp? Do you feel left out, or how does it... what is it like?

AI: Well, they... a lot of times when they talk about that and, and they ask me. And they say, "Where did you go to camp?" And I say, "Oh, I escaped." I say, "We, we moved to Reno." And they say, "You escaped?" And a lotta people don't realize that you could do that, actually move. So, when I think in retrospect, I think that was a pretty brave move on the part of my family to do that. To drop everything and move. My mother was a stickler for education, wanted my brother to continue his education, go to college. And that's why he was starting to get into college. But he finally went to Chicago and got his degree in commercial art or something like that, was able to graduate. But, yeah, anyway, he was a, he... this might be another aside and you may want to dump it. But, when he came to Reno and Mrs. Norton happened to be what's called the Baha'i religion. You ever hear of that?

RP: Baha'i?

AI: Yeah, Baha'i religion. It's, I think of it as the United Nations of religions. It embraces all religions and it believes that all, all nine, that all nine major religions... and recognizes those nine. Fact is, nine is their symbol. They don't have any churches and in order to have an assembly they have nine people. And (my brother)... Mrs. Norton was that and he attended that and he was the kind of a guy that was always searching for the "right answer." And he finally landed on this Baha'i religion and he took that up and he became fairly prominent in it. I was surprised that one time that when I googled it, him, he showed up quite a bit as a pioneer for the Baha'i. And that's what he did. He would, he would go to Japan and pioneer. And when he went to Italy, he would start assemblies. He went to Guam, finally ended up in the Cook Islands and he did some work there. He lived there for ten years and now is living in Hawaii. So he was... fact is, he converted my mother to, to Bahai'ism. But then after a while she went back to, to the Methodist church. I don't know why, but she did.

KP: Can I ask a question? About your brother. He was definitely of military age and I guess he tried... did he try to enlist and they...

AI: Yeah. He tried to enlist. Yeah. He tried to enlist a couple of times and then wasn't... yeah. Although he doesn't remember it that way. That's our recall and I don't, I don't know who's, who's right on that.

RP: Right. He tried to enlist in Reno.

AI: Well, he said he finally enlisted, tried to enlist and was 4-F. He didn't tell be about the previous trials, so I don't -- attempts -- but I don't know whether he, he didn't recall that or what. I don't...

RP: Uh-huh. Uh-huh.