<Begin Segment 5>

RP: Sumi, can you tell us the story about being adopted?

ST: Being adopted?

Off camera voice: Don't you remember, Mom? You said that there was a family couple...

ST: Oh. They wanted to adopt me.

RP: And who was this couple?

ST: And, and they gloriously told me what I could have and all that. But did you know, I didn't want to go. My father said, "If you wish to go, go." I didn't want to leave my family.

RP: And who was this other family who wanted to adopt you?

ST: They were, they were wealthy people. I don't know what they did. But they were wealthy people and they wanted someone to, I guess, carry on. But I wasn't interested.

RP: And you, you told your dad that you didn't want to be adopted but...

ST: Uh-huh, well, he left it up to me.

RP: Okay.

ST: He said, "It's an opportunity for you." But I just didn't want to leave the family. Maybe I lost a good opportunity, but I didn't care about that.

RP: Do you remember hiding in the trees?

ST: Yeah. I... so when they came again. I ran to the back about, it's about half a block away or maybe more. I ran up the tree, way up there, and I said, "Are they gone? Are they gone?"

RP: So that... they were...

ST: I guess as a youngster, you know, you take things seriously. Of course, my father wouldn't have forced me to go.

RP: So this was another Japanese American family?

ST: No, they were from Japan.

RP: Okay.

ST: They were more than just average family. I would have had a, probably a good life. But I just didn't want to leave the family.

RP: They were farming in Florin?

ST: No. They were city people.

RP: They were city people.

ST: Uh-huh.

RP: Where did they live?

ST: From Sacramento.

RP: Oh, from Sacramento. So you would have lived in Sacramento?

ST: Yes, uh-huh. But I just didn't want to go.

RP: You just liked your family too much.

ST: Yes. I just didn't want to part with my family.

RP: And you had a lot of brothers and sisters to kind of watch by, look out for you.

ST: Uh-huh. Oh, we fought and everything. But, you know, I just didn't want to go. And my father said, "Well, you're missing the opportunity," but he said, "I'll leave it up to you." Uh-huh. So, I never regretted it. I was curious what kind of life I would have had. But I just didn't want to go.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.