<Begin Segment 10>

RP: There were a series of events that took place right after Pearl Harbor, the first one being the round up of Issei leaders.

NN: My father was also. Because he was involved with the community.

RP: Community center?

NN: Yes. They came to the house -- and my sister might be able to elaborate a little bit more on that. But they came to the house and asked for Dad once, remember?

KT: Yeah, he was at another ranch.

NN: In the field.

KT: In the field.

NN: And so he was brought back to the house and told to pack one suitcase, and he was gone. But during that time, from what I recall you mentioning a while ago, Kiyo, she got very upset and started to --

KT: When they took my dad, I got so upset when I saw, when I saw them taking him out. And I just told them, I told them, "This is the United States of America. You're not supposed to be taking people out, just grab them and just take them away from the family." And I remember calling, "Where are you taking him?" I can't remember. But I do remember when they came and took my dad.

NN: And he was taken to Tujunga detention camp.

RP: Did you get a chance to visit with him?

KT: We had a -- I wasn't driving, I was too young to drive so I didn't have a driving license.

AF: My mother had...

KT: A friend's...

AF: Yeah, neighbor's...

NN: The family's community friends with their sons who are old enough to drive, and they were kind enough to chauffeur the kids.

AF: Four of us were young yet.

NN: But I never got in.

AF: Well you were just a baby.

NN: I only recall being in the car, waiting in the car.

AF: Oh, really, you remember that?

NN: Yeah, I don't remember going in at all. So I don't know if you did. Did you?

KT: Yeah. Well, I remember when he was first taken, we found out where he was taken, it was Tujunga, I guess. And I remember having a neighbor's son drive us over there. And I remember speaking to Grandpa, to my dad on the other side of the fence. We never got in to see him or anything, we just went to go see whether we could find out where he was, mainly. And I remember going to the camp. Getting out of the car and going to the fence, and Grandpa was there. Everybody was crying, because we didn't know what was going to happen.

AF: There were four girls, my mother had four young girls, you know, and no sons.

NN: And she also had to manage the nursery.

AF: Yeah.

NN: And so it was quite hard for her. And then the Executive Order 9066 came about, and so it was a matter of packing, yes. So it was quite traumatic for my mom, I think. And for my sisters, too. I think she would --

KT: Well, especially for my mom, because she had all girls.

NN: -- they would be the language...

KT: The eldest being... gee, how old was I at that time?

NN: You were about fifteen when you went in camp, I think. And Miyo was fourteen, and you were twelve, and I was six, or five, six, close to six.

RP: And so between the time that your dad was taken and the time that you were evacuated, how did that work out? Was it a period of confusion and turmoil?

AF: Oh, I'm sure it was for my mother, yeah. Because she had the neighbor's sons, who spoke, who was bilingual, help her.

RP: Somebody stepped up and helped her with the farm?

AF: Well...

RP: Or just helped her with the --

AF: She had a lawyer mainly, I think, do everything.

NN: Well, you know, my dad was very fortunate. When we had to go into camp, in comparison to some others who had to just sell their nursery or just --

KT: Give it away.

NN: Yeah, vacate it, and just leave it for lost. There was a man by the name of Speakman who was also a farmer, and he was kind enough to offer to take care of the place while we were all incarcerated in Manzanar.

AF: Oh, that's right. Because my father had another nursery.

KT: Mr. Speakman had a nursery in Hawthorne where Grandpa was... I guess he must have leased it out or rented it or something. So that's how he met Mr. Speakman.

RP: Oh, your father had another nursery in --

KT: In Hawthorne. Because we were in Culver City, or in the Venice area, and then he found another --

NN: He also had one in the, near the Marina Del Rey area, did he not? What's his name? Nakashima or something? Did he borrow that greenhouse?

KT: No, Nakashima, Mr. Nakashima had a... he had a nursery in, wasn't it in Oxnard?

AF: Yeah.

NN: Oh, no, no. I mean --

AF: Tokujira.

KT: Oh, is it Tokujira.

NN: Okay. That was where the new...

KT: Near the gulley or the creek?

NN: Is that where it was? Oh.

AF: It could be because he was Kagoshima, too.

NN: Yeah, the countryman.

AF: Fellow countryman.

RP: Were there, were there quite a few folks from Kagoshima?

AF: Not too many.

NN: Yes, there was the Miyaji in Hawthorne.

AF: Oh, yeah, in Hawthorne.

NN: They came together. He and his wife and my mom and dad came to the United States at the same time.

RP: Oh, is that the other family?

NN: The other couple, right. And they settled, I don't know what happened prior to that, but they did settle in the Hawthorne area, and he was doing some greenhouse... I think he was also doing vegetables, was he not? And so periodically the family would go visit them as well.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.