<Begin Segment 5>

RP: Talk about Art Imagire's situation where there were a number of people who did, in order to leave the exclusion zone, took that opportunity and went through the "voluntary relocation" process, ended up in Reno. Do you remember folks coming from the West Coast like Art's family?

FS: Uh-huh. We had, not a lot, but we had a few other people who did move to Reno. We had a friend who moved from French Camp in Stockton, Lodi area, to farm in Fallon, Nevada, which is about thirty miles east of Sparks. It was interesting because when the family pulled into the railroad station, they were picketing because they didn't want the Japanese to come and raise, buy farm property and compete with them. So they were picketing that they didn't want the Japanese to come to Fallon. The family did not read English, so when the father got off the train, he looked at his wife and said, "Look, somebody important must be on that train because they're welcoming them here with a parade." [Laughs] And he did not know at the time that it was a picket for him not to come to Fallon. But he raised the Heart of Gold cantaloupes and sent 'em all over the United States. And Fallon is known now for the Heart of Gold melons that the Japanese farmers started there.

RP: Were there other railroad workers like your father who were summarily fired from their jobs in Sparks?

FS: Yes, there was one other Japanese family. The son was working for the railroad, and he did get his reparations, he was living in Hawaii. There was a family from Gerlach, Nevada, the father was a section worker, and they moved to Reno also.

RP: I'm trying to remember their name. You probably know...

FS: Nishiguchi.

RP: Nishiguchi.

FS: Right.

RP: And that was a very amazing situation. Basically, the Nishiguchis were told to just leave Gerlach and not come back.

FS: Right. And I think somebody rented them a very small trailer.

RP: Right out in the middle of nowhere.

FS: Right, out past Pyramid Lake in the middle of nowhere. It's a small railroad town. And they lived in an old trailer, mattress, I think a double bed mattress practically filled the trailer. They moved there with one daughter, and a daughter, married daughter came back from Tennessee and rented a place for the other children to live so they (could) go to school in town. But the parents were not allowed (...). The son was in the military, and he had his uniform (on), and he came to Reno and tried to get a hotel room so he could help his parents. And the man looked at him and said, "We don't allow Japs to stay here." And he remembers throwing an ashtray at the man and leaving. He did go to the parents, and I think when he knocked on the door, the parents were frantic and he had to whisper who he was before they would open the door for him. But here he was in uniform, and they would not allow him to have a room in Reno.

RP: There was a mention in Andy's thesis that this sort of plotline formed part of a movie called Bad Day at Black Rock. It was based on their experiences as Japanese Americans. I don't know if you had seen that movie.

FS: No, haven't seen it.

RP: We'll try to get you a copy. Spencer Tracy and a number of other, sort of, notable actors of the time starred in it. It has this plotline dealing with a railroad town.

FS: Okay. Now, they have a daughter, Ida Otani, who lives in Loomis. And she was helping us to receive reparations also.

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