<Begin Segment 8>

RP: You said that your, your father stored some of your family possessions with a Chinese gentleman. Did you own your own house in Vacaville?

GI: No. I think we rented that house. And, but it's weird because we rented that house, but we must have rented it for a long time. In the back, we had a Japanese bath. You know how families have 'em? And before we went, I remember the FBI was coming. I saw these men, strangers, and my father again must have been off on his gambling places, you know, because my grandfather and my mother, every night would be burning things in that fire. All our Girl's Day dolls and Boy's Day dolls and all those things, and any kind of books and things, or anything that referred to the emperor, they'd burn 'em all in that fire.

RP: That stoked the ofuro?

GI: Yeah, every night they burned in there.

RP: You watched them do that?

GI: I saw them do that.

RP: You saw your dolls go up in flames?

GI: Yeah, I did see that, yeah. I don't remember that so vividly or anything, but I knew that they burned it. And I think my mother used to say that my grandfather's family, they were farmers, but they were such wealthy farmers that they even got a sword. And I think they buried that someplace, too, before they went. My grandfather was very involved in sumo, the wrestling. And you know, he had things and they burned all those things, too. Any kinds of signs or whatever, writings, they burned those.

RP: This is your grandfather on your...

GI: My mother's side.

RP: Your mother's side. And they also settled in Vacaville?

GI: He, my uncle lived along the delta, in Isleton, in Walnut Grove. But I think my grandfather used to go take turns living here and living there. 'Cause sometimes he was with us and sometimes he was with them. So when the war started, he must have been with us, because I remember that he was helping her burn those things.

RP: You mentioned the FBI. Was your home or your grandfather's home visited by the FBI?

GI: Well, all I know that they'd say -- and I don't know if I imagined it or something, you know, but I remember seeing some strangers, but I don't know. Sometimes I think it's just something I imagined, I don't know.

RP: Shadowy character?

GI: Yeah, yeah.

RP: Which camp in Gila were you at? Were you at Canal or Butte?

GI: Canal, canal. The smaller of the two.

RP: So you were roughly second grade when you left Vacaville?

GI: Yeah, I think so. See, my mother sent me to kindergarten when I was four. I said, "Why did you do that?" And she says, "I don't know, I just thought it was time for you to go to school." So I was always a year ahead of my... the kids were all one year older than me. So I must have been in the second grade when I went.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.