<Begin Segment 15>

RP: Is there any particular person or event at Tule Lake that really sticks in your mind?

FY: Oh, yes. There were some agitators, they were very pro-Japan. And any leader who sort of stood up for U.S., they would call that person a dog.

RP: Inu.

FY: Inu, yes. Oh, you heard about that?

RP: This was before Tule Lake became a segregation camp?

FY: Yes, uh-huh.

RP: So there were already divided loyalties, did you sense that?

FY: Yes, that's right. Because did you hear about the "loyalty"...

RP: Questionnaire?

FY: Uh-huh.

RP: And tell us a little bit about what you remember about it, and how it, what effect did it have on you in your family, or friends in the block?

FY: Of course, we said that we are loyal, we want to be loyal to U.S. And that sort of divided the, there were some radicals in camp. But when the time came for them to be shipped to Japan, they decided not to go, too. There were a lot of people like that.

RP: Now, early in our interview, you mentioned that your father had a desire to return to Japan, but the kids were firm in saying, "No, we are Americans and want to stay in our country." Did, when did that all happen? When did you take a stand? Was it before the war?

FY: Yes, uh-huh, before the war.

RP: Did, I know your father was in the hospital. Did he, did the camp experience and losing a business and being excluded from life during World War II, did that prompt any feelings about going back?

FY: Yes, he was depressed.

RP: Did he want to go back again?

FY: Yeah. He was very depressed.

KP: Can I ask a question? You mentioned earlier that when you returned to Japan in 1940, that you kind of were able to embrace Japanese culture and take pride in it. You know, the "loyalty questionnaire," all this stuff that was going on, how did that affect you? They're basically saying, "You must decide." How did you feel about that?

FY: No, I always felt I was American. And when I went to Japan, I remember I went to the, what did they call that? Oh, there was a diet building one time, and there was a member there, and he said, "Well, you may feel sort of divided, you may want to, you may feel as though you want to be loyal to Japan or to America," but he said to us, "You know, you were born in America, so you are an American."

RP: So you had no major conflict over which world you really belonged to?

FY: That's true. And this is a Japanese person.

RP: Person.

FY: Yeah.

RP: The diet was sort of the legislature.

FY: Yeah.

RP: So he was very prominent.

FY: Yes. And that's what he said to us.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.