Densho Digital Archive - Yukiko Miyahara Interview (denshovh-myukiko

<Begin Segment 7>

KP: So, let's... do you remember December 7, 1941?

YM: Uh-huh.

KP: What do you remember about that day?

YM: Well, I was pregnant with Fred and my husband went to, they went to play pool and he came rushing home. He said, "They told everybody to go home, there's a war." And that's how I found out.

KP: And what did you...

YM: And then I was pregnant with Fred and he was born ten days after.

KP: So...

YM: He was born on the seventeenth. So, just a little boy.

KP: So soon after, was it soon after December 7th that you moved back to your parents'?

YM: No, we moved to my parents not too long after we got married. and then we went to work for this nursery and we stayed there from... let me see, yeah, '40 to '41. And we had to leave in, we left to go to my uncle's because they said no Oriental could live in that district, well, no Japanese anyway. So my husband says, "You want to stay here 'cause we're citizens, or do you want to move out?" And I said, "They're not gonna ask you where you were born? I'm leaving." So we went to my uncles' 'cause they didn't have any children so we went over to help them.

KP: Do you know why they wanted Japanese people out of Inglewood?

YM: I think it's because they had the air, airplane factories on the same street as El Segundo Boulevard. And so they didn't want any of us living there. They thought maybe sabotage or I don't know what, but you know. So we all... couple a families didn't move but they moved the next day.

KP: So Toshio wanted to make a stand? Is that what he was about?

YM: He didn't want... he said, "You want to stay here or not?" And I said, "No, I don't want to stay here." So... and I didn't go to my parents' because I didn't know if (my sister-in-law's) family was gonna come there or not. My uncle... and then when we called, my uncle didn't have any children so we thought we should go stay with them and help them.

KP: And where did they live?

YM: They lived in Torrance.

KP: Okay, that was at the nursery?

YM: Uh-huh.

KP: So what was... it sounds like almost immediately your family was affected by moving? What were... were people worried? Do you remember that at all, or about what was gonna happen eventually?

YM: I, I don't know see, 'cause I went to go to my uncle's place. So, you know, all we worried about was what's gonna happen next. And we didn't know what to think. We just did what the government told us to do. Like they say, it can't be helped.

KP: So when you heard that you were gonna be sent away to assembly centers, what did you feel? What did you think?

YM: Well, we thought we had only five days to get ready. That's all we had. So, so they said you can't take more than what you can carry. So we really went by the rules, which my uncle almost killed me for later. But you know... so we took two suitcases apiece. We had a truck and a car with nothing on it but the few suitcases and a baby bed and, and one washtub. My aunt threw one washtub on at the last minute. That's all we took. And, so when we... we had, said they had Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. So we asked them, "Can we go in Sunday?" So we had more time. They said, "No, your district goes in on Friday." So when my friend came on Sunday, they came with a truck full, with everything but the kitchen sink. Because I guess they figured, you know, even they leave it home they're gonna lose it, even if they take it and they take it away, same. So then my uncle says, "See? You have to go over there and borrow things." Which I had to go beg on my knees and say, "Oh please, can I have some rice and can I have some of this?" And, it was miserable at the very beginning, especially being in the stables.

KP: So, your, what did your uncle do with the property he was...

YM: We just left it. And then they told us that we might be able to go home in two months. So we stored everything in one of the rooms of our house. Which we found out that people got into it and took things and things like that. So, but what we were able to save, my brother told me to put it in the storage so I, I had my friend go over and get all my stuff out of the room and put it in storage for us. So I didn't lose some of the things. But I lost quite a few things that was taken before we got our things.