Densho Digital Archive - Jim Tsujimura Interview (denshovh-tjim

<Begin Segment 2>

MR: Then when you were eleven --

JT: Yes.

MR: Is that when Pearl Harbor was bombed?

JT: Right, on December 7th, and it was a shock to us. When it occurred, suddenly news about it and the after effects of it started coming out. Curfews began to come out. We had to be in by a certain time. I recall the Chinese Americans wearing a button which said, "I am Chinese." We didn't have such a thing; therefore, we were limited. In other words, our Constitutional Rights and our Bill of Rights were abridged or practically taken away. We were American citizens, yet second-class citizens. The time came when signs were posted that we had to be evacuated right now. Only what we can carry, they came, took us on truck to the Portland Assembly Center which was the, which is the livestock exposition hall and smelled like one at that time. In the summertime, and the stench was terrible, surrounded by barbed wire fence, the machine gun nest pointing toward us, where we stayed for several months.

MR: Did your parents have any explanation for you about why these things were going on?

JT: No, because they were surprised just as much as everyone else. In fact, my mother was so worried and so scared, she burned everything that was Japanese. All the Japanese dolls for Girl's Day, Boy's Day. I recall about a twenty, twenty-five foot silk koi, that's a carp for Boy's Day. She burned that and so many things. But she was very, very worried that anything that had to do with Japan was burned.

MR: What, what happened after that, after the assembly center?

JT: After our stay there for several months, we were placed on trains. Curtains were all pulled down. They didn't want us to look out. Took about three days to get to where we were going, and it turned out to be Minidoka, Idaho. The train, no air conditioning, no drafts of any kind to keep us cool. It was very hot and not the ideal living conditions. But it took three days.

MR: Just going right back to before you left, I'm wondering if anybody was helpful to you in any way from the Caucasian community or --

JT: Our friends were, but they were, most were hysterical because of what Japan had done. Most of the Americans could not separate us from those from Japan, the Japanese national or the Japanese government; therefore, we were called "Japs" and other derogatory terms. But we were Americans, Americans of Japanese ancestry, and this was, America was our home, and they just couldn't understand that. And so many were saying, "You people go back to your own country," where this was our country.

MR: And when you had to leave so quickly, what plans were made to take care of your things or to hold your property, your parents' property?

JT: Well, we didn't know whether we were coming back, so we sold everything at half or less of the usual or what it was worth or gave things away. And I recall one particular item which was a brand new 1941 Buick which my dad had purchased, and he sold for half a price, and it was only a few months old. But no one knew where we were going, how long we would be gone, whether we would come back or not, and they were just scared.