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RN: But when the war started, one of the customer was managing a root beer shop. We heard banging on the back of the door, loud bang. So we opened that and he said, his face was ashen. He said, "Don't go out, stay in there, don't do anything." He was worried for us, so I really appreciated his effort in trying to help us. And it was a very terrible situation because on the telephone pole, it says that we are not to go out anywhere in addition, you know. And they told us that we could not have a camera. We had any guns, we have to get rid of it. So with the gun, we had a revolver because we're in business, and you could come across robbers, but I sold the gun to a gasoline station person there. They were very nice and our customers, I don't know who I sold that camera too, but we got rid of most of the things, and I didn't care to go into camp at all. So there were some business people and our neighbors, they asked for the government to let us stay. I have the papers with me. I kept them through all these years, and I have them right now. So you can see that they are truly Americans. They knew us for twelve years, so they trusted us.

But whatever had to be done, so Mrs. Hungerford knew some Japanese people, so she came to help us go to the assembly center. Most of the things we have, become rid of. I sold my brother's car. He was drafted before Pearl Harbor. He, George Itami, Sam Shioshi, and my brother were drafted the first I think, so they went into service. And the saddest thing about this was we had a cap, well, we had a... Shigetami, he was a florist. When my parents separated, my mother had no transportation, nothing. He didn't know who the tellers were or anything, but they came to the little store that we had, so my mother was able to do business. But there were times when we ran out of things, so Shig was there. He had his truck, so he helped my mother go and get the produce or whatever from the farmers. He was a great help to us. And my mother said, "He is my third son. He was very helpful, very kind person." But we sold his plant and his Easter lilies, and they were beautiful Easter lilies. So as soon as we put them on display, we completely sold them out within three days, and my mother was able to pay him. So business went on like that.

But return to Mrs. Hungerford, she put, we tried to put little Rusty into the carton box. Shig's neighbor asked him to drown I think four kittens, and Shig being kind of the person he was, he didn't care to drown them at all. So he came to my mother, and we already had a cat. He asked my mother to take one of the, one of them, so he'll have three left. He's trying to find other homes for them. So my mother took one, and that was, so when I came back from work, there was a little kitten there, sort of brownish orange, and she said, "Shig brought them," so I selected one of them. So we looked at him. We called him Rusty. He was a very smart cat. And we have the other older cat who's been with us for quite a number of years. But the older cat died, but we couldn't put Rusty into the box. He kept climbing out and meowing all the while. He knew something was wrong. So prior to this, he followed us out, kept meowing. He knew what was, he knew something was wrong. He was less than a year old. He's still what you might call a half grown kitten. Finally, we did put him in the box, tied it up because they won't allow any pets in the camp. I raised that cat, so, and I felt for the cat also, so tears are running down my cheeks. And the cat wasn't meowing, and the situation looked a little sad but also funny at the same time. But when I got into Camp Minidoka, I knew that Rusty will not, never adapt to anyone. He's what you call a one-man cat. So within two months in camp, I wasn't even thinking about him. And in my dream, he crossed the path in front of my eyes. His fur was matted and very thin, and I knew he had died, probably he didn't even eat. So Mrs. Hungerford, three, four days, her letter came to me and told me that Rusty had died. I knew that beforehand. I feel that his spirit had told me. And it made me quite angry that even little animals like that have to suffer because of war, and the innocent ones usually suffer the most. It made me quite angry. But all I had was my work, what had to be done. And after that appendectomy that I had, that was the last that I stayed there. I decided to leave. So I did come back to Portland, and I stayed at, my mother wanted it.

So when I brought my mother back, she sat in a chair. She's quite pale because of ulcers. But she sat in her chair, and she realized that she had come back to Portland. She blushed and her face just glowed with happiness. And then, first thing she did was Fred Meyers across the street, so she went to Fred Meyers to buy something to feel that she had returned, came back with a celery bunch, and I thought, "What on earth that we can do to celery?" But she bought that and came back and I don't know. She probably prepared a meal for it. But I thought when I saw her face glowing, I decided it was the right thing to do because she had so many hardship, and she loved Portland. She loved the American people because they were informal, and it was easy to get along with because Japanese are a little more structured. They're impeded by being politeness. So she was happy. She made friends. We lived in a house in [inaudible] Street. She was quite happy, and we had Mormon neighbors, three little boys. One was Dougie. He was only about four, and my mother had a friend from camp who had moved a few blocks down, so she had time to visit them, and little Dougie would go with her, take her hand and they go down. Wherever she went, little Dougie followed. So one day, my mother looked at me and said, "Why don't you give me one of those?" [Laughs] Well I just looked at her. I didn't say anything. But it was nice to have little children like that around. And my mother planted a Japanese herb under the porch, and little Dougie, when any other kids come by says, "Don't touch Rosie's garden. That's her garden." He protected it for her. And my mother didn't have American name. She told me I took yours because I don't have one, so they call her Rosie.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2004 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.