Densho Digital Archive - Jim Tsugawa Interview (denshovh-tjim

<Begin Segment 9>

AC: And you returned to the United States in about 1939 or 1940?

JT: 1939. And then Mom moved to Portland.

AC: Ah, so they moved to Portland shortly thereafter.

JT: I think so, or shortly thereafter, and then she established that store across from Montgomery Park.

AC: Let's fast forward a little bit. Do you remember the day Pearl Harbor was bombed?

JT: No, I don't. I really don't remember. You know, a kid as... 1941, I was nine years old. And that doesn't mean anything to you, it's war. Well, I know, I was in Japan, I think Japan was at war with Manchuria. And I kept asking Mom, "Where's the war?" Where's the war? I want to see war." But no, I don't remember Pearl Harbor and the consequences of that.

AC: So do you remember anything, your reactions of your mother at all?

JT: I don't remember that. I'm sure they were frightened.

AC: Or what happened in the community?

JT: See, we didn't really belong to the community, 'cause we were on the outskirts. And I don't remember the reaction of Mom, but I'm sure it was scary.

AC: Well, you mentioned that picture of your father in his military uniform, that just disappeared one night, or do you remember your mom taking it off the wall?

JT: I'm sure she took it off the wall and burned it, 'cause I think everybody, anything pertaining to Japan was destroyed. Shame, that's a shame.

AC: But you had no feelings for it at the time.

JT: No, not me. See, I don't know what... I don't even know what happened to it.

AC: Do you remember if there were any incidents that happened while you were at school?

JT: No. No, I don't.

AC: Did you, were your brothers or sisters worried at all?

JT: I don't remember that. At the time, 1941, I think, my brother Henry, the oldest, was drafted into the army. And brother Ike was drafted in the army, so they were in the military.

AC: Where they drafted before Pearl Harbor?

JT: No, I think Henry was after Pearl Harbor, Ike when he was in Minidoka in the concentration camp was drafted out of there.

AC: Well, you said that you left for camp where your family was sent to Minidoka? Do you remember what is happening before you had to leave?

JT: No, not much at all except the relocation center, the Portland Livestock Pavilion, and I remember that it was encircled with barbed wire fence, thirteen acres, and there were sentry towers on four corners. And I remember the arena area that they showed their horse and cows and pigs, and that was all boarded up, over, and so that was made into kind of like a gym, basketball. I remember the sports, the baseball place. 'Cause I think I followed the athletes around everywhere, you know, I just loved sports. And I became kind of like their mascot, because they had teams and stuff. And that's where I met some of the young kids then, and then I was mixed in with the kids.