<Begin Segment 13>

TI: And so during this time, what was the reaction of your parents? Did they ever talk about what was going on, or did you ever hear them talking about what was going on?

KO: Not really. It was relatively silent in our house.

TI: What about your older sisters? So they were a little bit older, one had already graduated from high school. Did they have concerns? Did they talk about what was going on?

KO: Not... my oldest sister Masako graduated high school and then went to business college for a year and a half or something. And finally got a job, it was 1941, early, with a Japanese American paper similar to the North American Post here. Of course, when December 7th came, the paper was put out of business, so she was no longer employed. My sister Miyo...

TI: And when you say they were put out of business, were they shut down by the government?

KO: Right, right.

TI: Because it was like Japanese language and English? Was it kind of the combination?

KO: Yeah.

TI: Okay. And do you recall the name of that paper?

KO: I think it was just called the West Coast Times or something, (might have been the Coast Times). And my sister Miyo graduated high school in '41, June of '41, before Pearl Harbor. But she went to work as a housegirl, which was common for many Japanese American women at that time. And so she worked for this particular family all the way through to the time of our incarceration. Fumi was still in high school, and I was beginning high school also. Bones was in the sixth grade or something, seventh grade.

TI: And so after December 7th, when you went back to school, did anything change?

KO: Not for me. I did not, never encountered any students saying anything. Our friends remained friends.

TI: But eventually, as Japanese and Japanese Americans got the orders to leave, how did the school handle that?

KO: I know if anyone at Lincoln High School said anything. I didn't hear anything about anything at school.

TI: And so eventually the Japanese American students just left, and that was how it was kind of handled? Like they didn't have an assembly or they didn't have an announcement or anything to explain what was going on?

KO: [Laughs] No, but I don't remember whether anything was said, but I know May 4th or something, that was a Friday I think, was the last day of school for me. And I remember a couple of my friends coming by the locker to say goodbye, but I don't know how they got the word, whether I had told them this would be my last day of school or whatever.

TI: So these were non-Japanese Americans who came up to you, your friends?

KO: Uh-huh.

TI: And at this point, this is Lincoln High School? How many Japanese Americans were there? Like in terms of in a typical class, would there be a few in each class?

KO: Yeah, a few in each. I don't know what the total student body of Lincoln at the time was, but if there were five hundred kids at Lincoln, there might have been fifty Japanese kids.

TI: So about one out of ten would be Japanese. So not a majority, but a significant number of Japanese at Lincoln.

KO: Yeah, there might have been four or five in each class.

TI: So the word was probably, if you were going to remove that many people, the word probably got out somehow. But it wasn't something you shared with your friends. It wasn't like you told people, "We have to leave," you just kind of were quiet about it.

KO: Yeah.

TI: Did any teachers ever talk to you about what was going to happen?

KO: No.

TI: And you didn't mention to your teachers that you were going to be leaving and wouldn't be back?

KO: I don't remember any of that.

TI: How about the hotel? Did business at the hotel change after December 7th in terms of more, or not more, but fewer customers or anything like that?

KO: I don't think so. The hotel was... Third and Salmon Street in Portland is like saying First and Second and Bell in Seattle. It was downtown, and there was a lot of traffic. I don't think anyone boycotted the business and such.

TI: Okay.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.