<Begin Segment 17>

LT: Let's reflect on your life. First of all, what are your thoughts about Japanese American civil rights, especially the redress from the Executive Order 9066?

KY: That was long overdue. But I... and I kind of think, in going back to Eleanor Roosevelt, I think she influenced a lot of people, and she talked to some real important people. And if she had her way, we would have never been in concentration camps, that's what I think. I don't know what your thoughts on that are.

LT: You mentioned that during the time, you felt that it was important for the country and you were following the laws of the country. How did your views change?

KY: Basically hasn't changed any. But I kind of think that we as Americans has an option, everyone has an option, good or bad. And I have to choose the good side, not the bad side.

LT: You're a Japanese American. How did the war affect how you feel about being a Japanese American?

KY: You know, I don't feel any different than anybody else, I really don't. Because of my upbringing and everything, I think the things that happened in the past are just history. If you do all the negative thoughts, then you'll go downhill. You've got to think of positive, up, always up.

LT: How do you think the war affected your parents?

KY: I think my father was resolved to the fact that I was doing the thing that I thought was right. He never criticized us, in his letters to me during the war, he apologized if he had left any images, negative thoughts. I don't think he did, but this is just history, good or bad. I just happened to choose a good one. I don't want to think negative.

LT: You have children and grandchildren.

KY: Yeah, great grandchildren.

LT: And great grandchildren.

KY: Just recently.

LT: Congratulations. What have you told at least your children and grandchildren about the war and your experiences?

KY: I haven't. This will help. They kept after me to write. I started, I got about five pages. [Laughs] This will substitute, this will help. If I will leave anything, this is going to be the thing, my legacy.

LT: I'm wondering, because there are a number of Nisei, who, like you, don't always talk to children and grandchildren about their experiences. I wonder why?

KY: I don't know. Number one, my kids never asked me. All they, like I said, all they wanted me to write, put it in black and white for prosperity.

LT: Is there a number two?

KY: Huh?

LT: Is there a number two?

KY: Yeah. No, never number two, number one.

LT: So there are young people who don't know about what happened to Japanese Americans and about your life. What lessons should we learn from your experiences?

KY: You know, when I was in the American Legion in Beaverton, we used to go to about eleven high schools, and these are some of the things I used to cover with them. And you'd be surprised the letters I got from the students, especially, not from the boys, but from the girls. They finally found out what was happening to us, and they appreciated the fact that I came, told them straight up what really happened.

LT: What did they say?

KY: Number one, they thanked me for telling them what happened, and things they never heard of. And they appreciated the fact that I was able to tell them these things. Most of them, that's what most of them... I've got forty, fifty letters someplace.

LT: If there was one lesson that we should learn from your life and from what happened to Japanese Americans, what would that be?

KY: Never give up. Never give up. Always think positive; never negative.

LT: My last question. What's important in life?

KY: What's important? The most important in my aspect is to get along with your fellow men. Never treat them bad, always treat them good. And I think that goes a long ways. We're only humans; we all have one brain, and let that brain work for you, not against you.

LT: Dr. Yaguchi, thank you very much.

KY: [Laughs] Well, that was quite an experience.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.