<Begin Segment 7>

TM: So with December 7, 1941, the bombing of Pearl Harbor, leading into the evacuation, you had mentioned your family still had the Taylor Hotel, and you talked about your grandmother and how she felt losing that. Do you, did your parents ever share, or your grandmother ever share memories about what happened during that time, the fear, worries, confusion?

FP: Right, right. Because they... not an awful lot, but you know, some, like they could only take one suitcase per person, and so the most traumatic thing to me that rebounds to today is they had to burn all their Japanese artifacts that marked them as of Japanese heritage. And the one that was very precious to me now would be there was a large set of the emperor and empress, and the court from Japan, and that was burned because obviously they couldn't take it with them with one suitcase. And it would also mark them as being traitorous if they saw, if the authorities came and saw the statues and the dolls of the emperor and empress and the court.

TM: Was that your hinamatsuri set?

FP: Right, it was.

TM: For Girl's Day.

FP: Yes, it was.

TM: And who bought that? Was that a gift from your grandmother or your parents? Do you know anything about where it came from?

FP: I don't know exactly. I don't know exactly. So it was probably a gift from the grandparents up in Seattle, I'm thinking. But I'm guessing on that, I don't know for sure.

TM: Was your... at this time, was your father involved in any Japanese American organizations?

FP: Yes, he was in the JACL, Japanese American Citizens League. And he was quite, he was quite active. And he was one of the founding people of the JACL.

TM: Do you know when he became a member?

FP: Let's see. It would be when he was in his twenties. I was born when he was twenty-nine, right, so it was when he was in his twenties, and he was a young man, that Mom said, "He drank a lot and he loved to run around a lot," I mean, you know, sowing his oats, right.

TM: What about your mother? Was she involved in any groups, or did her social life at this time, did she do anything but work?

FP: Well, I think she might have been doing some handcraft, because she was very skilled. She went to that sewing school and they did fine embroidery and everything like that, and sewing. So Mom was a very competent seamstress all her life, and would often sew most of my clothes and her clothes, right. And so, you know, in those days, often hard work was considered their entertainment, you know, and a leisurely outlet like sewing or embroidery, she would do these beautiful pieces of embroidery. She bought one from Japan, it's a complete scene that's embroidered with fine stitchery, and it's right over my mantle today, and it has a samurai who's stopping for a drink of water at a waterfalls. And there's a story involved with that, but I do not remember that.

TM: So at this time period as well, you're just toddlers, you and your brother.

FP: Yes.

TM: And were your parents attending, and your grandmother, were they attending church, or what church were they attending?

FP: Well, when they did, they attended the Henjyoji Daihon Buddhist Temple.

TM: Temple.

FP: Right, right. And so that's how I was introduced to Buddhism, was of course you go where your mom and dad go, with a short stint at the, at a very fundamentalist church right on the corner. It was the Chinese Baptist Church.

TM: And that was later, much later.

FP: Yes, yes, when I was born, so you could ask me later.

TM: Okay, so packing only what you can carry. Do you know how you and your family ended up at the assembly center, how you got there?

FP: Probably by bus or car, maybe. Because there's pictures in ONE of people boarding a bus and taking one bag. Those are well-known pictures in the museum.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.