<Begin Segment 1>

HH: All right. Today is Saturday, August 27th. The time now is about 9:23 a.m. in the morning. And I'm speaking with one of our interviewees. What is your full name?

ME: My name is Minoru Endo.

HH: And what is your wife's name?

ME: My wife's name is Aya Mineta Endo.

HH: Okay. How many siblings do you have?

ME: I have four siblings. We're a family of five kids.

HH: And what are the genders and the ages of each of them?

ME: The oldest brother was twelve years older than I was. The second oldest was another brother six years older than me. And I had two sisters who were twins, who are two years older than I was.

HH: So you're the youngest?

ME: I'm the youngest.

HH: How many children do you have and what are their names and ages?

ME: I have two sons. The oldest one was born in 1942, which would make him fifty-two. And the second son was born in 1944, which would make him exactly fifty now.

HH: What kind of education did each of your children receive?

ME: We were living in New York at the time, and both of them went to the public school system in New York, to the Bronx High School of Science, before they went to college. And the older one went on to Brown University and then to Rutgers law school. And the second son went to Cornell University for his undergraduate work, and then to University of Illinois for his master's and doctorate in mathematics. And then he went to, then he taught for a while in Southern Illinois University and then went to med school in Chicago, University of Illinois med school in Chicago, and got his medical degree. And so now he practices medicine Ithaca.

HH: He has a PhD and an MD?

ME: Right.

HH: Maybe he'll get a law degree. And do you have any grandchildren at this point?

ME: Yes. My older son has two girls and one boy. The oldest granddaughter is, I think she's twenty-two. And the second girl is twenty years old, she's at Cornell now. And the grandson is, I think it's fourteen, just starting high school now. And my second son has a daughter, eight, and a son who's one year old now, I think.

HH: And you don't have any great-grandchildren?

ME: No, I don't have any great-grandchildren yet.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 1994 JACL Philadelphia. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 2>

HH: When were you born, and what is your present age?

ME: I was born in 1917, which would make me seventy-seven? Boy, that's old. [Laughs]

HH: And you were born in, I believe you said San Francisco?

ME: San Francisco, yes.

HH: What were your parents' names?

ME: My father's name was Shinnosuke and my mother's name was Tei Kasuya.

HH: To what extent are you familiar with your family tree?

ME: Not very much. My father used to talk about a mother, a widower. He didn't know his father, I don't think, because he never talked about his father, and he said that his mother died when he was thirteen, and he was raised by an uncle in Tokyo, and he lived in Yokohama until he came to the United States. My mother, she was born in Himeji, Japan, in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture in Japan. I don't know exactly when they were born, but my mother was ninety-one when she died in the late '70s. My father was seventy-two when he died in the '60s.

HH: How would you describe the city in which you grew up?

ME: Oh, San Francisco, I grew up in Japantown in San Francisco. And I don't know how I would characterize it, but it was a very cosmopolitan city because it was a port city and my father had a store in Chinatown, a Japanese odd goods store, and later just a Japanese silk, clothing store in Chinatown. And because I was brought up in that atmosphere, our lives were centered around Chinatown and Japantown in San Francisco. So other than school, I didn't have much association with any other ethnic groups at all.

HH: Most of your associations were with Japanese or Japanese Americans?

ME: I would say so. And in school, of course, I got to know a lot of non-Japanese, but I didn't make any real close friends among non-Japanese.

HH: What kind of schools did you attend in San Francisco?

ME: I went to the regular public schools. I went to a school called Redding grammar school, which many of the Japanese, Nikkeis attended, and went to Galileo High School which was in the Italian area. So my friends there are mostly Italians, and, of course, other Japanese.

HH: And when they finished Galileo, where did you go?

ME: I went to the University of California, Berkeley.

HH: I see. And you graduated from Berkeley?

ME: Yes, in 1939.

HH: 1939.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 1994 JACL Philadelphia. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 3>

HH: What made you move to the East Coast after having lived all those years in the San Francisco Bay Area?

ME: Well, I moved to the East Coast in 1951 because just prior to that, I was in the occupation forces in Japan as a civilian employee in the War Department. And prior to that, I was teaching in the Military Intelligence Service Language School in Fort Snelling and in the city of Monterey in California. And during that time, I met a man named George Aratani, and I was also a good friend of Tad Yamada. And the two of them formed a company in Los Angeles to import merchandise from Japan. And so before I left Japan, they asked me to join the company in New York because they had an opening for someone to handle exports. The company was mainly an importing company, but they were opening a department to export medical equipment to Japan, and they asked me if I would handle that end of the business. And that's why I came to New York from, directly from Japan.

HH: And that was 1951?

ME: '51, yes.

HH: And how long did you live in New York? From 1951 until...

ME: In the New York area I lived from 1951 until 1989 when I came to this area.

HH: I see. How would you describe the economic condition of your family while you were growing up in San Francisco?

ME: Well, until the, I guess, the Great Depression of 1930, I guess, I would say my family was pretty well-off. We weren't rich by any means, but my father had a small store in Grant Avenue and he made trips to Japan every year to buy merchandise to sell. And I guess we were in the sort of a higher middle class in the San Francisco Japanese circles. We didn't own a house, we didn't own a car, but we lived comfortably.

HH: In a city like San Francisco, how important was it to have a car?

ME: It was not important at all. The surface transportation system was very good, and in fact, I think it would have been a hindrance to have a car. [Laughs]

HH: Having lived in the New York City area all that time, from '51 until you moved here to Medford, what made you choose the Medford area as a place to move to?

ME: Well, Tak Yoshiasa called us up one day and said that he was showing Medford Leas to a brother-in-law, Mike Masaoka. And so we agreed to meet Mike in Philadelphia, at the Philadelphia station to bring him to Medford Leas. And so in the process of Tak showing the Masaokas Medford Leas, we became interested in it. And we had heard about it before from a friend of ours in an investment club in New York, and so we were anxious to see this place. But then we decided to apply to come in. This was a couple of years before we actually moved in '89.

HH: What do you think about your decision at this point?

ME: Oh, I'm quite happy about being here.

HH: If you were to speculate as to what would have happened had the war not occurred, and all the Japanese people remained on the West Coast, what would your life have been like, do you suppose?

ME: I think I would have taken over my father's store in San Francisco. It wasn't a thriving business, but it eked out a comfortable living. And I think I would have continued in that business. My brother, my older brother had moved to New York in 1931. He decided that retailing was not for him, and so I think I would have been there.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 1994 JACL Philadelphia. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 4>

HH: Did you spend any time in one of the concentration camps?

ME: Yes. In April of 1942, most of us in San Francisco were moved to Tanforan Assembly Center. And in fall of that same year, we went to Topaz relocation center near Delta, Utah.

HH: And how long were you there?

ME: I was the last to move from Tanforan to Topaz. They closed up Tanforan, I think it was in late September 1942. And in December, in early December, a team of recruiters came from the language school in Savage, Minnesota, to recruit personnel for the army language school in Savage. So I enlisted at that time, and I was one of a group of six that enlisted at that time.

HH: What rank did you have when you entered the service?

ME: Of course I was a private. When I went in, I had no previous military training. And I went through the school from, that was in December of '42, and I was in the army language school until June of 1943.

HH: Roughly how much time would you say you spent in Tanforan and Topaz all told?

ME: Just from end of April until the first of December '42.

HH: Okay, less than a year.

ME: Less than a year.

HH: And from there, you spent your time in the army, it sounds like.

ME: Yes.

HH: And is it correct for me to assume that from there you became a civilian with the occupation of Japan?

ME: Yes. I was in the army until 1948, then I became a War Department civilian.

HH: When you moved from Topaz to the army in Minnesota, do you ever remember being homesick?

ME: I don't think so. I knew that my wife would eventually join me in Minnesota where we were, so I don't think I was really homesick.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 1994 JACL Philadelphia. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 5>

HH: That brings me to this point which I've neglected to ask you about, at what point did you become married?

ME: I was married in the, just before evacuation in the second of April 1942. We had been sort of engaged, and we decided that unless we got married, we would be going to different camps. So I think quite a few of us got married around that time so that we wouldn't be separated. In fact, in San Francisco, even among my friends, there were three or four marriages in the same church in successive Sundays.

HH: Is that right? If you were to become ill, say, in Minnesota or better yet, when you were a civilian employee in Japan, who would have taken care of you?

ME: You mean other than my wife?

HH: Yes. Because was your wife with you when you were a civilian?

ME: Yes.

HH: I see.

ME: My family was with me.

HH: Was it difficult to make friends during this period of time?

ME: Oh, I don't think so. The army life was, there was a lot of social events in army life, and my wartime years were spent mostly in the army. So I had no difficulty making friends, they were all among the military, of course.

HH: During the course of your life, what kind of organizations have you joined?

ME: Well, as a youngster, I was with the YMCA. I eventually joined the JACL just before the war. Other than that I can't think of any... when I went to school, I joined the students organizations, of course.

HH: Were you a member of any professional organizations?

ME: No, I was not.

HH: When you first started off working outside of the military service, did you encounter any racial prejudice, racial ethnic prejudice?

ME: I wouldn't say so. Because we were in the importing business where we dealt with people that were in the similar business. And so there was no racial discrimination in that particular business.

HH: I see. Okay, and as you look back, what might your aspirations have been at that time? What were you looking forward to doing with that business?

ME: Well, I wasn't in my own business, I was with an importing company. Our aim was to expand our business so that we would be able to eventually become a public company.

HH: Do you recall any obstacles that were standing in your way from achieving your goals?

ME: Well, I think we were in sort of a favorable position at that time because the acceptance for imported products was growing in the United States. I don't think we faced any real obstacles as far as expanding the company. The only thing that really stopped us was when the dollar value fell suddenly in 1985, I guess it was, it started to fall.

HH: Sounds like most of the time, after you left Japan as a civilian, you lived in New York City.

ME: Yes. Well, not in New York City, but in the vicinity. I lived in New York City for a while and then moved to New Jersey, which was sort of a bedroom community for New York.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 1994 JACL Philadelphia. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 6>

HH: That brings me to this question, how would you describe the kinds of communities you lived in, in that vicinity?

ME: I lived in... in New York, I lived in a community of mostly Jewish people, and both of my boys went to a school which was attended predominately by children of Jewish ancestry. And I think it was good to be among people who were ambitious for their children. And I think in that atmosphere, my sons got through good schools, and I have to be thankful for having lived in that atmosphere.

HH: In that environment, do you recall whether you or your children ever encountered any kind of racial prejudice?

ME: Not specifically. But I think my children, boys did experience being called names like "Chink" or something like that, racial epithets in grammar school. I don't know that it happened in high school, but I think I remember some incidents like that in grammar school.

HH: Did you see any kind of trend over the course of your life, different forms of racial prejudice has taken through the course of your life?

ME: Well, in my school years, we encountered some racial discrimination. I remember clearly that when I graduated high school, all the Orientals and Blacks sat in the back row of the stage when the graduating class sat on the stage. I don't think we said, "That's the way it is, I guess." I didn't notice that anybody protested or anything like that but we felt that we were being discriminated against.

HH: Is that kind of an assumption that you were second class?

ME: Oh, I think so, yeah. I don't know that we had assumed that we were second class citizens, certainly, but we certainly were being treated that way.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 1994 JACL Philadelphia. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 7>

HH: Going back in history, back when December 7th and Pearl Harbor took place, do you remember what you were doing that day?

ME: I learned about it when I was at church. That was a Sunday, and I heard about the bombing at church that morning. And with a couple of other friends, we decided that it was probably the last time we'd be able to play golf for some time, so we decided to play golf that afternoon.

HH: Which church did you belong to, by the way?

ME: I think it was called the... it was a Presbyterian church, but I forgot exactly what it was called.

HH: On Post Street?

ME: On Post Street. Post and Arcadia in the corner.

HH: Do you still remember what the living conditions were like in the concentration camps?

ME: Oh, yes. Clearly, in Tanforan, we got assigned to a horse stall as many of us were. Although there were many new tarpaper shacks that were put up, but we lived in, we were one of the first to arrive. So we were assigned quarters in the horse stalls, and when it would rain, it would be just a sea of mud all around the stalls. And so horses didn't have any trouble with it, but we had trouble getting in and out. So we concocted our own ramps to get into our place. And of course, there was no privacy to speak of. And the same thing in Topaz where we occupied a part of a tarpaper shack, and as it has been described, there were no walls that went up to the roof, so you could hear everything that was going on all through the building, practically. But as I said, I didn't stay very long, so I didn't suffer the hardship that a lot of people went through. About the dust coming through the floor, no furniture to speak of. A lot of people suffering.

HH: Do you know what you did for social and leisure activities?

ME: Well, I think we played some bridge. And in Tanforan, I joined our little theater group and we did some plays and things like that. I think a singing group or something like that.

HH: Did they have schools for you during that time?

ME: Well, I was finished with college, so I didn't go to school anymore.

HH: What kind of work did you do?

ME: In Tanforan, I was with the supply department. I also was with the supply department in Topaz, too, and took care of ordering supplies as was needed, non-food supplies, ordering and inventorying, keeping stock of whatever supplies we needed.

HH: How would you describe the restrictions placed on your freedom at Tanforan and also at Topaz?

ME: Well, we weren't allowed to go out at all. We were allowed to go anywhere in the premises, but that we were certainly not allowed to go out. At Topaz, we were allowed to go out if we had a reason to go. Like my mother, I know, attended a wedding of a relative in Salt Lake City or something like that. If you had a reason to go, I think you were allowed to go out.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 1994 JACL Philadelphia. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 8>

HH: I think I have this series of miscellaneous questions at this point. These are regarding how you perceive yourself. Do you see yourself as one of the so-called "quiet Americans"?

ME: Well, to the extent that we did not protest what happened to us, at the outbreak of the war. I think within that category, I think our culture is that way. I think we were taught to be compliant to authority, I think. Whether we were taught that or not, I feel that our parents were, and I think we grew up in that environment.

HH: How hard or easy is it for you to experience moments when you are placed in a position where you are conspicuous?

ME: I don't understand the question.

HH: Choosing sometimes where you're placed in a position when you are very visible, when you're conspicuous? Is it hard or easy? Is it uncomfortable, or how to describe the situation when you are very, very visible?

ME: Well, I was never placed in a leadership role except I had some... I was a leader among a group of kids in the YMCA, and later in business I was a corporate officer. But I was never in a place where I would be conspicuous.

HH: Did you ever feel embarrassed by your parents who may not have been as, in quotation marks, "American" as you wished they were, as you wished they might be?

ME: Oh, I don't think so. I might have been embarrassed in the store because my mother could not speak English to the extent that she could be understood easily. But I don't think I really felt embarrassed.

HH: Did you ever go through a period of time hating yourself for being a Japanese American?

ME: I don't think so.

HH: Because of moments when you forget that you're not white, that you are really one of the Asians in America?

ME: Well, I think so. I think in the school years, there are moments when we felt that we're the same as anybody else. We're constantly aware that we were Japanese.

HH: If you would take a quick inventory of the people you'd count as your close friends and classify them as to their ethnic and racial makeup, how do you think they might fall? As far as numbers?

ME: Well, I think predominately Nikkei, Japanese ancestry.

HH: And was it fair to say, then, that these are the people with whom you feel most comfortable?

ME: Oh, I would say that.

HH: To what extent do you identify your life, the things you went through, with that of Latinos, Native Americans, African Americans?

ME: Oh, I think we're much better off than those groups that you mentioned because I think we're lucky enough to have a better education, I think, in a better social position than they are.

HH: The critical difference being education?

ME: Well, I would say so.

HH: How would you respond if you were counted as being a member of the so-called "model minority"? How do you feel about being included as being one of the so-called "model minority"?

ME: Oh, I think that Nikkei in general are considered that way. I have no real feelings about being counted as one of them.

HH: Okay. Is it a term that you find insulting or one that's flattering? How would you...

ME: Oh, I think it's, when they say that, it's meant in a complimentary way, and I have no qualms about people saying that.

HH: As far as your personal values are concerned, how much do you think your Japanese or Asianness influenced the values that you maintained?

ME: Well, I think whether I consciously feel that way or not, I think our cultural background sort of unconsciously gives you that feeling.

HH: Was the family uniquely important to you in contrast to what you've seen to be the case with others who are not Japanese Americans or Asians? I guess the whole point here is to what extent is the family uniquely important to you if it is so?

ME: Oh, I don't think that my family is, of course, of great importance to me, but I don't think any more than any other ethnic group. I see the other ethnic groups there with very close family ties, and I don't think Japanese is any more closely knit than any others.

HH: Among Japanese, the concept of shame is particularly significant. Was that true with you?

ME: Oh, I think so. We were brought up in that atmosphere. Mitomo nai type of thing.

HH: To what extent were you reared to defer to elders?

ME: Oh, I think we were always taught the idea of revering the elders and pay respect to the elders, or even to a school authority.

HH: What are the ways in which you can see your religious practice, religious values, how did they relate to your home and the way in which you were reared?

ME: I think my Christian background has a lot to do with the way we deal with personal relations with others, and what we tried to teach our children.

HH: That brings me to the end of my questions, but then are there other things that you think might be important in describing what might be unique about your life?

ME: Oh, I don't think so. I don't think there's anything particularly unique about my life. [Laughs]

HH: Okay, thank you very much.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 1994 JACL Philadelphia. All Rights Reserved.