10/26/1998 – Waipahu, Hawai’i
Interviewer: Wesley Ueunten

Japanese Language Audio Clip

MA: そこにくるまでは貧乏もして苦労して、それでやっと人も使って安定した状態になったときに、追出されたみたいね。42年ね。1942年。¹
WU: 42年。
MA: そう。それで、政府か市役所かどこかから呼び出しが来て、それで行ってみたら3日後に家族を連れてどこどこに集合しなさい。立ち退きだと。すぐ寝耳に水みたいな感じで。それで3日間だから、財産処分とかお金を出すとか、そういうこともできないから、ただもう、家族中の着るものをトランク、スーツケースに入れて持てるだけ持って。どこに行ったのかは知らないけど、とにかくどこどこに集合という感じで。それでそこから(移送された)

¹ 石新家は、1942年4月12日の米軍輸送船アカディア号あるいは1942年6月12日のシャウニー号で移送された。

MA: Just when he got to where he was, after being poor and having hard times and was able to hire people, he was deported. That was in 1942.¹
WU: ’42.
MA: Yes. The city office or some other government agency called him in. When he went in, they told him to evacuate his family and bring them to a certain place in three days. It was like a bolt from the blue. Since three days was not enough to dispose of our property and to withdraw money, all we could do was pack whatever clothes we could in our trunks and suitcases. I don’t know where they told us to go to a certain place. Then, from there (we were transferred).

¹ Editor’s Note: The Ishiara Family was transported on a U.S.Army Transport ship, either the Acadia on 4/12/1942 or the Shawnee on 6/12/1942.

6/8/1999 – Lima, Peru
Interviewer: Stephanie Moore

Spanish Language Audio Clip

AK: Me acuerdo que fuimos con mi mamá, con todos los chicos a la embajada española que quedaba justamente, la agencia estaba a dos cuadras nada mas, ahí cerca nomás en la Plaza San Martín ahí estaba la embajada española. Entonces fuimos a la embajada española. Mi mamá se presentó con la carta, le dijeron que sí y nos vieron como estábamos, todos mal vestidos, algunos sin zapatos. Así habíamos viajado porque no teníamos nada, así que nos dijo: “Señora, cómprele ropa a sus hijos aunque sea para que pueda viajar. Tenga para la comida pero sí, mañana o pasado tiene que ir al Callao porque el barco sale temprano”. Y no conocíamos nada así que cómo hacemos. “Coja el tranvía y se llega hasta la Plaza Grau en el Callao, de ahí entra al muelle y se presenta en tal sitio”. Y así lo hizo mi mamá sin conocer a nadie, sin que nadie nos guiara. Nos dejaron solos y así nos embarcamos.

AK: I remember we went with my mom, with all of the kids, to the Spanish Embassy that was just two blocks away, right nearby on the Plaza San Martin. That’s where the Spanish Embassy was. So, we went to the Spanish Embassy. My mom showed up with the letter. They said yes to her and saw our condition—all disheveled, some without shoes. We had traveled like that because we didn’t have anything. So, he said, “Ma’am, buy clothes for your children, at least so you can travel. Here is something for food, but you do have to go to El Callao tomorrow or the day after because the ship sails early.” And we weren’t familiar with anything, so [we asked] what should we do. “Take the trolley and you get to the Plaza Grau in El Callao. From there, go on to the pier and show up at such and such place.” And that’s how my mom did it, without knowing anyone, without anyone guiding us. They left us on our own and that’s how we shipped out.

English Language Audio Clip

BK: Well, I remember that when I first came to Berkeley from camp, I really was not able to smile or laugh from the inside and it took me a while but I still remember that… I don’t know, it was hard and I couldn’t smile, really smile. We were in a different situation and I guess our lifestyle was different from what we were used to. And like I mentioned before, before we were more or less on top of the world, and at this point we just had to bow to everybody it seemed like, so there was [a] little adjustment there. …

BK: No, I do not have any bitter feelings against the United States. More or less, at the beginning, I was treated as an enemy, as a Japanese. So, more or less, we prepared ourselves and we knew that this was war and at wartime everybody tries to defend their own country. So I suppose I just rationalized that we do whatever we have to do and, being that our situation was because of war, I, more or less, accepted it as something that war brought about.

6/8/1999 – Lima, Peru
Interviewer: Stephanie Moore

Spanish Language Audio Clips

Excerpt 1: Apprehension / Deportation

LK: Lo que yo recuerdo es que tenían una orden especial. Ingresaron a la casa, y veía que había un movimiento de soldados y policías, algo así recuerdo. Y un poco a la fuerza. Se veía que se lo iban llevando a mi padre fuera de casa, porque él estaba en cama, estaba un poco mal con la ciática pero igual, no valió. Por otro lado había una defensa que pusieron de que el abogado de la familia era el doctor Mario Alzadora Valdez, un connotado abogado. Pero lamentablemente no se pudo hacer nada y fue uno de los primeros que estaba en la lista. Tuvimos, que lo que yo recuerdo es que de ahí partimos de la casa hacia el puerto del Callao. Y en el puerto del Callao, estuvimos en el barco y veía cada vez más distante a mis abuelos, levantando la mano diciendo adiós, y veía a mi madre llorando, porque ella sí sabía. Yo no comprendía qué es lo que estaba pasando en ese momento. Y la verdad es que ahora, que ya tengo más años, ahora comprendo que la dirección era otra, era ir al campo de concentración.

LK: What I remember is that they had a special order. They went into the house and saw that there was soldier and police activity. I remember something like that. And a little bit by force, you could see that they were taking my father outside of the house, because he was in bed. His sciatica was bothering him a little, but they didn’t care. On the other hand, there was a defense made by the family attorney that was Dr. Mario Alzadora Valdez, a [respected] attorney. But unfortunately, nothing could be done and he was one of the first on the list. We had to—what I remember is that we left the house to the Port of Callao. And in the Port of Callao, we were on the ship and I saw my grandparents increasingly in the distance, raising their hand, saying goodbye. And I saw my mother crying, because she didn’t know. I didn’t understand what was happening at that time. And the truth is that now, that I am older, I understand that we were heading somewhere else. It was the concentration camp.

Excerpt 2: Reflections

LK: Yo creo que, a mi parecer, puede ser cambiante con los que han estado en Crystal City y son mayores, en eso ha habido bastante tranquilidad. Había una secuencia, en el sentido de un buen control. No creo que ha habido, ningún problema ha tenido la policía, la guardia o cómo le llaman ustedes allá, la policía, ¿no? No ha tenido ningún problema en cuanto a lo que se trata de control porque había bastante orden, había bastante respeto, se, y sabían que estaban en guerra y desde ese ángulo no he visto que algún japonés o hijo de japoneses, en caso mío, jóvenes, se hayan rebelado, no he visto. Ha habido una tranquilidad, una paz, en ese sentido. Pero siempre se siente un ser humano cuando está totalmente enrejado, son los límites de una persona, se siente enjaulado, se siente bastante pesimista. Se ve que los mayores querían solucionar para, quizás, tener otros términos, a pesar de que es guerra, pero el estar bajo un área totalmente limitado a cualquier persona, creo, le hace sentir mal. Y por otro lado sabiendo que está en un territorio, quizás en ese momento se le puede llamar neutral, pero es un territorio norteamericano, en la que si nosotros, al menos, no hemos sufrido grandes penurias como otros campos de concentración. Sí hemos tenido el corte de la libertad, porque nos lleva de un sitio donde hemos estado totalmente tranquilos, libres, nos llevan a un lugar totalmente manejado por los Estados Unidos, y como si nosotros fuéramos alguien o una familia que hubiéramos hecho algo totalmente negativo. Pero siento que no siendo así. ¿Qué es la guerra? Me pregunto a veces: ¿La guerra es para poder, de una u otra forma, probar algunos armamentos? ¿La guerra es para decir que uno es más fuerte que otro? La guerra es para decir: “Yo soy el que mando en el mundo? ¿Bajo qué perspectiva?” Yo creo que eso sería bajo el punto de vista netamente humano, pero desde el punto de vista de Dios, yo creo que es un atropello, un atropello total a las personas que hemos estado en cualquier campo de concentración, porque nos ha restringido nuestra libertad. Y eso yo creo que debería, no solamente lo que se llame, lo que es indemnización que estamos comentando en este momento. La indemnización yo lo tomaría como una parte que los Estados Unidos quizás quiere, quisiera o quiere reponer o tratar de disponer el mal que han causado: “Con dinero lo pago.” Yo creo que hay otros valores mucho más importantes, en la que yo creo más adelante el Señor va a juzgar.

LK: I think that, in my opinion, it could be different from those that have been in Crystal City and are older. In that sense, there was a lot of calm. There was a sequence, in the sense, of good control. I don’t think there has been—the police didn’t have any trouble, the guards or what do you call them there, the police, right? There has been no trouble as far as control because there was a lot of order. There was a lot of respect and they knew they were at war, and from that perspective, I have not seen some Japanese person or children of a Japanese person—in my case, youth—rebel. I haven’t seen that. There has been calm, peace, in that regard. But regardless, you feel, as a human being when you’re completely fenced in, those are a person’s limits. You feel caged. You feel very pessimistic. You could see that older people wanted a solution—maybe, to have other terms in spite of the war. But when you are in an area that is completely limited for everyone, I think, it makes you feel bad, And also, knowing that you are in a territory—maybe at that time you could call it neutral—but it is an American territory, in which we at least have not suffered great hardship like in other concentration camps. Our freedom has been thwarted because we were taken from a place where we were completely calm, free, and taken into a place completely managed by the United States, as if we were someone or a family that had done something completely negative. But I feel it wasn’t like that. What is war? I ask myself sometimes. Is war to be able to, in one way or another, test some weapons? Is war to be able to say that one is stronger than the other? Is war to say, “I am the one in charge of the world”? From what perspective? I think that would be from a purely human point of view, but from the point of view of God, I think that is a violation, a complete violation against people that have been in any concentration camp because they have restricted our freedom. And I think that it should, not just what you call, what is compensation that we are talking about right now. I would take compensation as part of what the United States wants, would like or wants to compensate, or repair the harm it has caused. “I’ll pay with money.” I think there are other values that are much more important, and that later on, the Lord will judge.

6/21/1999 — Lima, Peru
Interviewer: Stephanie Moore

Spanish Language Audio Clip

LM: De la guerra, cuando vinieron a mi casa los investigadores. Era una cosa horrible cuando llegaron ellos, nos gritaban: “¡Ustedes lo han escondido, ahí está!” Abrían las puertas, con qué desesperación, nosotras en un rincón paraditas desesperada porque nunca habíamos visto una cosa así. Desesperado, entonces mi cuñado no quería ir, se iba a donde unos amigos a esconderse. Total, ya pasó creo como un mes, ya no podía y vino una noche, de noche nomás venía, tarde de noche a vernos a nosotros, porque él tenía tres hijos, estaban chicos y yo como mayor, como hija. Entonces venía en la noche y decía: “Ya no puedo más, mejor me presento,” y se presentó, pues porque era horrible cuando venían, habrían las puertas, tocaban, era una desesperación para nosotros, vivíamos asustados hasta que ya él se presentó. Entonces le dijo: “Sabe que yo tengo mi cuñada, me la tengo que llevar porque si yo la dejo en un colegio, en un internado acá y si no regreso, ella se quedará allá”. Entonces me tuvo que llevar a mí. Yo me fui ya con él a Texas, a la concentración.

LM: About the war, when they came to my house, the investigators. It was a terrible thing when they came and were yelling at us, “You are hiding him. He’s in there!” They would open the doors with such desperation. We were standing in a corner, desperate because we had never seeing anything like it. Desperate. So then my brother-in-law didn’t want to go. He would go hide with some friends. Well, it passed. I think one month he wasn’t able to and he came one night. He would just come at night, late at night, to see us because he had three children. They were young and, since I was the eldest daughter, he would come at night and say: “I can’t take it anymore. I should just show up.” And he showed up because it was terrible when they came, opening doors, knocking. For us, it was despair. We lived in fear until he finally showed up. So he said, “You know, I have my sister-in-law. I have to take her with me because, if I leave her in a boarding school here and I don’t come back, she will stay there.” So he had to take me. I left with him to Texas, to the concentration [camp].

6/8/1999 — Lima, Peru
Interviewer: Stephanie Moore

Spanish Language Audio Clips

Excerpt 1: Apprehension / Deportation

RN: La misma época que mi esposo. A él se lo llevaron el 6 de enero, después se fueron recogiendo en camión a Chimbote, de Chimbote, Trujillo, Chiclayo, así iban recogiendo y último llegaron a Talara, y de Talara lo embarcaron en barco y de ahí a camionada, porque en ese tiempo solamente eran solteros, hombres solteros, no iban familiares.

SM: ¿Ese fue el primer barco?

RN: En el que se lo llevaron, se llevaron en cantidad esa vez.

CS: Después de medio año. Nosotros fuimos ya, después de medio año que se llevaron a mi padre. ¿No?

RN: Eso. Hicieron gestiones en el campo, vengan las esposas y las hijas, hicieron bastantes ¿cómo se llama? Gestiones y de ahí iban de a pocos. Pero eso sí era una aventura, se tenían que presentar en esa época en el Consulado de España. Ahí toditos de los japoneses se encargaron de la embajada de España. Y ahí se iba uno a inscribir o a hacer gestiones, entonces “en tal fecha va a llegar un barco, a tal hora se tienen que ir allá”. Así fue.

RN: [They took my father] [a]bout the same time as my husband. They took him on January 6, after that they went in a truck to Chimbote—from Chimbote to Trujillo, Chiclayo, like that—picking up [people] until they arrived in Talara. And from Talara they put them on a boat and from there in trucks. Because that time they only took single men, only men without their families.

SM: Was that the first boat?

RN: On the one they took him, they took a great number that time.

CS: After half a year, we went. Half a year after that, they took my father. No?

RN: That’s right. They made arrangements in [order to go to] the camp, the wives and daughters, they did a lot of… how do you call it?…arrangements, and from there … people went, a few at a time. But it was an adventure. [In] those days, people had to go to the Spanish Consulate. The Spanish Consulate was in charge of all Japanese people. And one had to go register there and do the paperwork, and then “on such date a boat is going to arrive, at such time, you have to go there”. That’s how it was.

Excerpt 2: Resettlement

CS: Forzosamente. Sabían que no teníamos pasaporte, que no tenían esto que lo otro. ¿No?

SM: ¿Cómo les parecía que las llamaron “ilegales” en los Estados Unidos?

RN: Hicimos juicio delante de un juzgado. Si a nosotros nos han traído a la fuerza, yo… o sea ¿por qué me querían botar a Japón? Es de Hiroshima papá, ¿Cómo vamos a ir allá si ha caído la bomba? No hay comida. No tenemos casa.¹ Yo soy peruana, y quiero regresar a Perú. Entonces, bueno, aceptó que sean familias peruanas o nacionalizadas. Nosotros no llegamos en esa [categoría]. Entonces en el segundo conversatorio, ahora familia de esposa peruana, eso sí con partida de nacimiento. “Vale.” “Mejor, lleva todos tus papeles”,—mi partida de nacimiento, bautizo, matrimonio, el de ella era nacimiento. Cuatro papeles me los traje. Llevé y eso me valió.

¹ Nota del editor: Desde este punto y las siguientes siete oraciones, la calidad del sonido de la entrevista está afectada por los ladridos de un perro y el tráfico en el fondo.

RN: We didn’t go to the country voluntarily. We went against our will.

CS: By force. They knew that we didn’t have a passport, that we didn’t have this and that. No?

SM: How did you feel to be called “illegal” in the United States?

RN: We filed a lawsuit in a courtroom. If we were brought here by force, I…then why do they want to throw me to Japan? My father is from Hiroshima. How are we going to go there if they just dropped the bomb? There’s no food. We don’t have a house.¹ I am Peruvian and want to go back to Peru. Then, well, they accepted families that were Peruvian or naturalized. We weren’t in that one [category]. Then in the second meeting, this time families with a Peruvian wife—but had to have a birth certificate. “OK”. “You better bring all your papers”—my certificate of birth, baptism, marriage, her birth certificate. Four papers I brought with me. I took them, and that worked for me.

¹ Editor’s Note: From this point and the next seven sentences, the sound quality of the interview is affected by a dog barking and traffic noise in the background.

3/23/1999 — Lima, Peru
Interviewer: Wesley Ueunten

Japanese Language Audio Clip

AT: そうですね、あの頃はでもみんなもう、戦争が始まっていましたからね。危ないってことは分かっていましたね。でもみんなやっぱり逃げ隠れしたりしてね。ずいぶんブラックリストにもありましたけど、その中から大分残ってましたからね。隠れたり、それに運が良くて連れていかれなかった人もいました。…

AT: その瞬間のことはあまり覚えていませんけどね。牢屋じゃないな、なんて言うんだろ。プリズンじゃないね。みんな、集められたところに。

WU: ジェイルみたい？

AT: そう。ジェイルみたい。その連れていかれた人たち。そこに母と一緒に妹と。食べ物を持って行ったりね。いつも運んで行くとね。それは、はっきりと覚えています。

WU: 何日間かそこに？

AT: ええ。私たちは、いや私たちというよりかは、父親は、荷物を、アメリカに連れて行く―アメリカっては言わないんだけど、自分たちは国にもういられないから、連れて行くから、バッグに必要なもの入れてって。そうやって言われて母が用意して。あの時は、ご存知かもしれませんけど、13回くらいこちらから連れていかれたのね、船。私たちは―ノートに書いてるけどね、あの時は300人以上いってましたね。

AT: Yes, it was. Since the war had started, everyone knew that there was danger. Some people ran and hid. There were many people on the blacklist, but many of them still remained. Some hid and were lucky enough to not go. …

AT: Well, I don’t remember the exact moment that well, but I remember that people were put in kind of like prison. I don’t know the word to call it. Everyone was taken to that place.

WU: Was it a jail?

AT: Yes, it was like a jail. They put the people they picked there. My mother, sister, and I brought food there. We always brought food there. I remember that clearly.

WU: Was he there for several days?

AT: Well, we brought my father’s things to him. He told us that they wouldn’t be able to stay and would be taken away somewhere—he didn’t say America, just somewhere. He told us to pack his things and come back that evening. My mother prepared everything. Well, as you know, there were about thirteen groups that were taken away from here by ship. We were on the—It’s written in my notes, but I think about 300 people were with us.

6/5/1999 — Lima, Peru
Interviewer: Stephanie Moore

Spanish Language Audio Clip

AS: Y ahí mi papá nunca nos escribió nunca supimos de él. Ni la fecha en que murió, ni adónde se fue, nada, nada totalmente.

YS: Y él ya no quiso venirse como había perdido una pierna, ya no quiso regresar así al Perú.

SM: ¿Y al despedirse de ustedes, cuando ya se iba para Piura?

AS: Mi papá ha sido el año 41, casi ya a fin de año que se vino a despedir de nosotros. Más o menos en el mes de diciembre, así.

SM: Entonces, ¿más o menos durante el tiempo de Navidad?

AS: Ajá, pero no pasó Navidad con nosotros. Se fue antes.

SM: ¿Y cómo fue ese último día con ustedes porque eran tres niños, ¿no?

AS: Claro.

SM: ¿Ustedes se acuerdan cómo les estaba afectando?

AS: Claro sentíamos mucha pena, y ahí se nos salían las lágrimas, llorisqueando, y ya ahí no lo vimos más.

SM: ¿Y qué pensaba ese día? ¿Qué les decía él a ustedes?

AS: Bueno, lo único que él nos dijo, pues es que ya se iba y que iba a ser bien difícil volvernos a ver. Es todo lo que nos dijo y se despidió. Nos abrazó, como siempre que nos hacía cariños y nada más. “Va a ser difícil que nos veamos no sé si nos volveremos a ver”. Nos dijo así, nada más.

AS: And my father never wrote us from there. We never heard from him—not the date he died, nor where he went—nothing, nothing at all.

YS: He didn’t want to come back. Since he had lost a leg, he didn’t want to return to Peru.

SM: And when he said goodbye to you…when he was going to Piura?

AS: For my father it was 1941, almost at the end of the year. It was December, more or less.

SM: So, it was during Christmas time, more or less?

AS: Yes, but he didn’t spend Christmas with us. He left before.

SM: So how was this last day with you? Because you were three children, no?

AS: Yes.

SM: Do you remember how it was affecting you?

AS: Sure, we were very sad, and tears were coming out. We were crying and, from then on, we never saw him again.

SM: And what was he thinking that day? What did he say to you?

AS: Well, the only thing that he told us was that he was leaving, and that it was going to be very difficult to see us again. That’s everything that he said to us and he said goodbye. He embraced us. He was affectionate to us. That’s all. “It’s going to be difficult for us to see one another. I don’t know if we’ll see each other again,” he said. Nothing else.

3/25/1999 — Japanese Culture Center, Lima, Peru
Interviewer: Wesley Ueunten

Japanese Language Audio Clip

NT: だったと思いますよ。日本に着いたでしょ。ペルーで食べ物に困るとかは絶対になかったんですよね。アメリカに行っても食べ物には困っていないんですよ。だけど日本に着いたとたんに食べるものが無いわけですよね。私たちのように長屋、収容所に入って引き上げした人たちは、そこで毎日食事はあるんですけど、いつも列を作ってあれして。食べるのがほら―

WU: 芋とかですか？

NT: たぶん。お米どんなものだったか、芋とか混ざったもので。お汁も何もなくてそのまま、水みたいな感じ。そんなの食べたことないでしょ、こっちでは。だからそれを食べるのに、うちのお祖母さんがとても苦労したみたいですよ、私にご飯をあげるたびに。だから、こちらから行った人たちは、そういう面でね。でも今考えたら私たちはまだ良かったわけですよ。というのは、アメリカから引き上げてるから、衣類、着る物は十分に持っているわけですね。だけどサイパンとかフィリピンとかの南洋から帰った人たち、向こう暑い場所でしょ、着る物が無いわけでしょ、日本の12月の冬。食堂にご飯を食べに行くときとかは毛布を掛けていくの。そういう姿がまだ焼き付いています、私は。…

NT: 戦後私たち沖縄で帰ってるでしょ。いろんなことがあったんですよね、帰っても。夜もゆっくり休めない。ということは、夜、アメリカ、アメリカ人だけでなくてフィリピンの人も一緒にいるし、兵隊の中に色んな国の人がいるでしょ。そういう人たちが夜、出てきて、部落に入って、女の人たちを犯すというの、そういう事件もあったんですよ。

WU: 宜野湾に？

NT: 私たちの、そのあれでですよ。

WU: 普天間の近くで？

NT: はい。ということは、志真志は大謝名(おおじゃな)[沖縄県宜野湾市]にちかいですよね。宇地泊(うじどまり)[沖縄県宜野湾市]とか大謝名。宇地泊とか大謝名は、アメリカ兵の部隊があったわけですよ。近いから、向こうから夜、夜中民家に入ってきてそういうことをしたんですよ。それは多分わからんと思う。

WU: 話しは聞くんですけど。

NT: 今だったら裁判とかであれですけど、その時は泣き寝入りですよ。そういうこともあったんですよ。 …

NT: そうですよね。納得いかないんですよね。どうして2万ドルが5千ドルだけ？最後まで残った人が苦労しているわけですよね。戦後日本に行った人はかなり苦労してると思うんですよ。食べ物にしても。沖縄に来ても食べ物ないでしょ。車に使うオイル、あれまで食べましたよ私たちは。

WU: そうですか。あれで揚げ物？

NT: あれで揚げたり、炒め物したり。戦後の沖縄はそんなの食べてますよ。内地はね。日本は食べていないと思います。だけど沖縄はみんな食べています、それは。オイルまで食べたというのは初めて聞くんじゃないですか？

NT: Yes, I think so. I remember when we got to Japan. Here in Peru, we didn’t have any worries about food. Even when we went to America, we didn’t have any worries about food. But, soon after we got to Japan, we could not find enough to eat. We were put in a nagaya , a camp for the people who came back from other countries. There we had to queue up for every meal. We had―

WU: Potatoes?

NT: I guess. I don’t remember how the rice was cooked. I think it was mixed with sweet potatoes. The soup didn’t have anything in it, so it was like water. We had never eaten anything like that here. My great-grandmother really had a difficult time feeding me. People from here had a hard time from that aspect. But if you think about it, we had it easier. That is, since we had come from America, we had sufficient clothing. But the people from Saipan, the Philippines, and other South Pacific areas didn’t come with enough clothes because it was hot there. It was winter in Japan in December. So, they used to go to the cafeteria to eat covered in their blankets. That scene is still burnt into my memory. …

NT: That’s right. After the war, when we got back to Okinawa, there were all kinds of things happening. Even after we got back. Even at night, we couldn’t rest comfortably. That was because, at night, Americans and non-Americans…there were Filipinos among the soldiers…I guess there were people from various countries. They would come out to our village for women to…how do I say it … to violate. There were incidents like that.

WU: In Ginowan?

NT: In our village.

WU: You were near Futemma?

NT: Shimashi was near Oojyana [in Ginowan City, Okinawa]. Ujidomari [in Ginowan City, Okinawa] and Oojyana. These areas had American army divisions. It was close, so they would come from there at night and enter civilians’ houses for women. I guess no one knows about things like that.

WU: I’ve heard stories like that.

NT: Nowadays, one can go to court, but back then all people could do was weep in silence. Things like that happened. …

NT: … The people who survived to the end are the ones who suffered. For example, the people who went to Japan after the war really suffered. There was nothing to eat. When we got to Okinawa, there was nothing to eat. Really. We even eat oil, motor oil.

WU: You did. Did you use it for deep frying?

NT: We deep-fried and stir-fried with it. After the war, that’s what we ate in Okinawa. I think in Naichi [mainland], in Japan, people didn’t eat it. But in Okinawa, everyone did. This must be the first time you heard about people eating motor oil, isn’t it?

4/10/1994 — East Bay Free Methodist Church, Richmond, California, USA
Interviewers: Leslie Katsura and Grace Shimizu

English Language Audio Clips

Excerpt 1 – Apprehension / Deportation

LY: Yes, I forgot. It was January 6, 1943, at night, that detectives came to my—to our home in the hacienda, in the Hacienda Tumán, and took my father to jail. It was late at night and I was in the city of Chiclayo. The next morning my mother came to Chiclayo, and there was a lot of buzzing around, and everybody was so busy making lunch—making food, preparing food. And there was a lot of buzzing around and I just—I was asking everybody what’s going on, but everybody was so busy… And then I remember when we all gathered at a corner, and approximately twenty men were put into a truck, and we were saying goodbye to them, … and I said, “Where are they going?” And nobody could tell me. We didn’t know where they were being taken. And my father was always going on business trips, so I was used to seeing him going off to business trips. But I always expected him back and he always came back in two, three days, often with a little gift. But this time he wasn’t going as though he was going on a business trip. His clothing was totally different and all the men were going in this truck. So, it was very, very different. So unusual for him to take off like that. And I asked—I asked, “Where are they going?” And the mothers were trying to restrain from crying and I remember they [the men] got onto the truck—and before they went on their truck, …one of the things that the Japanese people do in … time of victory or in… encouragement also, or in time of celebration as well—they have their hail. … [T]hey say, “Banzai!” ¹ And they say, “Banzai!” and they started singing and they left. The mothers were, you know, sobbing. It was just—and then I found out that we didn’t know where he was going or if we were to ever see him again. So, then it really struck me….I remember that day very well.

¹ Editor’s Note: Banzai is a traditional Japanese exclamation meaning “ten thousand years [of life].”

Excerpt 2 – Transport / Inspection

LY: When we arrived in New Orleans—that’s where we landed. I remember we had to … get inspection. We had to go through inspection of our personal property and I remember having to watch our property, our trunks. I don’t know where my mother was going but, you know—but most of these people that were on the ship were mothers and children. And I was told to watch my trunk. As I watched other people go through their inspection, I remember seeing things—these inspectors taking things out of their suitcases and trunks and throwing them overboard. And I remember the cartons and things floating on the water. And I was fearful that the inspector was going to take my—I was able to bring one thing that I liked and that was a doll, and I was afraid that he was going to take my doll and throw it overboard, but fortunately he didn’t.

Excerpt 3 – Internment

LY: Well, I was only seven and a half and probably the most important thing to me at that time was being with my family. I think just being with the family was secure enough and the idea that my father was going to join us. But I remember seeing these cabins. They were bare. … [I]t was just bare ground and these little cabins lined up and, in a way, I think my heart kind of sank. (Laughs) You know, I thought, “Oh, we’re gonna live in this kind of place.” And, at first, we thought we had the whole cabin,… and then we found out that we only had one side of the cabin, which was one big room. And then we had in between two rooms, in one cabin, … a little toilet and a basin that … was the connecting room between the two. We had to share that one. And as far as taking [a] shower and things like that, we had to go to the community bathhouse, which was shared by about eighty families. We had showers there—open shower stalls—and we had [the] laundry room where we had the big tub [so] we could do our wash. They also had these scrub boards… but that was another building altogether. And we had to—it’s like walking—for some people, it was like walking a block to get to the bathhouse. For us, it was little bit closer. We were about half a block away. But we went into this room, and we saw the cots there, and it was just, you know, a letdown, I guess. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was certainly not the kind of livelihood that we had in Peru. (Laughs)