Interviews
Meeting Hamako in Japan
And I got on a trolley and went to Kamakura and I saw the area there a little bit, and then when I went to get back on the trolley it didn't come, it didn't come. And there were a crowd of Japanese and a couple of soldiers—American GIs—were in this crowd waiting for the trolley and my wife, Hamako was...she had just come from having her eye operated on, she had some trouble with her eye. And she had a patch on it and she looked kind of weird, but I was eager to use my Japanese language so I spoke up to her anyway and at first she was very, you know, stand-off-ishy because good Japanese girls from nice families—which she was from a very high class family there—but I guess she was interested that I could speak the language.
Date: January 26, 2012
Location: California, US
Interviewer: John Esaki, Yoko Nishimura
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum
Explore More Videos
The birth of a novel through a conversation with her nephew
(b. 1934) Writer
Mixed emotions after declaration of war on Japan
(b.1913) Kibei from California who served in the MIS with Merrill’s Marauders during WWII.
Train ride to Jerome Relocation Center
(b.1913) Kibei from California who served in the MIS with Merrill’s Marauders during WWII.
Atmosphere in his Merrill’s Marauders unit when surrounded by Japanese soldiers
(b.1913) Kibei from California who served in the MIS with Merrill’s Marauders during WWII.
Under suspicion after Pearl Harbor
(b. 1924) Political scientist, educator, and administrator from Hawai`i
Family's deportation from Peru to U.S. after the bombing of Pearl Harbor
(1930-2018) Nisei born in Peru. Taken to the United States during WWII.
Conditions aboard U.S. transport ship while being deported from Peru
(1930-2018) Nisei born in Peru. Taken to the United States during WWII.
Ransacking of family home by FBI following the bombing of Pearl Harbor
(b. 1927) Japanese American Nisei. Family voluntarily returned to Japan during WWII.
Witnessing father's arrest through a child's eyes
(b. 1927) Japanese American Nisei. Family voluntarily returned to Japan during WWII.
Participating in military drills in school in Japan during the war
(b. 1927) Japanese American Nisei. Family voluntarily returned to Japan during WWII.
Hearing anti-American war propaganda from a teacher
(b. 1927) Japanese American Nisei. Family voluntarily returned to Japan during WWII.
The hardships of life in Japan during World War II
(b. 1927) Japanese American Nisei. Family voluntarily returned to Japan during WWII.