Interviews
Grandfather's interrogations during World War II
It was clearly to me like most of the incarceration it was economics. He was a business leader and the Kibei thing was a huge part of it, the fact that he was educated there. I think there was also some confusion whether was he was Issei or Nisei because of that, in coming back to Hawaii from Japan because after Sand Island (and he spent several weeks there), they sent him on a tour of US Army Interrogation centers. I think he went to Wisconsin, Louisiana, somewhere in Arizona, before he came back to Hawaii.
Nobody never said anything about that, the only thing I remember my grandmother saying was that he came back thirty pounds lighter then when he left. And again these were interrogations. I’m sure they woke him up in the middle of the night, the whole bit, trying to figure out something, some tie to Japan. Anyway when he came back in Hawaii, later in the year of ’42, probably October/November, he told my grandmother that “for certain they’re gonna send me back to one of these concentration camps because they still considered me a threat.”
Date: April 25, 2018
Location: California, US
Interviewer: John Esaki
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum
Explore More Videos
Memories of dusty conditions at Minidoka incarceration camp
(b. 1923) Nisei from Washington. Resisted draft during WWII.
Living in Japan during the war, preparing for U.S. bombings
(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.
Neighbor took care of hotel business during the World War II
(1918-2023) Nisei Japanese kabuki dancer
Family life in a Japanese Canadian internment camp in Slocan
(b. 1920) Incarcerated during World War II. Active member of the Japanese Canadian community
The reason to stay in Japan after his third year
Japanese American Creative designer living in Japan
Institutionalization as a bad aspect of camp
(1924-2018) Researcher, Activist
The Kona Island community
(1923-2011) Lawyer, MIS veteran, founder of Francis and Sarah Sogi Foundation
Meeting Japanese Americans from the mainland in MIS
(1923-2011) Lawyer, MIS veteran, founder of Francis and Sarah Sogi Foundation
Visiting family in Japan
(1923-2011) Lawyer, MIS veteran, founder of Francis and Sarah Sogi Foundation
Being stationed in Japan during the American occupation
(1923-2011) Lawyer, MIS veteran, founder of Francis and Sarah Sogi Foundation