We applied for a travel permit to go to eastern Oregon and successfully were able to do that. But after 2 years of farming, we were pretty well established and my brother Yosh decided to go to school. And so he left after a couple of years and went to University of Michigan. And then I also wanted to get back to school and I applied to the University of Wisconsin. This was back in 1944. I was…had some second thoughts about leaving the farm because I felt responsible and we had something like 30 acres of onions to harvest and some potatoes to harvest after that and sugar beets to harvest after that. I just didn’t feel right in leaving, but my father finally talked me into going so I left just a week before the school started. And I can remember taking the train from Ontario to Chicago to Madison and I had…I carried just one suitcase. That was my sole possession.
Date: December 6, 2005
Location: Oregon, US
Interviewer: Akemi Kikumura Yano
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum
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