Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1684/

Mother was ordered to speak English during FBI house search

The third agent went through the house, and took down – he went through the kitchen, and I heard all this rattling. He took down all the dishes, apparently, and was looking through the cupboards in the kitchen, and they took down framed pictures off the wall, and tore open the backs of the frame, you know, like – and they rolled up the rug on the...on the floor. Very thorough, you know, examination of the house – searching the house for whatever. We were puzzled, I think. We were sitting there, you know, just completely dumbfounded, I think, that this was going...“What is it that they want from us?”

And after several hours, they left. And in the meantime, my mother came home from church. And she came in the front door - and she had forgotten her keys, so she rang the doorbell, and she came in and said, “Well what’s going on?” you know, in Japanese. And so the guy said, “Don’t talk in Japanese! Talk in English.” And so...and so she was – of course my mother was monolingual at that point, and so she – then she was ordered to sit down with us, and she did. And we couldn’t – she kept on saying, “What – who are these people?” you know, and “What do they want?” and so forth, and she was talking in Japanese, and it was – she was told to shut up. And, you know, “Don’t talk in Japanese. Talk in English,” and so we didn’t – we sat there very quietly for a long, long time.


searches and seizures World War II

Date: August 7, 2018

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Sharon Yamato

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Mitsuye Yamada was born in 1923 while her mother was visiting family in Japan. She grew up in Seattle, Washington until World War II when they were sent to Minidoka, Idaho. A Quaker volunteer helped her to leave camp by finding her a job in Cincinnati, Ohio. Yamada attended the University of Cincinnati and earned a BA from New York University and an MA from the University of Chicago.

She was able to become a naturalized U.S. citizen following passage of the McCarran-Walter Immigration Act and received her citizenship in 1955.

She was a constant writer from the time she was young, and her first book of poetry taken from her writings in Minidoka, Camp Notes and Other Poems, was published in 1976. She started teaching and published more books after a health scare when she was 39 years old.

She helped to start a human rights group in Irvine, California that eventually led to her becoming elected to the Amnesty International Board of Directors in the 1980s and has been active in many human rights causes, especially known for her activism for woman's rights. (August 2018)

Kochiyama,Yuri

Conditions of assembly centers

(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.

Kochiyama,Yuri

Visit to assembly centers by E. Stanley Jones

(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.

Kochiyama,Yuri

Postcards to Nisei soldiers

(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.

Kochiyama,Yuri

Hiding what happened in camp

(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.

Kochiyama,Yuri

Arrest of father

(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.

Kochiyama,Yuri

Camp as a positive thing

(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.

Kochiyama,Yuri

Mr. Finch, godfather of the 442nd

(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.

Kochiyama,Yuri

Rounding up Issei and Nikkei

(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.

Matsumoto,Roy H.

Mixed emotions after declaration of war on Japan

(b.1913) Kibei from California who served in the MIS with Merrill’s Marauders during WWII.

Matsumoto,Roy H.

Finding work in the assembly center

(b.1913) Kibei from California who served in the MIS with Merrill’s Marauders during WWII.

Matsumoto,Roy H.

Train ride to Jerome Relocation Center

(b.1913) Kibei from California who served in the MIS with Merrill’s Marauders during WWII.

Matsumoto,Roy H.

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.

Matsumoto,Roy H.

Finding his relative among Japanese prisoners

(b.1913) Kibei from California who served in the MIS with Merrill’s Marauders during WWII.

Bain,Peggie Nishimura

Evacuation

(b.1909) Nisei from Washington. Incarcerated at Tule Lake and Minidoka during WWII. Resettled in Chicago after WWII

Bain,Peggie Nishimura

Conditions at Pinedale Assembly Center

(b.1909) Nisei from Washington. Incarcerated at Tule Lake and Minidoka during WWII. Resettled in Chicago after WWII