“All I have dear to me is in the camp”

Growing up with both Japanese and American influences Starting to get angry Finding out Roosevelt wanted Japan to attack Strictly American, but sympathize with Japan Parents expected to be taken by the FBI Angry about the mistranslations of his father’s testimonies Not able to go to Manzanar on a furlough 525 Quartermaster Corps Fort McClellan soldiers “All I have dear to me is in the camp” Try to be a bridge between both countries Common Grounds Interpretation of Nikkei The Meaning of “Nikkei” (Japanese)

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It was a G2 - of the Intelligence - officer once interviewed me and point blank asked me, he asked me a lot of questions but, he says, "if Japan were to invade the United States, which side would you fight for?” And I told him point blank, everything I have dear to me is in the camp, that nothing else I have except within the camp, so I’ll fight for whatever side is defending the camp. And I told him that if circumstances were such that Japan was invading the United States came, I could just picture the local population rising in anger, I could picture the guards from the towers machine gunning my friends and family. I says, if they were shooting against the Japanese, defending the camp, I’ll fight for the U.S. side, if they were shooting my friends, I’ll fight for the Japanese side, cause that’s all I have left to fight for. So he didn’t like my answer. [laughs]

Date: March 25, 2005
Location: California, US
Interviewer: Sojin Kim
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

World War II