Interviews
The hardships of life in Japan during World War II
Well, of course, the Japanese life was so different. The weather was so different. And I came down with a -- it was, I think, within a year -- I came down with pleurisy and it's called the wet serous, I mean, I had a lot of water collect in my pleura. And the doctors were scarce but anyway, I was hardly able to breathe. And I remember I totally lost, lost my appetite. I wasn't eating, my mother was really concerned. And the doctor did come to draw some serous fluid from my pleura and it kinda helped me breathe. But everything was black market. You couldn't buy an egg, you couldn't buy food, even if you had the money. We didn't have the money, but even if you had the money you couldn't buy.
So, I remember my mother came back and with her hachimaki (headband) she had this one egg cradled in her hachimaki and she says, Marion, Marion, look what I found, look what I got you. (When I was well), I could eat, sit down and eat three eggs at one sitting, but here, this precious egg, she was so proud, she was, she got this egg for me. She said, How do you want me to prepare it for you? Boiled egg, soft boiled egg, fried egg? And I didn't even want that.
So I thought, you know, I mean, these are the loving thoughts that you just... I haven't forgotten. Well, I, I'm, I don't know how it ended up being, but anyway, I remember that that's how scarce food items were.
Date: August 3 & 4, 2003
Location: Washington, US
Interviewer: Alice Ito
Contributed by: Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project.
Explore More Videos
Prom during the war
(b.1926) Democratic politician and three-term Governor of Hawai'i
Life in camp as teenager
(1926 - 2012) Scholar and professor of anthropology. Leader in the establishment of ethnic studies as an academic discipline
Being ordered to keep a diary that was later confiscated, ostensibly by the FBI
Hawaiian Nisei who served in World War II with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.
Helping soldiers
An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.
Fun at concentration camp
Senshin Buddhist Temple minister and co-founder of Kinnara Taiko.
Father as prisoner of war in hospital
(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.
Patriotism versus loyalty
(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.
Postcards to Nisei soldiers
(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.
Hiding what happened in camp
(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.
Camp as a positive thing
(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.
Rounding up Issei and Nikkei
(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.
Discover Nikkei Updates
See exciting new changes to Discover Nikkei. Find out what’s new and what’s coming soon!
Follow us @discovernikkei for new site content, program announcements, and more!