Interview of Tom Nakashima
May  16, 2017, 7:30  -8:34 pm
1.  How old were you when you were sent to the Merced Assembly Center, and later to Amache?  
TN:	15
2.  Who were your family members who were with you at both places? 
TN:	Father, John Kohei, Mother Aya.   My mother and father were the only ones who came to the US in their family.  Parents were  from Nagasaki-Ken, father was 19 and I guess he was second son in the family so there was nothng for him to stay home;  he came in 1909, she came in 1921.  She was not a picture bride; his uncle fixed him up.   My mother was born in 1896, was about 25 years old when she married.
           My  older sister Ida  later became a doctor after camp; one younger brother, Tyler, born in 1930.  Small family -They had American names, also had Japanese names. Hers was Ikuko and brother was Taira.   My folks gave them English  names when they went to school; my real name is Osamu and I became Tom.  
3.  Where did you and your family live before you were sent to Merced and Amache?
TN	Livingston, CA.  They farmed; my dad was a grape farmer.    Livingston had a farm cooperative.  All its members were from Japan.  They came from all over Japan.  
	How did they learn about the cooperative?
TN:  They came before  the coop formed, he came to Yamato Colony, to work on the Okuye farm. Mr. Okuye was one of the original settlers in Yamato colony in 1907.  No prior farming experience in Japan.  My father's  father was a banker and I think he went broke and went into the shoyu [soy sauce] busines.  Shimabara, was  the town my father grew up in.     Just over mountains from Nagasaki.  They were not affected by the atom bomb in World War II. 
My Father spent 10 years in the U.S.  before he returned to Japan to bring back  my mother.  In those 12 years he did many things.  He studied as a dental tech in Oakland. He didn't like it.  He came back to farm.     I think his English was good enough to study dental tech -but he didn't like it.
4. What was your family doing in that place?  
TN:  At  that time was grape farming,  both raisins and wine and table grapes.  
Who owned the land?
TN:    Japanese at the Yamato Colony were resourceful.  They bought land as a corporation.  Dad did not form a corporation, he used his good friend's name  and called it (corporate name)  #2.   Friend was Japanese, Mr. Andow, who Dad had worked for.  Dad became a land owner this way.  Had 20 acres that upon Tom's return from college,  added 40 acres and had 60 acres total. 
5.  Did you experience any discrimination from non-Japanese neighbors or classmates before you went to the Merced Assembly Center and Amache?  
TN:   Not really, I don't recall. I was ashamed I was poor.  
Were there non-Japanese around? 
TN:   mostly Japanese - met American friends "Okies"  -were good friends.  "Okies" were from Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas.   They looked up to me because I was rich compared to them.   I went to  Livingston Jr and Elementary School, Livingston  High School, I  was a sophomore when evacuated.  In HS, class was mixed, 1/4 Japanese : whites mostly - not too many Mexicans in HS at that time.  Most were native Californians, not Okies.
6.What do you remember most about the Merced Assembly Center?   
I was too young to work, they wouldn't pay me at 15, so I volunteered to help the  Rec Dept - tagging along with the older guys. We set up the baseball fields,  can't remember what else - it was tied to recreation.  I was not athletic - just wanted something to do.
7.  What do you remember about the trip to Amache? 
In old train; had to pull shades down, kinda cramped; at the Mojave Desert, said we could go out - I think food was alright
How long to get to Amache?
3 days and 3 nights. We were sidetracked for every other train; we were not high priority.
When you got to Amache, what was it like?  
TN:  Summer, windy, dusty - sandy - built barracks up, winter time cold, windy, dusty, couldn't keep dust out of  the barracks.  We were given the larger rooms because of 2  parents and 3 children; Block 9H, barrack 3 E.  
What was in the room?
TN:    cot, pot belly stove, 1 light bulb in the middle.  My dad made curtains out of sheets to partition it off.  For furniture we fixed up old crates and boxes.  We made shelves and things- picked up scrap wood.  
What tools did you have? 
TN	not much.  Got there In August, we started school in October - they were still constructing, still building the camp .   I don't remember what we did until school started,  might have roamed around.
High School, it was not a bad experience, I was interested in agriculture and we went to work half day on the farm.  The school had its own farm.  Classes in the morning, worked on the farm in the afternoon.  Academically didn't do well, but I loved agriculture I did well in agriculture-  it was very practical.  Our teachers:  - main guy was hakujiin [Caucasian] and Japanese assistants.  The teachers treated us well; I had a favorite lady teacher, I kept in touch until she died a couple of years ago, like a second mother.  She lost her first husand before Amache, she remarried , had  a son , but new husband died soon.  She came out to see us in Livingston  a time or two; her son visited us a month ago - she moved around a lot , settled in Colorado Springs.  She was born in Montana - a real fine person.  Kathy Stegner was her name. After camp, she became Kathy Odom.  
When we left Amache, she wrote to every student!  I applied to get into Davis UC - they didn't want to take me  because of poor grades in camp, she convinced them they  should take me and I got in.  Studied agriculture at Davis - it was an Ag school
8.  What do you remember most about Amache?  
TN	Mostly the Agriculture program we were in; we were kept busy, didn't have time to be fooling around.  
 What did your parents do?  
TN	Dad was a janitor at  the Admin Bldg and mother worked in the kitchen
Were they paid? 
TN	 Yes, Dad got  $12 a month and my mother less than that.
8.  When did you leave Amache?  
TN	February 1944,  I graduated high school  mid-term.   I went to Iowa to work on a farm.  I just turned 17.  I went to  Des Moines.   I went to the northern part of Iowa but eventually I got a job at the Cross Farm.   The Quakers  had a hostel there where I stayed while looking for a job.  They were good to me.   I worked for Joe and Wade Cross, who had a general farm.  I found the job through the  WRA office in  Des Moines, I was told there were plenty of jobs.   It  was a general farm-- corn, soy beans, hay, pigs, cows, chickens  I had experience from doing farm work in Camp and worked hard, I was well prepared.
How long did you stay?  
TN	I was in Iowa for four months, then contracted polio.  I was just ready to enroll at Iowa State, got polio.  I was in the hospital one week and they said my fever broke.  The  Quakers housed me at the Hostel for four months, recuperating.  A  public health nurse came daily, and I got the Sister Kenny treatment, I was never paralyzed - so I came out of it.  They said  I was not using proper muscles to walk; I had to retrain my muscles.  My dad was released from camp and came to Iowa to help me recuperate.  He was with  me for three months.
They opened the  West coast in January 1945.  In February, I  came back to California to work for Mr. Andow who I had worked for previously. I was 17 years old, 18 .  My parents were still in camp but came back a few months later and worked for Andows in 1945-1946. The home we occupied before the War was in shambles, there was a ranch next door owned by Japanese who decided not to return, they went to NY with  their daughter, so that came up for sale, so we purchased that 40 acres with the house and I am there right now.  I graduated in February  1947 and started farming.  It was  grapes then, later peaches, sweet potatoes and almonds.  Right now it's all  almonds; we lease out our peaches to someone else to farm/manage.
We're still in the Yamato colony.  It is the same geographically,  but only a handful of Japanese now.  The co-op we belong to, Livingston Farmers Association (LFA), consists of  170 to  180 members, mostly not Japanese.  Well run cooperative, very profitable.  Everybody has a vote, regardless how much acres each owns.  There's a Board of directors, 9 members, voted anually and hire a manager for the operation.  The Board changes as time goes on. There's one Sansei [third generation Japanese] now.  The  Nisei [second generation Japanese] took over after the War;  I was one of the last ones.    Board members are Mexican, White, a few Indians (from India). 
How were you treated after you returned from Amache?
TN:  After  Amache, when  living with the Andows, we were shot at, as well as other homes.  Probably by people being displaced by Japanese who returned, never caught anyone. After the shooting, the Sheriff came out, looked at holes in walls and said  you have to expect this.  You're not wanted.  That was hard to take.  Nobody got hurt - 3-4 homes got shot at.  The house I was in, their only son was in Italy with 442nd and he was wounded there.  At the Kishi home, 2 boys were in the service .  Another house shot at.  Went to Board of superrvisors and asked for help, but they didn't do a thing.  Shooting didn't last long, half a year - they weren't going to scare us out, so they stopped shooting.  Didn't know who was doing the shooting.  Joe Makita and I,  after the shooting, we were working for Mr. Andow.  We went to Modesto to buy a $200 motorcycle.  The Sheriff said if you catch who is shooting, we'll arrest them.
9.  Did anyone in your family leave Amache before you did?  How did that happen?  
TN:  My sister Ida left for Parson College in Iowa in 1943.
 10.  What did Amache do to your family?
TN	We lived in Livington  all our life; Quakers really helped us. Quakers all over the U.S.  helped us  after we left camp; set up hostels and started  the relocation; lots of kids out of camp, placed them in colleges.   Quakers were in the Midwest who helped us.  We  couldn't return  to California. They stood up for us when we were unpopular.... Quakers had set up hostels in the  Midwest, Des Moines, Iowa,  had hostels and other midwestern cities had hostels .
Nob Hashimoto, who is a friend of yours, said there were Mennonites near Livingston:
TN	Mennonites then and now  live near Livingston . They  are honest and trustwrothy. They did not believe in education, still  don't.  Go to school until about 16-17, then they drop out.    They are pretty good farmers, most have a trade. Have big families - family oriented.  Their church keeps growing, start other churches.
What do you remember most about Amache days?
TN:   They were not good memories of Amache; Dad was very bitter about the whole thing.  Mom died in 1947, he lived alone with us for quite awhile and then went to Japan to retire.  After 13 years in Japan, we brought him home and he died in 1983, at age 91-92.  Before he died, he said  America was the best  country.  I don't know why, Japan was a nice place to retire, he still said US was still the best place.   
Have you gone to an Amache Pilgrimage?
TN:	I  went to Colorado  Spring Pilgrimage, it was a good one, with large bus loads of people.