“Judo got kind of a bad name because after the war, there were so many people that got injured. They didn’t know how to fall or anything. So we had to correct all that, and make sure they did the right thing.”

Every year my father had to go sign a lease and he’d go to the landlord's house. And I stayed in the car. He was never invited in to a white man's house. The landlord would bring the paper, and then my father would hold it against the door outside and sign it.

“All my normal U.S. citizens rights were taken away from me, just for what? Japan went to war with America? We were Americans. That’s what I really resent.”

“One of the hardest things was getting immersed back into society, like taking the bus to school some place where there was a mixture of people. We had to put up with a lot of taunting, a lot of ridicule. That was hard, I remember that, being teased a lot.”

“They didn’t break down or anything. Very, very strong people. Actually all the Issei are all like that because when they came over from the old country, they came with nothing. They worked hard all their life for their family. But when you become a parent, you start to see, feel all these things they went through.” 

“After her child died, it was like a valve had broken loose. That was a side I had not heard from her. A side I hadn’t seen.”

“When I think about it, I’m mad at Japan for creating this problem. Because the yes-yes, no-no question came up because of the war. It would never have come up before if things were okay. And I’m angry at them because they knew that they had family and relatives living in the United States.”

"It was hard, it was hard on the parents. Was it hard on me? I don't know, I don't remember that much, the hardship. But the parents, my god. Could I do it? No. I couldn't do it. I can't imagine myself doing it."

“Misery and stuff like that, I never knew about it. The only way I knew was because I was told by my older brothers and sisters. That it wasn't all peaches and cream.”