The Stolen Years

            I was born on a beautiful spring day on April 22, 1941. I had no idea what was in store for me in the future. I was born in a small town outside of Santa Barbara, California call Lompoc. I took a trip one day to see where I was born and found it to be beautiful, the twisted Monterey Cypress trees by Point Lobos makes you really see the beauty God has created. The Pacific Coast Highway with its beautiful ocean that goes all the way up to the state of Washington is awesome.

          The farmlands are almost all gone now with stores, universities, and condos with a lot of construction for highways and homes. The vineyards are very plentiful and they do have the best wines. More and more people have moved in this area.

A lot of oriental people lived there and farmed in that area all the way to San Francisco. In the early 30's and 40's Japanese farmers farmed the best produce and took their farming very serious. Strawberries are nearly 100% under control of the Japanese farmers back then which they called "stoop labor" because much of it had to be done on hands and knees. It is impossible to get any other type of labor than Japanese to stand the pace of the nine-month season. Can't leave out the cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, peppers and spinach. War has come to the farmlands now, as well as the cities and the country faced shortages on produce.

          My father was born in San Jose, California; my mother was born in Globe, Arizona. They met during the 30's and fell in love. California had laws back then that no Japanese can date or marry out of their race. The law was enforced in 1939. They some how met at a dance contest they had won together. Back then they had a lot of that type of entertainment for the young adults called dancing! My Dad and Mom loved to dance. I see where my love for dancing came from. You know they had to be sneaking around to see each other. They took their chances all for the name of love. Eventually they got married, although it was "taboo," they did it. I don't know how they kept it hidden. I guess their love was stronger than the fate that was in store. My father is of Japanese descent and my mother was Spanish, Indian and German. I don't know too much about my mother. I still don't know much about her as this story goes on.

          The first spring after they were married my sister was born in May, then 11 months later here I come in April, I was told I was born in a taxi on the way to the hospital, I guess I just couldn't wait to arrive in this world. A few months after my birth, the bad news came " Japan had just bombed Pearl Harbor." The news alert came on the radio over and over about the war. My father was very concerned but had no idea the event to follow. 

          My father had a very big family with 4 brothers and 3 sisters, the Japanese believed in big families back then. My grandparents on my father's side were from Japan and became American citizens in the 20's or 30's. 

          My father was a farmer and owned his home, loved his farming. Farming was his life. My mother went to get my father to break the news; Dad came out of the fields and couldn't believe what was being said on the radio, “ They had told all the Japanese people to be prepared to be taken to the concentration camps”.  A field agent came by their home and told them "they had one week to pack one suitcase and that a bus would be by to pick them all up." My mother was crying and Dad was going around in circles wondering why, he kept saying "but I'm an American Citizen, I was born here." He thought maybe it was just the Japanese from Japan that had to leave, which made him worry more because his parents were from Japan.  People talk about all the other wars but you don’t hear much about the Japanese American war. Was the war an excuse to take the land from the Japanese? It tore up their lives they say “life is like a bowl of cherries” but when you drop the bowl it breaks into a million pieces and the cherries scatter everywhere. That’s what happened to my family.