In writing the following about their farewell to Grandmother Yamamoto, their friends, and to Japan some fifty years before, Leila's (Hinako's) emotions overflowed and she began to cry:
"My school principal and homeroom teacher did something unheard of in Japan at the time. They gave my entire class permission to give a farewell luncheon, with food cooked by my classmates, in my honor a week before I left school and Japan for America. And then my classmates got a half day off from school just to see me off at the train station. Some fifty classmates and several teachers came to the station to wish me farewell. As the train pulled out, my grandmother tried to run along with the train with her crippled knees. As her figure got smaller and smaller my sister Mary and I broke down and cried so hard that a total stranger put her hands on my shoulder and comforted me. We must have cried for an hour or two before we could compose ourselves."
Yamamoto Mika (Obasaan in the story) died on July 15, 1952.
It was only after returning to America that Mary (Takeko) and Leila (Hinako) learned what had
happened to their family. In March, 1942, Harry Yamamoto was told to report with his family
to an assembly center by the War Relocation Authority. They were given the option of relocating
somewhere beyond the coast (of California, Oregon, and Washington) or be sent to camps set up
by the government. Since Harry had lived in Nebraska for several years, he decided to move
the family there once again. They lost everything they had including a gardening business
they had set-up upon their return from Japan. Coralee, Mary and Leila's eldest sister,
married George Fukasawa on March 31, 1942 and they reluctantly chose to be sent to a
relocation camp to wait out the hysteria that had by then even possessed the nation. They
were sent to Manzanar.
The Yamamoto saga of difficulty probably started sometime before Yamamoto Shigeichi first
left Japan, but Mary and Leila's experience are unique by any standards. They haven't been
hardened by their experience, but they have been strengthened. Leila says that she no longer
understands Japanese fluently like she once did. That it was a horrible period in her life
and she just wanted to forget about it when she returned to the U.S.
Leila's readjustment to American society was extremely difficult for her. After spending
some of her most formative years in Japan (from the time that she was six years old until
just before she turned seventeen), America's customs and language were completely foreign
to her. She could not even communicate with her younger sister or her nephews. After having
been at the top of her class throughout her academic career she was devastated by her
"ignorance" in the home she had returned to. Her friends from Japan wrote frequently to her
making it even more difficult to break from her past which she believed was necessary to
hasten her adjustment to this new life. She was to graduate from 10th grade the year that
she left and now her elder sister, Lily, was forced to enroll her into the 6th grade. Her
younger sister, Irene, was already attending the 7th grade and she was four years younger
than Leila. Recalling this trying time she remarks:
"Fortunately I was short and looked their age so I didn't standout too badly. Once I made
up my mind to learn English and all that goes with it, I had no time to look back and
lament. Before long I determinedly packed my suitcase and headed for Denver [from Wyoming].
Mary was already there and had arranged a place for me to work as a 'school girl.' A 'school
girl' was a young woman who worked as a maid in exchange for room and board while she
attended school. My first job paid a mere $15 per month. After school I had to care for
three young children, clean and cook. This was the only way for those without money to get
an education in those days. My determination paid off though because I was able to complete
Junior and Senior High School equivalency courses in two years before I set out for college
with a scholarship in hand from the University of Denver. "
When asked where her father was during all this time, Leila comments that he was
"happy-go-lucky" in an offhanded way that suggests she has come to terms with this long ago.
Then she adds, "you know, I can only remember him sending us one postcard the entire time we
were in Japan."
Something of the trials that these two girls, now mature grandmothers, experienced as a
result of the war years have helped them persevere through other difficult times in their
lives.
"I not only treasure [my experience in Japan], but those difficult years made me what I am
today. I can't help but count my blessings with thankfulness. No matter how rough and deep
the waters may seem, I have gained the knowledge and confidence in rowing to the calm shores
by true experience.
"My experience in Japan gave me the strength to survive! I am happy and consider
myself very fortunate now. I have a loving and most understanding husband of 37 years. (I
was left a widow with two small boys when my first husband died of cancer in 1955). I have
two wonderful children (I lost my eldest son 11 years ago in an unfortunate hospital accident),
and four beautiful grandchildren which I dearly love to spoil. Although I retired from work
after 29 years with the Federal Government, at the moment [70 years old], I am working with
the seniors at the Brighton Senior Center. It gives me great comfort to be able to give some
compassion and love to others which Leila and I missed so much for such a long time."
-Mary (Takeko) Yamamoto, January 17, 1997
"For about five years after my return from Japan, I was too busy to sleep more than four hours
a night. Due to my hectic schedule I was not able to write to my friends in Japan. I barely
had enough time to attend to my English studies. I never did believe in doing things half
way. Something had to give and it turned out that it had to be Japanese which took back seat
to my English. I can still read and write Japanese, but not to the extent of my ability when
I first returned home. Since it has become "half way," I tell others that I forgot everything.
"Despite the horrendous experiences of growing up in Japan during those difficult times which
were my most impressionable years, I know that the building blocks of my life were laid
years ago in the small village called Hashirano. It was only years later that I realized
what a tremendous effect those years Mary and I spent in Japan had on my life. I believe I
am a stronger person because of the experiences of that time and that I am more tolerant and
understanding of others. I have faced many, many hardships since my school years, but faced
them head-on and survived. Now I am at a point in my life where very few things bother me.
In other words - I am a happy person."
-Leila (Hinako) Yamamoto Myers, February 5, 1997
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