October 5, 2010
Densho recently interviewed Frank H. Hirata, a Kibei-Nisei from Spokane, Washington. At the age of ten, Frank was sent to live with his grandfather in Japan. During World War II, he was conscripted into the Japanese army, and was still in training when the war ended. Despite his early life in the United States, Frank became fully indoctrinated into the Japanese educational system, at one point believing himself “brainwashed,” never questioning the anti-U.S. propaganda he was exposed to in Japan. It was only after the war, during the U.S. occupation of Japan, that he began to change his view of Americans after working with U.S. soldiers. In an excerpt from his interview, Frank recalls when this change in attitude occurred for him.