University of California, Los Angeles
The Tanimoto brothers were asleep when a loud voice rousted them and other men from their beds. They were ordered to leave the building. Outside, a floodlight was trained on all of them. Two guards manned a machine gun. Others swiftly loaded their rifles, which they directed at the men, who were all of Japanese descent.
“I thought we were in front of a firing squad,” James Tanimoto said.
One of their captors declared that none of the Japanese Americans would escape.
No shots were fired, however. The terrifying incident ended with the guards ordering the uninjured men to return indoors and go back to bed.
Despite what happened, though, the Tanimoto brothers and others continued to refuse to complete a controversial questionnaire that had been imposed on them by U.S. government officials who claimed it was supposed to gauge their loyalty to this country.
The Tanimoto brothers recounted the middle-of-the-night episode during a public discussion and historical archives presentation for the Suyama Project last weekend in San Francisco’s Japantown district.
