Walter Pollock After Interview
Item
Title
eng
Walter Pollock After Interview
Description
eng
Talks about his father's friendship with Ray Yasui, the effects his father's experiences at the Fresno Assembly Center and how it has affected his family, particularly his son's decision to study in Japan.
Creator
eng
Pollock, Walter
eng
Lau, Tammy
Relation
eng
Walter E. Pollock Papers
Coverage
eng
Fresno, California
Date
eng
11/6/2014
Identifier
eng
SCMS_wepp_00002
extracted text
>> Walter Pollock: It's a piece of pottery, and they must have had some ability to make pottery, to fire things. And then
there's a card that came with it that's signed by a whole bunch of people, by the internees.
>> Tammy Lau: Can you imagine? I mean here's a Caucasian.
>> Walter Pollock: Yeah.
>> Tammy Lau: That shows that they really must have cared about you [multiple speakers]. Yeah. To do that.
>> Walter Pollock: Yeah.
>> Tammy Lau: And [multiple speakers] announced your birth [multiple speakers].
>> Walter Pollock: I know.
>> Tammy Lau: The newsletter was really [multiple speakers].
>> Walter Pollock: Yeah. I know it was.
>> Tammy Lau: [Multiple Speakers] outside people.
>> Walter Pollock: But if I can find that, it belongs here [multiple speakers]. The card especially.
>> Tammy Lau: The card, yeah.
>> Walter Pollock: And I didn't talk about my father going to Japan with Ray Usui [phonetic] and those things on this. I
thought, you know, that's, that's another indication though. I did, I do think I figured out how that happened though. I
think Ray Usui was interned at Pinedale. And he was a famous baseball player. And here's, my theory is that he helped
my father set up a baseball program. And they worked together because all these year later, Ray takes my mother and
father on an all-expense paid trip to Japan. And I think that's, that's another, so I started researching Ray Usui. Well, he
died a number of years ago. But he became an extraordinarily successful orchardist. And I think he's a brother or a
relative of Min Usui [phonetic] who was one of the activists that litigated issues associated with the internment. So,
there's a whole other story there. But Ray and my father were really good friends. And they traveled to Japan. And I
mean, he did everything. He took them, he gave my parents airplane tickets and lodging and took them all over to a
sister city event. So, yeah. It does say a lot. But, yeah, the really hard question that, is the one about what did he really
think about all of that? I don't know either.
Tammy Lau: [ Inaudible ]
Yeah [inaudible]. They might. Yeah. We should ask them. Yeah. But that was, yeah, that was fun to talk about. It was, it
was really profound for my father. There was nothing in his life that affected him more than that six months. And if you
were to ask me why, I'm not sure I could tell you why, exactly. It's not, I want to ask him now.
>> Marcie Morrison: [Inaudible] he knew he was in history.
>> Walter Pollock: Yeah.
>> Marcie Morrison: And [multiple speakers] it’s complicated to ponder what your place is in history.
>> Walter Pollock: I think that's right. I think that's probably pretty accurate. He knew this was important. He knew this
was historic. And he knew that there would be, that there would be significant long-term implications of what occurred
there. He knew, I think he knew all those things. And he also knew that he was probably the only one that had the
information or most of it. Now I'm curious whether there is any other information out there around there. You said you
file:///neo.lib.csufresno.edu/...Collections/Oral%20histories/Walter%20Pollock%20interview/after_interview_-_Walter_Pollock-corrected.txt[3/10/2022 1:52:22 PM]
had a few newsletters. A few other, is there much other stuff?
>> Tammy Lau: For Fresno?
>> Walter Pollock: Yeah.
>> Tammy Lau: Not too much on the Assembly Centers.
>> Walter Pollock: Yeah.
>> Tammy Lau: Most collections kind of center on the internment camps.
>> Walter Pollock: Yeah.
>> Tammy Lau: This is where we're finding that there’s a gap in the historical record.
>> Walter Pollock: Yeah.
>> Tammy Lau: So that’s why we’re trying to fill in that gap.
>> Walter Pollock: That's pretty cool.
>> Tammy Lau: It’s very cool.
Now does anybody have information on Pinedale?
>> Tammy Lau: I know we probably have some information. Henry would probably have as much information as
anyone else.
>> Walter Pollock: Yeah. He's amazing. I really like him a lot. He's an incredible guy. Yeah. And very knowledgeable.
And, you know, my, our son, you saw those, I sent you those articles he wrote. He interviewed Henry’s daughter for one
of those articles.
>> Tammy Lau: Henry Sugimoto?
>> Walter Pollock: Yeah.
>> Tammy Lau: Oh, that's interesting.
>> Walter Pollock: He really liked her a lot. And.
>> Marcie Morrison: What were the, did he publish his articles?
>> Walter Pollock: He published them, yeah, he published them in Asahi Shimbun. You know, I didn't tell you
[multiple speakers].
>> Marcie Morrison: Are we still rolling here?
>> Camera operator: I'm just catching it just in case.
>> Walter Pollock: No. No. You're free to use anything. But actually there are two other, a couple of, as I think about it
there are other little snippets. So, here's a way that this affected our family. Our son when he went to the University of
Washington he majored in Japanese studies. He got a degree. He went to, he got a graduate degree in international
studies from Columbia, and he went to work for, and he traveled, he went to Japan as part of the JET Program. Oh, you
file:///neo.lib.csufresno.edu/...Collections/Oral%20histories/Walter%20Pollock%20interview/after_interview_-_Walter_Pollock-corrected.txt[3/10/2022 1:52:22 PM]
know what it is [multiple speakers]? He spent two, really? He spent two years in Sapporo. Louise and I visited him
during that two years. And then he got a job writing for Asahi Shimbun, which is the, you probably know it. It's the
major Japanese language newspaper published, sort of the USA Today of the Japanese language in the U.S. And he, and
our son was fluent in spoken Japanese. And he attributes a lot of that to his grandfather and his grandfather's experience
in Fresno. And when he worked for Asahi Shimbun they asked him to write a series of articles on the Fresno Assembly
Center. And he wrote six articles that were published nationally in the newspaper describing my father's experiences at
Fresno. And as part of that research, he tracked down some of the people because this painting has been in our family
for 72 years. And so he tracked down Henry Sugimoto's daughter and interviewed her for the newspaper. And he really
thought she was wonderful. Just, and she told him some great stories about her own experiences. There's a classic
photograph that includes her that captures what internment was like. And so there are all kinds of linkages here that go
in interesting directions because of this [multiple speakers]. Yeah. Yeah.
>> Marcie Morrison: Do we have those articles? Are they…
>> Walter Pollock: I think I…
>> Marcie Morrison: Oh good.
>> Walter Pollock: And they're…
>> Speaker 2: What's the JET program? I missed it.
>> Walter Pollock: It's Japanese Educational Training. Is that the right acronym? Or [multiple speakers]? Yeah, they
teach English in Japanese schools. So, because, and you understand this better than I do, but the way Jim explained it, I
think every Japanese student is required to take five years of English. But spoken English is particularly difficult. And
it's sort of like, it's almost a mirror image. Written Japanese is extremely difficult. Spoken English is extremely difficult.
>> Tammy Lau: Yes, it is.
>> Walter Pollock: And so I think part of it is, so they take college graduates. It's a one-year program, but he extended
for a second year. And they teach in Japanese schools. They teach English. It's pretty clever actually. Do they still do it?
Wow. And who did you say did it?
>> Tammy Lau: My cousin.
>> Walter Pollock: Oh really? Where was your cousin?
>> Tammy Lau: Hawaii.
>> Walter Pollock: No, I mean where in Japan?
>> Tammy Lau: Oh I don’t know.
>> Walter Pollock: So, we went to Sapporo, and we discovered not all Japan is toasty warm.
>> Tammy Lau: No. But they have beer.
>> Walter Pollock: They do have beer. Oh my gosh, do they have beer in Sapporo. So, I'm trying to think of any other
little snippets here. I know I will think of some that, yeah you can find me again. Yeah, thanks a lot.
file:///neo.lib.csufresno.edu/...Collections/Oral%20histories/Walter%20Pollock%20interview/after_interview_-_Walter_Pollock-corrected.txt[3/10/2022 1:52:22 PM]
there's a card that came with it that's signed by a whole bunch of people, by the internees.
>> Tammy Lau: Can you imagine? I mean here's a Caucasian.
>> Walter Pollock: Yeah.
>> Tammy Lau: That shows that they really must have cared about you [multiple speakers]. Yeah. To do that.
>> Walter Pollock: Yeah.
>> Tammy Lau: And [multiple speakers] announced your birth [multiple speakers].
>> Walter Pollock: I know.
>> Tammy Lau: The newsletter was really [multiple speakers].
>> Walter Pollock: Yeah. I know it was.
>> Tammy Lau: [Multiple Speakers] outside people.
>> Walter Pollock: But if I can find that, it belongs here [multiple speakers]. The card especially.
>> Tammy Lau: The card, yeah.
>> Walter Pollock: And I didn't talk about my father going to Japan with Ray Usui [phonetic] and those things on this. I
thought, you know, that's, that's another indication though. I did, I do think I figured out how that happened though. I
think Ray Usui was interned at Pinedale. And he was a famous baseball player. And here's, my theory is that he helped
my father set up a baseball program. And they worked together because all these year later, Ray takes my mother and
father on an all-expense paid trip to Japan. And I think that's, that's another, so I started researching Ray Usui. Well, he
died a number of years ago. But he became an extraordinarily successful orchardist. And I think he's a brother or a
relative of Min Usui [phonetic] who was one of the activists that litigated issues associated with the internment. So,
there's a whole other story there. But Ray and my father were really good friends. And they traveled to Japan. And I
mean, he did everything. He took them, he gave my parents airplane tickets and lodging and took them all over to a
sister city event. So, yeah. It does say a lot. But, yeah, the really hard question that, is the one about what did he really
think about all of that? I don't know either.
Tammy Lau: [ Inaudible ]
Yeah [inaudible]. They might. Yeah. We should ask them. Yeah. But that was, yeah, that was fun to talk about. It was, it
was really profound for my father. There was nothing in his life that affected him more than that six months. And if you
were to ask me why, I'm not sure I could tell you why, exactly. It's not, I want to ask him now.
>> Marcie Morrison: [Inaudible] he knew he was in history.
>> Walter Pollock: Yeah.
>> Marcie Morrison: And [multiple speakers] it’s complicated to ponder what your place is in history.
>> Walter Pollock: I think that's right. I think that's probably pretty accurate. He knew this was important. He knew this
was historic. And he knew that there would be, that there would be significant long-term implications of what occurred
there. He knew, I think he knew all those things. And he also knew that he was probably the only one that had the
information or most of it. Now I'm curious whether there is any other information out there around there. You said you
file:///neo.lib.csufresno.edu/...Collections/Oral%20histories/Walter%20Pollock%20interview/after_interview_-_Walter_Pollock-corrected.txt[3/10/2022 1:52:22 PM]
had a few newsletters. A few other, is there much other stuff?
>> Tammy Lau: For Fresno?
>> Walter Pollock: Yeah.
>> Tammy Lau: Not too much on the Assembly Centers.
>> Walter Pollock: Yeah.
>> Tammy Lau: Most collections kind of center on the internment camps.
>> Walter Pollock: Yeah.
>> Tammy Lau: This is where we're finding that there’s a gap in the historical record.
>> Walter Pollock: Yeah.
>> Tammy Lau: So that’s why we’re trying to fill in that gap.
>> Walter Pollock: That's pretty cool.
>> Tammy Lau: It’s very cool.
Now does anybody have information on Pinedale?
>> Tammy Lau: I know we probably have some information. Henry would probably have as much information as
anyone else.
>> Walter Pollock: Yeah. He's amazing. I really like him a lot. He's an incredible guy. Yeah. And very knowledgeable.
And, you know, my, our son, you saw those, I sent you those articles he wrote. He interviewed Henry’s daughter for one
of those articles.
>> Tammy Lau: Henry Sugimoto?
>> Walter Pollock: Yeah.
>> Tammy Lau: Oh, that's interesting.
>> Walter Pollock: He really liked her a lot. And.
>> Marcie Morrison: What were the, did he publish his articles?
>> Walter Pollock: He published them, yeah, he published them in Asahi Shimbun. You know, I didn't tell you
[multiple speakers].
>> Marcie Morrison: Are we still rolling here?
>> Camera operator: I'm just catching it just in case.
>> Walter Pollock: No. No. You're free to use anything. But actually there are two other, a couple of, as I think about it
there are other little snippets. So, here's a way that this affected our family. Our son when he went to the University of
Washington he majored in Japanese studies. He got a degree. He went to, he got a graduate degree in international
studies from Columbia, and he went to work for, and he traveled, he went to Japan as part of the JET Program. Oh, you
file:///neo.lib.csufresno.edu/...Collections/Oral%20histories/Walter%20Pollock%20interview/after_interview_-_Walter_Pollock-corrected.txt[3/10/2022 1:52:22 PM]
know what it is [multiple speakers]? He spent two, really? He spent two years in Sapporo. Louise and I visited him
during that two years. And then he got a job writing for Asahi Shimbun, which is the, you probably know it. It's the
major Japanese language newspaper published, sort of the USA Today of the Japanese language in the U.S. And he, and
our son was fluent in spoken Japanese. And he attributes a lot of that to his grandfather and his grandfather's experience
in Fresno. And when he worked for Asahi Shimbun they asked him to write a series of articles on the Fresno Assembly
Center. And he wrote six articles that were published nationally in the newspaper describing my father's experiences at
Fresno. And as part of that research, he tracked down some of the people because this painting has been in our family
for 72 years. And so he tracked down Henry Sugimoto's daughter and interviewed her for the newspaper. And he really
thought she was wonderful. Just, and she told him some great stories about her own experiences. There's a classic
photograph that includes her that captures what internment was like. And so there are all kinds of linkages here that go
in interesting directions because of this [multiple speakers]. Yeah. Yeah.
>> Marcie Morrison: Do we have those articles? Are they…
>> Walter Pollock: I think I…
>> Marcie Morrison: Oh good.
>> Walter Pollock: And they're…
>> Speaker 2: What's the JET program? I missed it.
>> Walter Pollock: It's Japanese Educational Training. Is that the right acronym? Or [multiple speakers]? Yeah, they
teach English in Japanese schools. So, because, and you understand this better than I do, but the way Jim explained it, I
think every Japanese student is required to take five years of English. But spoken English is particularly difficult. And
it's sort of like, it's almost a mirror image. Written Japanese is extremely difficult. Spoken English is extremely difficult.
>> Tammy Lau: Yes, it is.
>> Walter Pollock: And so I think part of it is, so they take college graduates. It's a one-year program, but he extended
for a second year. And they teach in Japanese schools. They teach English. It's pretty clever actually. Do they still do it?
Wow. And who did you say did it?
>> Tammy Lau: My cousin.
>> Walter Pollock: Oh really? Where was your cousin?
>> Tammy Lau: Hawaii.
>> Walter Pollock: No, I mean where in Japan?
>> Tammy Lau: Oh I don’t know.
>> Walter Pollock: So, we went to Sapporo, and we discovered not all Japan is toasty warm.
>> Tammy Lau: No. But they have beer.
>> Walter Pollock: They do have beer. Oh my gosh, do they have beer in Sapporo. So, I'm trying to think of any other
little snippets here. I know I will think of some that, yeah you can find me again. Yeah, thanks a lot.
file:///neo.lib.csufresno.edu/...Collections/Oral%20histories/Walter%20Pollock%20interview/after_interview_-_Walter_Pollock-corrected.txt[3/10/2022 1:52:22 PM]