That’s why I was so confused because I just couldn’t understand why he kept getting turned down by jobs.

Surprisingly, he always found a way to smile. Whenever he left home to look for a job, he would always say to me, “See you soon Sara, I love you.”

One night, I caught my mom and dad talking to each other about work again, but my mom was crying this time. “Naomi, you all will be able to join me once we get enough money”, I overheard from my Dad.

“He has a better chance of getting hired in Japan, sweetie”, said Mom, wiping away her tears.

“Don’t leave us!” I cried out of frustration. But I knew that for my family to be happy together, my dad had to get a job to support us.

He hugged me tight and told me everything was gonna work out fine and that my mom and brother would take good care of me. Even though I was sad, I trusted my Dad.

On the day he left he promised we would be reunited soon. I remember him telling me as we hugged goodbye, “See you soon Sara, I love you.”

Almost a month had passed. I woke up that Sunday morning to see my older brother, Roy. He looked worried.

My mom was awake. She told us that Pearl Harbor had been attacked by the Japanese military.

I was afraid. I didn’t know what this meant for me and my family as Japanese Americans. I worried about my Dad the most.

In the next few months, I remember we couldn’t leave our house after 5 o’clock at night, and we couldn’t travel very far either.

I didn’t like being ordered to stay home, but it wasn't all bad. I could spend time with my family.

My mom, my brother, and I got on a train. We brought barely anything with us. I didn’t know where we were going, I just wanted my family to stay together.

We arrived at a camp where there was nothing around. There were tons of other people. I wondered where we were going to stay.

I hated it there. There were too many people in our room, and the food tasted horrible.

My brother told me that we were here because everyone didn’t trust us since we were Japanese. That made me angry.

It felt like we were in jail even though we didn’t do anything. The only thing we did was be Japanese in America.