Me: Why is the Panama Hotel important to you?
Henry: Before Keiko was sent to the internment camp she left behind meaningful things such as the Oscar Holden CD. The Oscar Holden CD was important to Keiko and I because I worked extremely hard to save up money in order to buy the CD. It was also very important to us because he dedicated one of his songs to us the night we snuck into the Black Elks Club. She left other things behind such as her drawing pad, and family pictures. I thought that if I found some of her things maybe I would find her one-day and be able to give them to her. It might’ve been hard to find some of her things since it was about 40 years after the war but I still looked hard and managed to find her drawing pad and the CD. …show more content…
Henry and I are both scholarship students and we both have to do chores after school which is what brings us closer together. We became fast friends and spent a lot of time together.
Me: What did you do with your things before being sent to the internment camp?
Keiko: I left my important things in different places. Henry hid my family pictures. I left some things in the basement of the Panama Hotel Before the war started my neighborhood had a bonfire and they burnt most of their valuable things that they couldn’t bring with them to the internment camps. Many of my things were found later on by Henry, from the Panama Hotel.
Me: Were you treated unfairly in your everyday life because you were Japanese?
Keiko: Even though I was an American citizen I was still treated like a Japanese because my parents were Japanese. The Japanese community was separated from the rest of the town. When I went to buy the Oscar Holden CD they refused to sell it to me because I was Japanese. Henry was also treated unfairly because he looked like a Japanese. Another reason why he got bullied is because he was a friend of mine, an American Japanese. Later on I was sent to an internment camp for a couple of