Sherman Kishi's father purchased a ranch before the Alien Land Law stopped Japanese immigrants from buying property in the United States. It gave the Kishi family the chance to work hard and live comfortably. In Livingston, Calif., many Japanese families embraced the Christian faith and Kishi remembers being baptized when he was six or seven.

Kishi participated in sports, Boy Scouts, and YMCA activities, and felt welcomed by the Caucasian families. However, in many cases Japanese and Caucasian communities lived similar but separate lives:

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They're still our friends but there was never a friend like a Japanese friend that you have, where it was much closer. If we had parties and things which we didn't have too many of in those days, it was always with Japanese people. [Oral History]
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When it came to proving themselves to their Caucasian counterparts, the Nisei youth did well.  In their integrated Boy Scout troop, the Nisei gathered more Eagle Scout badges and a long string of Japanese-American students became valedictorians until the school changed the selection process. The high expectations for the Nisei were never verbalized, but were well understood.

At home his parents spoke Japanese.  Community activities, like Japanese film reels, helped Kishi balance the two cultures. On Sunday, December 7, 1942, Kishi and a few of his Nisei friends were practicing tennis when a car full of men stopped and cursed at them and called them "Japs." Shocked, they returned home and listened to the reports on the radio. The idyllic life in Livingston had ended:

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I know that after we were evacuated, I know my father talked to me one time and just really definitely told me that you were born here and this is your country and you are an American. [Oral History]
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His family moved to Merced into a temporary assembly center, and then took the long train ride to Amache Detention Camp. 

In Amache, Kishi finished high school and watched his older friends volunteer for the 442nd, an all-Nisei combat unit. When the Military Intelligence (MIS) Language School recruiters came to the detention camp, he tested and was accepted. In fall 1943 he entered Camp Savage, Minn., and began his studies.

Compared to many of the other students, Kishi did not have much experience in Japanese and had to study for nine months before he left for basic training at Fort McClellan, Ala. Finally in July 1945, Kishi arrived at the Allied Translator and Interpreter Section (ATIS) in Manila, Philippines. 

The war ended in early August and his team left for Yokohama, Japan. ATIS established its headquarters in the NYK building where the linguists slept and worked. From ATIS, Kishi moved to General Headquarters and was assigned to a British major who investigated people involved in the secret societies of Japan. Kishi even went to Sugamo Prison to interview, what he thinks, was the head of the "Black Dragon Society." But for most of his time in Japan, he stayed in ATIS because his language skills were lower than those of the average Kibei.

When he first arrived in Japan, he noticed that the Japanese citizens were afraid of the conquering army:

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The women all wore the tied-down pantaloons called monepeis tied down at the seat, and they say that one of the reasons they wore those ... [because they] were afraid of being raped by the invading army and those would be much harder to get rid of than a dress or kimono. So, there were very few people that wore kimonos. [Oral History]
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In March 1946, Kishi knew he would soon be returning to the United States so he decided to visit his parents' family in Wakayama Prefecture:

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It was an incredible feeling when you go to visit your family you've never met before. You never even knew any of them, but when you go there they treated you like family and you just felt like you came home. [Oral History]
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His brother also worked as an interpreter during the Occupation, and they met and visited their family together. After six months of working in Japan, Kishi returned to the United States.


