Sus' FBI File
Sus's FBI File page 4. FBI records used confidential informants within the Topaz Camp to keep eyes on Sus and to look through his mail, seeing his as a suspect for his connection to the Mitsubishi Company in San Francisco. They kepts notes on his family members and their whereabouts as well as his entire life history.
Sus's FBI File page 3. The FBI on Aug 2, 1945 was still keeping tabs on Sus when he finally was allowed to leave Topaz for New York City and continued to follow his whereabouts.
Sus’ elementary and middle school education in Japan placed his loyalty to the U.S. in suspicion. He was repeatedly denied the ability to leave Topaz despite his college and graduate school education in the U.S., and the fact that all of his siblings had been given permission to leave Topaz. He was favored in his work for Mr. Lafabregue in the Welfare Department in the administration of Topaz, but companies were unwilling to hire him in any management position. He knew this would likely to true. He may have been unwilling to offer himself up to manual labor. When he started working on the hog farm at Topaz, it was in a bookkeeping position. He may have hoped he could translate into a farm manager position outside of camp, which unfortunately never materialized. He finally left Topaz in June of 1945 and settled in New York City.
Sus had been watched by the FBI since 1937 for his employment with Mitsubishi, the largest Japanese firm in the U.S. which produced engines for warplanes for Japan. Sus was groomed to join higher management despite the fact that top ranks were not open to Kibei or Nisei associates. His job was to buy and ship oil through an American firm to Southeast and East Asia.
Sus’ bosses were involved in promoting pro-Japan propaganda. After Japan forcibly invaded Manchuria, China, starting the Sino-Japanese war in July of 1937, an organization was formed in San Francisco (Jikyoku Iinkai) to construct a positive image of Japan to the world through tours of the U.S. and Europe.
Sus’ wife, Kiyo, worked for the Japanese Chamber of Commerce in San Francisco, which shared offices with the Jikyoku Iinkai. Her boss, Tsutomu Obana, worked for both organizations at 549 Market Street. She was questioned by two FBI agents on February 23, 1942 about her work with the Japanese Chamber of Commerce, and may have first been watched by the FBI starting in November of 1939 when she began work there as a secretary.
Sus had been watched by the FBI since 1937 for his employment with Mitsubishi, the largest Japanese firm in the U.S. which produced engines for warplanes for Japan. Sus was groomed to join higher management despite the fact that top ranks were not open to Kibei or Nisei associates. His job was to buy and ship oil through an American firm to Southeast and East Asia.
Sus’ bosses were involved in promoting pro-Japan propaganda. After Japan forcibly invaded Manchuria, China, starting the Sino-Japanese war in July of 1937, an organization was formed in San Francisco (Jikyoku Iinkai) to construct a positive image of Japan to the world through tours of the U.S. and Europe.
Sus’ wife, Kiyo, worked for the Japanese Chamber of Commerce in San Francisco, which shared offices with the Jikyoku Iinkai. Her boss, Tsutomu Obana, worked for both organizations at 549 Market Street. She was questioned by two FBI agents on February 23, 1942 about her work with the Japanese Chamber of Commerce, and may have first been watched by the FBI starting in November of 1939 when she began work there as a secretary.
Sus's 1930 Passport Photo, included in FBI file.
Sus's FBI file page 6. This log shows every piece of mail that was sent to Sus in Topaz from Roebeck's Catalogue packages to postcards to mail from his brother Tom in college at University of Nebraska. In this case the contents are even included in the report, newspaper clippings about unrest in Tule Lake.
Obana, as well as other leaders of the Jikyoku Iinkai, members of the San Francisco Japanese consulate were indicted for treason for spreading pro-Japanese propaganda in 1942 and tried in Washington D.C.
An association with bosses sympathetic with Japan as a military power stunted Sus. As charming and useful as he proved himself among Topaz’ administrators, he could not find a job that matched his ambitions and skill set. He had made $25 per month ($300 annual salary) before the war, $16 a month in Topaz, and could not find any job during the war. Mitsubishi hired highly educated Nisei and Kibei for management positions when not many other American firms would.
Sus told his siblings about being followed and having his phones tapped months before the outbreak of war between the U.S. and Japan. Kay told an interviewee in 1991, “I might just tell you that my brother, as I told you, was working for the Mitsubishi company. What was so strange to us, he told us all of the wives and children all went back on a boat, because there was no planes at that time, fifty years ago. But still, the top heads were still in San Francisco, and they left the United States [on] the last gripshom, or the last boat. But my brother was left holding the bag. He was an American and he therefore stayed in the office, required to stay in the office. Every day the FBI would come and go through all the papers, and days and days of all of this. I remember my brother, he was already married and living in Berkeley—we were all living at home in Oakland—he came home one night and he said, 'You know, I think I’m being watched and our telephones are being tapped, so be careful. The other thing is maybe we should burn all this stuff that would in any way incriminate me,' because he was working for a Japanese company, 'and the rest of you.'“
The FBI file reveals that they were using confidential informants to look through his mail and to record when he got something for Roebecks Catalogue as well as mail from his brothers, John and Tom, who sent him articles about the "troubles" (possibly protests) in Tule Lake. Even by the war's end on August 2, 1945, the FBI continued to track Sus' whereabouts as he moved to New York City.
An association with bosses sympathetic with Japan as a military power stunted Sus. As charming and useful as he proved himself among Topaz’ administrators, he could not find a job that matched his ambitions and skill set. He had made $25 per month ($300 annual salary) before the war, $16 a month in Topaz, and could not find any job during the war. Mitsubishi hired highly educated Nisei and Kibei for management positions when not many other American firms would.
Sus told his siblings about being followed and having his phones tapped months before the outbreak of war between the U.S. and Japan. Kay told an interviewee in 1991, “I might just tell you that my brother, as I told you, was working for the Mitsubishi company. What was so strange to us, he told us all of the wives and children all went back on a boat, because there was no planes at that time, fifty years ago. But still, the top heads were still in San Francisco, and they left the United States [on] the last gripshom, or the last boat. But my brother was left holding the bag. He was an American and he therefore stayed in the office, required to stay in the office. Every day the FBI would come and go through all the papers, and days and days of all of this. I remember my brother, he was already married and living in Berkeley—we were all living at home in Oakland—he came home one night and he said, 'You know, I think I’m being watched and our telephones are being tapped, so be careful. The other thing is maybe we should burn all this stuff that would in any way incriminate me,' because he was working for a Japanese company, 'and the rest of you.'“
The FBI file reveals that they were using confidential informants to look through his mail and to record when he got something for Roebecks Catalogue as well as mail from his brothers, John and Tom, who sent him articles about the "troubles" (possibly protests) in Tule Lake. Even by the war's end on August 2, 1945, the FBI continued to track Sus' whereabouts as he moved to New York City.
Sus on a horse with Kix. We believe this was taken in Topaz, before Kix moved with his parents to Idaho.
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