Oral History Gallery

This collection contains oral history interviews from the Japanese American Service Committee Legacy Center's holdings.  Many of the interviews cover topics related to the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II and the resettlement of Japanese Americans in the Chicago area afterward. Where available, transcriptions have been included and synced to the recordings to enable full-text searching.  

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Ideno, Kazuo Gene (8/24/2017)

Kazuo Ideno was born in San Francisco, California. His father was born on the island of Shikoku and his mother in California although she was raised and…
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Kawamoto, Amy (3/2/2018)

Amy Kawamoto discusses her experiences as a young child in Minidoka concentration camp, and her family’s experience after resettling in Chicago. Mrs. Kawamoto…
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Omachi, Chiyoko (3/20/2018)

Chiyoko describes her experiences growing up on Terminal Island. She talks about moving to L.A. right before the Evacuation and her experiences at the school…
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Nakamura, Tom (3/16/2021)

Tom Kazumi Nakamura was born in Marysville, California in 1928. Growing up on a peach farm, Tom attended a small school in rural northern California along with…
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Watanabe, Anne (8/19/2017)

Anne Watanabe is a Japanese Canadian Yonsei and Shin-Issei born in the Midwest and raised on the East Coast and in Canada. She shares her experiences with…
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Ashikawa, Lori (3/31/2021)

Lori Ashikawa is a sansei born in Oakland, California and raised in Southern California. Being raised by a well-educated mother who experienced incarceration in…
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Aragaki, June (9/6/2018)

June Aragaki is a Nisei born in 1921 in Stockton California. She speaks about growing up in rural California, where her parents started as migrant farmers and…
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Arakawa, Paul and Kimura, Susie…

Paul Arakawa was born in San Diego, California and grew up in town. Susie Kimura was born in Newcastle, California but grew up on a fruit farm in Auburn, a more…
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Chikahisa, Frances (9/16/2017)

Frances Chikahisa was born and raised in Los Angeles before being incarcerated at Santa Anita and then Rohwer. In adulthood she pursued a career as a social…
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Chikaraishi, Ben (10/31/2017)

Community leader Ben Chikaraishi describes his family’s experiences in Rohwer, the WRA, and resettlement in Chicago. He shares his career trajectory as an…
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Machida, Ethan Michihiko…

Ethan Machida is a first-generation Japanese American born in Sapporo, Japan. His mother is American, of Scottish descent, and his father is Japanese. When he…
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Kawaguchi, Kayoko (6/2/2021)

Kay Kawaguchi, a shin-issei/sansei, describes the pre-war immigration journeys of her family and her husband's family, her husband's experiences while…
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Lin, Cori Nakamura (5/19/2021)

Cori Nakamura Lin is a fourth generation (yonsei) Japanese American born in the Chicago suburbs. In this interview, Cori shares her concept of the river of…
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Doi, Lisa (9/6/2019)

Lisa Doi is a multiracial fourth generation (Yonsei) Japanese American, born in Chicago and raised in Evanston, Illinois. Lisa discusses her maternal family's…
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Fujishima, Kazuko May (8/10/2017)

Kazuko May Fujishima recounts her early life in rural central California, incarceration experiences during World War II, and postwar resettlement in Chicago. A…
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Fujiyoshi, Jane (11/12/2017)

Jane Fujiyoshi is a third generation (Sansei) Japanese American who was born in California and incarcerated at Rohwer as an infant. She discusses her family's…
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Goi , Mitsuo and Kikuno (7/2/2017)

Mitsuo and Kikuno Goi are a Kibei, Nisei couple who met in Chicago after WWII. Both were born in the U.S. but spent time in Japan as children. In this…
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Hamade, Bill (8/19/2017)

Bill Hamade is a third and fourth generation (Sansei/Yonsei) Japanese Canadian. A retired librarian with 31 years of service in the Toronto Public Library stem,…
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Hasegawa, Aylen (10/6/2017)

Aylen Hasegawa was born on February 19th, 1942; the same day that President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 allowing for the incarceration of Japanese…
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Hasegawa, Gary (7/12/2017)

Gary Hasegawa is a third generation (Sansei) Japanese American, born on a farm in Puyallup, Washington. He was one year old when his family was incarcerated…
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Hogan, Hannah (11/16/2017)

Hannah Hogan is a second generation (Nisei) Japanese American. In this interview, she shares memories of her early life in Denver and Los Angeles and describes…
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Ideno, Helen (8/24/2017)

Helen Ideno is a third generation (Sansei) Japanese American born in Torrance, CA shortly before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. During WWII, she and her family…
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Kagawa, Stephen (11/1/2017)

Stephen Kagawa is a fourth generation (Yonsei) Japanese American born and raised in Hawaii. In this interview, he shares what he has learned about his family's…
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Kaihatsu, Jane (10/27/2017)

Jane Kaihatsu is a third generation Japanese American (Sansei), born and raised in the Chicago area. In this interview she shares what she knows of the…
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Doi, Tonko (9/3/2019)

Toshiko (Tonko) Doi is a second-generation (Nisei) Japanese American born in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of East Los Angeles, California the day before Pearl…
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Koizumi, Edward (5/12/2021)

Edward Shinichi Koizumi is a shin-issei born in 1950 in Nambu, Yamanashi, Japan. Edward’s maternal grandmother and grandfather were separated during World War…
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Hikawa, Barbara and Chelsea…

Barbara (Sunnie) Hikawa is a sansei born in Chicago in 1949, whose family has a rich history and strong roots in the local Japanese American community. In this…
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Nicholls, Lourdes (4/26/2021)

Lourdes Nicholls is a fourth-generation Japanese American born and raised in California. Her maternal grandfather, Kiyotsugu Tsuchiya was one of the few…
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Doi, Yoko (10/21/2017)

Yoko Doi was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1935. The oldest of four children, she recalls an early childhood spent close to Tokyo Bay, rising patriotism in Japan, and…
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Fujii, Sono and Midori (6/9/2021)

Sisters Sono and Midori "Dori" Fujii were born and raised in Chicago in the 1950s and 60s. Their father was born in Gifu, Japan and their mother, a nisei, was…
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Harano, Ross (3/22/2018)

Ross Harano, a sansei, was born in 1942 at the Fresno Assembly Center in California before being moved with his mother's family to the Jerome incarceration site…
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Kano, Sachiko (7/24/2018)

Sachiko Kano, a nisei born in Sacramento, CA in 1935, shares childhood memories of FBI raids and pervasive fear in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor. She describes…
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Oba, Ken (6/2/2021)

Ken Oba, a Chicago-born sansei, shares memories of growing up on the South Side in the Hyde Park and Avalon Park neighborhoods. His parents, born in Los…
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Maeda, Edith (8/17/2018)

Edith Maeda, a nisei, was born in El Centro, CA in 1927. In this interview, she shares memories of her life before WWII and her family's experiences as early…
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Matsumoto, Jason (9/10/2019)

Jason Matsumoto is a yonsei born in Chicago to sansei parents who were also born in Chicago. His maternal grandparents were incarcerated at Rohwer, paternal…
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Morita, Yoko (9/4/2018)

Yoko Morita, a nisei born in Canada in 1935, discusses her family's pre-WWII movements between Vancouver, Japan, and Portland and their forced removal to…
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Oya, Merry (10/5/2018)

Merry Oya, a nisei born in Montana in 1924, spent her early childhood in the railroad town of Whitefish before moving to Seattle, WA and later to Portland, OR. …
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Saiki, James (7/19/2018)

James Saiki, a nisei born and raised in Hawaii, describes his parents' immigration from Yamaguchi prefecture and his experiences growing up as one of nine…
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Shikami, James (10/25/2017)

James Shikami, a nisei born and raised in Southern California, paints a detailed picture of his family's life before World War II. He recounts his father's…
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Sasaki, Fred (3/23/2021)

Fred John Sasaki, a mixed-race sansei/yonsei born and raised in Chicago, discusses the impact his father's family's incarceration at Heart Mountain and his…
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Takeshita, Ben (6/15/2018)

Ben Takeshita, a nisei, was born in 1930 in Alameda, California and raised in San Mateo, CA with his seven siblings. He describes his father's work prior to…
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Issei: A Final Say

Produced in 1975 as part of the Issei Gerontology Project, this film features Issei (first generation immigrants) responding to questions such as "What would…
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Wernick, Julie and Janelle Flores…

Julie Wernick and Janelle Flores are yonsei sisters via their maternal grandfather. Their great-grandfather, Kiyoshi Shimizu, initially settled in Portland,…
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Ozawa, Alexander (6/24/2021)

Alexander Ozawa is a mixed-race Japanese American born and raised in Chicago's Northwest suburbs. His family’s history during World War II includes…
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Yamaji, Masao (10/2/2018)

A nisei born in Los Angeles in 1935, Masao Yamaji was six years old when he, his parents, and three siblings were incarcerated at the Santa Anita racetrack and…
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Samson, Mary (6/30/2021)

Mary Samson, a sansei born in Chicago in 1955, discusses the impact of incarceration on her parents, grandparents, and other family members and shares about her…
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Issei: A Quality for Survival

Produced in 1975 as part of the Issei Gerontology Project, this film traces the journey of first generation Japanese immigrants from the West Coast to the…
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Social Service: Seeking a Human…

Produced in 1975 as part of the Issei Gerontology Project, this film showcases the social support services provided by the Japanese American Service Committee…
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Values and Attitudes II

Produced in 1975 as part of the Issei Gerontology Project, this film captures the attitudes of Nisei (second generation) and Sansei (third generation) Japanese…
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Biala, Kathy (12/12/2022)

Kathy (Nakamoto) Biala, a Sansei born in Chicago, speaks about the tight-knit community of Sansei professionals who were involved in redress efforts for the…
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Kojima, Wade (1/6/2023)

Wade Kojima, a Sansei with roots in Hawaii, describes his involvement in the JACL's redress efforts in Minnesota and Ohio. First via involvement with a…
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Omori, Chizu (11/10/2022)

Chizu Omori, a Nisei born in the San Diego area and incarcerated at Poston during World War II, describes becoming politically active at UC Berkeley in the…
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Doi, Lisa (12/13/2022)

Lisa Doi, a Yonsei born and raised in Chicago, discusses the development of the Japanese American redress movement and the ongoing process of intergenerational…
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Kudo, Eigo (11/26/2022)

Eigo Kudo, a Peruvian of Japanese descent, describes his family's experience of expulsion from Peru and incarceration at Crystal City. He recalls with…
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Kudo, Elsa (11/26/2022)

Elsa Kudo, a Peruvian of Japanese descent, describes her experience testifying at the Chicago CWRIC hearings about her family's experience of expulsion from…
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Yoshino, Ron (2/7/2023)

Ron Yoshino, a Chicago-born Sansei, discusses his involvement in the JACL's Redress efforts and his role as Chairperson for the JACL's 1986 National Convention…
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Yoshino, William (12/6/2022)

William Yoshino, a Sansei whose parents were incarcerated at Heart Mountain, descibes his family's wartime experience and his own experience moving from…
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Adachi, Patti and Christina…

Sisters Patti and Tina Adachi, born and raised in Hyde Park, discuss their experiences as sansei growing up on Chicago's South Side. They describe involvement…
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Kamidoi, Mary (3/31/2023)

Mary Kamidoi, a nisei who resettled in Missouri and then Flint, MI after being released from incarceration, discusses her involvement with the Detroit chapter…
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Lin, Cori Nakamura (12/15/2022)

Cori Nakamura Lin, a yonsei born and raised in Chicago, discusses her evolving knowledge and understanding of Japanese American incarceration and redress…
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Ozaki, Rebecca (3/16/2023)

Rebecca Ozaki, a yonsei born and raised in Chicago, discusses her parents' and grandparents' legacy and the impact of their activism and community involvement…
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Yoshikawa, Gordon (4/10/2023)

Gordon Yoshikawa, a nisei who resettled in Cincinnati, OH after being released from incarceration, discusses his involvement with the Cincinnati chapter of the…