Browse Items (123 total)

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 later sent by train to Rohwer, Arkansas. Too young to recall much from his pre-war life,…

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 incarceration at Manzanar, Tule Lake, and Fort Sill. Post-incarceration, while making their way back…

Julie Wernick and Janelle Flores are yonsei sisters via their maternal grandfather. Their great-grandfather, Kiyoshi Shimizu, initially settled in Portland, Oregon, where Julie and Janelle’s grandfather and his siblings were born and raised. During…

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 World War II, first in farming and later in landscaping and gardening, as well as his own…

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 mother's wartime experiences in Poland have shaped his identity. He reflects on the losses…

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 entrepreneurial successes and failures and his own busy childhood attending Japanese language…

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 siblings on a farm in Wailua, Kauai. Eight years old when Pearl Harbor was bombed, he recalls…

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. She shares memories from her childhood, including the early death of her father and the…

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 Minidoka after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. After incarceration, the family returned to…