Browse Items (48 total)

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 rural upbringing. In this interview they discuss their adolescence, where they were when…

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 work psycho-therapist, eventually moving to Chicago and later Seattle to be closer to her…

Community leader Ben Chikaraishi describes his family’s experiences in Rohwer, the WRA, and resettlement in Chicago. He shares his career trajectory as an optometrist, from working in the camp as an assistant, to his work in Chicago while in school,…

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 harrowing wartime experiences of family and friends. Rather than being evacuated to a…

Kazuko May Fujishima recounts her early life in rural central California, incarceration experiences during World War II, and postwar resettlement in Chicago. A founding member and the first female president of the Midwest Buddhist Temple, she…

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 experiences leaving Rohwer to farm in Texas, where they lived for 19 years before…

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 interview, Kikuno shares her experiences losing her parents at a young age, living in Japan with…

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, he discusses his lifelong interest in Japanese Canadian history and family history. He…

Aylen Hasegawa was born on February 19th, 1942; the same day that President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 allowing for the incarceration of Japanese Americans. He recalls what he's been told of his mother raising four infants in the Minidoka…

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 first at the Puyallup fairgrounds and then at Minidoka. He describes experiencing prejudice…