Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1353/

Introduction to Film

The reason I really took to animation is was the first film I saw was Snow White in camp. You know from all my ten cent saving, of the thing, it only cost ten cents a ticket. You know, so my brother and I we both bought tickets at the mess hall. You know they were selling tickets, you see. But you had to walk all the way, almost across town, to get to the, there's the only color theater, you know, so where they show feature films on sixteen millimeter, you know. 

So I, I...my brother and I we bought a ticket and we went to the cinema, or the theater, and I lost my ticket on the way, you know. So I was in tears, I said, my brother said, "I'm going in so you just go home."  You know? So I was walking home but I traced, this is the honest truth, I traced my path, I walk, I'm coming back, and I find my ticket on the ground. 'Cause I kinda felt I was pulling some paper or hanky or something out of my pocket and it was, my ticket was there.  I ran back. I was just in time to see the film and I saw the Snow White. And I thought, God this was the best thing ever, that I ever seen, and I wanted to be an animator. 


films World War II World War II camps

Date: June 29, 2012

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Chris Komai, John Esaki

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Jimmy Murakami (1933 – 2014) was inspired as a child to become a film animator by watching the Disney cartoons that were shown to Japanese Americans confined at the Tule Lake concentration camp during WWII. After attending Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, he worked as an animator for UPA. He later founded Murakami Wolf—a company that produced many well-known commercials in the 1960s and 70s—and became a feature film director of When the Wind Blows and The Snowman. After establishing residence in Ireland in recent years, he passed away in February of 2014 at age 80.  (June 2014)

Sakaye Shigekawa
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Shigekawa, Sakaye

Traumatic experiences before camp

(1913-2013) Doctor specializing in obstetrics in Southern California

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Sakaye Shigekawa
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Shigekawa, Sakaye

Joining the hospital unit in Santa Anita Race Track

(1913-2013) Doctor specializing in obstetrics in Southern California

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Sakaye Shigekawa
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Shigekawa, Sakaye

“Everybody went in like sheep”

(1913-2013) Doctor specializing in obstetrics in Southern California

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Henry Suto
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Suto,Henry

The horror of Hiroshima after the atomic bombing (Japanese)

(1928 - 2008) Drafted into both the Japanese Imperial Army and the U.S. Army.

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Cedrick Shimo
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Shimo,Cedrick

Finding out Roosevelt wanted Japan to attack

(1919-2020) Member of the 1800th Engineering Battalion. Promoted Japan-U.S. trade while working for Honda's export division.

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Cedrick Shimo
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Shimo,Cedrick

Parents expected to be taken by the FBI

(1919-2020) Member of the 1800th Engineering Battalion. Promoted Japan-U.S. trade while working for Honda's export division.

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Cedrick Shimo
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Shimo,Cedrick

525 Quartermaster Corps

(1919-2020) Member of the 1800th Engineering Battalion. Promoted Japan-U.S. trade while working for Honda's export division.

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Cedrick Shimo
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Shimo,Cedrick

Fort McClellan soldiers

(1919-2020) Member of the 1800th Engineering Battalion. Promoted Japan-U.S. trade while working for Honda's export division.

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William Hohri
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Hohri,William

Going to camp with the Terminal Island people

(1927-2010) Political Activist

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William Hohri
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Hohri,William

Outhouses and showers at camp

(1927-2010) Political Activist

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William Hohri
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Hohri,William

Interned at age fifteen, I saw camp as an adventure

(1927-2010) Political Activist

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Sumiko Kozawa
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Kozawa,Sumiko

Coming back to America from Japan before the war

(1916-2016) Florist

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Sumiko Kozawa
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Kozawa,Sumiko

Her experience of Japanese American Evacuation

(1916-2016) Florist

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Sumiko Kozawa
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Kozawa,Sumiko

Working in the camp hospital

(1916-2016) Florist

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Sumiko Kozawa
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Kozawa,Sumiko

Experiencing prejudice after the war

(1916-2016) Florist

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