Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1354/

Seagulls

The seagull thing was one of, another pastime because what we do is, is you get the string and, and thread, and you tie a piece a bread. Tie it with the string and you maybe put about a dozen or two mixed in with the other bits of bread. The seagulls that come about flying, they would swallow it.  And they won't regurgitate it because they haven't got the intelligence so they're like fish -- you gotta bring them in.

And uh, we opened the wings and...not, this not oil paint, now we're using, this is poster paint. So it washes off in the rain. We used to paint the hinomaru, you know, the red circles and release them, you know? So we had about 24 of them flying around the camp. And everybody would be saying "Oh my" and so they'd be clapping; they'd be... They'd raise the morale a bit.

Now the army, the military didn't like that. So they shot them. From the air. From the watchtowers they 'em all. All of them. Some ran away, maybe.  So that was... so we stopped that, um, the catching of the seagulls, you know. My, my mother found out that my brother and I were doing it so she told us don't do that again, you know? 


amusements 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)

Aiko Yoshinaga Herzig
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Herzig,Aiko Yoshinaga

Institutionalization as a bad aspect of camp

(1924-2018) Researcher, Activist

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Gene Akutsu
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Akutsu,Gene

Reaction of Japanese American community toward draft resistance stance

(b. 1925) Draft resister

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Gene Akutsu
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Akutsu,Gene

The role of the media in influencing people's opinions

(b. 1925) Draft resister

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Gene Akutsu
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Akutsu,Gene

Living conditions in prison while serving time for resisting the draft

(b. 1925) Draft resister

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Gene Akutsu
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Akutsu,Gene

Talking to children about decision to resist the draft during World War II

(b. 1925) Draft resister

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Gene Akutsu
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Akutsu,Gene

Deciding whether to answer "yes-yes" on the loyalty questionnaire in order to leave camp

(b. 1925) Draft resister

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Gene Akutsu
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Akutsu,Gene

Reflecting on Japanese Americans' response to incarceration

(b. 1925) Draft resister

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Dale Minami
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Minami,Dale

Reasons for conformity and competitiveness in Gardena, California

(b. 1946) Lawyer

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Dale Minami
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Minami,Dale

Not fully understanding parents' World War II incarceration while growing up

(b. 1946) Lawyer

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Dale Minami
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Minami,Dale

Role of the redress movement in helping Nisei to open up about their wartime experiences

(b. 1946) Lawyer

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Mako Nakagawa
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Nakagawa,Mako

Not recognizing father after reunion at Crystal City, Texas

(1937 - 2021) Teacher

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George Yamada
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Yamada,George

Japanese American railroad workers are fired following the bombing of Pearl Harbor

(b. 1923) Chick sexer

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George Yamada
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Yamada,George

A racist encounter at a movie theater following the bombing of Pearl Harbor

(b. 1923) Chick sexer

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George Yamada
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Yamada,George

Encountering a train full of Japanese Americans being transported to a concentration camp

(b. 1923) Chick sexer

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Luis Yamada
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Yamada,Luis

Suffering in World War II (Spanish)

(b. 1929) Nisei Argentinean

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