Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1659/

Leaving everything behind

I was 16 when we were relocated first of all to Tanforan and then to Topaz… we, like many other Japanese families, we were scared. We got rid of all our Japanese records and letters et cetera. Then when evacuation happened we left most everything just on the floor of this house and went to the assembly center.


imprisonment incarceration Topaz United States Utah World War II

Date: November 23, 2018

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Patricia Wakida

Contributed by: A Co-Production of the Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum and KCET

Interviewee Bio

Kay Sekimachi, born in 1926 in San Francisco, is an American fiber artist best known for her masterful, three-dimensional woven monofilament hangings as well as her intricate baskets and bowls. Born in San Francisco on September 30, 1926, Sekimachi was interned with her family at Tanforan Assembly Center in California and then the Topaz concentraton camp in Utah from 1942 to 1944. (June 2018)

Yuri Kochiyama
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Kochiyama,Yuri

Rounding up Issei and Nikkei

(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.

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Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
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Houston,Jeanne Wakatsuki

Impact of Pearl Harbor on her family

(b. 1934) Writer

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Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
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Houston,Jeanne Wakatsuki

Initial impact on life at camp

(b. 1934) Writer

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Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
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Houston,Jeanne Wakatsuki

The birth of a novel through a conversation with her nephew

(b. 1934) Writer

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Roy H. Matsumoto
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Matsumoto,Roy H.

Mixed emotions after declaration of war on Japan

(b.1913) Kibei from California who served in the MIS with Merrill’s Marauders during WWII.

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Roy H. Matsumoto
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Matsumoto,Roy H.

Train ride to Jerome Relocation Center

(b.1913) Kibei from California who served in the MIS with Merrill’s Marauders during WWII.

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Roy H. Matsumoto
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Matsumoto,Roy H.

Atmosphere in his Merrill’s Marauders unit when surrounded by Japanese soldiers

(b.1913) Kibei from California who served in the MIS with Merrill’s Marauders during WWII.

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Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
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Houston,Jeanne Wakatsuki

Not a "camp story" but a human story

(b. 1934) Writer

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Peggie Nishimura Bain
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Bain,Peggie Nishimura

Response to loyalty questionnaire

(b.1909) Nisei from Washington. Incarcerated at Tule Lake and Minidoka during WWII. Resettled in Chicago after WWII

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Peggie Nishimura Bain
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Bain,Peggie Nishimura

Move from Tule Lake to Minidoka

(b.1909) Nisei from Washington. Incarcerated at Tule Lake and Minidoka during WWII. Resettled in Chicago after WWII

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Richard Kosaki
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Kosaki,Richard

Under suspicion after Pearl Harbor

(b. 1924) Political scientist, educator, and administrator from Hawai`i

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Art Shibayama
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Shibayama,Art

Family's deportation from Peru to U.S. after the bombing of Pearl Harbor

(1930-2018) Nisei born in Peru. Taken to the United States during WWII.

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Art Shibayama
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Shibayama,Art

Conditions aboard U.S. transport ship while being deported from Peru

(1930-2018) Nisei born in Peru. Taken to the United States during WWII.

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Roger Shimomura
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Shimomura,Roger

Receiving a negative reaction from father upon asking about World War II experience

(b. 1939) Japanese American painter, printmaker & professor

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Marion Tsutakawa Kanemoto
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Kanemoto,Marion Tsutakawa

Ransacking of family home by FBI following the bombing of Pearl Harbor

(b. 1927) Japanese American Nisei. Family voluntarily returned to Japan during WWII.

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