Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1738/

Stories of Grandfather at a concentration camp in Fusagasuga

Thankfully for us, they treated them well. There's a story that he was given something that he would…I don't remember exactly what they were given good that he would collect, and trade for booze, because he wanted to have some drink, and they weren't allowed to have all those things. So he collected, and traded them. Maybe they had some limited outings, or something.

And there's also a thing that he says that if they were well behaved, they took them out for field trips. So he had gone to a park, or something that he had been impressed by the beauty of the place that they had visited.

And there's also stories that my grandmother had written in Japanese to my grandfather saying, like prearranging that, there were like a lot of faked illnesses in my family, and they would write the notes in Spanish. So the guards would understand that they were telling him that my mom, for example, my mom was very, very sick that what should we do or whatever, so they allowed him time off, and gave him permission to come visit. And he would visit for 15 days, and go back. So they were, I guess every so often, they would fake some illness, or some major event, only so he would be allowed to come visit them.


Colombia World War II World War II camps

Date: September 22, 2019

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Yoko Nishimura

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

Interviewee Bio

Monica Teisher was born in Cali, Colombia in 1974 to an Issei father and Nisei mother. She and her large extended family were active in the Cali Japanese community, the largest in Colombia. She moved to the United States after marrying a U.S. citizen of Eastern European Jewish descent. They and their daughters spend vacation time in Colombia, participating in community events. (May 2020)

Yamasaki,Frank

Memories of dusty conditions at Minidoka incarceration camp

(b. 1923) Nisei from Washington. Resisted draft during WWII.

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.

Kanemoto,Marion Tsutakawa

Witnessing father's arrest through a child's eyes

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

Kanemoto,Marion Tsutakawa

Participating in military drills in school in Japan during the war

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

Kanemoto,Marion Tsutakawa

Hearing anti-American war propaganda from a teacher

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

Kanemoto,Marion Tsutakawa

The hardships of life in Japan during World War II

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

Kansuma,Fujima

Neighbor took care of hotel business during the World War II

(1918-2023) Nisei Japanese kabuki dancer

Sasaki,Fred

Anti-Japanese sentiment at the time of World War II

(b. 1918) Issei businessman in Canada

Kodama,Ryoichi

Affect of the World War II (Japanese)

Kasato-maru immigrants

Adachi,Pat

Family life in a Japanese Canadian internment camp in Slocan

(b. 1920) Incarcerated during World War II. Active member of the Japanese Canadian community

Herzig,Aiko Yoshinaga

Lack of political power led to camps

(1924-2018) Researcher, Activist

Kadoguchi,Shizuko

Choice to move east or go to Japan

(b.1920) Japanese Canadian Nisei. Established the Ikenobo Ikebana Society of Toronto

Herzig,Aiko Yoshinaga

Feeling imprisoned at camp

(1924-2018) Researcher, Activist

Herzig,Aiko Yoshinaga

Institutionalization as a bad aspect of camp

(1924-2018) Researcher, Activist

Herzig,Aiko Yoshinaga

State Department records show concern for treatment of Japanese American internees

(1924-2018) Researcher, Activist