Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1783/

Impact of her father

He was very stern and stork, a typical Nisei man, didn’t talk about anything. I’ve learned about everything through my mom, but my images of him being shunned by the camp leadership, because of his advocacy for the Issei, I’ve always been most proud of that. Standing up for the people that were the most unpopular and who were deliberately being disempowered by the majority of the leadership in the camp was the only image that I would invoke at the worst times doing the kind of work I do thinking about where I came from and I think about him I think you know, it’s a life well lived. If it’s always in in in search of some noble objective that’s about the common good, then it’s always worth it. No matter what you lose in process. So I know that not everybody has looked at the camps the way I do but I do feel as though it’s a legacy that I’ve got to live up to and that I’ve gotta fight for the people who are being mistreated because of their race. That’s what I’ve been given and that’s what I’m gonna go with. That’s a legacy and it’s a way for it not to be wasted on me. That you know that I got this gift, in many ways, of a perspective that not everybody has. That White people will never have, that is so valuable despite the pain of it.


activism families fathers imprisonment incarceration social action World War II World War II camps

Date: July 14, 2020

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Matthew Saito

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

Interviewee Bio

Mia Yamamoto is a Sansei transgender attorney and civil rights activist. She was born in the Poston concentration camp in Arizona in 1943 where her parents were incarcerated. She joined the Army and served in the Vietnam War. Inspired by her father's courage to speak out against the unconstitutional incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, she attended the University of California Los Angeles's School of Law and has been a leader in the field of social justice, including working with the Japanese American Bar Association. (March 2021)

*This is one of the main projects completed by The Nikkei Community Internship (NCI) Program intern each summer, which the Japanese American Bar Association and the Japanese American National Museum have co-hosted.

Minami,Dale
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Minami,Dale

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

(b. 1946) Lawyer

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Minami,Dale
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Minami,Dale

An emotional response from mother upon talking about incarceration experience

(b. 1946) Lawyer

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Nakagawa,Mako
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Nakagawa,Mako

Living conditions at Crystal City, Texas

(1937 - 2021) Teacher

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Nakagawa,Mako
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Nakagawa,Mako

Thoughts on relationship between Japanese Peruvians and Japanese Americans at Crystal City, Texas

(1937 - 2021) Teacher

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Yamada,George
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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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Oda,Margaret
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Oda,Margaret

Father interrogated by FBI, but not taken away

(1925 - 2018) Nisei educator from Hawai‘i

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Hirose,Roberto
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Hirose,Roberto

The political effects on Nikkei during the war (Spanish)

(b. 1950) Nisei Chilean, Businessman

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Naka,John
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Naka,John

Avoiding the Japanese military

(1914-2004) Nisei Bonsai master in the United States

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Shimizu,Henry
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Shimizu,Henry

Sneaking out of the Hastings Park camp during World War II

(b. 1928) Doctor. Former Chair of the Japanese Canadian Redress Foundation.

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Shinki,Venancio
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Shinki,Venancio

Hiding out to avoid the concentration camps (Spanish)

(b. 1932-2016) Peruvian painter

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Hirabayashi,Gordon
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Hirabayashi,Gordon

A Dutiful Son

(1918-2012) Fought the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066.

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Hirabayashi,Gordon
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Hirabayashi,Gordon

Bypassing the Constitution

(1918-2012) Fought the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066.

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Hosokawa,Bill
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Hosokawa,Bill

A Reporter’s Responsibility

(1915 - 2007) Journalist

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Kinoshita,Cherry
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Kinoshita,Cherry

Erasing the Bitterness

(1923–2008) One of the leaders behind the redress movement.

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Emi,Frank
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Emi,Frank

Speaking out in camp

(1916-2010) draft resister, helped form the Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee

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