Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/241/

Life in camp as teenager

When we got into camp, I only went home to the barracks room when I had to go to sleep. And so, I remember…and I relied on the fact that the walls in the barracks between families only went up to the rafters, and it was open all the way through, so that you could hear the neighbors. So I relied upon that to do whatever I wanted to do. You know, my parents didn’t allow us to even play cards—any kind of cards—because it was associated with gambling. So I didn’t learn to play cards until I got into camp. And we didn’t even eat with our parents, you know, because it’s mess hall. So we ate with our peers. We played ball and that kind of stuff. And we’d stay up late and I learned how to play pinochle. And then I’d go home. And then one night my mother had enough of it. And she gave me a talking to that everybody could hear all up and down the barracks.


barracks imprisonment incarceration World War II World War II camps

Date: January 7, 2004

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Art Hansen

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

Interviewee Bio

James Hirabayashi, son of hardworking immigrant farmers in the Pacific Northwest, was a high school senior in 1942 when he was detained in the Pinedale Assembly Center before being transferred to the Tule Lake Concentration Camp in Northern California.

After World War II, he earned his Bachelor of Arts and Masters in Anthropology from the University of Washington, and eventually his Ph.D. from Harvard University. Dr. Hirabayashi is Professor Emeritus at San Francisco State University where he was Dean of the nation’s first school of ethnic studies. He also held research and teaching positions at the University of Tokyo, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and Ahmadu Bellow Univerity, Zaria, Nigeria.

He passed away in May 2012 at age 85. (June 2014)

Kay Sekimachi
en
ja
es
pt
Sekimachi,Kay

Family that saved her belongings during World War II

(b. 1926) Artist

en
ja
es
pt
Takayo Fischer
en
ja
es
pt
Fischer,Takayo

Passing Time in the Camps with Baton Twirling

(b. 1932) Nisei American stage, film, and TV actress

en
ja
es
pt
Mitsuye Yamada
en
ja
es
pt
Yamada,Mitsuye

Her brother’s reasons as a No-No Boy

(b. 1923) Japanese American poet, activist

en
ja
es
pt
Holly J. Fujie
en
ja
es
pt
Fujie,Holly J.

Her grandfather was pressured to teach Japanese

Sansei judge on the Superior Court of Los Angeles County in California

en
ja
es
pt
Holly J. Fujie
en
ja
es
pt
Fujie,Holly J.

Neighbor took care of her mother after grandfather was taken by FBI

Sansei judge on the Superior Court of Los Angeles County in California

en
ja
es
pt
Howard Kakita
en
ja
es
pt
Kakita,Howard

Immediately after the bombing

(b. 1938) Japanese American. Hiroshima atomic bomb survivor

en
ja
es
pt
Howard Kakita
en
ja
es
pt
Kakita,Howard

Other family members not as lucky

(b. 1938) Japanese American. Hiroshima atomic bomb survivor

en
ja
es
pt
Howard Kakita
en
ja
es
pt
Kakita,Howard

His parents had little hope that he had survived the atomic bomb

(b. 1938) Japanese American. Hiroshima atomic bomb survivor

en
ja
es
pt
Howard Kakita
en
ja
es
pt
Kakita,Howard

His views on nuclear weapons

(b. 1938) Japanese American. Hiroshima atomic bomb survivor

en
ja
es
pt
Iwao Takamoto
en
ja
es
pt
Takamoto,Iwao

Loss When Leaving for Manzanar

Japanese American animator for Walt Disney and Hanna Barbera (1925-2007)

en
ja
es
pt
Jimmy Naganuma
en
ja
es
pt
Naganuma,Jimmy

Forcibly deported to the U.S. from Peru

(b. 1936) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City

en
ja
es
pt
Monica Teisher
en
ja
es
pt
Teisher,Monica

Stories of Grandfather at a concentration camp in Fusagasuga

(b.1974) Japanese Colombian who currently resides in the United States

en
ja
es
pt
Monica Teisher
en
ja
es
pt
Teisher,Monica

Her grandfather in a concentration camp in Fusagasuga (Spanish)

(b.1974) Japanese Colombian who currently resides in the United States

en
ja
es
pt
Jimmy Naganuma
en
ja
es
pt
Naganuma,Jimmy

Family welcomed at Crystal City

(b. 1936) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City

en
ja
es
pt
Jimmy Naganuma
en
ja
es
pt
Naganuma,Jimmy

First meal at Crystal City

(b. 1936) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City

en
ja
es
pt