Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/659/

Living conditions in prison while serving time for resisting the draft

And we thought, “Well, let's break the ice. One way to break the ice is let's start playing a little bit of sports.” And so came the spring, we decided, “Well, let's apply for, to play baseball. Let's form a team and play within the group there.” And to play with them we got up all the best players that we can find and we played against them and we came out the champs.

And that was the... it broke the ice and people started to get friendly and they found out... “Well, you guys are just average kids. What are you guys doing here?” And this is where the questions started up like, “What happened? How come you're here?” We tell 'em that they just marked us as enemy alien, undesirable, put us into camp and they told us to go to, get into the army and we refused so consequently we're here. And they say, “Oh my God, you guys are just playing a political ping-pong. You're just being bounced around.”

And many of them sympathized with us, and come the following spring, many of 'em wanted to play on the same team as us. So anyway, that's how we got to know the people in the, what they refer to us as the main line, that's the maximum-security group.


discrimination draft resisters interpersonal relations resisters World War II

Date: July 25, 1997

Location: Washington, US

Interviewer: Larry Hashima, Stephen Fugita

Contributed by: Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project.

Interviewee Bio

Nisei male. Born 1925 in Seattle, Washington. Spent prewar childhood in Seattle's Nihonmachi. Incarcerated at Puyallup Assembly Center, Washington, and Minidoka incarceration camp, Idaho. Refused to participate in draft, imprisoned at McNeil Island Penitentiary, Washington, for resisting the draft. Resettled in Seattle. (July 25, 1997)

George Yamada
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Yamada,George

Losing job with railroad because of being Japanese American

(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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Margaret Oda
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Oda,Margaret

Gender discrimination in education field

(1925 - 2018) Nisei educator from Hawai‘i

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Margaret Oda
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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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Roberto Hirose
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Hirose,Roberto

The political effects on Nikkei during the war (Spanish)

(b. 1950) Nisei Chilean, Businessman

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Kazuomi Takagi
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Takagi,Kazuomi

No discrimination in Argentina (Spanish)

(1925-2014) La Plata Hochi, Journalist

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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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Luis Yamada
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Yamada,Luis

Joined Japanese Imperial Army during the WWII (Spanish)

(b. 1929) Nisei Argentinean

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Luis Yamada
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Yamada,Luis

Proud to be a Japanese desecendant (Spanish)

(b. 1929) Nisei Argentinean

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Margarida Tomi Watanabe
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Watanabe,Margarida Tomi

Relief fund to support Japanese communities (Japanese)

(1900–1996) The mother of Nikkei Brazilian immigration

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Margarida Tomi Watanabe
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Watanabe,Margarida Tomi

Role of Assistancia Social dom Jose Gaspar (Japanese)

(1900–1996) The mother of Nikkei Brazilian immigration

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Margarida Tomi Watanabe
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Watanabe,Margarida Tomi

Interrogation by police (Japanese)

(1900–1996) The mother of Nikkei Brazilian immigration

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Henry Shimizu
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Shimizu,Henry

No immediate impact after Pearl Harbor

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

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Henry Shimizu
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Shimizu,Henry

Treatment of Japanese fishermen in Canada during World War II

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

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