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Returning to San Jose

I was the first one to return to the West Coast after the thing was lifted. I was sent to San Jose, California. Great reception because there were more Japanese Americans returning to San Jose than before the war. Great reception. And right after that, I was out in California for about three, four weeks. And there were certain areas...and I just can’t remember the town, but there was a town where there was some shooting going on. Shooting towards evacuees homes. And I just can’t remember the name of the town, but I think it was around Stockton. But I just can’t remember. But there were a few moments where there were some problems.


California postwar resettlements San Jose United States World War II

Date: December 3, 2009

Location: California, US

Interviewer: John Esaki

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

Interviewee Bio

Hikaru Carl Iwasaki (b. 1923) grew up in San Jose, California, developing his interest in photography while working on his high school newspaper and yearbook. With Executive Order 9066, signed by President Franklin Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, the Iwasaki Family was sent to the Santa Anita Assembly Center and then to a concentration camp at Heart Mountain, Wyoming—where he was forbidden to have a camera. He was given a job as an X-ray technician in the hospital where the head of the camp newspaper took notice of his abilities and recommended him for work as a photographic darkroom technician with the War Relocation Authority photo unit in Denver, Colorado. Within a year, Iwasaki had become a WRA photographer, traveling freely around the country, assigned to document hundreds of Japanese Americans who had left camp and begun resettlement in various regions of the U.S. After the War, Carl began a long career as a photographer for Life, Time, Sports Illustrated, People, and many other national publications. 

He passed away on September 2016 at age 93. (September 2016)

 

Peggie Nishimura Bain
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Peggie Nishimura Bain

Apprehension about leaving camp

(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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Peggie Nishimura Bain

Difficulties finding apartment in Chicago after leaving Minidoka

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

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Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
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Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston

California housing shortage after the war

(b. 1934) Writer

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Kathryn Doi Todd
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Kathryn Doi Todd

On Working in the Appellate Court

(b. 1942) The first Asian American woman judge

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Sumiko Kozawa
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Sumiko Kozawa

Her experience of Japanese American Evacuation

(1916-2016) Florist

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Sumiko Kozawa
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Sumiko Kozawa

Memories of Manzanar

(1916-2016) Florist

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Sumiko Kozawa
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Sumiko Kozawa

Working in the camp hospital

(1916-2016) Florist

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Sumiko Kozawa
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Sumiko Kozawa

Wind in camp

(1916-2016) Florist

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Sumiko Kozawa
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Sumiko Kozawa

Her grandmother comes to Manzanar

(1916-2016) Florist

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Francesca Yukari Biller
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Francesca Yukari Biller

Fitting in to both sides of her family

Jewish Japanese American journalist

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A. Wallace Tashima
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A. Wallace Tashima

Early Childhood

(b. 1934) The First Japanese American Appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals. 

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A. Wallace Tashima
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A. Wallace Tashima

On the Increase in Asian American Representation

(b. 1934) The First Japanese American Appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals. 

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Edward Toru Horikiri
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Edward Toru Horikiri

Birthplace

(b. 1929) Kibei Nisei

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Tamio Wakayama
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Tamio Wakayama

Postwar Deportation Attempts

(1941-2018) Japanese Canadian photojournalist and activist

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Fred Y. Hoshiyama
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Fred Y. Hoshiyama

Leaving a camp to attend college

(1914–2015) Nisei YMCA and Japanese American community leader

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