Interviews

1. Family nursery business

2. Living through the Great Depression

3. Hearing about Pearl Harbor

4. Traveling to Manzanar

5. Jobs in Manzanar

6. The riot in Manzanar

7. Sugar beet and potato farming in Idaho

8. Sugar beet farming process

9. Being inducted into the army

10. Being called out of Reserves

11. Fort Snelling

12. Traveling from Manila to Tokyo

13. Serving in Tokyo

14. Visiting Hiroshima

15. After being discharged and returning to the nursery business

16. Meeting his wife, Eileen

Jimmy Ko Fukuhara

(b. 1921) Nisei veteran who served in the occupation of Japan

Sugar beet and potato farming in Idaho

In camp? Let’s see, it was 1942 we went in. Almost to the month, March, four of us brothers left the camp. And we signed a contract to go on the farm in Shelly, Idaho. To take care of the beets, sugar beets. And then harvest them. And the same thing with the potatoes. And we came back about Thanksgiving, back into camp. So were gone from March to November.

I*: Was that kind of a group decision? That you all…?

Well, Henry wanted to go, and so I guess he talked to dad and says, “Four of us would like to go out of camp.” He said no in 1942, Henry wanted to go out. Even in ’42 because they were asking for help, as soon as we got into camp. But they weren’t set up for that yet. We wanted to go in ’43 so we went in ’43. Just to see what it was like.

*“I” indicates an interviewer (John Esaki).

agriculture farming potato growers sugar beets World War II World War II camps

Date: February 6, 2015

Location: California, US

Interviewer: John Esaki

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

Interviewee Bio

Jimmy Ko Fukuhara was born on September 21, 1921 in Los Angeles, California to Japanese immigrants, Ume and Ichisuke Fukuhara. In 1927, his father moved the family to Santa Monica, California, and got started in the nursery business. After graduating from Santa Monica High School, Jimmy worked at the nursery, until 1942, when he and his family were sent to the Manzanar concentration camp.

Jimmy was able to leave camp early, and moved to Pennsylvania with his younger brother, George. Within sixty days, Jimmy was drafted into the army, and volunteered to serve in the Military Intelligence school. After going through basic training, Jimmy was sent to Tokyo, Japan. There he worked for the labor department in General MacArthur’s headquarters. Before leaving Japan, he visited Hiroshima in hopes of connecting with his parents’ relatives. After being discharged, Jimmy returned to Santa Monica and the family nursery business. Jimmy continued to work in the nursery with his four brothers, until he retired in 1986. (May 2016)