Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1658/

Thriving art culture at camp

My younger sister and I took advantage of the free time we had there. Chiura Obata organized an art school. And so she, my younger sister, and I went out and painted every day and we would go to the art school and watch Professor Obata demonstrate. I also got acquainted with Mine Okubo and I hung around her a lot. She was a strong willed woman. She walked around Tanforan and also Topaz with a clipboard and she drew every minute. Everybody was painting in all media, but I love water colors, and so that was my - kind of my chosen medium.


artists arts art schools Chiura Obata Miné Okubo schools Topaz United States Utah World War II World War II camps

Date: November 23, 2018

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Patricia Wakida

Contributed by: A Co-Production of the Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum and KCET

Interviewee Bio

Kay Sekimachi, born in 1926 in San Francisco, is an American fiber artist best known for her masterful, three-dimensional woven monofilament hangings as well as her intricate baskets and bowls. Born in San Francisco on September 30, 1926, Sekimachi was interned with her family at Tanforan Assembly Center in California and then the Topaz concentraton camp in Utah from 1942 to 1944. (June 2018)

Mako Nakagawa
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Nakagawa,Mako

A child's memories of activities at Crystal City, Texas

(1937 - 2021) Teacher

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Jimmy Ko Fukuhara
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Fukuhara,Jimmy Ko

Hearing about Pearl Harbor

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

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Fukuhara,Jimmy Ko

Traveling to Manzanar

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

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Margaret Oda
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Oda,Margaret

Victory Corps Work during World War II

(1925 - 2018) Nisei educator from Hawai‘i

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Jimmy Ko Fukuhara
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Fukuhara,Jimmy Ko

Jobs in Manzanar

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

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Fukuhara,Jimmy Ko

Sugar beet and potato farming in Idaho

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

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William Marutani
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Marutani,William

Recalling Pinedale and Tule Lake concentration camps

Judge, only Japanese American to serve on CWRIC.

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Kathryn Doi Todd
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Todd,Kathryn Doi

On the Impact of the Camp Experience

(b. 1942) The first Asian American woman judge

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Jimmy Ko Fukuhara
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Fukuhara,Jimmy Ko

Being called out of Reserves

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

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Jimmy Ko Fukuhara
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Fukuhara,Jimmy Ko

Fort Snelling

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

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Jimmy Ko Fukuhara
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Fukuhara,Jimmy Ko

Traveling from Manila to Tokyo

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

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Holly J. Fujie
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Fujie,Holly J.

Camp stories impact on her career

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

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Yumi Matsubara
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Matsubara,Yumi

Concentration camp from a Japanese mother’s point of view (Japanese)

Shin-Issei from Gifu. Recently received U.S. citizenship

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Masao Kinoshita
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Kinoshita,Masao

Makegumi - Movement to regognize the defeat of Japan (Japanese)

A central figure for the “Makegumi” (defeatists)

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Evelyn Yoshimura
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Yoshimura,Evelyn

Emergence of Graphics in Gidra

Community Activist

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