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The Emotional Toll of Being Incarcerated in Camp during World War II

When I think about the camp days, I – I’m always grateful to my parents for shielding me. For letting me be a child and run around and have a good time with young people, not to – I don’t forget the barbed wire. I remember the barbed wire. I remember trying to crawl back in the barbed wire. I remember the kind guard, you know, who helped me climb back into camp, telling me not to get caught by the mean guards with the guns pointing at me in camp. It’s – I don’t know how other young people feel about it, but I’m emotional. I don’t talk about it with – I don’t talk about it. My sisters and I never talked about it, we never – never discussed camp once we got out of camp. I never really talked about it with my children. I think I would have a difficult time.


imprisonment incarceration World War II World War II camps

Date: Nov 8, 2018

Location: California, US

Interviewer: June Berk

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

Interviewee Bio

Takayo Fischer, born in November 1932, is a Nisei American stage, film, and TV actress. During World War II, as a young child, she and her family were forcibly evacuated from the West Coast and spent time in the Fresno Assembly Center before being relocated to Jerome and Rohwer concentration camps. Fischer later lived in Chicago, Illinois, where, as a young adult, she won the crown of “Miss Nisei Queen.” She has appeared in dozens of major Hollywood films, including Moneyball (2011), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), and Memoirs of a Geisha (2005). She also appeared in the stage production of The World of Suzie Wong in New York in 1958 and many productions with East West Players in Los Angeles. (June 2018)

Howard Kakita
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Howard Kakita

Other family members not as lucky

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

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Howard Kakita
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Howard Kakita

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

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

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Howard Kakita
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Howard Kakita

His views on nuclear weapons

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

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Iwao Takamoto
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Iwao Takamoto

Loss When Leaving for Manzanar

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

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Jimmy Naganuma
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Jimmy Naganuma

Forcibly deported to the U.S. from Peru

(b. 1936) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City

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Monica Teisher
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Monica Teisher

Stories of Grandfather at a concentration camp in Fusagasuga

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

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Jimmy Naganuma
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Jimmy Naganuma

Family welcomed at Crystal City

(b. 1936) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City

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Jimmy Naganuma
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Jimmy Naganuma

First meal at Crystal City

(b. 1936) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City

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Kazumu Naganuma
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Kazumu Naganuma

His sister Kiyo was like a second mother to him

(b. 1942) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City

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Mia Yamamoto
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Mia Yamamoto

Impact of her father

(b. 1943) Japanese American transgender attorney

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Ben Sakoguchi
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Ben Sakoguchi

Coming back from camp

(b. 1938) Japanese American painter & printmaker

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Monica Teisher
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Monica Teisher

Her grandfather in a concentration camp in Fusagasuga (Spanish)

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

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Monica Teisher
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Monica Teisher

Japanese were treated with dignity during WWII (Spanish)

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

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Doris Moromisato
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Doris Moromisato

Necessary apologies (Spanish)

(b. 1962) Peruvian Poet, Okinawan descendant

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Venancio Shinki
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Venancio Shinki

Hiding out to avoid the concentration camps (Spanish)

(b. 1932-2016) Peruvian painter

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