Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1701/

Camp stories impact on her career

When I was growing up I never heard about it. Back in the 50s and 60s it was something to be ashamed of. And, but it’s interesting because in church all the other Nisei who had been in camp, they would do like skits and things where they would have ‘Topaz’ on the back and they really made it sound to to the children that it really was not a bad thing. And, we were just fine, and we were with our friends there, and it was okay and it wasn’t until really much later that my parents opened up and talked about what a horrible experience it was.

So, even though we didn’t hear about it when I was really little, as we got got older and especially as the Asian American awareness movement started, and then we started to hear about the experience and it was just amazing, to me, as a young woman to think about having my parents just told you’re leaving, you can carry a duffle bag with your things in it, and you’re gonna go to some godforsaken place in the desert. And it has sort of a affected the way that I look at life, the way I look at government, and the way that I look at the law and how it is as a judge, now, being a Japanese American judge, to me means this will never happen again to our people, and it should mean that it won’t happen to anybody else either. I gotta-- wipe that [tear] away…


emotions governments shame World War II World War II camps

Date: July 11, 2019

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Kayla Tanaka

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

Interviewee Bio

Judge Holly J. Fujie is a Sansei judge on the Superior Court of Los Angeles County in California since 2012. She grew up in West Oakland, California in a diverse neighborhood. Both of her parents were incarcerated as children during World War II, but did not share their experiences with her until she was an adult. This affected her view on laws and government and led her to pursue a career as an attorney and later as a judge.

As a lawyer, she became involved with various minority bar association, including the Japanese American Bar Association, and mentorship programs. She became the first Asian American President of the State Bar of California in 2008. (July 2019)

*This is one of the main projects completed by The Nikkei Community Internship (NCI) Program intern each summer, which the Japanese American Bar Association and the Japanese American National Museum have co-hosted.

Tom Yuki
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Yuki,Tom

Father was convinced the constitution would protect him

(b. 1935) Sansei businessman.

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Fumiko Hachiya Wasserman
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Wasserman,Fumiko Hachiya

The lack of discussion about family’s incarceration in Amache

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

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Kay Sekimachi
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Sekimachi,Kay

Family that saved her belongings during World War II

(b. 1926) Artist

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Takayo Fischer
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Fischer,Takayo

Passing Time in the Camps with Baton Twirling

(b. 1932) Nisei American stage, film, and TV actress

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Mitsuye Yamada
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Yamada,Mitsuye

Her brother’s reasons as a No-No Boy

(b. 1923) Japanese American poet, activist

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Howard Kakita
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Kakita,Howard

Immediately after the bombing

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

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Howard Kakita
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Kakita,Howard

Other family members not as lucky

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

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Howard Kakita
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Kakita,Howard

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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Kakita,Howard

His views on nuclear weapons

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

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Iwao Takamoto
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Takamoto,Iwao

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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Naganuma,Jimmy

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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Teisher,Monica

Stories of Grandfather at a concentration camp in Fusagasuga

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

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Monica Teisher
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Teisher,Monica

Her grandfather in a concentration camp in Fusagasuga (Spanish)

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

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Jimmy Naganuma
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Naganuma,Jimmy

Family welcomed at Crystal City

(b. 1936) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City

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Jimmy Naganuma
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Naganuma,Jimmy

First meal at Crystal City

(b. 1936) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City

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