Interviews

1. Parent's immigration to Peru

2. Finding family’s barrack on map of Crystal City

3. His sister Kiyo was like a second mother to him

4. His sister secured reparations for the family

5. Help received in fighting deportation

6. Seabrook Farms sponsored Japanese Peruvians for cheap labor

7. Checking in with Immigration once a month

8. Relating to Hispanic immigrant families at detention center in Laredo, TX

9. Proud to be Japanese Peruvian

Kazumu Naganuma

(b. 1942) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City

Help received in fighting deportation

We were going to be deported in 1947 September, when we were getting out of camp. It wasn't until 1954 that we got settled.

So it gives you an idea that somebody's done all this work on behalf of our family. The legalese on that, let alone just the English language, my mom and dad couldn't read it. So someone's doing all this on behalf of us, this is Wayne Collins, Reverend Fukuda. It's wonderful that these people give you this kind of time, be caring enough to do that. Reverend Fukuda — and I'm jumping around — but he found our sponsor family. Prior to that, he said he wanted to be the sponsor.

Japanese Peruvians postwar sponsorships World War II

Date: September 20, 2019

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Tom Ikeda and Yoko Nishimura

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum and Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project.

Interviewee Bio

Kazumu Julio Cesar Naganuma was born in Lima, Peru to his Issei parents on July 28, 1942. Before World War II, his parents ran a laundry business and father was a prominent community leader. When the war started, the FBI arrested his father and sent the entire family to the Department of Justice camp at Crystal City, Texas. They remained there even after the war had ended, without a place to go, becuase the family was not allowed to return to Peru. They were able to leave the camp with a sponsporship of Seabrook Farm in New Jersey, and later with the help and sponsorship of a Shinto church reverend in San Francisco, California, where they were able to find jobs and housing. Kazumu established successful design firm. (June 2020)

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