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

(b. 1942) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City

Checking in with Immigration once a month

When we came out of camp, we had to check in (immigration) every month. Every month, take a day off, my sister took a day off work, Sumi, took Jimmy, George and myself there. Of course, we never drove there, we took a bus, it felt like forever to get there. So the whole day is spent there. You go there, you wait, there's hundreds of people. Several hours later, you get in, you register and you go back home.

Another side thing is our family has motion sickness, so even taking the bus, we get motion sickness, we're that sensitive. It's our eye-ear, all that. So we had to get off several blocks before we got home to walk home. But those days were just grueling because... you know.

immigration Japanese Peruvians postwar 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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