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Influence of veterans

The World War II, I think that made it possible for many of the AJAs in America, in the United States, here in Hawaii…to be able to rise to the cause, that made it possible for them to prove their loyalty to their country. And they did it in very superlative fashion. The way it impacted me was, I was too young to become part of that group. But, I got impacted by what they tried to do when they returned. They not only fought in the battlefield, but they came back and wanted to fight as civilians—wanted to have a better life, a more fair life, for every person in the United States. And as a result, I became part of that group. And I think I was greatly helped by the efforts of those veterans who had come back to want to create a more fair and more just society.


armed forces retired military personnel veterans World War II

Date: December 15, 2003

Location: Hawai`i, US

Interviewer: Art Hansen

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

Interviewee Bio

George Ariyoshi was born in Honolulu in 1926. He overcame a childhood speech defect to enter the Military Intelligence Service language school after World War II and served the United States in Tokyo’s ruins. Returning home from occupied Japan, he moved to Michigan where he received undergraduate and law degrees.

He married Jean Hayashi in Hawai`i and, between 1954 and 1986, held elective offices there as a Democrat. He served three terms as Hawai`i’s governor, the first Japanese American nationwide to govern a state. By his own definition, Governor Ariyoshi was “a social liberal and a fiscal conservative.” The title of his 1997 memoir, With Obligation to All, summed up his personal and political philosophies. (December 2003)

Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
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Not a "camp story" but a human story

(1934 -2024) Writer

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Fujima Kansuma
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Neighbor took care of hotel business during the World War II

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Fujima Kansuma
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Different learning style in Japan and the United States

(1918-2023) Nisei Japanese kabuki dancer

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Aiko Yoshinaga Herzig
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Lack of political power led to camps

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Aiko Yoshinaga Herzig
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Family separated in the camps

(1924-2018) Researcher, Activist

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Aiko Yoshinaga Herzig
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Feeling imprisoned at camp

(1924-2018) Researcher, Activist

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Aiko Yoshinaga Herzig
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World War II hysteria against Japanese in New York City

(1924-2018) Researcher, Activist

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Aiko Yoshinaga Herzig
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Institutionalization as a bad aspect of camp

(1924-2018) Researcher, Activist

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Aiko Yoshinaga Herzig
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State Department records show concern for treatment of Japanese American internees

(1924-2018) Researcher, Activist

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Aiko Yoshinaga Herzig
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Political motivation to keep the camps open until end of 1944 election

(1924-2018) Researcher, Activist

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Francis Y. Sogi
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Remembering December 7, 1941

(1923-2011) Lawyer, MIS veteran, founder of Francis and Sarah Sogi Foundation

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Francis Y. Sogi
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Being an American soldier and an "enemy alien"

(1923-2011) Lawyer, MIS veteran, founder of Francis and Sarah Sogi Foundation

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Francis Y. Sogi
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Meeting Japanese Americans from the mainland in MIS

(1923-2011) Lawyer, MIS veteran, founder of Francis and Sarah Sogi Foundation

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Francis Y. Sogi
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Awareness of concentration camps as a Japanese American

(1923-2011) Lawyer, MIS veteran, founder of Francis and Sarah Sogi Foundation

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Mako Nakagawa
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Search of family home by the FBI following the bombing of Pearl Harbor

(1937 - 2021) Teacher

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