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Postcards to Nisei soldiers

I had only five kids at first in the class, and coincidentally, everyone had a brother who’s in service, and I had a brother, you know, who just went in. So, one of the girls said, “Let’s write to our Nisei servicemen.” And, everybody said, “Oh, that would be fun.” And so, each one, the next Sunday, brought their brother’s address, and we started writing, and then we said, “Let’s see how many addresses we could get of Nisei soldiers.” And, it was surprising.

Our list was growing so fast. And then we bought penny post…postcards for a penny—we didn’t have to get a stamp to post, the stamp was on there. And so then, we had all the kids draw pictures and write that we are thinking of our Nisei soldiers.


soldiers World War II

Date: Jun 16, 2003

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Karen Ishizuka, Akira Boch

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

Interviewee Bio

Yuri Kochiyama (nee Mary Nakahara) was born in the southern California community of San Pedro in 1922. She was “provincial, religious, and apolitical” until Japan’s December 7, 1941, bombing of the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawai`i led to the government’s mass incarceration of virtually all Japanese Americans. Her wartime detainment in two concentration camps in the segregated American South prompted her to see the parallels between the treatment of the Nikkei and African Americans.

After the war she married Bill Kochiyama, a veteran of a segregated Japanese American battalion, and lived in New York City. In 1960, the Kochiyamas moved their family into low-cost housing in the African American district of Harlem. Her political involvement there changed her life, especially after her 1963 meeting with Black Nationalist revolutionary Malcolm X, who was assassinated two years later. She has since had a long history of activism: for black liberation and Japanese American redress and against the Vietnam War, imperialism everywhere, and the imprisonment of people for combating injustice.  

She passed away on June 1, 2014, at age 93.  (June 2014)

Robert T. Fujioka
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Robert T. Fujioka

Grandfather picked up by US Army

(b. 1952) Former banking executive, born in Hawaii

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Tom Yuki
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Tom Yuki

Father's business partner operated their farming business during WWII

(b. 1935) Sansei businessman.

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Tom Yuki
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Tom Yuki

Father was convinced the constitution would protect him

(b. 1935) Sansei businessman.

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Kay Sekimachi
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Kay Sekimachi

Family that saved her belongings during World War II

(b. 1926) Artist

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Mitsuye Yamada
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Mitsuye Yamada

Her brother’s reasons as a No-No Boy

(b. 1923) Japanese American poet, activist

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Holly J. Fujie
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Holly J. Fujie

Her grandfather was pressured to teach Japanese

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

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Holly J. Fujie
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Holly J. Fujie

Neighbor took care of her mother after grandfather was taken by FBI

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

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Howard Kakita
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Howard Kakita

Immediately after the bombing

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

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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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