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Difference between experiences of youth and older people in WWII camps

There’s a big separation of people in camp. The under high school, I would say, I had good memories, yes. And you see that in the reunions. So the reunions of the camp of 1945 graduates are the biggest of all the camps. You see that even today. So it means that all of those people remember and want to get together. All the ’46 graduates, little bit less. That’s my age. And ’47 graduates almost have no reunions—that’s like my younger brother—because maybe they were too young. But still I think it’s true that the children had a lot of people to play with. And I was constantly playing.

So over high school, this is where it cuts, where people have, I’m sure, suffered and have been disadvantaged by the camp. Their careers were interrupted, studies interrupted. And so either they had to get out of camp and try to go to school somewhere. Or if they stayed in camp, I’m sure it was not good for them. And then the older people like my parents, who had a business, they had to suffer a lot because they lost the business. They were living in these very small rooms and deprived of everything that they really had. So they don’t have their own kitchen, their own bathroom they don’t have. So I’m sure they suffered. And as I say, being the younger child, I wasn’t aware of that too much.


imprisonment incarceration World War II World War II camps

Date: February 10, 2004

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Gwenn M. Jensen

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

Interviewee Bio

Paul Terasaki, born in 1929, is a UCLA Medical Professor Emeritus and a pioneer in tissue transfer research who continues to speak globally on tissue typing and organ transplantation. In 1991 he edited a volume entitled History of Transplantation: Thirty-five Recollections.

He and his wife Hisako, a renowned painter, take a strong interest in U.S.-Japan relations and the affairs of the Japanese American community. Together they established an endowment at the UCLA Asian American Studies Center to fund fellowships for UCLA graduate students from Japan pursuing research on the historical and contemporary experiences and issues of the Japanese American population. Additionally, a Paul I. Terasaki Endowed Chair in U.S.-Japan Relations supports a distinguished teaching program designed to bring experts in the field of Japanese studies and U.S.-Japan relations to UCLA. (February 10, 2004)

Takayo Fischer
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Takayo Fischer

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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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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Monica Teisher
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Monica Teisher

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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Jimmy Naganuma

Family welcomed at Crystal City

(b. 1936) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City

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Jimmy Naganuma
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Jimmy Naganuma

First meal at Crystal City

(b. 1936) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City

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Kazumu Naganuma
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Kazumu Naganuma

His sister Kiyo was like a second mother to him

(b. 1942) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City

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