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Fun at concentration camp

I was so young that all we did…they just let us play wherever we wanted to do. So that’s what we did. We just roamed all over camp and embarrassed my father. Because he was the fire watch for that block and we set the water tank on fire accidentally, playing with matches. But that’s all I remember -- it was a lot of fun.

I remember eating separately by age and by sex. So that to this day, I think my generation really has trouble eating together as a family. It’s just a habit from that time, you know. We never…my mother never cooked lamb because every Friday was lamb stew – mutton stew – at the cafeteria and it’s that…mutton is that really oily…you know, so she would never. So I didn’t discover lamb until college.


imprisonment incarceration World War II World War II camps

Date: December 3, 2004

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Art Hansen, Sojin Kim

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

Interviewee Bio

Rev. Masao Kodani is a Sansei minister of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism and co-founder of Kinnara Taiko - the second taiko group established in the United States and the first Japanese American Buddhist group. Born in Glendale, California, Rev. Kodani was a young child when he and his family were incarcerated at Poston Relocation Center in Arizona during WWII. After his family's return toLos Angeles, they lived in a predominantly African American community near the neighborhood of Watts. Although they were Buddhist, his parents sent their children to Evergreen Baptist Church in East L.A. because they thought it would be easier for them to fit in. After graduating from Centennial High School, Reverend Kodani attended the University of California at Santa Barbara where he earned his degree in East Asian Studies. While at UC Santa Barbara, he became close with Reverend Art Takemoto of Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple. Through Rev. Takemoto’s influence, Kodani traveled to Japanto study Buddhism at Ryukoku University. After his studies were completed, he returned to the United States and was assigned to the Senshin Buddhist Temple in South Central Los Angeles. In 1969, he established Kinnara Taiko with members of the temple as a Japanese American Buddhist ensemble with the objective of enjoying the Buddha-Dharma (Horaku)through the experience. Their composition, "Ashura" has become one of the most learned adapted pieces in the American taiko repertory. (December 3, 2004)

George Ariyoshi
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George Ariyoshi

Prom during the war

(b.1926) Democratic politician and three-term Governor of Hawai'i

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Jean Hayashi Ariyoshi
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Jean Hayashi Ariyoshi

Day Pearl Harbor was bombed

Former First Lady of Hawai'i

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Kazuo Funai
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Kazuo Funai

Japan vs. the United States (Japanese)

(1900-2005) Issei businessman

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Eric Nakamura
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Eric Nakamura

Skateboarding at Manzanar

Giant Robot co-founder and publisher

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James Hirabayashi
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James Hirabayashi

Life in camp as teenager

(1926 - 2012) Scholar and professor of anthropology. Leader in the establishment of ethnic studies as an academic discipline

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Robert Katayama
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Robert Katayama

Being ordered to keep a diary that was later confiscated, ostensibly by the FBI

Hawaiian Nisei who served in World War II with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

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Barbara Kawakami
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Barbara Kawakami

Bombing of Pearl Harbor

An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.

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Barbara Kawakami
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Barbara Kawakami

Helping soldiers

An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.

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Yuri Kochiyama
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Yuri Kochiyama

Father as prisoner of war in hospital

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Yuri Kochiyama
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Yuri Kochiyama

Patriotism versus loyalty

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Yuri Kochiyama
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Yuri Kochiyama

Postcards to Nisei soldiers

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Yuri Kochiyama
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Yuri Kochiyama

Hiding what happened in camp

(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.

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Yuri Kochiyama
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Yuri Kochiyama

Issei are hard-working

(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.

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Yuri Kochiyama
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Yuri Kochiyama

Camp as a positive thing

(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.

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Yuri Kochiyama
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Yuri Kochiyama

Rounding up Issei and Nikkei

(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.

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