Interviews

1. Childhood shame for being Nikkei in Enumclaw, Washington

2. Recalling Pinedale and Tule Lake concentration camps

3. Impressions of student relocation in South Dakota

4. Challenges of finding a summer job

5. Why I joined the Japanese American Citizens League

6. Becoming active in the Civil Rights Movement

7. Figuring out a dollar amount for redress

8. Deciding to serve on the CWRIC

9. On hearing of CWRIC selection from Senator Inouye

10. Personal feelings as a Nikkei commissioner

11. A memorable CWRIC testimony of an unjust situation

12. Understanding the passion behind the people giving testimonies

13. Rationale for rejecting redress payment

14. Post-redress future of Japanese Americans

William Marutani

Judge, only Japanese American to serve on CWRIC.

Childhood shame for being Nikkei in Enumclaw, Washington

Oh, I think there was a great deal of shame, not justified shame. I recall very distinctly not letting the other kids see what I brought to school for lunch. If it were rice with some meat in it, on the side, and tsukemono (Japanese Pickles) or whatever, there was a great deal of pressure not to reveal this kind of information to your hakujin (European American) classmates. I did not want my hakujin classmates to see me eating with chopsticks. I think that begins to tell a little bit of the story of my upbringing within that community, which is predominantly white.

As I grew older and particularly after I finished law school, or even during law school, I actually took pride in using chopsticks, and I would deliberately go out of my way to use chopsticks if my Caucasian friends were around. So it was kind of a complete reversal.

food identity Japanese food pickles tsukemono

Date: August 27, 1998

Location: Pennsylvania, US

Interviewer: Darcie Iki, Mitchell Maki

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

Interviewee Bio

The Honorable William Marutani was born in Kent, Washington. With the enforcement of Executive Order 9066, Marutani was forced to leave his classes at the University of Washington and sent to Fresno Assembly Center in 1942, and later Tule Lake concentration camp. He was released to attend Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, SD in the fall of 1942 as a pre-law student.

After being rejected by the U.S. Navy for being classified as a 4-C enemy alien, Marutani was finally able to serve by joining the Army where he was assigned to the Military Intelligence Service. Following his service, Marutani attended law school at the University of Chicago and moved to Pennsylvania for a six-month clerkship, where he stayed until 1975, when he was appointed to the bench of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.

Marutani became active in the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) and served in many different positions. Marutani was appointed to serve on the nine-member Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) that was created by President Jimmy Carter to investigate matters concerning the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans. Marutani was the only Japanese American to serve on the commission. (April 11, 2008)