Marion Tsutakawa Kanemoto

(b. 1927) Japanese American Nisei. Family voluntarily returned to Japan during WWII.

Mother's immigration to U.S. as a treaty merchant Ransacking of family home by FBI following the bombing of Pearl Harbor Witnessing father's arrest through a child's eyes Memories of trip to Japan on the exchange ships Living in Japan during the war, preparing for U.S. bombings Witnessing the atomic bombing of Hiroshima Participating in military drills in school in Japan during the war Hearing anti-American war propaganda from a teacher The hardships of life in Japan during World War II

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Nisei female. Born December 30, 1927 in Seattle, Washington. Lived in Japan for fifteen months as a child, before returning to Seattle to attend junior high school. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, father was picked up by the FBI and taken to the Department of Justice camp at Missoula, Montana. Removed to the Puyallup Assembly Center, Washington, before being reunited with father at the Minidoka incarceration camp, Idaho. Family volunteered to leave for Japan in 1943 on the U.S. government's exchange ship, the USS Gripsholm. Attended high school in Japan, and participated in military and air raid drills. During the U.S.'s postwar occupation of Japan, attended Doshisha University and worked for a U.S. army station hospital library. Returned to the U.S. and enrolled at St. Mary's teaching hospital in Rochester, Minnesota. Denied redress because of expatriation to Japan, but succeeded in obtaining redress in 1996 after filing a class-action lawsuit.

*The full interview is available Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project.

immigration migration treaty merchants FBI World War II deportation expatriation gripsholm teiya maru b-29 bombings Japan atomic bomb bombing hiroshima military drills propaganda racism