John Esaki is a treasured filmmaker and storyteller in the Los Angeles Japanese American and Asian American communities. Born in Monterey, California, Esaki grew up with his brother, Howard and his parents, George Teruo Esaki and Michi Jean Esaki (née Oishi). His paternal grandmother, Fusano, also lived in Monterey and often looked after Esaki and Howard when their parents worked or attended social events. 

Fusano’s husband, Tonosuke, emigrated to Monterey from Wakayama and worked as a laborer. He eventually sent for Fusano who arrived in the US as a picture bride. In 1919, Tonosuke partnered with Torakichi Tabata to run Sunrise Brothers, a market that stocked groceries and special holiday treats in Monterey’s Nihonmachi (Japan Town).

They had three children: George, Haruo, and Fujiyo. However, the brothers never knew their younger sister well because she was born in Wakayama during the late 1920s, raised by relatives, and lived in Japan throughout her life. When Tonosuke passed away, Fusano raised Esaki’s father and uncles on her own in Monterey. The Oishi family had a farm in Gardena, California, where Esaki’s mother grew up with three sisters.

“My mom would talk about farm life, you know, having to run across fields to go to school and having to avoid the angry bull that was in the field there. It seemed like an idyllic kind of farm life. My dad was always more scholarly in his approach to things because he had a childhood disability,” recalled Esaki. “The story was he drank unpasteurized milk on a family visit to Japan which resulted in this condition where it stunted the growth of one of his legs so he was bedridden as a child and just was inclined to be more bookish and confined.”

During World War II the Esakis left their home in Monterey for refuge with the Kato and Kozen families in Winters, California, to avoid forced removal from the West Coast. However, the Japanese American community in Winters was also forcibly removed from their homes and taken to the Turlock temporary detention center. During that time, Dorothea Lange took a photograph of the families at Turlock, now digitized and housed in the National Archives at College Park. 

Members of the Kato, Kozen, and Esaki families in the Turlock temporary detention center. The Kato and Kozen families were from Winters, California, where the Esaki family sought refuge during World War II. Photo by Dorothea Lange, National Archives and Records Administration.

Meanwhile, the Oishi family was incarcerated at the Santa Anita temporary detention center. Michi graduated from Gardena High School just weeks before her family was sent to the temporary detention center.

Wedding photo of John’s parents (married in 1946 in the historic Nishi Hongwanji after returning from Gila River, AZ, where they met)

Both families were imprisoned in the Butte camp at the Gila River concentration camp, where they eventually met.

“They would always talk about meeting in Arizona but they wouldn’t say ‘The government removed me from my home.’ It’s never at that level. It’s like, ‘Oh, you know, your dad and I met at Gila. We’re both working at the school there and got to know each other.’

“So as a kid, ‘OK, Arizona,’ and I mean maybe it’s only until you get to my age that you really realize, Wow, your lives are disrupted completely and you’re made to live in a place that is pretty desolate,” he said.

At Gila, his father, who was never able to attend college, earned a teaching certificate from a local Arizona college and taught 5th grade.

1943–1944 faculty. George Esaki is second from the right in the first row. Japanese American National Museum, Gift of George Teruo Esaki, 96.25.8

He also took photographs of life in camp. From joining the Young Buddhist Association cabinet to capturing nature in and outside of the camp’s fences, he included all of his photographs in a scrapbook that was donated to the Japanese American National Museum (JANM).

Fom Left to Right: Sotols at sunset; An ocotillo plant. Japanese American National Museum, Gift of George Teruo Esaki, 96.25.8

Other personal objects from the Esaki’s family include an ofuro (bathtub) and butsudan (Buddhist altar). 

A butsudan (Buddhist altar) that was most likely used in the Gila River concentration camp. Japanese American National Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. George T. Esaki, 88.38.3

“Family lore has it that my grandfather could have been one of the people who helped build the ofuro during the 1920s. It survived through the war and in the 1980s, when the Museum was first being conceptualized, one of the staff came to Monterey and got all these items from my grandmother’s house. That’s how that ended up in the collection,” said Esaki. “I think it’s important with all history—not just Japanese American history but in all communities—specific stories should be preserved.”

The ofuro (bathtub) that according to family lore, could have been built by Tonosuke Esaki and others during the 1920s. Japanese American National Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. George T. Esaki, 88.38.1

Donating family artifacts to JANM was just one of the ways that Esaki contributed to the Japanese American and Asian American communities in Los Angeles. His filmmaking work at Visual Communications (VC) brought Asian American and Pacific Islander stories to the big screen and connected different generations with each other. He continued to master his craft of film and storytelling at the Museum’s Frank H. Watase Media Arts Center (MAC) where he led and mentored the MAC team in making documentaries, exhibition media, and life history videos in support of the Museum’s mission. Learn more about him and his work in the community filmmaking and museum fields on the JANM Blog.

© 2024 Helen Yoshida