Yukio Kawaratani
Yukio Kawaratani is a retired urban planner, who worked on the redevelopment of Downtown Los Angeles from 1962 to 1993. He is a community volunteer/activist in the City of Monterey Park and in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles. As a Nisei teenager during World War II, his family was incarcerated in the Poston, Arizona and Tule Lake, California concentration camps.
Updated December 2012
Stories from This Author
Yukio Is My Name
Nov. 2, 2024 • Yukio Kawaratani
My name is Yukio Kawaratani. I am a Nisei born on May 30, 1931. Kawaratani is a very rare Japanese name in the United States and even so in Japan. Our family crest, or mon,is of two hawk feathers crossed in a circle. It was the family mon of Lord Asano of 47 Ronin fame. He was the noted Japanese warlord forced to commit hara-kiri for attacking another lord, who was insulting him. Ronin are samurai warriors who have lost …
How Little Tokyo and Nisei Week Began
Oct. 5, 2024 • Yukio Kawaratani
Our ancestors came from Japan, the land of the rising sun. By blood, we are Japanese, and our cultural ties are the heritage and traditions from Japan. Our parents, grandparents and great grandparents were raised in Japan and came here as immigrants seeking to start a new life in the land of opportunity. Little Tokyo first started as the economic center for Japanese immigrants in 1884, when a former Japanese sailor opened a restaurant on East First Street. At the …
Tule Lake Resisters: My E.O. 9066 Story
April 5, 2019 • Yukio Kawaratani
The World War II American concentration camp experience was the darkest time in Japanese American history. It was also a black mark on America, as our constitutional rights were trampled. My family suffered lifetime consequences. When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, our whole family was saddened and worried about what was going to happen to us. We were a tiny minority, never fully accepted, and now we looked like and were being tied to the enemy. The FBI immediately arrested and …
Tule Lake National Park Service Meeting on August 2, 2012
Jan. 4, 2013 • Yukio Kawaratani
My name is Yukio Kawaratani, a Tule Lake victim at 14 years of age. Our family of 11 members suffered lifetime consequences. Three brothers were drafted into the U.S Army, and two more were eligible. Rumors said that they would be sent to the front lines and be considered expendable. My parents could not accept putting five sons in harms way, so they answered No, No, to keep the remaining family together and to jointly suffer the consequences. We “No, …
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