Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1307/

Memories of Poston

Well, there were a lot of scorpions, which to this day I think they’re the worst. I can hold a snake, it doesn’t bother me as long as I know it’s a safe snake and I can hold spiders I take outside, but just thinking of scorpions, it always gave me the creeps. They had some terrible storms, so I remember how hot it was and also the fact that the roofs would, they had these whirlwinds and the roofs would fall, they would pull the roof off. Yeah, I went with a couple of boys to watch a couple of storms. Dumb, you going to watch the roof go off.


Arizona United States World War II World War II camps

Date: August 27, 2012

Location: Washington, US

Interviewer: Cindy Nakashima, Emily Anderson

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum with support of NITTO Tires Life History Project. Courtesy of the USC Hapa Japan Database Project.

Interviewee Bio

Terry Janzen was born in Tokyo, Japan on July 15, 1930. She is half Japanese and grew up in both Japan and the United States. She was incarcerated at Poston for 6 months during World War II. She has been a teacher and a Chair for the Adams County Democratic Party in Washington. (April 2013)

 

* Terry Janzen interviewed by Cindy Nakashima and Emily Anderson for the exhibition, Visible & Invisible: A Hapa Japanese American History. A Collaboration with the USC Hapa Japan Database Project, videographer, Evan Kodani with support of NITTO Tires Life History Project.

Ariyoshi,George

Prom during the war

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

Ariyoshi,Jean Hayashi

Day Pearl Harbor was bombed

Former First Lady of Hawai'i

Funai,Kazuo

Japan vs. the United States (Japanese)

(1900-2005) Issei businessman

Nakamura,Eric

Skateboarding at Manzanar

Giant Robot co-founder and publisher

Hirabayashi,James

Life in camp as teenager

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

Katayama,Robert

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.

Kawakami,Barbara

Bombing of Pearl Harbor

An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.

Kawakami,Barbara

Helping soldiers

An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.

Kodani,Mas

Fun at concentration camp

Senshin Buddhist Temple minister and co-founder of Kinnara Taiko.

Kochiyama,Yuri

Father as prisoner of war in hospital

(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.

Kochiyama,Yuri

Patriotism versus loyalty

(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.

Kochiyama,Yuri

Postcards to Nisei soldiers

(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.

Kochiyama,Yuri

Hiding what happened in camp

(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.

Kochiyama,Yuri

Camp as a positive thing

(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.

Kochiyama,Yuri

Rounding up Issei and Nikkei

(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.