Interviews
Arriving at Poston
When we got to Poston, it was hot; it was dusty. Each person, we were in a room about this size. We got off the bus and they handed you this sack and said, “Go to the back with it.” So you grabbed this big, huge sack and go out and this straw and you fill it and that’s your mattress. And all they had were a cot for each person and the mattress and they had blankets for you. But the thing was, there was no place to hang clothes, nothing. Nothing to even sit on, you know? And then the bathrooms were just one bathroom for each block. So there were just like 35 toilets and a shower thing, it was just a room that had all these showerheads on it. And then you washed your clothes in a tub that they had there.
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.
Explore More Videos
Traveling to Manzanar
(b. 1921) Nisei veteran who served in the occupation of Japan
Victory Corps Work during World War II
(1925 - 2018) Nisei educator from Hawai‘i
Jobs in Manzanar
(b. 1921) Nisei veteran who served in the occupation of Japan
Sugar beet and potato farming in Idaho
(b. 1921) Nisei veteran who served in the occupation of Japan
Recalling Pinedale and Tule Lake concentration camps
Judge, only Japanese American to serve on CWRIC.
Being called out of Reserves
(b. 1921) Nisei veteran who served in the occupation of Japan
Fort Snelling
(b. 1921) Nisei veteran who served in the occupation of Japan
Traveling from Manila to Tokyo
(b. 1921) Nisei veteran who served in the occupation of Japan
Camp stories impact on her career
Sansei judge on the Superior Court of Los Angeles County in California
Concentration camp from a Japanese mother’s point of view (Japanese)
Shin-Issei from Gifu. Recently received U.S. citizenship
Arrested in camp for trying to leave
(1916-2010) draft resister, helped form the Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee
Dusty Weather at Topaz, Utah
(b. 1934) Award-winning Disney animation artist who was incarcerated at Topaz during WWII
Mother in Camp
(b. 1934) Award-winning Disney animation artist who was incarcerated at Topaz during WWII
Makegumi - Movement to regognize the defeat of Japan (Japanese)
A central figure for the “Makegumi” (defeatists)