Interviews
Grandfather loved to tell her stories of her great-grandfather Arakaki
So he told me my grandma Arakaki’s side, that’s the grandpa that was college educated, from mainland, at that time, so that’s like in the tens and twenties, nineteen ten, nineteen twenties, and I don’t know if it’s Waseda or Todai, but it was a pretty prominent, big university – still is and because he’s well-educated he of course had different political views than the Japanese government at the time. And so for those reasons he left Japan and went to Peru. And so that’s just a really interesting story and because he was so well-loved by the Peruvian community, and well-loved and well-respected the communities who protected him from getting kidnapped by the Peruvian government to go to…I believe he was supposed to go to Crystal City, as a professor, as an educator in the community and they hid him very well so that he didn’t get taken and he would do some secret night teachings, like Japanese language or even just history and things like that. So I think because that story’s so interesting, my grandpa would always tell me about that.
Date: August 30, 2018
Location: California, US
Interviewer: Sharon Yamato
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum
Explore More Videos
My daughter couldn’t fit in Japan, so I decided to go back to America (Japanese)
(b. 1936) Shin-issei welding business owner
Evacuated to the Jungle
(b. 1938) Philipines-born hikiagesha who later migrated to the United States.
Captured by Guerillas after bombing of Pearl Harbor
(b. 1938) Philipines-born hikiagesha who later migrated to the United States.
Grandfather picked up by US Army
(b. 1952) Former banking executive, born in Hawaii
Tough life at boarding house (Japanese)
Shin Issei – owner of izakaya (Japanese-style tavern) and kappo (small Japanese diner) restaurant, Honda-Ya
Father's business partner operated their farming business during WWII
(b. 1935) Sansei businessman.
Father was convinced the constitution would protect him
(b. 1935) Sansei businessman.
The lack of discussion about family’s incarceration in Amache
Sansei judge for the Superior Court of Los Angeles County in California
Her mother came to the U.S. with a group of picture brides
(b. 1923) Japanese American poet, activist
Her father bought her mother American clothes after she arrived from Japan
(b. 1923) Japanese American poet, activist
Her brother’s reasons as a No-No Boy
(b. 1923) Japanese American poet, activist