Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/452/

Difference between experiences of youth and older people in WWII camps

There’s a big separation of people in camp. The under high school, I would say, I had good memories, yes. And you see that in the reunions. So the reunions of the camp of 1945 graduates are the biggest of all the camps. You see that even today. So it means that all of those people remember and want to get together. All the ’46 graduates, little bit less. That’s my age. And ’47 graduates almost have no reunions—that’s like my younger brother—because maybe they were too young. But still I think it’s true that the children had a lot of people to play with. And I was constantly playing.

So over high school, this is where it cuts, where people have, I’m sure, suffered and have been disadvantaged by the camp. Their careers were interrupted, studies interrupted. And so either they had to get out of camp and try to go to school somewhere. Or if they stayed in camp, I’m sure it was not good for them. And then the older people like my parents, who had a business, they had to suffer a lot because they lost the business. They were living in these very small rooms and deprived of everything that they really had. So they don’t have their own kitchen, their own bathroom they don’t have. So I’m sure they suffered. And as I say, being the younger child, I wasn’t aware of that too much.


imprisonment incarceration World War II World War II camps

Date: February 10, 2004

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Gwenn M. Jensen

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum.

Interviewee Bio

Paul Terasaki, born in 1929, is a UCLA Medical Professor Emeritus and a pioneer in tissue transfer research who continues to speak globally on tissue typing and organ transplantation. In 1991 he edited a volume entitled History of Transplantation: Thirty-five Recollections.

He and his wife Hisako, a renowned painter, take a strong interest in U.S.-Japan relations and the affairs of the Japanese American community. Together they established an endowment at the UCLA Asian American Studies Center to fund fellowships for UCLA graduate students from Japan pursuing research on the historical and contemporary experiences and issues of the Japanese American population. Additionally, a Paul I. Terasaki Endowed Chair in U.S.-Japan Relations supports a distinguished teaching program designed to bring experts in the field of Japanese studies and U.S.-Japan relations to UCLA. (February 10, 2004)

Harry Schneider
en
ja
es
pt
Schneider,Harry

Marriage and Returning to US

(1916 - 2013) Member of the U.S. Military Intelligence Service

en
ja
es
pt
George Takei
en
ja
es
pt
Takei,George

Father's Influence

(b. 1937) Actor, Activist

en
ja
es
pt
Susumu “Sus” Ito
en
ja
es
pt
Ito,Susumu “Sus”

Feeling prejudice while looking for jobs

(1919 - 2015) Nisei who served in World War II with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team

en
ja
es
pt
Susumu “Sus” Ito
en
ja
es
pt
Ito,Susumu “Sus”

Generosity of the Italians

(1919 - 2015) Nisei who served in World War II with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team

en
ja
es
pt
Susumu “Sus” Ito
en
ja
es
pt
Ito,Susumu “Sus”

Invited to teach at Harvard by his boss

(1919 - 2015) Nisei who served in World War II with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team

en
ja
es
pt
Jimmy Ko Fukuhara
en
ja
es
pt
Fukuhara,Jimmy Ko

The riot in Manzanar

(b. 1921) Nisei veteran who served in the occupation of Japan

en
ja
es
pt
Willie Ito
en
ja
es
pt
Ito,Willie

Father making shell brooches at Topaz

(b. 1934) Award-winning Disney animation artist who was incarcerated at Topaz during WWII

en
ja
es
pt
Willie Ito
en
ja
es
pt
Ito,Willie

The Dopey bank that survived the war

(b. 1934) Award-winning Disney animation artist who was incarcerated at Topaz during WWII

en
ja
es
pt
Sawako Ashizawa Uchimura
en
ja
es
pt
Uchimura,Sawako Ashizawa

Evacuated to the Jungle

(b. 1938) Philipines-born hikiagesha who later migrated to the United States.

en
ja
es
pt
Sawako Ashizawa Uchimura
en
ja
es
pt
Uchimura,Sawako Ashizawa

Captured by Guerillas after bombing of Pearl Harbor

(b. 1938) Philipines-born hikiagesha who later migrated to the United States.

en
ja
es
pt
Robert T. Fujioka
en
ja
es
pt
Fujioka,Robert T.

Grandfather picked up by US Army

(b. 1952) Former banking executive, born in Hawaii

en
ja
es
pt
Tom Yuki
en
ja
es
pt
Yuki,Tom

Father's business partner operated their farming business during WWII

(b. 1935) Sansei businessman.

en
ja
es
pt
Tom Yuki
en
ja
es
pt
Yuki,Tom

Father was convinced the constitution would protect him

(b. 1935) Sansei businessman.

en
ja
es
pt
Fumiko Hachiya Wasserman
en
ja
es
pt
Wasserman,Fumiko Hachiya

The lack of discussion about family’s incarceration in Amache

Sansei judge for the Superior Court of Los Angeles County in California

en
ja
es
pt
Kay Sekimachi
en
ja
es
pt
Sekimachi,Kay

Family that saved her belongings during World War II

(b. 1926) Artist

en
ja
es
pt