Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1599/

Grandfather helping administration in camp

My grandfather, being a business man and having some administrative skills, he was tapped by the war relocation center because they were already starting to plan what was gonna happen to all of the incarcerees, where they were gonna get back and how they were gonna get employed and etc etc, so he was the only Japanese American that they brought into their office either in Little Rock or just in the camp. He went in there and was trying to find out ways of placing people, which was obviously a thankless task because nobody was hiring Japanese Americans much less providing housing for them or renting rooms to them. An amazing consequence of this whole experience. He did get some help from the people who were taking care of his business back in Honolulu. He also got a refrigerator, or ice box, from A.P. Giannini during the war.

I*: Sent to the camp?

Sent to the camp.

*"I" indicates an interviewer John Esaki.


Arkansas business concentration camps economics Jerome concentration camp management United States World War II camps

Date: April 25, 2018

Location: California, US

Interviewer: John Esaki

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

Interviewee Bio

Robert Fujioka was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1952. He attended the University of Michigan earning a BA degree and earned an MBA from the University of Hawai'i. He has been in the banking industry since 1974 and currently serves as Vice Chair, Japanese American National Museum Board of Trustees, a Trustee of the Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation, and the First Hawaiian Bank Foundation. (November 2018)

Yuzawa,George Katsumi

Death of sister in October 1942

(1915 - 2011) Nisei florist who resettled in New York City after WW II. Active in Japanese American civil rights movement

Hashizume,Bill

Father’s success in farm business

(b. 1922) Canadian Nisei who was unable to return to Canada from Japan until 1952

Hashizume,Bill

Liaison between the Americans and the Japanese

(b. 1922) Canadian Nisei who was unable to return to Canada from Japan until 1952

Nakamura,Eric

Father in camp but learning from history books

Giant Robot co-founder and publisher

Nakamura,Eric

Skateboarding at Manzanar

Giant Robot co-founder and publisher

Shinoda,Mike

Insights from family on Japanese American internment

(b. 1977) Musician, Producer, Artist

Kodani,Mas

Fun at concentration camp

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

Houston,Jeanne Wakatsuki

Embarrassed to talk about camp

(b. 1934) Writer

Houston,Jeanne Wakatsuki

The birth of a novel through a conversation with her nephew

(b. 1934) Writer

Houston,Jeanne Wakatsuki

Documenting family history for future generations

(b. 1934) Writer

Houston,Jeanne Wakatsuki

Not a "camp story" but a human story

(b. 1934) Writer

Herzig,Aiko Yoshinaga

Family separated in the camps

(1924-2018) Researcher, Activist

Herzig,Aiko Yoshinaga

Feeling imprisoned at camp

(1924-2018) Researcher, Activist

Herzig,Aiko Yoshinaga

Institutionalization as a bad aspect of camp

(1924-2018) Researcher, Activist

Kobayashi,Bert A.

Getting involved in the family business at age 19

(b.1944) Founder of Kobayashi Group, LLC