Interviews

1. Memories of childhood in Peru

2. Forcibly deported to the U.S. from Peru

3. Food on the ship to the U.S.

4. Family welcomed at Crystal City

5. First meal at Crystal City

6. Enjoying undokai and sports in Crystal City

7. Postwar sponsorship (Inglês)

8. Immersed in Japanese culture and language

9. Proud of his Japanese, American, and Peruvian identity

Naganuma,Jimmy

(b. 1936) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City

First meal at Crystal City

The first thing I recognized was a can of plum or fruit with syrup in juice, and I just took a couple of those. And it tasted so good, I never ate anything like that. Few more, and I waited to be given our meal. So when we got our meal, I don't know what it was, either French fries or potatoes somehow. And everybody was using ketchup, so I used it. That was the first time I had ketchup, and it was so good, I tell you. To this day I use ketchup on almost anything that I eat.

Crystal City internment camp Department of Justice camps food Texas United States World War II World War II camps

Date: September 20, 2019

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Tom Ikeda and Yoko Nishimura

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum and Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project.

Interviewee Bio

Jimmy Naganuma was born in Callao, Peru to his Issei parents in 1936. He was eight years old when his family were forced to board a ship, to be incarcerated at Crystal City, Texas, during World War II. They remained there even after the war had ended, without a place to go. They were able to leave via a sponsorship by a reverend in San Francisco, California, where they were able to find jobs and housing. (June 2020)