Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/349/

Difficulties finding apartment in Chicago after leaving Minidoka

And everywhere we went, there would be a for rent sign. We'd get there, they'd say, Oh, it's rented already, rented already. And we never could get any satisfaction, and finally we found one place, the lady took us up to the second floor, and we were so happy because we thought, Oh, at last we've got a place to stay. But then she turned around as she went to open the door, she turned around and she says, Oh. And her face just turned as red as a beet and she says, I just remembered I rented the place.

See, she didn't know we were Japanese, or she didn't realize at the time, when she took us up. And she said, Oh, I rented the place, and she just backed down the stairs and away she went. And we thought, Well, that's a fine big lie. But then by that time, we were so tired that we didn't want to stay and argue with her. But that was the way it was; we just couldn't find an apartment.


discrimination interpersonal relations racism resettlements

Date: September 15-17, 2004

Location: Washington, US

Interviewer: Alice Ito

Contributed by: Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project.

Interviewee Bio

Peggie Nishimura Bain was born on March 31, 1909 in Vashon, Washington. Her family was originally from Kumamoto, Japan. She was the second of six children. Married at seventeen, she had two children - a son and a daughter.

At the time of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, she was helping her parents with the three farm properties they owned under her brother's name. She was sent to the Pinedale Assembly Center, before going to Tule Lake, and then eventually Minidoka.

After leaving Minidoka, she relocated with her daughter to Chicago, where she lived for many years working as a full-time colorist in a photography studio, a skill she learned while in camp. She eventually returned to Washington to be near her parents. (September 17, 2004)

 

Aiko Yoshinaga Herzig
en
ja
es
pt
Herzig,Aiko Yoshinaga

Lack of political power led to camps

(1924-2018) Researcher, Activist

en
ja
es
pt
Aiko Yoshinaga Herzig
en
ja
es
pt
Herzig,Aiko Yoshinaga

Feeling imprisoned at camp

(1924-2018) Researcher, Activist

en
ja
es
pt
Aiko Yoshinaga Herzig
en
ja
es
pt
Herzig,Aiko Yoshinaga

World War II hysteria against Japanese in New York City

(1924-2018) Researcher, Activist

en
ja
es
pt
Aiko Yoshinaga Herzig
en
ja
es
pt
Herzig,Aiko Yoshinaga

Positive experiences with Asian Americans for Action

(1924-2018) Researcher, Activist

en
ja
es
pt
Jack Herzig
en
ja
es
pt
Herzig,Jack

His testimony has more credibility because of his race

(1922 - 2005) Former U.S. Army counterintelligence officer

en
ja
es
pt
Vince Ota
en
ja
es
pt
Ota,Vince

Different tension between East Coast and Los Angeles

Japanese American Creative designer living in Japan

en
ja
es
pt
Francis Y. Sogi
en
ja
es
pt
Sogi,Francis Y.

Being an American soldier and an "enemy alien"

(1923-2011) Lawyer, MIS veteran, founder of Francis and Sarah Sogi Foundation

en
ja
es
pt
Francis Y. Sogi
en
ja
es
pt
Sogi,Francis Y.

Not relating to Japan Americans' experiences on the mainland

(1923-2011) Lawyer, MIS veteran, founder of Francis and Sarah Sogi Foundation

en
ja
es
pt
Bert A. Kobayashi
en
ja
es
pt
Kobayashi,Bert A.

Postwar discrimination

(b.1944) Founder of Kobayashi Group, LLC

en
ja
es
pt
Bert A. Kobayashi
en
ja
es
pt
Kobayashi,Bert A.

Less information about Hawai‘i in mainland

(b.1944) Founder of Kobayashi Group, LLC

en
ja
es
pt
Gene Akutsu
en
ja
es
pt
Akutsu,Gene

A teenager's memories of how a local newspaper misrepresented Japanese Americans

(b. 1925) Draft resister

en
ja
es
pt
Gene Akutsu
en
ja
es
pt
Akutsu,Gene

The role of the media in influencing people's opinions

(b. 1925) Draft resister

en
ja
es
pt
Gene Akutsu
en
ja
es
pt
Akutsu,Gene

Living conditions in prison while serving time for resisting the draft

(b. 1925) Draft resister

en
ja
es
pt
Gene Akutsu
en
ja
es
pt
Akutsu,Gene

Talking to children about decision to resist the draft during World War II

(b. 1925) Draft resister

en
ja
es
pt
Gene Akutsu
en
ja
es
pt
Akutsu,Gene

Reflecting on Japanese Americans' response to incarceration

(b. 1925) Draft resister

en
ja
es
pt