Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/689/

Japanese American railroad workers are fired following the bombing of Pearl Harbor

The FBI—my dad, in order to get to his mail job at Great Northern Railroad, had to go under the United Union Pacific, the Milwaukee Railroad tracks. And it was railroad track that came right through into Spokane. Great Northern was a block north of that station, Union Pacific, but Union Pacific was all on girders. And they came in, you had to walk up to the railroad station, and underneath, we had to walk through to get to the employment, railroad. And the FBI says, “No, you can't do that. You can't be caught walking under a bridge, we're afraid you might bomb it.” And so they fired every one of the Japanese, and there were a couple of Italians working there, Felice and Mancheny, Clark, were working there. And they couldn't handle, even with the new, whoever they hired for the mail, the mail was all screwed up, it was going all over the country instead of to the right destination. So after, I think, thirty days, they had to rehire all the Japanese again, so the mail started to run in the direction they were supposed to be going.


discrimination interpersonal relations racism railroads World War II

Date: March 15 & 16, 2006

Location: Washington, US

Interviewer: Megan Asaka

Contributed by: Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project.

Interviewee Bio

Nisei male. Born 1923 in Spokane, Washington. Spent childhood in downtown Spokane where parents ran the World Hotel. Father also worked as a mail handler for the Great Northern Railroad. Attended Lewis and Clark High School and Washington State University. During the war remembers seeing train cars pass through Spokane with Japanese Americans headed to Heart Mountain incarceration camp, Wyoming. Drafted into the army in 1944 and served at the Military Intelligence Service Language School in Fort Snelling, Minnesota and Presidio, California. After World War II, worked as a chick sexer in upstate New York and surrounding region for thirty years. Returned to Spokane in the mid-1970s and pursued a career in real estate. Currently lives with wife, Susie, in Spokane and is an active fly fisherman. (March 16, 2006 )

Kim,Young O.
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Kim,Young O.

442nd’s contribution to redress

(1919 - 2006) World War II and Korean War veteran

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Watanabe,Margarida Tomi
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Watanabe,Margarida Tomi

Interrogation by police (Japanese)

(1900–1996) The mother of Nikkei Brazilian immigration

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Kozawa,Sumiko
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Kozawa,Sumiko

Memories of Manzanar

(1916-2016) Florist

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Shigekawa,Sakaye
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Shigekawa, Sakaye

Differences in discrimination

(1913-2013) Doctor specializing in obstetrics in Southern California

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Kozawa,Sumiko
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Kozawa,Sumiko

Wind in camp

(1916-2016) Florist

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Shigekawa,Sakaye
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Shigekawa, Sakaye

Unable to work when the war broke out

(1913-2013) Doctor specializing in obstetrics in Southern California

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Kozawa,Sumiko
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Kozawa,Sumiko

Her grandfather and Dr. Thompson

(1916-2016) Florist

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Kozawa,Sumiko
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Kozawa,Sumiko

Her grandmother comes to Manzanar

(1916-2016) Florist

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Moromisato,Doris
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Moromisato, Doris

Necessary apologies (Spanish)

(b. 1962) Peruvian Poet, Okinawan descendant

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Shimo,Cedrick
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Shimo,Cedrick

Starting to get angry

(1919-2020) Member of the 1800th Engineering Battalion. Promoted Japan-U.S. trade while working for Honda's export division.

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Shimo,Cedrick
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Shimo,Cedrick

Angry about the mistranslations of his father’s testimonies

(1919-2020) Member of the 1800th Engineering Battalion. Promoted Japan-U.S. trade while working for Honda's export division.

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Shimo,Cedrick
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Shimo,Cedrick

Not able to go to Manzanar on a furlough

(1919-2020) Member of the 1800th Engineering Battalion. Promoted Japan-U.S. trade while working for Honda's export division.

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Shimo,Cedrick
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Shimo,Cedrick

“All I have dear to me is in the camp”

(1919-2020) Member of the 1800th Engineering Battalion. Promoted Japan-U.S. trade while working for Honda's export division.

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Suto,Henry
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Suto,Henry

Feelings upon listening to the imperial rescript (Japanese)

(1928 - 2008) Drafted into both the Japanese Imperial Army and the U.S. Army.

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Kobayashi,BJ
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Kobayashi,BJ

Never feeling discriminated against in Hawai‘i

Hawaiian businessman, developer.

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