Only the Oaks Remain: The Story of Tuna Canyon Detention Station is a special display that tells the true stories of those targeted as dangerous enemy aliens and imprisoned in the Tuna Canyon Detention Station, located in the Tujunga neighborhood of Los Angeles, by the US Department of Justice during World War II. Rare artifacts such as photographs, letters, and diaries bring the experiences of prisoners—who included Japanese, German, and Italian immigrants and Japanese Peruvians—to life. Only the Oaks Remain—on view at the Japanese American National Museum December 10, 2016 through April 9, 2017—commemorates the history of the Tuna Canyon Detention Station and seeks to educate the public about the violation of civil rights that took place there.

In this video clip, Mary Karasawa, a longtime JANM volunteer, reads from the diary of her father-in-law, Kesao Karasawa, who was imprisoned at Tuna Canyon. Kesao, who came to the United States for education and was running a produce business with a German friend when arrested, never knew the reasons for his arrest. His account of his experience is vivid and full of anguish, as he describes the humiliation he felt and the shoddy conditions he was forced to endure. Although his diary was written in Japanese, Mary and fellow volunteer Machiko Morita Tanaka worked on an English translation. The diary is not included in Only the Oaks Remain, but this video can be seen as part of the display. 

<<Transcription >>

February 21,1942 9:30 a.m.

Two persons from the FBI forced themselves into my house, verified papers, and took me to jail around 10 am. In jail, they took ID, fingerprints, and checked 11 pages of paperwork, and issued my jail number. They even took a mugshot. I felt humiliated. They put us in a dirty cell with 29 other prisoners. We received one blanket and slept on a thin—senbei mattress on a wooden floor. The food was like dog food and I couldn’t swallow it. And on the next day, we were packed into an immigration truck like luggage and taken to Tuna Canyon. It was 9:30 p.m.

March 12, 1942

In the afternoon, we left Tuna Canyon, and were taken to old Santa Fe depot by train. We couldn’t open the shades, couldn’t rest or sleep. Took two days and nights. Dusty, smoke-filled, painful traveling conditions. We heard that this camp housed World War I German prisoners of war. Roosevelt had used it as a CCC camp and now we are in this pigsty—butagoya ni nata. Itakabe wa—Between the boarded wood walls, we found fleas—nankin-mushi (bed bugs). Ceiling was covered with spiderwebs. It was nigiyaka (lively), sarcastic remark.

March 24, 1942

The lonely, lonely days—sabishii, sabishii days—continue. Everything that we see, people and surroundings. It’s simply like we’ve been treated like pigs—buta. Being forced in like this, this is to be our lifestyle. A weak-hearted person could go insane. Muri wa nai—can’t blame them.