Read Part 7 >> From Mr. Hori’s stories, I tried to imagine camp life in the middle of the Idaho desert. Especially, this being the age of information, I wondered if being interned was like living in total isolation with no news from the outside world. But, my assumptions were very …
Read Part 6 >> In the fall of 1943, the Japanese internees at Puyallup, Washington were bused to the train tracks in Puyallup, and travelled by train to their permanent internment camp called Minidoka Relocation Camp in Hunt, Idaho. On the train ride, Mr. Hori recalls that they had to keep …
Read Part 5 >> The government began sending a notice to each family informing them to report with their belongings on a designated day at a specific location. Mr. Hori recalls waiting in line on 8th Avenue and Lane St. and boarded the bus with his family to Puyallup.
Read Part 4 >> In early 1942, the US government plastered the telephone poles with posters stating that all Japanese living within a certain boundary were to report to the government office by certain date in March and the Japanese were to be evacuated from the city. The Japanese newspapers also …
Read Part 3 >> Sunday, December 7, 1941 the Japanese invaded Pearl Harbor and the following day, President Roosevelt gave his famous Infamy Speech, declaring war against Japan.
Read Part 2 >> Running the apartment house on 6th and Colombia whilst attending Broadway HS was busy work for the young Takashi but because his parent’s limited English, he had to assist them with the business. Upon graduating high school, he decided to attend the University of Washington to study …
Read Part 1 >> Sanjiro and Toyo Hori had four children: Toyome born in 1916, Takashi (1918), Fukashi (1921) and Aiko (1926). Although, they lived in America, Takashi, as the first born son in a Japanese family, was responsible to carry on the family business.
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is a historical fiction novel about a little love story between a Chinese boy and Japanese girl during the 1940’s Japanese internment of WWII based in Seattle, Washington. As you can imagine, it’s a popular choice for book clubs where I live …
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