Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1527/

Mother in Camp

One of my best friends, growing up in San Francisco, used to come over. Used to say, “You know, your mom is like the typical all-American mother.” Always groomed, wearing a white apron. Always looking nice and groomed, like one of those classic ‘60s television show mothers. Because I remember growing up, just to go downtown, to Market Street. She would dress me up. I would have to be all dressed up. She herself would dress up. Wear a hat, a coat, high heels. And we would take the trolley to Market Street. But then, in San Francisco, that’s the way you went.

So here we are in camp, and it’s all dusty and the roads weren’t paved yet. They were still in the process of black topping and everything. We’d go for a walk, and I remember the guys that were working on the road would wolf whistle my mother. And as a kid, I’d get kind of angry or embarrassed or whatever. Because she was all dressed up in high heels and everything, in camp. So that’s the way I always remember her in her younger days.


concentration camps mothers Topaz concentration camp United States Utah World War II World War II camps

Date: August 26, 2015

Location: California, US

Interviewer: John Esaki

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Willie Ito was born July 17, 1934 in San Francisco, California to nisei parents. Seeing Snow White and the Seven Dwarves at the age of five inspired a lifelong love of animation. After his family's incarceration in Topaz, Utah during World War II, Willie returned to California to pursue an art career, attending the Walt Disney favorite Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles (which later became CalArts). Under the mentorship of legendary animator Iwao Takamoto, Willie's passion blossomed into a long career in the animation world through golden ages at Disney, Warner Brothers, and Hanna-Barbera. His credits span from The Lady and the Tramp and What's Opera Doc? to The Flinstones and the Yogi Bear Show. 

Willie continues drawing to this day, including illustration work on multiple children's books about the Japanese American World War II experience. You can also find him signing sketches and greeting fans at San Diego Comic-con. (September 2016)

Sakaye Shigekawa
en
ja
es
pt
Shigekawa, Sakaye

Traumatic experiences before camp

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

en
ja
es
pt
Sakaye Shigekawa
en
ja
es
pt
Shigekawa, Sakaye

Joining the hospital unit in Santa Anita Race Track

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

en
ja
es
pt
Sakaye Shigekawa
en
ja
es
pt
Shigekawa, Sakaye

“Everybody went in like sheep”

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

en
ja
es
pt
Henry Suto
en
ja
es
pt
Suto,Henry

The horror of Hiroshima after the atomic bombing (Japanese)

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

en
ja
es
pt
Cedrick Shimo
en
ja
es
pt
Shimo,Cedrick

Finding out Roosevelt wanted Japan to attack

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

en
ja
es
pt
Cedrick Shimo
en
ja
es
pt
Shimo,Cedrick

Parents expected to be taken by the FBI

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

en
ja
es
pt
Cedrick Shimo
en
ja
es
pt
Shimo,Cedrick

525 Quartermaster Corps

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

en
ja
es
pt
Cedrick Shimo
en
ja
es
pt
Shimo,Cedrick

Fort McClellan soldiers

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

en
ja
es
pt
Jimmy Murakami
en
ja
es
pt
Murakami,Jimmy

Losing his sister in camp

(1933 – 2014) Japanese American animator

en
ja
es
pt
William Hohri
en
ja
es
pt
Hohri,William

Going to camp with the Terminal Island people

(1927-2010) Political Activist

en
ja
es
pt
William Hohri
en
ja
es
pt
Hohri,William

Outhouses and showers at camp

(1927-2010) Political Activist

en
ja
es
pt
William Hohri
en
ja
es
pt
Hohri,William

Interned at age fifteen, I saw camp as an adventure

(1927-2010) Political Activist

en
ja
es
pt
Sumiko Kozawa
en
ja
es
pt
Kozawa,Sumiko

Coming back to America from Japan before the war

(1916-2016) Florist

en
ja
es
pt
Jimmy Murakami
en
ja
es
pt
Murakami,Jimmy

Paintings reflecting on camp

(1933 – 2014) Japanese American animator

en
ja
es
pt
Sumiko Kozawa
en
ja
es
pt
Kozawa,Sumiko

Her experience of Japanese American Evacuation

(1916-2016) Florist

en
ja
es
pt