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Allyship after camp

When we came back from camp, um, San Bernardino does not have a Japanese community, right, but there was a Chinese market, and it was run by a family called the Kwoks. We could not have our store without them because they were the only butcher and they had a, a butcher store on, uh, a butcher thing, and they eventually opened up what is, a, a pretty big market, there used to be, called Palace Market, real supermarket, which is one of the first ones out there and everyone in our family, me, my brother, my sisters, both of them, all worked there.

But after the war, there were certain companies that wouldn’t sell. You know, my father, still does not like, um, it’s Langendorf, or Pepsi. Because they asked to, to get their products in the store and they said, we don’t sell to Japs. We could not get meat.

So, they said, we’re here, you know. So, we got to be friends, my sister especially became friends with Rosemary Kwok, and they became good friends. But we would have to walk, it must have been over a mile, I can’t remember, we had to go through a meadow get up into a thing. And my father would order the meat and we’d then put the meat on our shoulders. And we were relatively small kids, all of us had to kind of lug it through the hot sun to our store. And that’s how we got our meat products there, you know.

 


California discrimination imprisonment incarceration interpersonal relations Palace Market postwar San Bernardino supermarkets United States World War II World War II camps

Date: September 8, 2011

Location: California, US

Interviewer: John Esaki, Kris Kuramitsu

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

Interviewee Bio

Ben Sakoguchi, born in 1938, is a painter and printmaker who has lived in the Los Angeles area his entire life, except for the time when he and his family were incarcerated in Poston Arizona. After studying painting in the 1960s at the University of California, Los Angeles, he developed a distinctive style that is rooted in pairing a narrative painting tradition with a pop culture vocabulary. He is best known for his long running “Orange Crate Label” series, using the classic crate label format to explore diverse subject matter and to combine them in a way that allows for both sharp critique and wry humor. His work is deeply and politically engaged, and he takes a deep delight in the craft and beauty of painting itself. Sakoguchi was a professor at Pasadena City College for nearly 35 years. Visit his website at bensakoguchi.com. (Oct. 2011)

Richard Kosaki
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Kosaki,Richard

442 soldiers visiting U.S. concentration camps

(b. 1924) Political scientist, educator, and administrator from Hawai`i

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Richard Kosaki
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Kosaki,Richard

Change in attitudes after World War II

(b. 1924) Political scientist, educator, and administrator from Hawai`i

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Art Shibayama
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Shibayama,Art

Thoughts on the post-9/11 atmosphere in the U.S.

(1930-2018) Nisei born in Peru. Taken to the United States during WWII.

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Roger Shimomura
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Shimomura,Roger

Grandfather's arrival in the U.S., experiencing discrimination

(b. 1939) Japanese American painter, printmaker & professor

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Roger Shimomura
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Shimomura,Roger

Receiving a negative reaction from father upon asking about World War II experience

(b. 1939) Japanese American painter, printmaker & professor

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Roger Shimomura
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Shimomura,Roger

Dealing with racism within army unit in Korea

(b. 1939) Japanese American painter, printmaker & professor

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Roger Shimomura
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Shimomura,Roger

Collection of artifacts depicting racial stereotypes influences art

(b. 1939) Japanese American painter, printmaker & professor

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Frank Yamasaki
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Yamasaki,Frank

Encountering racial discrimination at a public swimming pool

(b. 1923) Nisei from Washington. Resisted draft during WWII.

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Frank Yamasaki
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Yamasaki,Frank

Making the decision to resist the draft

(b. 1923) Nisei from Washington. Resisted draft during WWII.

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Fred Sasaki
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Sasaki,Fred

Anti-Japanese sentiment at the time of World War II

(b. 1918) Issei businessman in Canada

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Shizuko Kadoguchi
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Kadoguchi,Shizuko

Social activities in Tashme

(b.1920) Japanese Canadian Nisei. Established the Ikenobo Ikebana Society of Toronto

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Sam Naito
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Naito,Sam

Undergraduate studies interrupted following Pearl Harbor

(b. 1921) Nisei businessman. Established "Made in Oregon" retail stores

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Sam Naito
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Naito,Sam

Difficulty getting work during World War II

(b. 1921) Nisei businessman. Established "Made in Oregon" retail stores

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Paul Terasaki
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Terasaki,Paul

Difference between experiences of youth and older people in WWII camps

(b.1929) Pioneer medical researcher in tissue transfer and organ transplantation.

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Paul Terasaki
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Terasaki,Paul

His experiences in Chicago after WWII

(b.1929) Pioneer medical researcher in tissue transfer and organ transplantation.

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