Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/217/

Prom during the war

I was sophomore when the war broke out. All of the sophomores, we had hardly any social life. Our first junior prom that we had, we were… We had our prom in our cafeteria. We had moved all of our tables off to the side. And the cafeteria there was a very old cafeteria. The floor was very worn, so you know, it wasn’t very smooth—lumps along the lumber there. But we tried to darken the room as best as we can, and that was our junior prom.

I recall our senior prom. We still had curfew, we still had to be off the street by 6 o’clock. And we went to the Mormon Tabernacle on Beretania Street. And we pulled all of the drapes so that it was completely dark and a very dim light. And our senior prom was from 1 o’clock to 3:30.

And so, that’s the kind of social life that we had. We didn’t have very much activities going on. And so a lot of us, our friends that got together and we’d spend time together from one friend's house to another friend's house on weekends. So we developed a closeness among some of the friends that we had in high school.


dance social life World War II

Date: December 15, 2003

Location: Hawai`i, US

Interviewer: Art Hansen

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

Interviewee Bio

George Ariyoshi was born in Honolulu in 1926. He overcame a childhood speech defect to enter the Military Intelligence Service language school after World War II and served the United States in Tokyo’s ruins. Returning home from occupied Japan, he moved to Michigan where he received undergraduate and law degrees.

He married Jean Hayashi in Hawai`i and, between 1954 and 1986, held elective offices there as a Democrat. He served three terms as Hawai`i’s governor, the first Japanese American nationwide to govern a state. By his own definition, Governor Ariyoshi was “a social liberal and a fiscal conservative.” The title of his 1997 memoir, With Obligation to All, summed up his personal and political philosophies. (December 2003)

Shizuko Kadoguchi
en
ja
es
pt
Kadoguchi,Shizuko

Social activities in Tashme

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

en
ja
es
pt
Shizuko Kadoguchi
en
ja
es
pt
Kadoguchi,Shizuko

Choice to move east or go to Japan

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

en
ja
es
pt
Sam Naito
en
ja
es
pt
Naito,Sam

Undergraduate studies interrupted following Pearl Harbor

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

en
ja
es
pt
Sam Naito
en
ja
es
pt
Naito,Sam

Difficulty getting work during World War II

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

en
ja
es
pt
Paul Terasaki
en
ja
es
pt
Terasaki,Paul

Difference between experiences of youth and older people in WWII camps

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

en
ja
es
pt
Alfredo Kato
en
ja
es
pt
Kato,Alfredo

Escaping to a small village in the mountains during the World War II (Spanish)

(b. 1937) Professional journalist

en
ja
es
pt
Eric Nakamura
en
ja
es
pt
Nakamura,Eric

Father in camp but learning from history books

Giant Robot co-founder and publisher

en
ja
es
pt
Mas Kodani
en
ja
es
pt
Kodani,Mas

Fun at concentration camp

Senshin Buddhist Temple minister and co-founder of Kinnara Taiko.

en
ja
es
pt
Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
en
ja
es
pt
Houston,Jeanne Wakatsuki

The only Japanese family in Ocean Park

(b. 1934) Writer

en
ja
es
pt
Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
en
ja
es
pt
Houston,Jeanne Wakatsuki

Impact of Pearl Harbor on her family

(b. 1934) Writer

en
ja
es
pt
Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
en
ja
es
pt
Houston,Jeanne Wakatsuki

Initial impact on life at camp

(b. 1934) Writer

en
ja
es
pt
Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
en
ja
es
pt
Houston,Jeanne Wakatsuki

Mixed blood people at camp from a child's point of view

(b. 1934) Writer

en
ja
es
pt
Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
en
ja
es
pt
Houston,Jeanne Wakatsuki

Embarrassed to talk about camp

(b. 1934) Writer

en
ja
es
pt
Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
en
ja
es
pt
Houston,Jeanne Wakatsuki

The birth of a novel through a conversation with her nephew

(b. 1934) Writer

en
ja
es
pt
Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
en
ja
es
pt
Houston,Jeanne Wakatsuki

Documenting family history for future generations

(b. 1934) Writer

en
ja
es
pt