Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/318/

Her experience as a Japanese-American schoolchild in Oceanside, California, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor

I was seventeen, I was a senior in high school. We were making ready; this was in... Pearl Harbor happened in December. And in January all the Japanese kids stopped going to school. I do remember that because I went to my civics class, and... this was the Monday after Pearl Harbor, and the teacher in our civics class was talking about 'the Japs' bombing Pearl Harbor. And you felt like you did the bombing because, as far as they were concerned, you were a Jap.


discrimination identity interpersonal relations Pearl Harbor attack, Hawaii, 1941 racism World War II

Date: May 22, 1998

Location: California, US

Interviewer: John Esaki

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

Interviewee Bio

Wakako (Nakamura) Yamauchi was born in Westmoreland, California, in 1924, where her family farmed in nearby Brawley in the Imperial Valley. During World War II she was incarcerated in the concentration camp at Poston, Arizona. She worked as an artist for the camp newspaper, the Poston Chronicle. She began her career as a playwright in 1977 when she was encouraged by Mako, the artistic director of East/West Players Theater, to adapt her short story “And the Soul Shall Dance” for the stage. She passed away in August 2018 at age 93. (August 2018)

Peggie Nishimura Bain
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Bain,Peggie Nishimura

Getting citizenship back

(b.1909) Nisei from Washington. Incarcerated at Tule Lake and Minidoka during WWII. Resettled in Chicago after WWII

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Peggie Nishimura Bain
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Bain,Peggie Nishimura

Response to loyalty questionnaire

(b.1909) Nisei from Washington. Incarcerated at Tule Lake and Minidoka during WWII. Resettled in Chicago after WWII

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Margaret Kuroiwa
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Kuroiwa,Margaret

World War II Incarceration

Daughter of an Issei doctor.

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Peggie Nishimura Bain
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Bain,Peggie Nishimura

Difficulties finding apartment in Chicago after leaving Minidoka

(b.1909) Nisei from Washington. Incarcerated at Tule Lake and Minidoka during WWII. Resettled in Chicago after WWII

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Richard Kosaki
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Kosaki,Richard

Growing up in Waikiki

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

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Richard Kosaki
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Kosaki,Richard

Under suspicion after Pearl Harbor

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

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Roy Hirabayashi
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Hirabayashi,Roy

The philosophy of playing Taiko

(b.1951) Co-founder and managing director of San Jose Taiko.

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Jero  (Jerome Charles White Jr.)
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(Jerome Charles White Jr.),Jero

Learning Japanese traditions by observing his mother and grandmother

(b. 1981) Enka Singer

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Mónica Kogiso
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Kogiso,Mónica

Nihongo gakko - Preserving Japanese culture (Spanish)

(b. 1969) Former president of Centro Nikkei Argentino.

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Peter Mizuki
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Mizuki,Peter

Not wanting to stand out as a foreigner

Sansei Japanese American living in Japan and Kendo practioner

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Frank Yamasaki
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Yamasaki,Frank

Memories of dusty conditions at Minidoka incarceration camp

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

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Frank Yamasaki
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Yamasaki,Frank

Have compassion for all of humanity

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

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Mónica Kogiso
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Kogiso,Mónica

Identity crisis (Spanish)

(b. 1969) Former president of Centro Nikkei Argentino.

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Marion Tsutakawa Kanemoto
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Kanemoto,Marion Tsutakawa

Hearing anti-American war propaganda from a teacher

(b. 1927) Japanese American Nisei. Family voluntarily returned to Japan during WWII.

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Jero  (Jerome Charles White Jr.)
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(Jerome Charles White Jr.),Jero

Never sang Enka outside the family

(b. 1981) Enka Singer

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