Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/390/

Loss of happy-go-lucky adolescence in Puyallup Assembly Center

During that period was there an experience I had that was very revealing to me. One day a messenger came and said that there was someone who wanted to see me, not a Japanese, someone from the outside. And so I was curious, and I'm thinking gee, could it be Norm Peterson, could it be Tony, could it be...?

So I go, and here it is, my teacher. And I, we shook hand and kind of walked. And he is still quiet, and he says, Is there someplace we can sit and talk? And I said, Yeah. And I'd been up on the grandstand with some date, girls. before, there's, on the fairground, the grandstand still exists. So we went up there, and all of a sudden I just feel that the atmosphere has changed. All of the sudden I had a perspective view of the whole camp area and I never dreamed the rows of barrack that was there. It was kind of a shocking view. Because in the other area there's no, we're all ground level, and all of a sudden you get up in this grandstand and you look and you see all the rows and rows of barracks. They were built in this area where they would have the horse racing and all that.

And this guy, the teacher said, he was telling me about his experience during World War I. And he's German and his father was interned. And so he went through a similar experience, and he said that it was a dirty rotten shame that this kind of thing had happened. And for the first time I really felt the impact of what was going on. It made quite an impression on me. Just prior to then I was a happy-go-lucky, carefree teenager.


Puyallup temporary detention center temporary detention centers United States Washington World War II World War II camps

Date: August 18, 1997

Location: Washington, US

Interviewer: Lori Hoshino, Stephen Fugita

Contributed by: Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project.

Interviewee Bio

Nisei male. Born 1923 in Seattle, Washington. Spent prewar childhood in South Park and Belltown areas of Seattle. Incarcerated at Puyallup Assembly Center, Washington, and Minidoka incarceration camp, Idaho. Refused to participate in draft, imprisoned at McNeil Island Penitentiary, Washington, for resisting the draft. Resettled in Seattle.

*The full interview is available Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project.

Mako Nakagawa
en
ja
es
pt
Nakagawa,Mako

Thoughts on relationship between Japanese Peruvians and Japanese Americans at Crystal City, Texas

(1937 - 2021) Teacher

en
ja
es
pt
George Yamada
en
ja
es
pt
Yamada,George

Japanese American railroad workers are fired following the bombing of Pearl Harbor

(b. 1923) Chick sexer

en
ja
es
pt
George Yamada
en
ja
es
pt
Yamada,George

A racist encounter at a movie theater following the bombing of Pearl Harbor

(b. 1923) Chick sexer

en
ja
es
pt
George Yamada
en
ja
es
pt
Yamada,George

Encountering a train full of Japanese Americans being transported to a concentration camp

(b. 1923) Chick sexer

en
ja
es
pt
Luis Yamada
en
ja
es
pt
Yamada,Luis

Suffering in World War II (Spanish)

(b. 1929) Nisei Argentinean

en
ja
es
pt
Luis Yamada
en
ja
es
pt
Yamada,Luis

Joined Japanese Imperial Army during the WWII (Spanish)

(b. 1929) Nisei Argentinean

en
ja
es
pt
Luis Yamada
en
ja
es
pt
Yamada,Luis

Proud to be a Japanese desecendant (Spanish)

(b. 1929) Nisei Argentinean

en
ja
es
pt
Margarida Tomi Watanabe
en
ja
es
pt
Watanabe,Margarida Tomi

Donating clothes to the Japanese interns (Japanese)

(1900–1996) The mother of Nikkei Brazilian immigration

en
ja
es
pt
Margarida Tomi Watanabe
en
ja
es
pt
Watanabe,Margarida Tomi

Relief fund to support Japanese communities (Japanese)

(1900–1996) The mother of Nikkei Brazilian immigration

en
ja
es
pt
Margarida Tomi Watanabe
en
ja
es
pt
Watanabe,Margarida Tomi

Role of Assistancia Social dom Jose Gaspar (Japanese)

(1900–1996) The mother of Nikkei Brazilian immigration

en
ja
es
pt
Margarida Tomi Watanabe
en
ja
es
pt
Watanabe,Margarida Tomi

Interrogation by police (Japanese)

(1900–1996) The mother of Nikkei Brazilian immigration

en
ja
es
pt
Yumi Matsubara
en
ja
es
pt
Matsubara,Yumi

Concentration camp from a Japanese mother’s point of view (Japanese)

Shin-Issei from Gifu. Recently received U.S. citizenship

en
ja
es
pt
Henry Shimizu
en
ja
es
pt
Shimizu,Henry

No immediate impact after Pearl Harbor

(b. 1928) Doctor. Former Chair of the Japanese Canadian Redress Foundation.

en
ja
es
pt
Henry Shimizu
en
ja
es
pt
Shimizu,Henry

Treatment of Japanese fishermen in Canada during World War II

(b. 1928) Doctor. Former Chair of the Japanese Canadian Redress Foundation.

en
ja
es
pt
Henry Shimizu
en
ja
es
pt
Shimizu,Henry

Government's permission to publish Japanese newspaper in Canada during World War II

(b. 1928) Doctor. Former Chair of the Japanese Canadian Redress Foundation.

en
ja
es
pt