Interviews

1. Encountering racial discrimination at a public swimming pool

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

3. Memories of dusty conditions at Minidoka incarceration camp

4. Making the decision to resist the draft

5. Thoughts on redress

6. Starting over after the war: denial of all things Japanese

7. Have compassion for all of humanity

8. Thoughts on post-9/11 atmosphere: what it means to be American

Yamasaki,Frank

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

Thoughts on redress

It's no different from the reparation. That money that's sent to us, does that remedy everything that was done? Can you imagine the Jews saying, in Germany, saying, Oh, they're going to give us $20,000 so now that's all right, what the Germans did to them. No. It's wrong, and it should never be done again. And it's the same with the evacuation of Japanese; it should never be done again.

governments politics Redress movement

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.