Tessaku
Tessaku was the name of a short-lived magazine published at the Tule Lake concentration camp during World War II. It also means “barbed wire.” This series brings to light stories of the Japanese American internment, illuminating those that haven’t been told with intimate and honest conversation. Tessaku brings the consequences of racial hysteria to the foreground, as we enter into a cultural and political era where lessons of the past must be remembered.
Stories from this series
Yosh Uchida - Part 2
Dec. 31, 2020 • Emiko Tsuchida
Read Part 1 >> So can you describe leaving for Arkansas? That’s where you did your basic training? Right, right. Oh yeah. There were lots of Japanese, Japanese Americans that went to Camp Robinson in Little Rock, Arkansas. And we went by train across the country. And it took us about two or three days to get there. And it was very nerve-wracking. We pulled shades down and went across the country. Really, they told you to do that? Uh …
Yosh Uchida - Part 1
Dec. 30, 2020 • Emiko Tsuchida
“I like to have my grandchildren know about it, where they’re from and what happened to their grandparents. And how hard they had to work so that they have equal rights with everybody else.” On April 1, 2020, Yosh Uchida became a centenarian, carrying with him a legacy and reputation that reflects his long life. Born to a farming family in what is now Disneyland, Yosh remembers the difficult years of growing up during the Depression, and the concern of …
Shin Mune — Part 2
Dec. 16, 2020 • Emiko Tsuchida
Read Part 1 >> Did your parents ever have any conversations with you or your siblings about what was happening? Well, see, my mother and father spoke Japanese at home. But when my mother spoke to us, maybe before the war or camp, she might have spoken to us in Japanese because Papa insisted on us speaking Japanese. But once we were in camp, it was the Japanese way. “Nihogno hanishitaku nakata.” (Didn’t want to speak Japanese). Pound your fist …
Shin Mune — Part 1
Dec. 15, 2020 • Emiko Tsuchida
“Finally, the day we received news of President Reagan signing the apology letter they had a function at the Issei Memorial building. And Papa was the only Issei there. I was so proud of him.” — Shin Mune Shin Mune is one of those rare living treasures in San Jose who come from the heritage of farming the very land upon which sprawling suburbias now sit. In fact, the 20-acre Mune farm that the family owned after the war was …
Setsuko Asano - Part 3
Nov. 27, 2020 • Emiko Tsuchida
Read Part 2 >> So how did your father get this job right after camp? He was a journalist like I said, and very good in writing Chinese characters. He was befriended by a Chinese man who was in the shrimp business. And he told him, “Come here to New Orleans.” So we went, he really befriended us. I say this really with a sense of — he was so nice to us that even when I left there because …
Setsuko Asano - Part 2
Nov. 20, 2020 • Emiko Tsuchida
Read Part 1 >> And so when you got to Rohwer, what do you remember about it? The humidity, and the mosquitoes. There were a lot of forests, really in the forest. I mean, you could you see trees all over. What did you end up doing for fun? Did you make friends there? We were all in blocks, so we were with our age group. I was active in the Girl Scouts. That's what they had for us at my …
