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Color silent amateur films by Dave Tatsuno (1913-2006), a businessman in the San Francisco Bay area. Composed largely of home movie clips, taken 1942-1945, of the environment the Japanese Americans lived in during World War II in forced exclusion at the Topaz concentration camp near Delta, Utah.

This segment (01:14) shows footage of the traditional New Year's mochitsuki ceremony; families in winter tending an outdoor rice steamer; men brandish the mallets (kine) used to pound the rice; the steamer; an infant; women pound rice using the kine and a metal bowl (usu); small cakes of pounded rice (mochi) on a tray; a handmade card, "Happy New Year, Topaz-1944" with camp barracks; a card, "Season's Greetings".

Credits: Dave Tatsuno Collection, Gift of Dave Tatsuno, in Memory of Walter Honderick, Japanese American National Museum (91.74). Preserved and made accessible in part by a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation.

HNRC — Last modified Aug 23 2012 4:34 p.m.


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