Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1597/

Grandfather's business in Hawaii while in camp

When they went to Jerome and during the time when my grandfather was sent around the US, his business was doing well and fortunately he had these two trusted lieutenants that he basically said “Okay just keep the business going, Honolulu is still ok, everything is gonna be all right.” But clearly there were people who were trying to steal the business from him. And again you always look at the downside but these two people saved his agency and protected it during the entire war and also tried to get him money because his money was in Japanese banks and it was frozen and life was tough during the war.


business economics Hawaii management United States World War II

Date: April 25, 2018

Location: California, US

Interviewer: John Esaki

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

Interviewee Bio

Robert Fujioka was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1952. He attended the University of Michigan earning a BA degree and earned an MBA from the University of Hawai'i. He has been in the banking industry since 1974 and currently serves as Vice Chair, Japanese American National Museum Board of Trustees, a Trustee of the Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation, and the First Hawaiian Bank Foundation. (November 2018)

Bill Hashizume
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Hashizume,Bill

Liaison between the Americans and the Japanese

(b. 1922) Canadian Nisei who was unable to return to Canada from Japan until 1952

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George Ariyoshi
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Ariyoshi,George

Prom during the war

(b.1926) Democratic politician and three-term Governor of Hawai'i

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George Ariyoshi
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Ariyoshi,George

Being fair

(b.1926) Democratic politician and three-term Governor of Hawai'i

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Jean Hayashi Ariyoshi
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Ariyoshi,Jean Hayashi

Day Pearl Harbor was bombed

Former First Lady of Hawai'i

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Jean Hayashi Ariyoshi
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Ariyoshi,Jean Hayashi

Working in the pineapple fields

Former First Lady of Hawai'i

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Jean Hayashi Ariyoshi
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Ariyoshi,Jean Hayashi

Tree planting

Former First Lady of Hawai'i

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Kazuo Funai
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Funai,Kazuo

Bad business deal (Japanese)

(1900-2005) Issei businessman

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Kazuo Funai
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Funai,Kazuo

Japan vs. the United States (Japanese)

(1900-2005) Issei businessman

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James Hirabayashi
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Hirabayashi,James

Life in camp as teenager

(1926 - 2012) Scholar and professor of anthropology. Leader in the establishment of ethnic studies as an academic discipline

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Robert Katayama
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Katayama,Robert

Being ordered to keep a diary that was later confiscated, ostensibly by the FBI

Hawaiian Nisei who served in World War II with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

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Barbara Kawakami
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Kawakami,Barbara

1920 labor strike

An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.

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Barbara Kawakami
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Kawakami,Barbara

Bombing of Pearl Harbor

An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.

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Barbara Kawakami
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Kawakami,Barbara

Helping soldiers

An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.

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Mas Kodani
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Kodani,Mas

Fun at concentration camp

Senshin Buddhist Temple minister and co-founder of Kinnara Taiko.

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Yuri Kochiyama
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Kochiyama,Yuri

Father as prisoner of war in hospital

(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.

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