Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/680/

Search of family home by the FBI following the bombing of Pearl Harbor

But apparently they came very early in the morning and they kind of—my mom went to answer the door and they kind of shoved her aside, not brutally, but shoved her aside, and then they kind of just stormed the house and shook my father, made him get up. When they started going upstairs, my mom shouted upstairs to my sisters who said “Get dressed! Get dressed!” because one of my sisters loved to run around nude. And [Laughs] apparently the men thought that my mom was giving some kind of signal or something 'cause apparently they drew out their guns and rushed upstairs. And then they barged into my sisters' bedroom and asked my sisters if they have ever seen anything like this and showed them the gun. “Does your father have one like this?” And they said only the toy. My other sister remembers the men putting their hands through the sugar bowls and through the rice bowls, and she was thinking, “Oh, that's dirty” and apparently ransacked closets looking for things.


World War II

Date: May 27, 1998

Location: Washington, US

Interviewer: Lori Hoshino

Contributed by: Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project.

Interviewee Bio

Nisei female. Born February 1937 in Seattle, Washington. Spent prewar childhood in Seattle. Incarcerated at Puyallup Assembly Center, Washington; Minidoka incarceration camp, Idaho; and Crystal City internment camp, Texas. In postwar years, became a teacher, principal, and multicultural specialist for Washington State's Superintendent of the Office of Public Instruction. Developed and directed the Japanese American Cultural Heritage Program and the Rainbow Program, one of the first multiethnic educational programs in the country. She passed away on April 4, 2021 at age 84. (July 2021)

Kakita,Howard

Other family members not as lucky

(b. 1938) Japanese American. Hiroshima atomic bomb survivor

Kakita,Howard

His parents had little hope that he had survived the atomic bomb

(b. 1938) Japanese American. Hiroshima atomic bomb survivor

Kakita,Howard

His views on nuclear weapons

(b. 1938) Japanese American. Hiroshima atomic bomb survivor

Takamoto,Iwao

Loss When Leaving for Manzanar

Japanese American animator for Walt Disney and Hanna Barbera (1925-2007)

Naganuma,Jimmy

Forcibly deported to the U.S. from Peru

(b. 1936) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City

Teisher,Monica

Stories of Grandfather at a concentration camp in Fusagasuga

(b.1974) Japanese Colombian who currently resides in the United States

Teisher,Monica

Her grandfather in a concentration camp in Fusagasuga (Spanish)

(b.1974) Japanese Colombian who currently resides in the United States

Naganuma,Jimmy

Family welcomed at Crystal City

(b. 1936) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City

Naganuma,Jimmy

First meal at Crystal City

(b. 1936) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City

Naganuma,George Kazuharu

Thunder in Crystal City

(b. 1938) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City

Naganuma,Kazumu

His sister Kiyo was like a second mother to him

(b. 1942) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City

Yamamoto,Mia

Impact of her father

(b. 1943) Japanese American transgender attorney