Update: (January 15, 2025): Congratulations to Shanna Farrell, Roger Eardley-Pryor, and Amanda Tewes of the U.C. Berkeley Oral History Center! In December their project, “Japanese American Intergenerational Narratives” was awarded the Oral History Association’s Mason Multi-Media Award for “outstanding oral history projects, collections, exhibits, and multimedia presentations for the public.” Among the (to date) 23 […]
You are browsing archives for
Tag: Japanese-American experience
Utah Exhibit 2022
The Topaz Stories Exhibit in the Utah State Capitol is on! January 18-December 31, 2022 Utah State Capitol Building, 3rd floor mezzanine Salt Lake City, Utah The exhibit, postponed from a planned run in 2020 due to COVID, has been rescheduled to January 18-December 31, 2022 through the kind efforts of Max Chang, Brad Westwood […]
Wrong then; wrong now
[Originally published on February 16, 2017 during the Trump administration. Republished to commemorate February 19, the “Day of Remembrance” marking the date on which President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066.] This Sunday marks the 75th anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066. On February 19, 1942, in the wake of the bombing of Pearl […]
Hardship
(Kiyo’s story, 1924-1929) When the lease on the family’s store expired around 1924, Jichan’s partners returned to Japan. Jichan and his younger brother next went into a wholesale business on Sacramento St. with a non-Japanese employee who turned out to be dishonest; they lost the store and Jichan was left with debts that would take […]
Grant Avenue
Kiyo’s story: 1930s Because of the Depression, retail stores were not buying much from wholesalers. Jichan still had inventory from his old store and when a commercial property on Grant Avenue opened up in 1931, he leased it and opened the (new) Kisen Company with his younger brother, Yonezo, whom everyone called “Yone-yan.” Bachan and […]
“Captain of the Land Ship”
Kiyo’s story: 1930s Once the family reestablished itself, Kiyo embraced life as if to make up for the hardship that had impacted her teenage years. She became the family driver when the family bought its first car, an Oldsmobile, from Mr. Hudson, who gave her driving lessons as part of the deal. Kiyo drove mostly […]
Diva
Kiyo’s story: 1930s Kiyo was ladylike and proper throughout her life, but she occasionally let her inner diva out. In her 20s, she enjoyed acting in “shibai” at the Y. Many of the plays were written by Suzuki-sensei, the principal of Kinmon Gakuen, San Francisco’s Japanese language school). She took a major part in a […]
Topaz
Kiyo’s story, part 8: 1942-1944 In Topaz, the Takahashi family consisted of nine people: Jichan, Bachan, Kiyo, Tomi, and Edwin (the youngest child); Yone-yan (Jichan’s younger brother) and his son, Kaz; Eddie Oda (an orphan informally adopted by my grandparents); and Yokoyama-san, a family friend and contemporary of Kiyo’s other brother Shig (who was a […]
Chicago
Kiyo’s story, part 9: 1944-45 Kiyo, though by that time 31 years of age, had never before lived away from her family. She had never lived outside of San Francisco, except for Tanforan and Topaz. Arriving in Chicago in the late fall of 1944 must have been both thrilling and a bit frightening. Her brother […]
Freedom
Kiyo’s story, part 10: 1945 In December of 1944, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Mitsuye Endo, declaring that the United States could not detain loyal citizens. The internment order was rescinded by FDR and Japanese Americans were allowed to go home beginning in January, 1945. (The last camp didn’t close until the end […]