(William Toshio Yasutake was interviewed together with his sister Mitsuye (Yasutake) Yamada and surviving brother, Joseph Yasutake, in group sessions on October 8-9, 2002. He was interviewed individually on November 14, 2002.
Before being contacted by Densho, the Yasutake siblings had planned to conduct their own family history interviews. Individually and jointly, they and other family members had written and gathered material documenting their family history. They shared much of this with me to assist with research and preparation for the Densho interview. Mitsuye's daughter Jeni had coordinated much of the family history work. Jeni participated as a secondary interviewer during the group sessions, October 8-9, 2002.The group interview sessions were conducted in Seattle at the home of Tom Ikeda, executive director of Densho. The oldest Yasutake sibling, Reverend Seiichi Michael Yasutake, had passed away less than a year before the Densho interviewing, in December, 2001. The remaining siblings emphasized that his absence left a gap in their discussion of family history. In addition to Jeni Yamada and videographers Dana Hoshide and John Pai, also present during some portions of the group interview were Tom Ikeda, and Mitsuye Yamada's son Kai Yamada.)","extent":"04:04:06","links_children":"ddr-densho-1000-138","creators":[{"role":"narrator","oh_id":131,"namepart":"Tosh Yasutake"},{"role":"interviewer","namepart":"Alice Ito"},{"role":"interviewer","namepart":"Tom Ikeda"},{"role":"videographer","namepart":"Dana Hoshide"}],"format":"vh","language":["eng"],"contributor":"Densho","rights":"cc","genre":"interview","location":"Seattle, Washington","creation":"November 14, 2002","status":"completed","search_hidden":"Tosh Yasutake narrator \nAlice Ito interviewer \nTom Ikeda interviewer \nDana Hoshide videographer","download_large":"denshovh-ytosh-01-a.jpg"},{"id":"59","model":"narrator","index":"17 242/{'value': 252, 'relation': 'eq'}","links":{"html":"https://ddr.densho.org/narrators/59/","json":"https://ddr.densho.org/api/0.2/narrator/59/","img":"https://ddr.densho.org/media/narrators/mhenry.jpg","thumb":"https://ddr.densho.org/media/narrators/mhenry.jpg","interviews":"https://ddr.densho.org/api/0.2/narrator/59/interviews/"},"display_name":"Henry Miyatake","bio":"Nisei male. Born April 28, 1929, in Seattle, Washington. Incarcerated at Puyallup Assembly Center and Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho. Had some key childhood experiences with discrimination that made him a self-described, \"independent thinker,\" and later, an influential figure in the Japanese American community. While a teenager in camp, he wrote and defended an essay criticizing the United States' treatment of racial minorities. His teacher refused to accept his paper, resulting in a failed grade and preventing him from graduating. Postwar, served in the U.S. Counterintelligence Corps, where he was privy to classified documents detailing the placement of spies in the incarceration camps. After leaving the military, he worked at the Boeing Company, where he fought against discriminatory workplace practices. He was also one of the earliest proponents of redress, doing the research, planning, and organizing for the \"Seattle plan,\" the first highly developed plan for obtaining redress from the U.S. government for the WWII incarceration of the Japanese American community."},{"id":"133","model":"narrator","index":"18 243/{'value': 252, 'relation': 'eq'}","links":{"html":"https://ddr.densho.org/narrators/133/","json":"https://ddr.densho.org/api/0.2/narrator/133/","img":"https://ddr.densho.org/media/narrators/fmitsu.jpg","thumb":"https://ddr.densho.org/media/narrators/fmitsu.jpg","interviews":"https://ddr.densho.org/api/0.2/narrator/133/interviews/"},"display_name":"Mitsu Fukui","bio":"Nisei female. Born September 21, 1911, in Seattle, Washington. Had a younger sister and three younger brothers. Father, Riichiro Fukano, employed by Oriental Trading Company as a bookkeeper in Seattle, before operating a dry cleaning business. Mother, Kiyono (Miyama) Fukano, a seamstress. Learned dressmaking from mother, and helped in the shop. Family lived upstairs above the shop, in a neighborhood with few Japanese American families. Paternal grandfather and grandmother joined the household and lived with them for eleven years before returning to Japan. Father served many years as secretary of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce. Mother served as president of Buddhist Women's Association. Graduated from Lincoln High School in 1930, attended University of Washington one year, and attended school in Japan one year. While living in Fukuoka Ken, served as interpreter for Charles Lindbergh, Yasha Heifetz, and other notable visitors. Married William Owari Fukui, an Issei, in 1936. Husband also in dry cleaning business. Son born 1939. Moved back to parents' house, along with her husband and son, in order to be together with her mother and brothers, when incarcerated in Puyallup Assembly Center in May, 1942. Father had been picked up earlier by FBI, after December 7, 1941, detained and interned separately. Incarcerated in Minidoka concentration camp. Son attended nursery school in Minidoka while she and husband worked. Released on indefinite leave in 1944 with husband and son, to relocate in Detroit, MI. Car vandalized and burglarized in Minidoka camp, during their drive back to Seattle in 1945. Protested lack of assistance from Minidoka concentration camp staff. With husband, started another dry cleaning business in Seattle, overcoming discrimination in financing. Retired from dry cleaning business. Did volunteer work for Children's Hospital in Seattle for over 30 years and provided home care for two and a half years for her husband who suffered from a severe stroke. After his death, she provided volunteer services at Seattle Keiro for six and a half years."},{"id":"ddr-densho-1000-129","model":"entity","index":"19 244/{'value': 252, 'relation': 'eq'}","links":{"html":"https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-129/","json":"https://ddr.densho.org/api/0.2/ddr-densho-1000-129/","img":"https://ddr.densho.org/media/ddr-densho-1000/denshovh-hbill-01-a.jpg","thumb":"http://ddrmedia.local/media/ddr-densho-1000/denshovh-hbill-01-a.jpg"},"title":"Bill Hosokawa Interview","description":"Nisei male. Born in Seattle on January 30, 1915, and attended Washington grade school, Garfield High School and the University of Washington. He grew up as a typical Nisei, working summers in Alaska salmon canneries and Western Avenue produce brokerages to pay for his education. He became interested in writing at Garfield where he was sports editor of the school paper. While attending the University he worked at the weekly Japanese American Courier published by the late Jimmie Sakamoto. A faculty adviser at the University urged Hosokawa to drop out of the journalism school \"because no newspaper in the country would hire a Japanese boy.\" Hosokawa rejected the advice, but when he graduated in 1937 he found the professor was right. After working as a male secretary writing letters, Hosokawa and his bride, the former Alice Miyake of Portland, Oregon, went to Singapore in 1938 to help launch an English language daily. A year and a half later Hosokawa moved to Shanghai to work on an American-owned monthly magazine, the Far Eastern Review. Then, sensing the inevitability of war, he returned to Seattle in 1941 just five weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor. When war came, Hosokawa served as executive director of Seattle JACL's Emergency Defense Council helping people in the community to cope. He and his family were removed to the Puyallup Assembly Center, Washington. When other Seattleites were moved to Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho, Hosokawa and his wife and infant son were sent to Heart Mountain, Wyoming. Later, he learned he had been separated from his Seattle friends because he was considered a potential troublemaker. He was in Heart Mountain for 14 months, working as editor of the camp newspaper, the Heart Mountain Sentinel, before being released to join the Des Moines, Iowa Register in 1943. In 1946 he moved to Denver to work on the Denver Post. In 38 years at The Post he held such assignments as executive news editor, assistant managing editor and Sunday editor. He covered the Japanese peace treaty in San Francisco in 1951, the Summit meeting in Paris in 1960 and the Zengakuren student riots in Japan that same year. He also had assignments as war correspondent in Korea and Vietnam, and for 17 years was editor of Empire, the Post's prize-winning Sunday magazine. For his last seven years at the Post Hosokawa was editor of the editorial page -- a Japanese American imprisoned during World War II as a potential security risk who now directed the opinion section of a major American newspaper. After retiring from the Post in 1984 he served the Rocky Mountain News as ombudsman columnist for seven years. Hosokawa has taught journalism classes at the University of Colorado, University of Northern Colorado and University of Wyoming. He wrote a weekly comment column called \\\"From the Frying Pan\\\" in JACL's weekly Pacific Citizen from 1942 until 1999. Among other honors, Hosokawa is a former president of the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors and a member of that organization's Hall of Fame, a charter member of the Denver Press Club Hall of Fame. He was named JACL's Nisei of the Biennium in 1958, and has published 12 books. Hosokawa and his wife Alice, who died in 1998, had four children.","extent":"03:14:22","links_children":"ddr-densho-1000-129","creators":[{"role":"narrator","oh_id":124,"namepart":"Bill Hosokawa"},{"role":"interviewer","namepart":"Alice Ito"},{"role":"interviewer","namepart":"Daryl Maeda"},{"role":"videographer","namepart":"Dana Hoshide"}],"format":"vh","language":["eng"],"contributor":"Densho","rights":"cc","genre":"interview","location":"Seattle, Washington","creation":"July 13, 2001","status":"completed","search_hidden":"Bill Hosokawa narrator \nAlice Ito interviewer \nDaryl Maeda interviewer \nDana Hoshide videographer","download_large":"denshovh-hbill-01-a.jpg"},{"id":"ddr-densho-122-26","model":"entity","index":"20 245/{'value': 252, 'relation': 'eq'}","links":{"html":"https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-122-26/","json":"https://ddr.densho.org/api/0.2/ddr-densho-122-26/","img":"https://ddr.densho.org/media/ddr-densho-122/denshovh-hbill-02-a.jpg","thumb":"http://ddrmedia.local/media/ddr-densho-122/denshovh-hbill-02-a.jpg"},"title":"Bill Hosokawa Interview","description":"Nisei male. Born in Seattle on January 30, 1915, and attended Washington grade school, Garfield High School and the University of Washington. He grew up as a typical Nisei, working summers in Alaska salmon canneries and Western Avenue produce brokerages to pay for his education. He became interested in writing at Garfield where he was sports editor of the school paper. While attending the University he worked at the weekly Japanese American Courier published by the late Jimmie Sakamoto. A faculty adviser at the University urged Hosokawa to drop out of the journalism school \"because no newspaper in the country would hire a Japanese boy.\" Hosokawa rejected the advice, but when he graduated in 1937 he found the professor was right. After working as a male secretary writing letters, Hosokawa and his bride, the former Alice Miyake of Portland, Oregon, went to Singapore in 1938 to help launch an English language daily. A year and a half later Hosokawa moved to Shanghai to work on an American-owned monthly magazine, the Far Eastern Review. Then, sensing the inevitability of war, he returned to Seattle in 1941 just five weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor. When war came, Hosokawa served as executive director of Seattle JACL's Emergency Defense Council helping people in the community to cope. He and his family were removed to the Puyallup Assembly Center, Washington. When other Seattleites were moved to Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho, Hosokawa and his wife and infant son were sent to Heart Mountain, Wyoming. Later, he learned he had been separated from his Seattle friends because he was considered a potential troublemaker. He was in Heart Mountain for 14 months, working as editor of the camp newspaper, the Heart Mountain Sentinel, before being released to join the Des Moines, Iowa Register in 1943. In 1946 he moved to Denver to work on the Denver Post. In 38 years at The Post he held such assignments as executive news editor, assistant managing editor and Sunday editor. He covered the Japanese peace treaty in San Francisco in 1951, the Summit meeting in Paris in 1960 and the Zengakuren student riots in Japan that same year. He also had assignments as war correspondent in Korea and Vietnam, and for 17 years was editor of Empire, the Post's prize-winning Sunday magazine. For his last seven years at the Post Hosokawa was editor of the editorial page -- a Japanese American imprisoned during World War II as a potential security risk who now directed the opinion section of a major American newspaper. After retiring from the Post in 1984 he served the Rocky Mountain News as ombudsman columnist for seven years. Hosokawa has taught journalism classes at the University of Colorado, University of Northern Colorado and University of Wyoming. He wrote a weekly comment column called \"From the Frying Pan\" in JACL's weekly Pacific Citizen from 1942 until 1999. Among other honors, Hosokawa is a former president of the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors and a member of that organization's Hall of Fame, a charter member of the Denver Press Club Hall of Fame. He was named JACL's Nisei of the Biennium in 1958, and has published 12 books. Hosokawa and his wife Alice, who died in 1998, had four children.","extent":"00:25:36","links_children":"ddr-densho-122-26","creators":[{"role":"narrator","oh_id":124,"namepart":"Bill Hosokawa"},{"role":"interviewer","namepart":"Frank Abe"}],"format":"vh","language":["eng"],"contributor":"Frank Abe Collection","rights":"cc","genre":"interview","location":"Salt Lake City, Utah","creation":"August 4, 1994","status":"completed","search_hidden":"Bill Hosokawa narrator \nFrank Abe interviewer","download_large":"denshovh-hbill-02-a.jpg"},{"id":"130","model":"narrator","index":"21 246/{'value': 252, 'relation': 'eq'}","links":{"html":"https://ddr.densho.org/narrators/130/","json":"https://ddr.densho.org/api/0.2/narrator/130/","img":"https://ddr.densho.org/media/narrators/yjoe.jpg","thumb":"https://ddr.densho.org/media/narrators/yjoe.jpg","interviews":"https://ddr.densho.org/api/0.2/narrator/130/interviews/"},"display_name":"Joe Yasutake","bio":"Nisei male. Born May 25, 1932, in Seattle, Washington. Father employed by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service as interpreter for twenty years, until separated from family on December 7, 1941 and interned as an enemy alien. Removed from Seattle with mother, sister and two brothers in 1942. Attended school (fifth through sixth grades) while incarcerated at Puyallup Assembly Center, Washington, Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho, and U.S. Department of Justice internment camp at Crystal City, TX. Reunited with father, Jack Kaichiro Yasutake, who was transferred from the U.S. Department of Justice internment camp in Lordsburg, NM to Crystal City, TX camp in 1944. After release from Crystal City camp, moved with parents to Cincinnati, OH. Moved with parents to Chicago, Illinois where father served as Executive Director of the Chicago Resettlers Committee. After high school graduation, attended Lawrence College in Wisconsin. Graduated from University of Illinois. Commissioned as lieutenant, U.S. Army, 1954, assigned to artillery and served in Germany. Returned to U.S. in 1956, discharged from the army. Married, had three sons. Late wife died in 1984. Was remarried in 1988 and has one stepdaughter. Received M.A., New York University. Moved to Ohio, employed by U.S. Air Force as psychologist. Received Ph.D. in Industrial Psychology, Ohio State University, Columbus OH. Moved to Denver, CO. Retired in 1986 from the U.S. Air Force Human Resources Laboratory. Moved to California, employed by Lockheed. Serves in a volunteer capacity with community organizations, including as president of the Japanese American Museum of San Jose, and speaks at schools to educate students about the experiences of Japanese Americans and loss of constitutional rights during World War II. Also serves as chair of the San Jose Japantown Preservation Committee."},{"id":"77","model":"narrator","index":"22 247/{'value': 252, 'relation': 'eq'}","links":{"html":"https://ddr.densho.org/narrators/77/","json":"https://ddr.densho.org/api/0.2/narrator/77/","img":"https://ddr.densho.org/media/narrators/osue.jpg","thumb":"https://ddr.densho.org/media/narrators/osue.jpg","interviews":"https://ddr.densho.org/api/0.2/narrator/77/interviews/"},"display_name":"Sue Takimoto Okabe","bio":"Nisei female. Born September 5, 1928, in Tacoma, Washington, moved with her family to Seattle at age four. At age six, began singing, taking voice lessons and performing on stage for Japanese American community events. In 1942, was incarcerated with her family at Puyallup Assembly Center and Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho, where she continued to sing -- including performances outside of the camp arranged by camp authorities. Remembers fondly the freedom from parental supervision teenagers experienced while in camp. In fact, after the family was allowed early release to relocate in Denver in April 1943, she ran away from home and briefly returned to Minidoka. In Denver, continued her music studies and joined a United Service Organization (USO) group, experiencing both racial prejudice and warm welcome at USO performances. Postwar, resettled with her family in Los Angeles, where she attended the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music, University of California, Los Angeles, and University Southern California. Continued to pursue music as a hobby through schooling, marriage, and two children. Began teaching private piano and voice lessons in 1952. Following her divorce in 1958, began singing in nightclubs and lounges."},{"id":"ddr-densho-1000-136","model":"entity","index":"23 248/{'value': 252, 'relation': 'eq'}","links":{"html":"https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-136/","json":"https://ddr.densho.org/api/0.2/ddr-densho-1000-136/","img":"https://ddr.densho.org/media/ddr-densho-1000/denshovh-yjoe-01-a.jpg","thumb":"http://ddrmedia.local/media/ddr-densho-1000/denshovh-yjoe-01-a.jpg"},"title":"Joe Yasutake Interview","description":"Nisei male. Born May 25, 1932, in Seattle, Washington. Father employed by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service as interpreter for twenty years, until separated from family on December 7, 1941 and interned as an enemy alien. Removed from Seattle with mother, sister and two brothers in 1942. Attended school (fifth through sixth grades) while incarcerated at Puyallup Assembly Center, Washington, Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho, and U.S. Department of Justice internment camp at Crystal City, TX. Reunited with father, Jack Kaichiro Yasutake, who was transferred from the U.S. Department of Justice internment camp in Lordsburg, NM to Crystal City, TX camp in 1944. After release from Crystal City camp, moved with parents to Cincinnati, OH. Moved with parents to Chicago, Illinois where father served as Executive Director of the Chicago Resettlers Committee. After high school graduation, attended Lawrence College in Wisconsin. Graduated from University of Illinois. Commissioned as lieutenant, U.S. Army, 1954, assigned to artillery and served in Germany. Returned to U.S. in 1956, discharged from the army. Married, had three sons. Late wife died in 1984. Was remarried in 1988 and has one stepdaughter. Received M.A., New York University. Moved to Ohio, employed by U.S. Air Force as psychologist. Received Ph.D. in Industrial Psychology, Ohio State University, Columbus OH. Moved to Denver, CO. Retired in 1986 from the U.S. Air Force Human Resources Laboratory. Moved to California, employed by Lockheed. Serves in a volunteer capacity with community organizations, including as president of the Japanese American Museum of San Jose, and speaks at schools to educate students about the experiences of Japanese Americans and loss of constitutional rights during World War II. Also serves as chair of the San Jose Japantown Preservation Committee.(Joseph Yasutake was interviewed together with his sister Mitsuye (Yasutake) Yamada and surviving brother, William Toshio Yasutake, in group sessions on October 8-9, 2002. He was also interviewed individually on October 9, 2002.
Before being contacted by Densho, the Yasutake siblings had planned to conduct their own family history interviews. Individually and jointly, they and other family members had written and gathered material documenting their family history. They shared much of this with me to assist with research and preparation for the Densho interview. Mitsuye's daughter Jeni had coordinated much of the family history work. Jeni participated as a secondary interviewer during the group sessions, October 8-9, 2002.The group interview sessions were conducted in Seattle at the home of Tom Ikeda, executive director of Densho. The oldest Yasutake sibling, Reverend Seiichi Michael Yasutake, had passed away less than a year before the Densho interviewing, in December, 2001. The remaining siblings emphasized that his absence left a gap in their discussion of family history. In addition to Jeni Yamada and videographers Dana Hoshide and John Pai, also present during some portions of the group interview were Tom Ikeda, and Mitsuye Yamada's son Kai Yamada.)","extent":"01:20:38","links_children":"ddr-densho-1000-136","creators":[{"role":"narrator","oh_id":130,"namepart":"Joe Yasutake"},{"role":"interviewer","namepart":"Alice Ito"},{"role":"videographer","namepart":"John Pai"}],"format":"vh","language":["eng"],"contributor":"Densho","rights":"cc","genre":"interview","location":"Seattle, Washington","creation":"October 9, 2002","status":"completed","search_hidden":"Joe Yasutake narrator \nAlice Ito interviewer \nJohn Pai videographer","download_large":"denshovh-yjoe-01-a.jpg"},{"id":"124","model":"narrator","index":"24 249/{'value': 252, 'relation': 'eq'}","links":{"html":"https://ddr.densho.org/narrators/124/","json":"https://ddr.densho.org/api/0.2/narrator/124/","img":"https://ddr.densho.org/media/narrators/hbill.jpg","thumb":"https://ddr.densho.org/media/narrators/hbill.jpg","interviews":"https://ddr.densho.org/api/0.2/narrator/124/interviews/"},"display_name":"Bill Hosokawa","bio":"Nisei male. Born in Seattle on January 30, 1915, and attended Washington grade school, Garfield High School and the University of Washington. He grew up as a typical Nisei, working summers in Alaska salmon canneries and Western Avenue produce brokerages to pay for his education. He became interested in writing at Garfield where he was sports editor of the school paper. While attending the University he worked at the weekly Japanese American Courier published by the late Jimmie Sakamoto. A faculty adviser at the University urged Hosokawa to drop out of the journalism school \"because no newspaper in the country would hire a Japanese boy.\" Hosokawa rejected the advice, but when he graduated in 1937 he found the professor was right. After working as a male secretary writing letters, Hosokawa and his bride, the former Alice Miyake of Portland, Oregon, went to Singapore in 1938 to help launch an English language daily. A year and a half later Hosokawa moved to Shanghai to work on an American-owned monthly magazine, the Far Eastern Review. Then, sensing the inevitability of war, he returned to Seattle in 1941 just five weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor. When war came, Hosokawa served as executive director of Seattle JACL's Emergency Defense Council helping people in the community to cope. He and his family were removed to the Puyallup Assembly Center, Washington. When other Seattleites were moved to Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho, Hosokawa and his wife and infant son were sent to Heart Mountain, Wyoming. Later, he learned he had been separated from his Seattle friends because he was considered a potential troublemaker. He was in Heart Mountain for 14 months, working as editor of the camp newspaper, the Heart Mountain Sentinel, before being released to join the Des Moines, Iowa Register in 1943. In 1946 he moved to Denver to work on the Denver Post. In 38 years at The Post he held such assignments as executive news editor, assistant managing editor and Sunday editor. He covered the Japanese peace treaty in San Francisco in 1951, the Summit meeting in Paris in 1960 and the Zengakuren student riots in Japan that same year. He also had assignments as war correspondent in Korea and Vietnam, and for 17 years was editor of Empire, the Post's prize-winning Sunday magazine. For his last seven years at the Post Hosokawa was editor of the editorial page -- a Japanese American imprisoned during World War II as a potential security risk who now directed the opinion section of a major American newspaper. After retiring from the Post in 1984 he served the Rocky Mountain News as ombudsman columnist for seven years. Hosokawa has taught journalism classes at the University of Colorado, University of Northern Colorado and University of Wyoming. He wrote a weekly comment column called \"From the Frying Pan\" in JACL's weekly Pacific Citizen from 1942 until 1999. Among other honors, Hosokawa is a former president of the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors and a member of that organization's Hall of Fame, a charter member of the Denver Press Club Hall of Fame. He was named JACL's Nisei of the Biennium in 1958, and has published 12 books. Hosokawa and his wife Alice, who died in 1998, had four children."}],"query":{"query":{"query_string":{"query":"Seattle, Washington; Puyallup, Washington","fields":["id","model","links_html","links_json","links_img","links_thumb","links_children","status","public","title","description","contributor","creators","creators.namepart","facility","format","genre","geography","label","language","creation","location","persons","rights","topics","image_url","display_name","bio","extent","search_hidden"],"analyze_wildcard":false,"allow_leading_wildcard":false,"default_operator":"AND"}},"aggs":{"facility":{"nested":{"path":"facility"},"aggs":{"facility_ids":{"terms":{"field":"facility.id","size":1000}}}},"format":{"terms":{"field":"format"}},"genre":{"terms":{"field":"genre"}},"rights":{"terms":{"field":"rights"}},"topics":{"nested":{"path":"topics"},"aggs":{"topics_ids":{"terms":{"field":"topics.id","size":1000}}}}},"_source":["id","model","links_html","links_json","links_img","links_thumb","links_children","status","public","title","description","contributor","creators","creators.namepart","facility","format","genre","geography","label","language","creation","location","persons","rights","topics","image_url","display_name","bio","extent","search_hidden"]}}