Takeharu Inouye Diary

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Takeharu Inouye Collection

In the second diary he kept in the camp at Tule Lake, Takeharu Inouye recounts his struggles with education and the boredom resulting from few recreational opportunities. Though he participated in several baseball games with his classmates, Takeharu spent the majority of his free time attending the movie showings that occurred daily or weekly throughout the camp. He attended the movies shown in English, since he did not know enough Japanese to understand the Japanese films that were also shown.

At the beginning of his sophomore school year, Takeharu began taking night classes in order to study more subjects and improve his grades. He preferred the night classes, as he was no longer embarrassingly the oldest student in classroom. He describes his weekly chores of cleaning his family's barrack, the monotonous food options, and the lack of hygiene possible due to occasional strikes in the coal mines. Takeharu consistently dwells on the uncertainty of his future, not knowing how long he would remain in Tule Lake.

11/22/1944-06/18/1945

Diaries

Document

Densho

Courtesy of the Takeharu Inouye Collection, Densho

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