Returning home

When the camps closed, Japanese Americans were handed $25 and put on trains headed for the places they had been forcibly removed from nearly four years earlier. Harassment was common -- many returning Japanese Americans were greeted with signs reading "No Japs Allowed." Other discovered their property had been vandalized or stolen. Homes and businesses that had been boarded up or left in the care of others were abandoned and stripped of furnishings and goods. For the majority, who did not have homes to return to, housing was the most serious problem. Housing discrimination was severe in many areas and persisted to varying degrees until the civil rights legislation of the 1960s. Former camp inmates with no other options moved into hostels and converted community institutions with conditions not much better than the camps they had just left. Although this period was stressful, it is remembered as a time when people came together to share what they had.

World War II (231)
Leaving camp (287)
Returning home (1049)

Related articles from the Densho Encyclopedia :
Alien land laws, Hood River incident, Kazuo Masuda, Return to West Coast

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1049 items
Hostel, Japanese language school (ddr-densho-31-1)
img Hostel, Japanese language school (ddr-densho-31-1)
These children are on the front steps of the Japanese language school. The school housed many Japanese Americans immediately after the incarceration. Front row (left to right): Nancy Tada and Susumu Ohashi holding Kiyomi Ohashi. Second row: Ronnie Tada, Takashi Aoki, Yoshiko Tokita, Yasuo Tokita, and Yuzo Tokita. Third row: Janet Tada, Setsuko Kojima, Peggy Ohashi, …
Letter approving travel (ddr-densho-314-19)
doc Letter approving travel (ddr-densho-314-19)
Andrew Jordan writes to Kazuichi Takanishi stating that his application for permission to travel has been approved and included a coach railroad ticket in the ticket. Takanishi was to travel from Chicago to Seattle and even though the war was officially over, Takanishi still had to report to the chief of the Detention, Deportation and Parole …
Issei parole review (ddr-densho-314-7)
doc Issei parole review (ddr-densho-314-7)
The memorandum states that Kazuichi Takanishi was placed in Group II after a CGRB review which allowed him to return to Hawaii from the mainland. The back of the document has a note from The National Archives stating that this document came from Record Group No. 338. The handwritten portion states "Military Government of Hawaii Internment …
Hostel, Japanese language school (ddr-densho-32-1)
img Hostel, Japanese language school (ddr-densho-32-1)
Yoneki (Nick) Tsutsumi in front of the Japanese language school. Tsutsumi lived temporarily at the school after returning home from camp.
Hostel, Japanese language school (ddr-densho-32-2)
img Hostel, Japanese language school (ddr-densho-32-2)
These former camp inmates lived temporarily at the Japanese language school after World War II. Front: Tsuneo Tsutsumi. Back row (left to right): (first name unknown) Tada, Shigeru, Yoneki (Nick), and Susumi Tsutsumi.
A woman at Renton housing (ddr-densho-328-36)
img A woman at Renton housing (ddr-densho-328-36)
Caption in album: "Renton Housing / Seattle '46 / Miyeko Yoshimoto."
Letter from Uhachi Tamesa to Min Tamesa (ddr-densho-333-21)
doc Letter from Uhachi Tamesa to Min Tamesa (ddr-densho-333-21)
Letter to Min about returning home and attempting to seek restitution for stolen and damaged property
Letter from Uhachi Tamesa to Arthur Emi (ddr-densho-333-22)
doc Letter from Uhachi Tamesa to Arthur Emi (ddr-densho-333-22)
Letter to Art Emi about returning home and seeking restitution for stolen property
Letter from Uhachi Tamesa to Mr. Burnett (ddr-densho-333-23)
doc Letter from Uhachi Tamesa to Mr. Burnett (ddr-densho-333-23)
Letter about returning home and attempting to recover stolen property
Resettlement articles from scrapbook (ddr-densho-35-352)
doc Resettlement articles from scrapbook (ddr-densho-35-352)
Articles from the Christian Science Monitor, Minidoka Irrigator, and Pacific Citizen. One of the articles is titled: "Economic Rivalry Influenced Army's Exclusion Ban - Sun."
Advertisement for anti-Japanese meeting (ddr-densho-35-365)
doc Advertisement for anti-Japanese meeting (ddr-densho-35-365)
Advertisement for a meeting held by the Oregon Property Owners' Protective League, Inc.
Sunday Oregonian article (ddr-densho-35-358)
doc Sunday Oregonian article (ddr-densho-35-358)
Article from scrapbook page titled "Japanese Evacuees: Where Do They Belong."
Scrapbook page (ddr-densho-35-371)
doc Scrapbook page (ddr-densho-35-371)
Newspaper clippings from the Oregon Journal and an advertisement for a mass meeting from the Gresham Outlook.
Scrapbook page:
doc Scrapbook page: "Gresham Area (cont'd)" (ddr-densho-35-372)
Four articles from scrapbook page, one of which is titled: "Stand Taken on Japanese: Several Speak at Gresham Meeting." Newspapers include the Oregonian and Gresham Outlook.
Scrapbook page (ddr-densho-35-370)
doc Scrapbook page (ddr-densho-35-370)
Newspaper clippings from the Oregonian and Oregon Journal, one of which is titled "Gresham Antis Get Censure."
Scrapbook page:
doc Scrapbook page: "The Gresham Area" (ddr-densho-35-363)
Various newspaper clippings on the group, Oregon Anti-Japanese, Inc. One of the articles is titled "Gresham Group Organizes to Oppose Return of Japs."
Scrapbook page (ddr-densho-35-375)
doc Scrapbook page (ddr-densho-35-375)
Newspaper clippings from a scrapbook page, one of which is titled: "Farm Returned To Japanese By Jury Order." Newspapers include the Oregonian, Oregon Journal, and Pacific Citizen.
Scrapbook page (ddr-densho-35-353)
doc Scrapbook page (ddr-densho-35-353)
Newspaper articles from the New York Times, Oregonian, and Pacific Citizen all describing public reactions to Japanese Americans returning to the West Coast. One of the articles is titled "Union Limits Nisei to Ex-Service Men: Teamsters' Union Says it Will Oppose All Other Japanese in West Coast Jobs."
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