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)

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1049 items

vh Isami Nakao - Kazuko Nakao Segment 27 (ddr-densho-1000-68-27)

Memories of those first anxious days back home after the war

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-68-27/

vh Sam Mihara Interview Segment 16 (ddr-densho-1000-516-16)

Returning home where father helped other Japanese Americans with citizenship and housing

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-516-16/

vh Tomio Moriguchi Interview I Segment 10 (ddr-densho-1000-59-10)

Fortuitous circumstances and strong business sense eases the chore of restarting business

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-59-10/

vh Tomio Moriguchi Interview I Segment 16 (ddr-densho-1000-59-16)

Postwar opportunities for Japanese Americans: societal, cultural, and self-imposed limitations

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-59-16/

vh Tomio Moriguchi Interview I Segment 9 (ddr-densho-1000-59-9)

Parents' reasons for settling in Seattle and restarting Uwajimaya

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-59-9/

vh Tomio Moriguchi Interview I Segment 8 (ddr-densho-1000-59-8)

Impact of incarceration on Nisei and Sansei generations

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-59-8/

vh Rick Sato Segment 15 (ddr-densho-1000-80-15)

Returning to eastern Washington, still a "Jap" to some

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-80-15/

vh Amy Iwasaki Mass Segment 10 (ddr-densho-1000-470-10)

Returning with parents to prewar family home

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-470-10/

vh Norm Hayashi Segment 7 (ddr-densho-1000-468-7)

Returning home to nursery after the war: "it was practically destroyed"

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-468-7/

vh Hannah Hirabayashi Interview Segment 7 (ddr-densho-1000-493-7)

Moving to Seattle, attending Catholic school

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-493-7/

vh Hannah Hirabayashi Interview Segment 8 (ddr-densho-1000-493-8)

Attending high school, converting to Catholicism

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-493-8/

vh Hannah Hirabayashi Interview Segment 6 (ddr-densho-1000-493-6)

Leaving camp for Spokane, Washington

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-493-6/

vh Jan Kumasaka Interview Segment 3 (ddr-densho-1000-518-3)

Description of parents

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-518-3/

vh Shiz Inaba Interview Segment 12 (ddr-densho-1000-538-12)

Moving to Portland after camp

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-538-12/

vh Sue K. Embrey Segment 5 (ddr-densho-1000-6-5)

Returning to face discrimination in postwar Los Angeles

This interview was conducted at the Voices of Japanese American Redress Conference, held on the UCLA campus and sponsored by the UCLA Asian American Studies Center and the UCLA School of Public Policy and Social Research. Because of the full conference schedule, our interviews were limited to one …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-6-5/

vh Hisaji Q. Sakai Segment 9 (ddr-densho-1000-475-9)

Returning to San Francisco

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-475-9/

vh Marjorie Matsushita Sperling Interview Segment 22 (ddr-densho-1000-273-22)

Returning to Wapato, observing changes in the Japanese American community

This material is based upon work assisted by a grant from the Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Any opinions, finding, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-273-22/