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

doc Letter to a Nisei man from his sister (ddr-densho-153-122)

Excerpt: "Today I would like to inform you on some important news." Sent from Manzanar concentration camp, California, possibly to Camp Robinson, Arkansas.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-153-122/

doc Letter to a Nisei man from his sister (ddr-densho-153-128)

Excerpt: "Thanks for your letters. It sure sounds like the army life is teaching you quite a few things." Sent from Manzanar concentration camp, California, possibly to Camp Robinson, Arkansas.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-153-128/

doc Helpful Hints for Successful Relocation (ddr-densho-156-113)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-156-113/

vh An Oral History with Katsuma Mukaeda (ddr-csujad-29-56)

Chairman of Japanese American Cultural Center and former president of Japanese Chamber of Commerce recounts conditions of prewar Los Angeles's Little Tokyo, its wartime conversion into a black community, postwar reestablishment as a Japanese-American cultural and commercial center. Includes comments on discriminatory legislation, prewar Japan-American relations. World War II removal and incarceration, camp conditions, wartime repatriation …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-29-56/

img Return to Santa Ana, California, from the Poston Center (ddr-csujad-29-219)

Photograph of a family returning to Orange County home after incarceration. Photograph titled: "The interviewee is pictured in 1945 after his return to Santa Ana, California, from the Poston Center, carrying his wife and son over the threshold of their Orange County home." See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-29-219/

doc Letter (with envelope) to Molly Wilson from Sandie Saito (June 7, 1944) (ddr-janm-1-21)

Handwritten letter to Molly Wilson from Sandie Saito (June 7, 1944). Envelope is postmarked June 7, 1944 from Chicago, Illinois.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-janm-1-21/

doc Letter (with envelope) to Molly Wilson from June Yoshigai (January 6, 1945) (ddr-janm-1-91)

Handwritten letter to Molly Wilson from June Yoshigai (January 6, 1945). Envelope is postmarked January 8, 1945 from De Kalb, Illinois.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-janm-1-91/

doc Letter (with envelope) to Molly Wilson from Mary Murakami (January 14, 1945) (ddr-janm-1-40)

Handwritten letter to Molly Wilson from Mary Murakami (January 14, 1945). Envelope is postmarked January 14, 1945 from Minneapolis, Minnesota. "Via air mail" is written boldly on the envelope.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-janm-1-40/

doc Letter (with envelope) to Mollie Wilson from Miyeko Imamura (December 19, 1944) (ddr-janm-1-67)

Handwritten letter to Mollie Wilson from Miyeko Imamura (December 19, 1944). Envelope is postmarked December 19, 1944 from the Heart Mountain Incarceration Camp in Cody, Wyoming.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-janm-1-67/

doc Telegram from Yahachi Susuki to Tatsuya Ichikawa (ddr-densho-258-207)

A money order of $100 sent by Yahachi Susuki to Tatsuya Ichikawa to fund Ichikawa travel to Seattle.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-258-207/

doc WRA booklet: "West Coast Incidents" (ddr-densho-274-29)

Booklet produced by the War Relocation Authority (WRA) that features clippings from major U.S. newspapers on Japanese Americans.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-274-29/

doc An Address by Sergeant Ben Kuroki, U.S. Army Air Force (ddr-densho-280-10)

This transcription of Sergeant Kuroki's speech details his experience as a Japanese-American in the Air Force and articulates his desire for an end to prejudice within the military.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-280-10/

img Hostel, Japanese language school (ddr-densho-30-4)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-30-4/

img Hostel, Japanese language school (ddr-densho-30-1)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-30-1/

img Hostel, Japanese language school (ddr-densho-30-2)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-30-2/

img Hostel, Japanese language school (ddr-densho-30-5)

Shig (Joe) Ohashi holding Suey (Victor) Ohashi in back of the Japanese language school, which was their temporary home after World War II.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-30-5/

img Hostel, Japanese language school (ddr-densho-30-3)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-30-3/

img Hostel, Japanese Language School (ddr-densho-31-2)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-31-2/

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, …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-31-1/

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 …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-314-19/

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 …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-314-7/

doc File transfer memorandum (ddr-densho-314-10)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-314-10/

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.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-32-1/

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.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-32-2/

doc Page of Hisa Nimura Horiuchi Scrapbook (ddr-densho-325-33)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-325-33/