Social and recreational activities
Japanese Americans found ways to fill the long days created by the enforced idleness of camp life. They made jewelry from shells found in the desert, built furniture for their rooms using scrap lumber and renovated the exteriors of their barracks. People also played cards, chess, checkers, mahjongg, and the Japanese games 'go' and 'shogi.' Camp inmates held dances, concerts, plays, and arts and crafts exhibitions. In Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho, they even held a beauty contest to select the "Sweetheart of Minidoka."
World War II
(231)
Concentration camps
(1454)
Social and recreational activities
(1166)
Related articles from the
Densho Encyclopedia :
Arts and crafts in camp,
Music in camp
![Nisei man standing next to carnival game (ddr-csujad-44-53)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/1a/51/1a5153e21561bcaa96458b28b8dd3e83.jpg)
![Outdoor stage at the Gila River incarceration camp (ddr-csujad-42-221)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/a9/03/a903a31dd9000985375d0f225ad4d826.jpg)
![Gila River Co-op workers' picnic (ddr-csujad-42-231)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/c5/df/c5df48ed19e0c76cea8eee2132402ea8.jpg)
![Letter from Makoto Okine to Mr. Okine, June 28, 1945 (ddr-csujad-5-82)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/13/29/1329445269e5ad82ae5b91a48f256ff0.jpg)
![Alan Ladd, Sue Carroll [Carrol], and Bill Kato [with an injured man] (ddr-csujad-56-313)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/5a/2a/5a2ac5c185861b9023ad848399c93fa8.jpg)
![Satoshi Kuwamoto interview (ddr-csujad-6-17)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/1a/ab/1aab4a2cb7dff7c20927dc5d24870be9.jpg)
![Ruth Okuye Ihara interview (ddr-csujad-6-8)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/92/cf/92cfeaf1b98e4a915644aac5c2b1e92c.jpg)
![Amache summer carnival program (ddr-csujad-7-18)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/cf/ed/cfed37fe4eaf686d87b9ac8c52515af5.jpg)
![Granada Christian Church Sunday School news, 1942 (ddr-csujad-7-21)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/f4/2b/f42b3c9011a1599f37a3f5575a1bca98.jpg)
![Song lyrics (ddr-csujad-7-31)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/56/ed/56eda08006845633f76c163e5842a397.jpg)
![Rhythm show program (ddr-csujad-7-30)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/08/09/08091789b92c2eb0487a7c2f26fd8092.jpg)
![Saka Tanaka (ddr-csujad-8-73)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/ef/47/ef4771c3b30a781bd006d34fc1b20a23.jpg)
![Kazuye Matsunaga (ddr-csujad-8-38)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/e6/97/e697229bac2bcf447bf0bb08d115d9f2.jpg)
![Written piece:](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/1c/16/1c16b9fed810d51205871f53935c67a4.jpg)
![Recreation department staff (ddr-densho-111-3)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/55/64/5564c88fc42b145187542cb7b521fafc.jpg)
![Japanese Americans playing horseshoes (ddr-densho-15-54)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/46/0d/460d3ce5282bb012c0510b87cbb2c882.jpg)
![Japanese Americans at Shoshone Falls (ddr-densho-15-67)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/33/7a/337a30e3b4986201cbf9ffc43ae44e05.jpg)