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
![Kids dressed as Native Americans (ddr-manz-7-68)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/09/12/0912eedf74a846c6a13d7b2f945210db.jpg)
![Children playing with a ball in camp (ddr-manz-7-20)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/c6/d9/c6d9df1d7a53ea8aa7ceea4a6eecb3e1.jpg)
![Woman holding a snowball next to a sign (ddr-manz-7-101)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/4e/ee/4eee9982c4a2b3003cac0c702ad722e9.jpg)
![Women in the snow (ddr-manz-7-92)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/b6/4e/b64e27ae9b05ae829ed98dad883fb1f3.jpg)
![Students at dance practice (ddr-manz-7-67)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/39/b2/39b268179e64df3b8d59864cf79d8f2d.jpg)
![Women on a hiking trip (ddr-manz-7-93)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/91/ab/91ab8d05fd5fcd001b20acbb65faac16.jpg)
![Letter to Molly Wilson from Mary Murakami (October 6, 1942) (ddr-janm-1-29)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/0b/92/0b92caf0db8dc456a7600dbe0b0725e9.jpg)
![Letter (with envelope) to Mollie Wilson from Lillian (Nobie) Igasaki (March 31, 1944) (ddr-janm-1-51)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/11/53/1153a0203f90addeaf80e0a9b55110d6.jpg)
![Letter (with envelope) to Molly Wilson from Sandie Saito (April 3, 1943) (ddr-janm-1-15)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/70/32/703272821214ac09aa21a977d4fb240d.jpg)
![Letter (with envelope) to Molly Wilson from Miyeko Imamura (December 16, 1942) (ddr-janm-1-64)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/41/de/41de004d0e89a136d71523f1ac0148d5.jpg)
![Greeting card (with envelope) to Molly Wilson from Mary Murakami (July 1, 1943) (ddr-janm-1-34)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/8d/0f/8d0f583d12ce16f06d6c1b263fc32132.jpg)
![Letter (with envelope) to Molly Wilson from Sandie Saito (November 15, 1942) (ddr-janm-1-13)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/15/25/15254b602a8e4f1bf6a0edf3259438e5.jpg)
![Letter to Molly Wilson from Yuri Shimobochi (August 1, 1942) (ddr-janm-1-56)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/50/95/50953343fc79a83a4b84f470cfb0e107.jpg)
![Letter (with envelope) to Molly Wilson from Chiyeko Akahoshi (December 26, 1942) (ddr-janm-1-104)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/ea/2c/ea2ce8b3227730c75d573de977240411.jpg)
![Letter (with envelope) to Molly Wilson from Sandie Saito (July 17, 1943) (ddr-janm-1-16)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/16/4a/164a9a719fff85c3c3688a849f43d453.jpg)
![Stage at a Sweetheart Dance (ddr-fom-1-64)](https://ddr.densho.org/media/cache/a5/e2/a5e2cee15bc4a09697c54215c6fba22d.jpg)