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

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vh Hiroshi Kashiwagi Interview Segment 12 (ddr-densho-1002-4-12)

An opportunity to leave camp for a day to perform onstage for a local high school and Lions Club

This interview was conducted by sisters Emiko and Chizuko Omori for their 1999 documentary, Rabbit in the Moon, about the Japanese American resisters of conscience in the World War II incarceration camps. As a result, the …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1002-4-12/

vh Frank Kitamoto Interview Segment 11 (ddr-densho-1001-25-11)

Remembering activities as a child in camp

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1001-25-11/

vh Eiko Shibayama Interview Segment 11 (ddr-densho-1001-14-11)

Recreational activities in camp: swimming, movies, birthday parties

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1001-14-11/

vh Michiko Amatatsu Noritake Interview Segment 7 (ddr-densho-1001-4-7)

Memories of Manzanar: working in the nursery, recreational activities

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1001-4-7/

vh Miyoko Kaneta Segment 7 (ddr-densho-1000-449-7)

Meeting different kinds of people in camp

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-449-7/

vh Miyoko Kaneta Segment 8 (ddr-densho-1000-449-8)

Passing time in camp, hearing about unrest

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-449-8/

vh Bill Hiroshi Shishima Interview Segment 14 (ddr-densho-1000-393-14)

Participating in a stamp club in camp

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 the Interior.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-393-14/

vh Bill Hiroshi Shishima Interview Segment 13 (ddr-densho-1000-393-13)

Going on hikes out the camp with the Boy Scouts

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-393-13/

vh Bill Hiroshi Shishima Interview Segment 12 (ddr-densho-1000-393-12)

Joining the Boy Scouts in camp

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-393-12/