Living conditions

All of the camps were constructed according to the War Department's specifications, which included barbed-wire fences, guard towers, and armed guards around the perimeter. The camps were organized in "blocks" consisting of twelve to fourteen barracks, a mess hall, communal showers and toilets, laundry facilities, and a recreation hall. Each barracks was divided into four or six rooms with each room housing one family, no matter how large, and there was no running water. The furnishings that Japanese Americans found on their arrival were canvas cots, a potbellied stove, and a single bare light bulb. The thin walls offered little protection from the harsh weather, which ranged from 110 degrees in the summer to 25 degrees below zero on winter nights. The flimsy construction allowed no privacy and made normal family life difficult. Camp inmates improved their own living conditions by creating interior walls and partitions, constructing furniture from scrap lumber, and planting gardens.

World War II (231)
Concentration camps (1435)
Living conditions (1764)

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1764 items

img Guard tower with a tank in the foreground (ddr-densho-350-19)

Caption on reverse: "Guard tower - guard by TFA (Task forces alfa [sic])."

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-350-19/

img Baby girl in a stroller in front of barracks (ddr-densho-350-23)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-350-23/

img The Oiye Family at Tule Lake (ddr-densho-350-20)

Left to right: Mary Shizuko Oiye, Shoji Oiye, unknown, Misa Mihara. Caption on reverse: "Jan, 1946."

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-350-20/

img Tule Lake panoramic landscape (ddr-csujad-3-9)

Photograph of Tule Lake camp showing expanse of camp including buildings, barracks, watch towers, and railways within the basin landscape. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: tos_01_001_010

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-3-9/

img Tule Lake rooftops (ddr-csujad-3-4)

Photograph looking across rooftops of buildings at Tule Lake towards hills in the distance. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: tos_01_001_004

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-3-4/

img Tule Lake landscape panoramic photograph (ddr-csujad-3-5)

High vantage point panoramic photograph of Tule Lake camp showing expanse of camp including buildings, railroad, roadways, and the basin landscape. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: tos_01_001_005

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-3-5/

img Tule Lake nighttime panorama (ddr-csujad-3-6)

High vantage point panoramic nighttime photograph of Tule Lake camp with the lights from the buildings inside camp on. The photograph shows the expanse of the camp against the darkened landscape. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: tos_01_001_006

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-3-6/

img Tule Lake perimeter landscape (ddr-csujad-3-7)

Panoramic photograph of a part of the perimeter of Tule Lake with buildings, telephone poles, fencing and watch towers lining up in the distance. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: tos_01_001_007

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-3-7/

img Concentration camp barracks (ddr-densho-34-177)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-34-177/

img Barracks (ddr-densho-34-170)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-34-170/

img Father and infant son outside barracks (ddr-densho-34-195)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-34-195/

img Mother and her children in front of their barracks (ddr-densho-34-111)

Shigeko Kitamoto and her children (left to right): Frances, Jane, Frank, and Lilly Kitamoto.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-34-111/

img Muddy conditions at Manzanar (ddr-densho-34-184)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-34-184/

img Three children behind barracks (ddr-densho-34-118)

Left to right: Frank, Lilly, and Jane Kitamoto behind their barracks at the Minidoka concentration camp.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-34-118/

img Women decorating barracks room (ddr-densho-34-194)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-34-194/

img Barracks (ddr-densho-34-180)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-34-180/

img Family outside their barrack (ddr-densho-34-163)

The Takemoto family outside their barrack at the Manzanar concentration camp, California.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-34-163/

img Woman holding baby outside barracks (ddr-densho-464-23)

Clotheslines in the background

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-464-23/

img Man and boy at Manzanar (ddr-densho-359-1448)

Jitsuzo and Wayne Nakata pose for a photograph next to a sprinkler at Manzanar Concentration Camp in California.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-359-1448/

img Three boys at Manzanar (ddr-densho-359-1445)

Don, Bob, and Wayne Nakata

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-359-1445/

doc Letter from Phil Okano to Alice Okano (ddr-densho-359-1213)

Phil writes to his wife, Alice Okano, concerning his travel from Amache Concentration camp to Denver. He couldn't convince his father to leave Amache. Phil writes that many people were biding their time in the camp to see how the war in the Pacific would pan out before making any decisions about leaving camp. Phil is …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-359-1213/

img Group photograph at Manzanar (ddr-densho-359-1443)

Nakata family:back row, left to right: John and Pauline Nakata, Sachan Nakata, Yonchan and Kyoichi Iwasa, Ken Nakata; front row, left to right: Shima Nakata with Ralph Iwasa, Wayne Nakata, Bob Nakata, Don Nakata, Jitsuzo Nakata

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-359-1443/

doc Letter from Phil Okano to Alice Okano (ddr-densho-359-1212)

Phil writes to his wife, Alice Okano, concerning life in the Amache Concentration Camp including activities at the high school and social gatherings. He also mentions an upcoming trip to Denver and trying to convince other families to leave the camp.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-359-1212/

img Child at Manzanar (ddr-densho-359-1444)

Wayne Nakata plays in front of the barracks at Manzanar Concentration Camp.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-359-1444/

img Woman at Manzanar (ddr-densho-359-1447)

Sachan Nakata. The photograph is signed "To Aya Lova Sa".

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-359-1447/