Kibei male. Born August 1, 1903, in Sprecklesville, Maui, Hawaii. Taken to Japan in 1905 and raised by grandparents. Returned to the United States in 1919, joining father at Barneston sawmill in Washington. Married and farmed in Bellevue, Washington. Founded Bellevue Seinenkai and managed the Bellevue Vegetable Growers Association prior to World War II. Was picked …
Nisei female. Born August 18, 1925 in Tacoma, Washington. Raised in Seattle, Washington, where family operated a grocery store. Attended Washington Grammar School and Garfield High School in Seattle. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, father was arrested by the FBI and sent to Missoula internment camp, Montana. Family was removed to Puyallup Assembly Center, Washington, …
Sansei female. Born December 4, 1935, in Sawtelle, California. Grew up in Huntington Beach, California, where father worked as a chauffeur. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, father was picked up by the FBI and taken to the Tuna Canyon Detention Station. He rejoined the family at the Merced Assembly Center, California, and the family was …
Nisei-Sansei female. Born 1938 in Seattle, Washington. Grew up in the town of Christopher, now part of Auburn, Washington, where parents ran a grocery store. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, father was arrested by the FBI and sent to the Fort Missoula internment camp, Montana. The rest of the family went to the Puyallup Assembly …
Investigated by the FBI as a result of pro-resister editorials in the Rocky Shimpo
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 interviews in this collection are …
Article titles: "Santa Claus in Eden"; "Eden Relocation Project Workers Pledge $4,500 Weekly in War Bonds"; "Shirrell Speaks to Lions Club"; "Canners Fear Shortage of Tomato Labor; Reject Japanese Labor"; "Enemy Aliens Get Transfer to Denver"; "Seven Japs Given Fines for Gambling"; "Location of Kelp Beds Kept Secret by Japs"; "Date is Set for Sale of …
Nisei female. Born February 19, 1931, in Fresno, California. Family moved to Seattle, Washington, where father became minister of the Seattle Buddhist Temple. During the war, removed to the Puyallup Assembly Center, Washington, and Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho. Transferred to the Crystal City internment camp, Texas, to be reunited with father, who was arrested by the …
Sansei female. Born September 29, 1936, in Canete, Peru. Grew up in Peru where parents ran a successful store. During World War II, father was arrested by the FBI and removed from the family. Elsa and her mother and siblings were deported from Peru and taken by ship to the Crystal City internment camp, Texas, and …
Nisei male. Born April 29, 1934, in Brawley, California. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Father was arrested by the FBI and mother had a nervous breakdown. Kenji and his sister were sent to stay at the Shonien orphanage in Los Angeles. During mass removal, taken to Manzanar with other orphans and placed in the Manzanar …
Kibei male. Born August 1, 1903, in Sprecklesville, Maui, Hawaii. Taken to Japan in 1905 and raised by grandparents. Returned to the United States in 1919, joining father at Barneston sawmill in Washington. Married and farmed in Bellevue, Washington. Founded Bellevue Seinenkai and managed the Bellevue Vegetable Growers Association prior to World War II. Was picked …
Nisei female. Born March 29, 1918, in Seattle, Washington, and spent childhood in Medina and Bellevue, Washington. While in high school was a member of the Bellevue Strawberry Festival's Queen's Court. In 1939 married Kenji Ito, a prominent Japanese American lawyer who practiced in Seattle. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, recounts her experiences as her …
Nisei female. Born August 18, 1925 in Tacoma, Washington. Raised in Seattle, Washington, where family operated a grocery store. Attended Washington Grammar School and Garfield High School in Seattle. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, father was arrested by the FBI and sent to Missoula internment camp, Montana. Family was removed to Puyallup Assembly Center, Washington, …
Nisei male, born June 21, 1920, in Compton, California. Raised on a farm in Lawndale, California. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, his father was picked up by FBI and detained at a Department of Justice (DOJ) internment camp in Lordsburg, New Mexico. His family voluntarily moved to Visalia, California, then was forcibly moved to Poston …
Nisei male. Born August 1, 1933, in Ookala, Hawaii. At a young age, sent to Japan to live with grandfather and begin ministry training, but returned to the U.S. just before the onset of World War II. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, father, a prominent Buddhist minister, was picked up and arrested by the FBI. …
Photocopy of a declassified memorandum from Carl C. Donaugh, United States Attorney from the District of Oregon to the Attorney General in Washington, D.C., on the detention of Dr. Keizaburo Koyama. The filled out form letter notes that the FBI took Dr. Koyama into custody on December 10, 1941 in Portland, Oregon and that he is …
Photocopy of a typed letter from Teru Koyama to Edward J. Ennis concerning the rehearing of Keizaburo Koyama's case. On the third page, Teru continues to explain her husband's involvement in the Nihonjin-Kai. She said before she was interned, she received a stack of letters addressed to her husband that the FBI had confiscated and later …
Selected article titles: "FBI chief tells personal stand on evacuation" (p. 1), "Saturday evening post editorial fears strong Nisei tie with Japan" (p. 1), "Delegate-elect Burns names Nisei to be administrative ass't in D.C." (p. 1), "Evacuation claims award procedure explained by gov't" (p. 1), "100th Infantry veterans urge immediate statehood for Hawaii" (p. 2), "Telling …
Biddle's response to Smith's letter to Harry Truman requesting that J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI become involved in stopping the arson and shootings perpetrated against Japanese Americans (see Letter from Frank Herron Smith to President Harry S. Truman, May 4, 1945) informs Smith that unless a federal law is violated, he can not be involved. …
Selected article titles: "Gate Procedure for Visitors to Center Now Put in Effect" (p. 1), "Approved Relocation Suspended" (p. 1), "Lost Battalion Gives Plaque to 442nd Infantry for Rescue" (p. 1), "Bar Association Acts to Protect Minority Rights" (p. 1), "Hood River Legion Post to Restore Names of Nisei Men" (p. 1), "Oregon Alien Land Law …
Hearing about the bombing of Pearl Harbor, neighbors being arrested by the FBI
Due to technical difficulties during the taping of this interview, the interviewer's voice is considerably louder than the narrator's. This material is based upon work assisted by a grant from the Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Any opinions, finding, and conclusions …
Nisei male. Born May 9, 1922, in Portland, Oregon. Moved to Seattle with father after parents divorced. Grew up in Seattle's Nihonmachi where father ran a secondhand store. Disinterested in college after seeing a lack of employment opportunities for graduating Japanese Americans. Went to work for Great Northern Railway, laying and maintaining tracks on the West …
FBI arrests and the effect on the Japanese American community (audio only)
This interview is audio-only. It contains raw footage used by Steven Okazaki in his 1985 film Unfinished Business.
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 …
Article titles: "YMCA to Aid Jap Evacuees"; "Legion Scores Admission of Japs to College"; "Japanese Girl Barred from Hunter College"; "Local FBI Arrests Jap"; "Jap Chef Saved by Dinner Bell"; "Postoffice Established at Relocation Center"; "Japanese Servant of Royal Rank Held"; "Beet Hands Needed Badly Says Sugar Firm Official"; "Delay is Sought in Jap's Trial"; "Japanese …
Nisei male, born June 21, 1920, in Compton, California. Raised on a farm in Lawndale, California. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, his father was picked up by FBI and detained at a Department of Justice (DOJ) internment camp in Lordsburg, New Mexico. His family voluntarily moved to Visalia, California, then was forcibly moved to Poston …
Photocopy of a declassified report detailing the reasoning behind the recommendation that Dr. Keizaburo Koyama be interned as an alien enemy. This page continues with the assessment of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber felt it was under FBI investigation in 1940 and someone there suggested they conduct their meetings in secret. The report states …