385 items
385 items
Narrator Teresa Maebori
Sansei female. Born February 13, 1945, in Caldwell, Idaho. During World War II, parents were incarcerated at the Tule Lake concentration camp, California. After leaving camp, moved to Auburn, Washington, where father's family had a pottery business and mother was a dressmaker. Teresa grew up in Auburn and graduated from the University of Washington. Served in …
Narrator Nobu Suzuki
Nisei female. November 25, 1909, in Seattle, Washington. Father established one of the largest oyster companies in the United States prior to World War II. Graduated from Garfield High School, the University of Washington, and then the Pacific School of Religion where she earned a master's degree in religious education. At the outbreak of WWII, assisted …
Narrator Ben Uyeno
Nisei male. Born November 30, 1918, in Yakima, Washington. Spent two years of childhood in Japan. Returned to Seattle and became an active participant in Japanese American community life. Was attending the University of Washington when World War II started. Avoided incarceration with the help of the Friends (a Quaker organization), which hid him and helped …
Narrator Frank Miyamoto
Nisei male. Born July 29, 1912, in Seattle, Washington. Wrote 'Social Solidarity Among the Japanese in Seattle' as a Master's thesis, published in 1939 as one of the first academic works on the Japanese immigrant community. Incarcerated in Tule Lake concentration camp, California. Member of the Evacuation and Resettlement Study which studied the incarceration and resettlement …
Narrator Jim Hirabayashi
Nisei male. Born October 30, 1926, in small town of Thomas, Washington, on family farm. Attended school in Auburn, Washington, before being removed to the Pinedale Assembly Center and Tule Lake concentration camp, California. Left camp to work in Idaho, and was subsequently joined by family. Postwar, became a social anthropologist, and later became only the …
Narrator Kiyoshi Seishin Yamashita
Nisei male. Born February 14, 1920, in Kent, Washington. Grew up in the nearby town of Auburn, where parents ran a farm. Family was involved Auburn Buddhist Church. Graduated from the University of Washington in 1942 and removed to the Pinedale Assembly Center and Tule Lake concentration camp, California. Recruited out of Tule Lake to teach …
Narrator Marjorie Matsushita Sperling
Nisei female. Born July 27, 1922, in Wapato, Washington. Grew up in Wapato, where family ran a farm. Was attending the University of Washington when the war broke out on December 7, 1941. Removed with family to the Portland Assembly Center, Oregon, and the Heart Mountain concentration camp, Wyoming. While in camp, worked for the recreation …
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Japanese Students Club (ddr-densho-45-1)
Members of the Japanese Students Club pose in front of the clubhouse fireplace. The Japanese Students Club (JSC) was the precursor of the current UW Nikkei Alumni Association at the University of Washington. The JSC was started in the early 1920s. Japanese Americans were excluded from the Greek-system fraternities because of their Japanese ancestry. In response …
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Fred Shiosaki Interview (ddr-densho-1016-1)
Nisei male. Born August 23, 1924 in the area of Spokane, Washington, known as Hillyard. Grew up in a multi-ethnic Hillyard area where his parents owned the Hillyard Laundry. When World War II began, was a senior at Rogers High School. Went on to attend Gonzaga University and then volunteered for military service, joining the 442nd …
Narrator Richard Kosaki
Nisei male. Born September 14, 1924, in Waikiki, Hawaii. Attended McKinley High School, where he was student body president, just prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. Served as a language instructor for the U.S. Military Intelligence Service during World War II, and was stationed in Japan during the U.S. occupation. Earned PhD in …
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Minoru Kiyota Interview (ddr-densho-1000-36)
Kibei male, born October 12, 1923, in Seattle, Washington. Raised primarily in San Francisco, California, spending four years in Hiratsuka, Japan. Was incarcerated with his family at Topaz concentration camp, Utah. Refused to sign the so-called "loyalty questionnaire," and as a consequence was moved to Tule Lake Segregation Center, California. In Tule, he renounced his U.S. …
Narrator Ryo Imamura
Sansei male, born April 28, 1944, in the Gila River concentration camp, Arizona. His father was the late Rev. Kanmo Imamura, a former Bishop of Hawaii and a minister for the Hawaii Kyodan and the Buddhist Churches of America (BCA). His mother Jane Imamura composed many of the children's gathas sung in the Dharma Schools. Both …
Narrator Katsugo Miho
Nisei male. Born May 15, 1922, in Kahului, Maui, Hawaii. Grew up in Kahului, where parents ran a hotel. Was attending the University of Hawaii as a member of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. As a member of the ROTC, was inducted into the newly formed …
Narrator Tosh Yasutake
Nisei male. Born June 10, 1922, in Seattle, WA. Father was employed by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service as interpreter for twenty years, until he was separated from family on December 7, 1941, and interned as an enemy alien. Graduated 1941, Cleveland High School, and attended University of Washington before being removed from Seattle with …
Narrator George Yamada
Nisei male. Born November 16, 1923, in Spokane, Washington. Spent childhood in downtown Spokane where parents ran the World Hotel. Father also worked as a mail handler for the Great Northern Railroad. Attended Lewis and Clark High School and Washington State University. During the war remembers seeing train cars pass through Spokane with Japanese Americans headed …
Narrator Roger Shimomura
Roger Shimomura's paintings, prints, and theater pieces address sociopolitical issues of Asian America. The inspiration for many of his works are the diaries kept by his late immigrant grandmother for fifty-six years. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Washington in Seattle, and his graduate degree from Syracuse University, New York. Shimomura has had …
Narrator Stanley N. Shikuma
Sansei male. Born December 2, 1953, in Brogan, Oregon. Grew up primarily in the Watsonville, California, area, where parents ran a farm. Exposed at an early age to activism and organized labor. Attended Stanford University and then moved to Seattle, Washington, and earned a nursing credential. Has joined and led several prominent Seattle-area taiko (Japanese drum) …
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Tosh Yasutake Interview (ddr-densho-1000-138)
Nisei male. Born June 10, 1922, in Seattle, WA. Father was employed by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service as interpreter for twenty years, until he was separated from family on December 7, 1941, and interned as an enemy alien. Graduated 1941, Cleveland High School, and attended University of Washington before being removed from Seattle with …
Narrator Pramila Jayapal
Born September 21, 1965 in Madras, India. Attended the Jakarta International School in Indonesia before moving to the United States to attend college at Georgetown University. Worked as an investment banker in New York City as well as in the management development program for Physio-Control. Currently, Pramila is the founder and Executive Director of Hate Free …
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Barneston's Japanese Community (ddr-densho-381-175)
A report prepared for the Seattle Water Department that discusses the history of Japanese immigration and community in Barneston, Washington, including a transcript of Yoshi Hibiya's oral history.
Narrator Frank H. Hirata
Kibei-Nisei male. Born November 19, 1925, in Spokane, Washington. At the age of ten, went to Japan with grandfather. During World War II, was conscripted into the Japanese army, and was still in training when the war ended. After the war, continued education, graduating from Kyoto University with a law degree. Got married in 1957 and …
Narrator Fred Shiosaki
Nisei male. Born August 23, 1924 in the area of Spokane, Washington, known as Hillyard. Grew up in a multi-ethnic Hillyard area where his parents owned the Hillyard Laundry. When World War II began, was a senior at Rogers High School. Went on to attend Gonzaga University and then volunteered for military service, joining the 442nd …
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Carbon copy letter from Ai Chih Tsai to Ng Boksu (ddr-densho-446-413)
Responding to Ng Boksu's inquiry about Taiwanese in the U.S. just before WWII. (5 pages)
Narrator Dale Minami
Sansei male. Born in Los Angeles, California on October 13, 1946, and grew up in Gardena, California. Received B.A. in Political Science from University of Southern California, graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1968. Received J.D., 1971, from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California. Mr. Minami was a co-founder of the …
Narrator Joe Yasutake
Nisei male. Born May 25, 1932, in Seattle, Washington. Father employed by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service as interpreter for twenty years, until separated from family on December 7, 1941 and interned as an enemy alien. Removed from Seattle with mother, sister and two brothers in 1942. Attended school (fifth through sixth grades) while incarcerated …