Internment Camps: Facing Discrimination

people posing for the camera in an internment camp

Living in internment camps were not desirable, and most Japanese at the time did not want to go, especially because they had to give up everything in order to come here. Here are some accounts from their childhood, both before being interned, during internment, and after internment from interviewees of who were interned into these camps during World War II.

Masaru Kawaguchi

Kawaguchi was born in 1925 in San Francisco, California between parents who were born in Japan and immigrated to America. He grew up in the Japantown area of San Francisco. During his high school career, he participated in his school's basketball team, but after a while, he could no longer participate in the team's activities as travel restrictions were put on Japanese Americans. Kawaguchi was sent to internment camps in Topaz, Utah for two years.

"I felt more discrimination... when I tried to buy a house... they wouldn't sell me a house!... I paid as much for an old house as I did with a new house. Even then with working I thought I was a good student...but they wouldn't give me a job, so that's why I went into civil service...The only place that accepted me was the civil service."

Fumi Hayashi

Hayashi was born on June 3, 1926, in Alameda, California. Her parents were Christian (her father a minister) and moved to America. She grew up in Berkeley and went to school there until she and her family were interned. She was interned to Tanforan detention center and then sent to internment camps in Topaz, Utah.

"In those days, People were not terribly uptight about what you were doing, and so no one would really get angry with you... [as a youngster,] life was easier than it is [after she grew up and realized what was going on]".
"I didn't do anything, but when I went to school in camp, I realized that you can do anything you wanted to do. You can be in a school play, you can sing... the boys, especially, they could be on the basketball teams..."

Marielle Tsukamoto

Tsukamoto grew up on a farm in Florin, California, which used to be a thriving Japanese farming community. At around 1941, a good percentage of the people living there were Japanese immigrants. When she was 5 years old, however, she and her family were forced to move to internment camps and lived there for 2 years.

"I wasn't aware of the segregation but I'm sure it was there... I knew that there were certain things we couldn't do. We weren't allowed to go swimming... we weren't allowed to go into the Sutter Club... there were a lot of places where if somebody had a wedding or party... we couldn't go."
"My parents didn't think it was right, but what could they do? They just accepted it...I think that's the danger of social norms."
"There was a questionnaire that was given to all internees. If you were 16 or older, you had to answer these questions... [some questions were] confusing... because my grandfather who came from Japan...had to answer a question where he would give up his Japanese citizenship and knowing that he couldn't have an American citizenship. The second question was that he would agree to serve in the military against Japan or any enemies of the United States. And he was 75 years old at the time. It would not be logical to answer yes to those questions...but my father told him to answer yes to those questions. But those who chose to answer no to those questions were labeled as disloyal and many of them were sent to Tulelake Camp which was a camp for disloyals... they wanted to separate them."




https://www.tellingstories.org/internment/
https://www.tellingstories.org/internment/hayashi_fumi/index.html
https://www.tellingstories.org/internment/kawaguchi_masaru/index.html
https://www.tellingstories.org/internment/tsukamoto_marielle/index.html