Kioku: Portraits of Japanese-American Internees

Portrait: Karlene Koketsu

2011-12-14T19:23:00.000-08:00

Karlene (Kaoru Nakanishi) Koketsu was seven years old and living in the Sawtelle neighborhood of West Los Angeles when President Roosevelt declared war on Japan. Along with her parents, Karl and Taka Nakanishi, and her younger siblings Teruko and Dennis, her family left their home in April, 1942. They were gathered at the Japanese School at 2110 Corinth Ave, Los Angeles, and placed on a bus which took her family to the Manzar Relocation Camp 230 miles away in California's Owens Valley.

Photo by Andy Frazer

Overall, Karlene told me that many children had positive memories of being in internment. Her family remained together at Manzanar, and many children had experiences they could not get in the city: all of the neighborhoods were safe, there were lots of children to socialize with, and most children were allowed to stay out late.

One day in 1943, Karlene was waiting for school to begin with her friends Eiko Edna Nagata and Sumiko (last name unknown). Photographer Ansel Adams was in the camp visiting photographer Toyo Miyatake. Ansel saw Karlene and her friends and ask them to pose for a photograph. This photograph (below) is available in the National Archives under the title School Children, Manzanar Relocation Center, California (LOT 10479-5, no. 6).

Sumiko. (L), Karlene Koketsu (M),Eiko Edna Nagata (R), Photo by Ansel Adams, Library of Congress.

Karlene's family left Manzanar in June, 1945. They temporarily stayed in Gunnison, Utah before returning by train to West Los Angeles in February, 1946. During resettlement, her family lived with many other Japanese-American families at the same Japanese school were they were gathered to be bussed to camp at the beginning of the War.

Portrait: Kiyo Sato

2011-08-12T19:48:00.000-07:00

"FBI agents, three of them came to our house. One was in my little bedroom and he checked under the bed and between the mattresses and all the drawers and he found my diary. And I was just totally embarrassed. I just wanted to run in there and grab it away from him. And then I knew that if I did something rash we would get in more trouble so I just sat there, and grit my teeth, and I just hoped that he would find it boring and put it away, but he didn’t. He just kept reading it and reading it, while I was just sitting there humiliated and embarrassed."

- Kiyo's interview with Face-to-Face.

(Photo by Andy Frazer)

In July of 2011 I had the opportunity to photograph someone who was a huge inspiration for this project. After I first got the idea for this portrait project, I spent almost one year thinking about it, but never getting started with it. One morning I was listening to the Forum radio show on San Francisco's KQED public radio station. They were interviewing a lady from Sacramento named Kiyo Sato. Kiyo is former internee of the Poston internment camp.She was discussing her book Kiyo's Story, which described her life growing up on a strawberry farm in Sacramento, CA before the WWII. After Executive Order 9066 was signed by President Roosevelt in 1942, Kiyo was forced to drop out of Sacramento Junior College. She and her family were forced to leave their farm in Sacramento, move to temporary housing at the Pinedale Assembly Center, and were eventually incarcerated at the Poston Interment Camp in Arizona.

After listening to the radio broadcast of her interview, I realized it was time to make the move from just thinking about this portrait project, to getting started meeting and photographing former internees. I had always considered Kiyo's radio interview the real impetus to get this project moving. In June, 2011, the Japanese-American Museum of San Jose told me that Kiyo was coming to San Jose to give a reading from her book. Eva Yamamoto put me touch with Kiyo, and I arranged to meet her before she returned to Sacramento.

Kiyo's Story provides an amazing look into the Japanese-American experience before, during and after the forcible incarceration of over 100,000 Americans during WWII. Kevn Starr, author of California: A History described it as ",,, a magnificent memoir, fully worthy of being compared to Farewell to Manzanar.” You can buy your own copy from The Manzanar Store.

Since Kiyo is a well-respected author, there is already a lot of great audio and video and transcribed material about her on the internet. For this reason, I did not conduct my own interview when I met her to take her portrait. Instead, I'll include links to the other resources about Kiyo available on the internet.

You can listen to the entire interview with Kiyo on KQED's Forum show hosted by Dave Iverson.
The Face-to-Face organization has audio recordings and transcripts of interviews with Kiyo describing her memories after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and the FBI investigation into her family.
Casey Ikeda conducted an interview Kiyo as part of the Dreams Finally Realized Project that collects stories of Japanese-Americans who were unable to complete their college educations due to the forced evacuations of Executive Order 9066.
Kiyo spoke to the California Writer's Club about the process of writing the original version of her book, originally published as Dandelion Through the Crack.
The Rosemont Patch has an article about Kiyo, as well an a video interview.

Portrait: Molly Kitajima

2011-07-04T15:19:00.000-07:00

After I photographed Fran Ellis in 2010, Fran introduced me to Molly Kitajima. Fran and Molly are both on the Board of Directors of the Tule Lake Committee, which supports preservation of the site of the Tule Lake Internment Camp, and also organizes pilgrimages to Tule Lake in northeastern California. Not only was Molly active in supporting the movement for redress and reparations, but Molly was the first person I met who was incarcerated in Canada. Very few Americans are aware that Canada (and also Cuba) also conducted large-scale incarceration of people of Japanese descent during the war.

(Photo by Andy Frazer)

Molly is a native of the Surrey and Delta region in British Columbia. During WWII, Molly's family was sent to the Winnipeg Assembly Center, and were eventually moved to a large sugar beet farm in Middle Church, Manitoba for the duration of the war. When I photographed Molly she was 86 years old and teaching Taiko drumming!

It was a pleasure to meet Molly because she is full of energy and has a wonderful memory of growing up and being interned in Canada. This was one of the longest interviews I've conducted so far.

Molly describes her life living on a farm in British Columbia before WWII. They had one of the first farmhouses to have piped-in water and electricity. She also talks about how her mom and dad came immigrated to Canada (LISTEN).

The year before WWII, her father returned to Japan. When he saw that Japan was preparing for war against the U.S., he tried to warn everyone that Japan was no match for the U.S. After they threatened to imprison him, he fled to Canada. He later learned that his ship was the last ship to be allowed to leave the country before Japan attacked the U.S. (LISTEN)

Molly describes her siblings (LISTEN).

Her dad returned from Japan and warned everyone that Japan was planning to attack the United States. Molly remembers attending a meeting of the Japanese-Canadian League when they heard the news about the attack on Pearl Harbor. (LISTEN)

After December 7, 1941 the officials began confiscating Japanese-American's fishing boats and cameras. Her dad continued warning everyone that they would all be interned, so he was promptly arrested. Her relatives from Vancouver Island were incarcerated first. They were sent to an assembly center at the Hastings Park race track in Vancouver. Molly recalls her memories of the people at Hastings Park living in the filthy stables. (LISTEN)

Japanese-Canadians from Vancouver Island were evacuated first. The young men were immediately sent to road camps. The wives and children were temporarily left in Molly's village. Since many of these wives didn't even speak English, Molly and her siblings would visit them and help them buy groceries and helped tend to women who were pregnant (LISTEN)

Her dad tried to get the local authorities to promise not to incarcerate the Japanese-Canadians. He was arrested after refusing to stop telling everyone to sell their possessions because they were going to lose them when the government order them to evacuate (LISTEN)

Molly and her brothers did paperwork for J.C.C.A before the evacuation. They wanted to help the people in the village get the best arrangements when they would be interned (LISTEN)

One of Molly's neighbors refused to be evacuated with her husband because she was having a relationship with another man. Molly's brother was able to arrange for the woman to be evacuated with her boyfriend, and the woman was forever grateful to him (LISTEN)

Before Molly's family was evacuated, her mom slaughtered all of the chickens on their farm, cooked them, and prepared hundreds of chicken box lunches. When they were on the evacuation train to Manitoba, her mom would give the box lunches to their friends who were in the road camps along the way. (LISTEN)

Molly talks about her memories of the evacuation train ride over the Canadian Rockies. At Jasper Station, the RCMP guard wanted to take Molly's family to a great apple pie bakery in the station. But his superiors forbid him from letting Molly's family leave the train. (LISTEN)

She recalls her memories of the Winnipeg Assembly Center; including the tightly-packed cots, and a limited number of toilets and baths (LISTEN)

Molly's family was sent to a large commercial farm, instead of the more common road camps. Many of these farms would arrange for multiple Japanese-Canadian families to be packaged together to create a more productive labor force. Many of these families were not happy about being forced to live with each other (LISTEN)

Molly talks about the living and working conditions for the interned Japanese-Canadian farm hands (LISTEN)

On the farm, they had an out house that was separate from the main house. During the winter they had to tie a line between the house and the out house to prevent getting lost in a blizzard while walking to the out house. (LISTEN)

Her family worked very hard to finish harvesting all of the sugar beets before the arrival of winter in mid-October (LISTEN)

After working on the sugar beet farm during internment, Molly talks about her empathy for Cesar Chavez and the farm workers in California (LISTEN)

Molly's family requested to be sent to a working farm because they had heard many bad stories about the conditions on the road camps. But the conditions on the farms were so bad that they regretted not being sent to a road camp like most of the Japanese-Canadian internees (LISTEN)

While living on the farm in Middle Church, Manitoba, her younger brother was killed by a drunk driver while he was pulling his wagon to get water for the family. The driver of the car was the wife on an R.C.M.P and was never charged in her brother's death (LISTEN)

Japanese-American men serving in the Military Intelligence School in Fort Savage, Minnesota, would take the train up to Winnipeg to meet the women in the Japanese-American community. Molly talks about the arrangement between Winnipeg and Fort Savage, as well as the story about how she met her husband (LISTEN)

During the war Molly's dad was doing some research for the government, so he traveled across Canada while the family had to remain on the sugar beet farm (LISTEN)

After Molly's family was released from internment at the sugar beet farm, they decided to settle in Winnipeg (LISTEN)

Molly discusses her memories of hiring discrimination against Japanese-Canadians in Winnipeg (LISTEN)

After Molly's family moved to California, she was very vocal in the Movement for Redress. Once the U.S. government formally apologized the Japanese-Americans, Molly went back to Canada to help start the Movement for Redress in Canada. The Canadian legislation passed, and the Japanese-Canadian citizens received their reparations before the Americans received their reparations (LISTEN)

Molly's nephew was asked in second-grade where he was born. He truthfully told the teacher he was born in the Tanforan Race Track in San Mateo, CA. The teacher sent a note to the parents accusing the boy of lying in school. Molly went to visit the teacher and was shocked the learn that even the school teachers had never heard that the race track had been used as a Japanese-American assembly center (LISTEN)

During World War II, Cuba also interned people of Japanese descent. Molly tells the story of how she was asked to go to Cuba to act as an interpreter for many Japanese-Cubans who only spoke Japanese, and were applying to the Cuban government for reparations (LISTEN)

Portrait: Jack Matsuoka

2011-03-19T17:31:00.000-07:00

Last week I photographed Jack Matsuoka at the Japanese American Museum of San Jose. I briefly met Jack last October at the grand opening of the JAMsj where he was signing copies of his book Poston Camp II: Block 211. Jack was a professional newspaper cartoonist and caricaturist. His book is a wonderful retelling of his memories of living in the Poston internment camp, and told through his great illustrations. Although I have very little skill at drawing and painting, I've always enjoyed the process of drawing and reading editorial cartoons in the newspapers, so I knew that some day I would have to photograph Jack's portrait.


(Photo by Andy Frazer)

Jack was a teenager when Executive Order 9066 forced his family to leave their home in Watsonville, CA and report to the Salinas Assembly Center. Like most of the Japanese-Americans from the Watsonville area, his family was eventually interned in the Poston Relocation Center in Arizona, where he began creating the illustrations that would eventually lead to his book. After WWII, Jack attended art school, then got drafted into the U.S. Army. Since he had some familiarity with the Japanese language, he was sent to language school, then stationed back in Japan where he worked in intelligence. After his stint the Army, Jack lived in Japan and worked for various major newspapers as a cartoonist. I was surprised to learn that Jack spent many years as a sports cartoonist for Japan Times and various Japanese sports magazines. Apparently sports cartooning was very popular in Japan. He also published his first books of cartoons Rice-Paddy Daddy. He is a member of the National Cartoonist Society.

After I had time to record some audio interviews with Jack, I asked him to autograph my copy of his book. In addition to his autograph, he also draw the following caricature of me photographing him.

(Caricature by Jack Matsuoka)

After we finished taking photographs, Jack told me more about his memories of internment and his how he became a cartoonist. He remembers when the Japanese-American students had to leave school after the beginning of the war, and he remembers the Watsonville school teachers telling them that they will be back in a few months (LISTEN). His family had to sell off their property, and his mom had to abandon the mid-wife clinic that she was working on building in Watsonville (LISTEN). His family was first sent to the Salinas Assembly Center, which was actually the Salinas County Fairgrounds. He told me about the latrines, and how his family were considered "city folk" (LISTEN). After the long train journey to the Poston War Relocation Center (LISTEN), he said there were many sports programs for the children (LISTEN). He also remembers how the children would collect live rattlesnakes and keep them in cages next to the barracks (LISTEN). One time he was coming down with a fever, so one of the older Japanese ladies took a live carp, slit its throat and told Jack to drink it's blood. Jack quickly recovered from the fever, but for the next year his doctor told him there was something strange about his blood (LISTEN).

Jack's career as a cartoonist took him from Poston, Arizona, to Japan, and back to the United States. Soon after he began attending the Cleveland School of Fine Arts, he was immediately drafted into the Army, where he ended up in the M.I.S., and was then assigned to Japan (LISTEN). While in Japan he was the only bi-lingual cartoonist for some major newspapers, where he specialized in sports cartooning (LISTEN).

For more information about Jack's career, I also found the following interesting articles:

An interview with Discover Nikkei
A story about Jack's career in Nikkei West.
The city of Watsonville presented Jack with a proclamation for his contribution to the Japanese-American community.

Caricature by Jack Matsuoka

2011-03-15T20:22:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I photographed celebrated cartoonist, and former resident of Poston interment camp, Jack Matsuoka, I asked Jack to sign my copy of his book Poston Camp II, Block 211. He generously draw this caricature of me photographing him.

Drawing by Jack Matsuoka

I plan to have Jack's photograph processed and uploaded, along with some audio interviews of his memories of Poston, within the next two weeks.

Portrait: George Ishikawa

2011-02-13T15:02:00.000-08:00

"My father said to me, 'You are an American. And if you have to serve, you are an American. That is where you belong. If it does come to war, I expect you'll serve under this country". --George Ishikawa

George and his new wife were driving from Mountain View back to their home in San Mateo, CA when they heard on the radio that they would have to pack up all their belongings and report to the Santa Anita Assembly Center. Like most people from the San Jose area, they were eventually sent to the Heart Mountain War Relocation Center in Wyoming. When the U.S. began including incarcerated Japanese-Americans in the Selective Service Program in 1943, many men in the internment camps objected on the grounds that they were being asked to serve in the military while their families were incarcerated and had been denied their constitutional rights. George Ishikawa was the first person I met who had taken a role in the draft resistance movement within the internment camps.

(Photo by Andy Frazer)

Like most interned draft resisters, he promised to report for duty if his family were given their freedom. Many other young men had talked about resisting the draft, but most of them changed eventually their minds. George was one of the first to stick with his decision. He was one of eighty-five Heart Mountain men who were later imprisoned for resisting the draft.

During his trial, George made the following eloquent comment that was used in the front page of Eric Muller's book, "Free To Die For Their Country: The Story of Japanese-American Draft Resisters in WWII":

"We may lose the verdict,
but the verdict shall be man-made;
and with the passing of Time,
eternal truth and right will come to light.
That is my firm belief."

-- George Ishikawa, in a Wyoming county jail, May 1944

When I photographed George just before Christmas 2010, he talked about his memories of leaving their home in San Mateo; a riot in the Santa Anita Assembly Center; and his involvement as one of the earliest draft resisters at Heart Mountain.

Before the outbreak of WWII, George recalls his dad telling him to always remember that he was an American, and he should be prepared to fight for America if necessary (LISTEN).
His family was driving home one Sunday night in 1942 when the heard the announcement on the radio about Executive Order 9066 (LISTEN), Once his family realized they would have to leave their home, they were given very little time to prepare for the evacuation (LISTEN), Unlike some Japanese-Americans, his family was not fortunate enough to find someone to take care of their possessions while they were in the internment camps (LISTEN)
George's family was sent to the Santa Anita Assembly Center. He discusses the train ride to Santa Anita (LISTEN), and his arrival at Santa Anita (LISTEN). He also recalled a serious work protest at Santa Anita that started after the guards began confiscating people's personal possessions (LISTEN).
After being interned at Santa Anita, George's family was incarcerated in Heart Mountain, Wyoming. He describes the train ride to Heart Mountain (LISTEN) and their arrival at Heart Mountain (LISTEN).
George played a major role in the well-documented draft resistance movement within Heart Mountain. Initially, men didn't know what to think about being drafted. Many were offended at being classified as "enemy alien". There were also rumors that the U.S. Army was assembling Japanese-American men into a suicide battalion. Ultimately, most men felt a responsibility to their families, so they remained quiet about it (LISTEN). George discusses the confusion over the "loyalty question", his interpretation of his responsibility to defend the United States, and the first few people to stand up and demand their Constitutional rights in exchange for defending the country (LISTEN). Once the draft was instituted, many men in Heart Mountain passively resisted it. But once they were threatened with imprisonment, most of them backed down and enlisted (LISTEN). George tried to express his reasoning by writing a letter to one of the early leaders of the draft resistance within Heart Mountain. His letter unexpectedly appeared in the camp newsletter, the Heart Mountain Sentinel*. His letter was later picked up by a reporter named James Omura, who published it in the Denver Japanese-American newspaper called the Rocky Shimpo (LISTEN),
People outside of Heart Mountain never received news about what was going on inside of camp. The Rocky Shimpo newspaper began publishing some of that news, but after publishing George's letter, there were ordered to stop reporting news from inside the camp (LISTEN)

I plan to meet with George again and continue our interview. George had a lot to tell me about his trial and the series of prisons where he was incarcerated.

"You say, Democracy, that's what we are fighting for... Are we not supposed to be enjoying those sacred blessings and privileges as free citizens before we are to enter the armed forces? We are fighting to restore the rights and dignity of citizenship that is properly due a citizen regardless of his race or color" -- George Ishikawa

I also found this interesting article about draft resistance in the Wall Street Journal which mentions George Ishikawa. And this photograph from an article from the San Francisco Chronicle featuring a meeting between George and his fellow Heart Mountain friend Takashi Hoshizaki after 58 years.

* I'm still searching through all of the Heart Mountain Sentinel newsletters on the great Densho website. When I find George's letter, I'll post it here.

Portrait: Tom Nishikawa

2011-02-04T20:15:00.000-08:00

Tom Nishikawa was one year-old when his family moved to Hollister to purchase a farm. A few weeks later, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and the U.S. declared war against Japan. This prevented Tom's family from completing the purchase of the farm. Five months later President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, and Tom's family was ordered to report to the Salinas Assembly Center. They were then incarcerated in the Poston Camp 1 in Arizona. Tom told me that Poston was divided into a family section, and a bachelors' section. Since Tom was a young boy looking for excitement, he would spend time in the bachelors' section, where the men taught him how to make an insect net and chase bugs.

(Photo by Andy Frazer)

Tom was only five years old when his family was released from Poston in 1945. They temporarily lived in the San Jose Buddist Church Betsuin, and Hunter's Point (South San Francisco) before settling in Gilroy, CA. Tom has some wonderful memories that he shared with me. Here are some audio interviews with Tom Nishikawa:

Tom describes how he would hang out in the bachelors' section of camp where the bachelors taught him how to collect insects. (LISTEN).
When Tom's dad was a cook at Poston, he would bring home rice that had burned against the pan. This is now sold as a treat called koge gohan (LISTEN).
Tom talks about the art of Gaman, and how his dad would carve tiny, intricate birds from wood, which he collected from old produce boxes. (LISTEN).

Portrait: James Hirata

2011-02-01T08:00:00.000-08:00

In October 2010, I photographed James Hirata along with his mom, Taka Hirata (age 104). James was seventeen years old and living in San Francisco when his family was ordered to pack up and move to the Tanforan (CA) Assembly Center, and eventually the Topaz (Utah) Relocation Center. I was amazed when James told me that he had very fond memories of both Tanforan and Topaz (listen below). He said there was very little for a teen-age boy to do in San Francisco in the 1940's, but he loved the open space, fields and desert of Topaz, as well as the mud at Tanforan.

(Photo by Andy Frazer)

After the war he moved to Palo Alto with a friend that he had met at the Tule Lake internment camp. When I photographed James, he was 85 years old and still operating his own landscaping business. James and Taka were the first people I photographed who had been incarcerated at Topaz.

Listen to some of James' memories of San Francisco, Tanforan, Topaz and Tule Lake:

Leaving San Francisco to report to the Tanforan Assembly Center LISTEN
Fond memories of Tanforan and Topaz LISTEN

Portrait: Jim Maeno

2011-01-25T21:01:00.000-08:00

Over the Christmas break I was able to photograph and interview three former internees for my portrait project. Jim Maeno is a recently-retired dentist. He contacted me after seeing the story about this project in the Sunnyvale Sun newspaper.

Jim was one year old when his family was forced to leave Santa Maria and report to the Tulare Assembly Center. They were incarcerated in the Gila River Relocation Camp. Once in the camp, his dad was imprisoned in Bismark, N.D., and his mom contracted tuberculosis and was moved back to a hospital near Santa Maria, CA. Jim and his siblings were forced to remain in Gila River, where they were raised by their uncle.

(Photo by Andy Frazer)

Jim has a surprisingly clear memory of some moments in Gila River even though he was so young at the time. He also has some interesting insights into how his family adapted to moving back to California after the War. Here are some audio recordings of Jim Maeno's memories of the Gila River interment camp, and thoughts about integrating back into society after the family was reunited after the war

Jim remembers his mom contracting tuberculosis at the Gila River internment camp. He also remembers the coyotes howling during the outdoor movies, and riding around camp in one of the government vehicles. - LISTEN
Jim's dad was imprisoned in Bismark, N.D. immediately after the family was interned in Gila River - LISTEN
In Gila River, Jim's siblings were raised by their uncle, who later served in the Military Intelligence Service - LISTEN
Jim describes how he never learned to speak Japanese because they never felt they were Japanese - LISTEN
Jim explains why his family never felt they were Japanese, especially after the war - LISTEN
Jim's dad worked on a farm owned by the Minami family. of Guadalupe, CA. - LISTEN
Insights about discrimination after returning to Santa Maria (two parts)- LISTEN and LISTEN
After the war, Jim attended college and then dental school - LISTEN

Portrait: Tad Hirozawa

2010-12-12T01:00:00.000-08:00

After the San Jose Mercury News ran a nice article about my photography project last October, Tad Hirozawa contacted me about sharing his story of Poston with me. After I photographed Tad at his home in San Jose, we sat down and recorded a lot of material of his memories of the Salinas Assembly Center and the Poston internment camp, where he was a neighbor of the distinguished cartoonist Jack Matsuoka. Tad was twenty years old when his family was forced into internment, so he has excellent memories of the trip to Poston and the living conditions in the camp. He also surprised me with an interesting insight into why internment may have actually been a blessing for some Japanese-Americans (see the last audio recording below).

(Photo by Andy Frazer)

Tad also gave me copies of the programs for two recent reunions for the Poston II internment camp, which he asked that I give to the Japanese-American Museum of San Jose (detail below).

To listen to many of Tad's memories of the Salinas Assembly Center and the Poston internment camp, please click on the LISTEN links below.

Tad describes the trip from Salinas, CA to Poston - Part 1 LISTEN
Tad describes the trip from Salinas, CA to Poston - Part 2 LISTEN
Tad describes the conditions at Poston - Part 1 LISTEN
Tad describes the conditions at Poston - Part 2 LISTEN
Tad describes the conditions at Poston - Part 3 LISTEN
Tad describes the weather at Poston LISTEN
Tad describes the swimming pool at Poston LISTEN
Tad describes the school at Poston, AZ LISTEN
Tad was a neighbor of published cartoonist Jack Matsuoka at Poston, AZ LISTEN
Tad talks about the loyalty questionaires LISTEN
Tad talks about his unusual mis-assignment to the Military Intelligence Service LISTEN
Tad talks about his thoughts on Japanese-American draft resisters LISTEN
Tad has a surprising opinion on the larger impact of internment on the careers of Japanese-Americans LISTEN

Portrait: Taka Hirata

2010-12-01T20:06:00.000-08:00

Taka Hirata represents a few "firsts" for my portrait project. Not only was Taka the first person to represent the Topaz internment camp in my project, but she was also the first centenarian that I had the honor of photographing. Taka is 104 years old! Although she needs assistance to stand up, she was able to walk right out the front door and pose for her photograph with only the aid of her walker. She also has a surprisingly strong grip.

(Photo by Andy Frazer)

Taka and her family were operating a bath house in San Francisco at the outbreak of World War II. Due to Executive Order 9066, they were forced to move to the Tanforan Assembly Center, then eventually the Topaz (Utah) and Tule Lake (California) internment camps.

(Artwork by Kiyo Kamiya)

When I met Taka Hirata, she showed me this great drawing of the Topaz War Relocation Center, which was drawn by her friend Kiyo Kamiya*. It was titled "East View from Blk 28, Topaz, Utah, Aug. 19, 1943". It measures about 11"x17".

I also had the opportunity to photographed her son, James Hirata, who told me some great stories about his experiences moving from San Francisco to Tanforan and then to Topaz at the age of 17.

Portrait: Chizuko Judy Sugita

2010-11-15T01:00:00.000-08:00

Last month I was asked to photograph the grand opening of the Japanese-American Museum of San Jose. As part of the opening, the museum featured an exhibition of Chiz Sugita's watercolor paintings of her memories of growing up in the Poston War Relocation Camp (Poston, AZ). Six months earlier I read the book that accompanied her watercolor paintings, so I contacted Chiz and asked if I could meet her prior to the grand opening ceremonies to photograph her portrait. She graciously agreed.

Chizuko Judy Sugita de Queiroz was nine years old when her family was forced to sell their home in Orange County, CA in order to report to internment in Poston, AZ. Her dad sold his bonsai nursery to Walter Knott, of Knott's Berry Farm, with an agreement that he could buy it back after the war. When they returned in 1946, Walter Knott failed to honor his contract. Her dad lost all of the stock to his business, and their personal possessions had been stolen.

(Photo by Andy Frazer)

Chiz received her Masters in Art at California State University, Dominguez Hills. She subsequently taught in the Palos Verdes School District, where she became the Art Department Chair.

I met Chiz Sugita in 2010 when I was asked to photograph the Grand Opening ceremony of the Japanese-American Museum of San Jose. The museum was hosting a show of Chiz's watercolor paintings from her series Camp Days 1942-1945. I was already familiar with Chiz's work after reading the book that accompanied her project. After graciously arriving early to let me photograph her formal portrait, I photographed Chiz in front of a few of her paintings.

(Photo by Andy Frazer)

I told Chiz that her painting Girl Scouts (immediately to her left in the above photograph) was my favorite because of the wonderful story that accompanied it in the book:

"Pretending to be Girl Scouts, we hiked to Clay Mountains. Lost, exhausted and thirsty, we finally made our way home after ten hours. We were so excited to see the outline of our camp against the sunset sky. No one had missed us, since it was still light outside at 7pm."

Portrait: Fran Ellis

2010-11-09T20:23:00.000-08:00

In October, 2010 I photographed a member of the Tule Lake Committee: Fran Ellis. Not only does Fran live within two miles of my home, she was the first person I've photographed who was born in one of the War Relocation Camps.

Fran Ellis' dad was drafted into the U.S. Army in February, 1942, just a few days before President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. Fran's mom was four months pregnant in May of that year when the family got their order to leave their home and report to the Walerga (Sacramento) Assembly Center. The family appealed to the American Red Cross so that her dad could get a temporary leave from the Army in order to come home to help them pack up and report for internment. Fran was born in the Tule Lake concentration camp later that year.

(Photo by Andy Frazer)

Fran's father was a kibei, a term given to people of Japanese descent who were born in the United States, educated in Japan, then returned to the U.S. before the beginning of World War II. Because of his valuable knowledge of the Japanese language, he was offered a position in the Military Intelligence Service, which worked to translate Japanese military communications. He refused the position due to ethical principles, so he was reduced to the rank of Army 'buck' Private from Army Private First Class, then sent to the 1800th Engineer General Service Battalion. This battalion consisted of soldiers who were considered trouble-makers by the military. Their responsibilities generally consisted of repairing ground that had been damaged by military tank exercises.

Today, Fran is on the Tule Lake Planning Committe for the Tule Lake Pilgrimages, as well as being a committee member of the Nihonmachi Outreach Committee

(Photo by Andy Frazer)

When I photographed Fran, we were also joined by Jacqueline Ramseyer, a photographer from the Bay Area News Group. Jacqueline was working on a newspaper article about my entire project. The article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun a few weeks later, and was also picked up by the San Jose Mercury News a few days after appearing in the Sun.

News: Sun Times Newspaper

2010-10-23T11:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the Sunnyvale Sun (and it's partner newspaper, the Cupertino Courier) wrote a great article about my project to photograph Japanese-Americans who were incarcerated during World War II. You can read the article without photographs, or you can see the entire article with photographs (in PDF format). The full article came out very well. Photographer Jacqueline Ramseyer published six photographs of myself working with Fran Ellis. Fran is a member of the Tule Lake Pilgrimage Committee, as well as the Nihonmachi Outreach Committee in San Jose, CA.

I will add Fran's photographs to the main website very soon.

I'd also like to thank reporter Tiffany Carney for the great article.

Portrait: Aiko Jio

2010-10-23T08:11:00.000-07:00

About two years ago I photographed a wonderful lady named Aiko Jio at the San Jose Day of Remembrance ceremony. At the time I did not know who she was, but I knew that I wanted to photograph a portrait of her for the Kioku project. One and one-half years later I was attending a volunteer picnic for the Nihonmachi Outreach Committee. While I was talking with a few people, I was surprised to learn that this lady was the mom of my friend Gary Jio. I told Gary that I would like to do his mom's portrait, and he immediately help set up our meeting.

(Photo by Andy Frazer)

Aiko Jio was born and raised in San Jose, CA. After the outbreak of WWII, she was incarcerated at Heart Mountain with her parents, her three sisters and five brothers. Before proceding to the internment camp, Aiko worked with the Japanese-American Citizens' League to help process other internees at the San Jose State University gymnasium located at the corner of 4th and San Carlos St.

(Photo by Andy Frazer)

Her family was first incarcerated at the Santa Anita Assembly Center before taking the long train ride through Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Colorado before arriving at Heart Mountain in Wyoming.

(Andy Frazer and Aiko Jio, photo by Gary Jio)

Aiko's future husband was already serving the U.S. Army when WWII broke out. They were married in Heart Mountain while he was serving. After he joined the Military Intelligence Service (M.I.S.), the family was reunited at Fort Snelling in Minneapolis, MN.

Aiko's father, Torahiko Kawakami, was one of the Issei pioneers in San Jose. He ran the hostel for Japanese-Americans who returned to San Jose after the war.

Portrait: Aggie Idemoto

2010-10-09T13:28:00.001-07:00

Aggie (Kadotani) Idemoto was only ten months old when her family was ordered to leave their home in Watsonville, CA and move to the Salinas Assembly Center. Her family was then sent to the Poston (AZ) concentration camp, where her dad got a job as Block Manager in Camp I. Poston was the largest of the ten WRA camps, with 20,000 incarcerees. Being in desert country, it was also the hottest, with some summer days reaching a sweltering 120 degrees.When the camp closed at the end of the war, Aggie's family had to wait for the last train to leave Poston because her mother was expecting a baby. When the last train eventually left, her mom had to carry a two-week old baby all the way back to Watsonville.

(Photo by Andy Frazer)

Her family temporarily lived at the Watsonville Buddhist Church, which was serving as a hostel. They eventually settled in Pajaro, and moved about within the Watsonville community as her father followed the crops. Aggie eventually became a school teacher and administrator in Oak Grove School District in South San Jose.

Aggie has provided leadership as a coordinator and interviewer for the REgenerations Oral History project, as well as for the Densho Project. She is the President, the Education Director, and the Human Resources Director of the Japanese American Museum of San Jose (JAMsj).

Portrait: Betty Shibayama

2010-06-14T21:37:00.000-07:00

I met Betty Shibayama last February at the San Jose Day of Remembrance ceremony at the San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin. We were talking about the photograph I took of her husband Arturo Shibayama the previous year. Betty was so pleasant and out-going that I immediately asked her if I could photograph her for the Kioku projec t.

(Photo by Andy Frazer)

Betty's family was living in Hood River, Oregon when they were told to leave their home and board the train for the assembly center. Her family was sent eight hundred miles away to the assembly center in Pinedale (Fresno), CA. After three months they were sent back north to the Tule Lake War Relocation Center in northern California. After the "loyalty oath", Tule Lake became a segregation center, and her family was then sent to Minidoka, Idaho.

Betty told me that the dust storms in Minidoka was terrible. People had to wear towels over their faces whenever they went outside. The dust was so bad that Betty's mother developed asthma while in the camp. After the war ended, Betty's family moved to Chicago and her mother's asthma cleared up immediately.

Betty was the first lady, to be part of my project.

Portrait: Lawson Sakai

2010-03-01T01:00:00.000-08:00

In January, 2010 I had the honor of photographing Lawson Sakai. When I originally began this project, I had planned to only photograph people who had been held in the internment camps. But at that point, I had never even heard of how some Japanese-Americans had served in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. I also didn't realize that the all Japanese-American infantry was the most decorated unit in U.S. military history for its size and length of service.

(Photo by Andy Frazer)

Lawson's family was not interned during World War II because they were living in Delta, Colorado, which was not inside the designated "Exclusion Zone". Lawson tried to enlist the day after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, but he was refused because the government classified him as an "Enemy Combatant". But when the rules changed in late 1943, Lawson enlisted immediately. As part of the 442nd, he saw action in Italy, and later in the Battle of Bruyere, France; as well as the Rescue of the Lost Battalion in the Vosges Mountains in 1944, where he was seriously injured.

This photo session with Lawson was the first time that I was able to record some good quality audio interviews directly with my DSLR camera.You can listen to those interviews by clicking on the links below:

Lawson talks about the 442nd RCT in the Battle of Bruyeres, France: LISTEN (2:32)
Lawson talks about the 442nd RCT in the Rescue of the Lost Battalion in Biffontain, France: LISTEN (2:56)
Lawson talks about his family's journey to Delta, CO. after Executive Order 9066: LISTEN (2:23)
Lawson explains how some families protected their property through a legal trust after Executive Order 9066: LISTEN (2:20)

Lawson is currently the president of the Friends and Family of Nisei Veterans organiztion, which supports and promotes former members of 442nd infantry. There is also a fascinating article about Lawson's military career in the Gilroy Dispatch newspaper.

Portrait: Joe Yasutaki

2010-02-15T01:00:00.000-08:00

Joe Yasutaki was the third person who sat for a portrait for my Kioku project. I had met Joe one year earlier at one of the events sponsored by the Japanese-American Museum in San Jose. As vice-president of the museum, Joe saw me at many other events until I got to the point where I actually started taking formal portraits for this project.

(Photo by Andy Frazer)

Joe Yasutake was nine years old when Executive Order 9066 forced his family to leave their home in Seattle, WA. While they and hundreds of other Japanese-Americans were boarding the train for the assembly center in Puyallup, WA, a news photographer took a photograph of the crowds waiting to be moved out. Joe and his sister instinctively smiled for the photographer. Their photograph appeared in the Seattle newspaper with a caption pointing out how happy they appeared to be because they were being treated so well.

Joe was eventually interned in the Minidoka War Relocation Camp in Idaho, and the Crystal City camp in Texas. He is currently vice-president of the Japanese-American Museum in San Jose.

Portrait: Aturo Shibiyama

2010-02-01T01:00:00.000-08:00

I recently photographed Arturo Shibayama. Art's story is unique because he didn't spend time in an internment camp; he didn't serve in the 442nd, and he wasn't in the Military Intelligence Service (all of the original criteria that I had originally set for the Kioku project). Art's story was a surprise to me when I was given the opportunity to photograph him. It's a story that most people in the United States didn't know existed.

Art was born in Peru to parents of Japanese descent. When he was 11 years old, he and his family were forcibly taken from their home in the city of Lima, loaded onto a U.S. Army transport ship and brought under armed guard to the U.S. for the purpose of hostage exchange. Art's family was held in the D.o.J. prison camp in Crystal City, TX. for over two years.

It turns out that the United States government had a secret agreement with the Peruvian government. The U.S. was supporting Peru's war against Ecuador in order to prevent the Nazis from threatening the Panama Canal from Ecuador's airfields. In exchange, Peru allowed the U.S. to kidnap their citizens of Japanese descent in order to use them for prisoner exchange with Japan. It sounds like something out of conspiracy theory. But it really happened. And it resulted in the forcible relocation of 2200 Latin Americans of Japanese descent.

(Photo by Andy Frazer)

And the story gets even more shocking. Even after being drafted into the U.S. Army during the Korean War, Art was unable to get American citizenship because he had not entered the U.S. legally.

Today, Art works with the Campaign for Justice to lobby the American government for proper acknowledgement and apology for illegally kidnapping and detaining 2200 Latin American nationals of Japanese descent in U.S. prison camps during WWII.

You can read more about the plight of the Japanese-Latin Americans and the Campaign for Justice on the Tracked in America website.

Portrait: Roy Matsuzaki

2010-01-10T10:35:00.000-08:00

Roy Matsuzaki was the first person who agreed to sit for a formal portrait for this project. I met Roy in 2008 at a breakfast event that brought together some Japanese-American internees and European Holocaust survivors. When I talked to Roy before the event he told me that his family had been forced to leave California, and were sent to each of the two internment camps in Arkansas: the Rohwer and Jerome War Relocation Centers. This was the first that I had ever heard of any internment camps east of Colorado.

During the later 1950's and the early 1960's, Roy was the manager of the San Jose Zebras baseball team.

(Photo by Andy Frazer)

Although I had been practicing my white-seamless-open-shade photography setup for over twelve months prior to our meeting, I was a bit nervous when I arrived to photograph Roy at the Issei Memorial Building in San Jose. But Roy was his usual friendly self and he was very patient while I set up my backdrop and prepared to shoot.

Today, Roy works with the Japanese-American Museum of San Jose where he shares his internment experiences with school children.

(Photo by Andy Frazer)

News: Interview with CaliberSF

2009-12-03T10:46:00.000-08:00

CaliberSF is a photography blog published by seven very good street photographers. A few weeks ago, one of their members, Julie Michelle, interviewed me about the portrait project that I'm doing with the Japanese-American internees. They just published the interview this morning:

Hopefully, this might bring more attention to the Kioku website, and a more attention to the legacy of internment.

Portrait: Jimi Yamaichi

2009-11-28T09:07:00.000-08:00

Jimi Yamaichi was the fourth person I photographed for this project. Jimi's family was originally incarcerated at the Pomona Assembly Center, and then at the Heart Mountain (Wyoming) internment camp. When the family was moved to the Tule Lake internment camp in Northern California, Jimi took a job supervising construction of the barracks at Tule Lake. At one point he had 250 men working under his supervision.

(Photo by Andy Frazer)

Jimi still has a razor-sharp memory of the time during and after internment. He is also considered to be an authority on the design and construction of the facilities at Tule Lake, and he lead the construction of the new home of the Japanese-American Museum of San Jose. He is currently the Curator of the JAMsj.

Jimi was the first person who worked with me on an extensive audio interview:

Discussing the importance of the Japanese-American Museum in San Jose: Listen
The difficulties of resettlement : Listen
Discussing how Isseis never complained: Listen
Amusing story about Isseis helping each other out: Listen
Isseis would not talk about how hard it was: Listen
Eiichi Sakauye and farming at Heart Mountain Internment Camp: Listen
Eiichi Sakauye and the Japanese-American legacy: Listen
Discussing how we are all Americans: Listen
Parallels between Japanese-American interment and the current challenges for American-Muslims: Listen

(Photo by Andy Frazer)

For more information about Jimi Yamaichi, please also read A Salute to a JAMsj Visionary: The Unrelenting Passion of Jimi Yamaichi

Discussion: Photographic Style Part Two

2009-11-10T19:00:00.000-08:00

One issues that often comes up when discussing portrait photography is whether or not the photographer should ask the subjects to smile. There are big snapshot-style smiles, big professional model-style smiles, small ("Mona Lisa") smiles, and no smiles.

Photo by Richard Avedon (left), Lynn Blodgett (right)

If a portrait photographer aspires to create an artistic interpretation of the subject, you will rarely see big smiles. Some photographers, such as Lynn Blodgett, prefer to work with small ("Mona Lisa") smiles. Other portrait photographers, such as Richard Avedon, prefered no smile at all. Some people argue that a no smile is more artistic and more true to the character than even a small smile. I guess that's a personal opinion. I would not question the artistic merit of Avedon's portraits, but I don't feel that it is the correct choice for the Koiku Project. When I photograph the people of Japanese descent, I'm not trying to capture the "rough and ready" or "down-and-out" character Avedon wanted in his "In the American West" series.

I believe that my photograph of Roy Matsuzaki is the perfect example of the balance between smiling and "artistic seriousness" that I was striving for in this project.

Discussin: Photographic Style Part One

2009-11-07T08:48:00.000-08:00

After last week's launch of the Kioku Project website, I received a lot of interesting emails from friends and photographers. One person, who is both a very talented photographer and a very intelligent person, asked me why I chose to photograph my subjects against a white seamless background, and why I chose to photograph with a partial smile.

In this post I'd like to talk about the first question: the white seamless background. In the following posting I'll talk about the second question: the smiles.

My primary inspiration for the photographic style of this project has been Richard Avedon's In the American West project. Avedon, one of the world's best-known fashion photographers, spent five summers traveling across the American mid-west shooting portraits of people who symbolized his vision of that part of the country. He photographed everyone in open shade against a white seamless background. He described this technique as, "it's just me, the subject and the camera". Although this technique is easy to setup, and it gives the photographer a lot of control over the sitting, it also exposes every minutiae of the photographer's talent, or lack of, as a portraitist.

(Avedon at work on "In the American West", photo by Laura Wilson)

An alternative approach would be to photograph the subjects in color, with a narrow depth of field, in a location that shows some connection to the person's life; such as their home, their family, or a meaningful location. This is known as environmental portraiture. This was also a very attractive option that I seriously considered for the past year. And I've photographed some of these subjects under the those conditions. But this style of portraiture is very popular today. When I visualized where this project would be after a few years, I felt that it would be difficult to differentiate my project from many other photographers' work, particularly among popular photo-sharing communities such as Flickr.

The second reason for selecting the white-seamless-open-shade approach is that I found it the most challenging photography technique that I've ever wrestled. A successful shot in this style is very difficult because the slightest flaw becomes so obvious. Maybe that's why Avedon chose it; because he was talented enough to it off. For me, it's a challenging learning experience.

For more examples of portrait photographers who were influenced by the style of Avedon's In the American West, take a look at Lynn Blodgett's Saving Grace project, and Clay Enos' Street Studio.

Website Launch

2009-11-05T18:33:00.000-08:00

Today I launched the website for the Kioku Project: Portraits of Japanese-American Internees. The initial site contains photographs and brief information about four amazing people who I've met through the Japanese-American Museum of San Jose: Roy Matsuzaki, Joe Yasutake, Arturo Shibayama, and Jimi Yamaichi.

Thanks to the generous help of everyone who introduced me to these people, and especially to the people who have shared their stories and time with me. I've already planned the next two people who I will photograph and include in this website. I also have plans to add some audio recordings where you can hear some of the people talk about their stories with internment.

If you have any comments or thoughts about this project, please feel free to contact me at andyfrazer [at] gorillasites [dot] com.

Welcome to the Kioku Project

2009-11-04T16:56:00.000-08:00

This blog will be used to announce updates to The Kioku Project: Portraits of Japanese-American Internees. This is a personal project where I am photographing people of Japanese descent who were interned by the American government during World War II. When possible, I try to include some background about the person's experiences during internment.

The website is in the pre-launch phase, right now. I will update this blog regularly as updates to the website become available.

Thanks for visiting,

Andy Frazer