Portrait: Tad Hirozawa

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

You can also read the TRANSCRIPT of the above interviews. 

Portrait: Taka Hirata

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.