Portrait: Jim Maeno

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 

You can also read the TRANSCRIPT of the above interviews. 

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.

Portrait: Chizuko Judy Sugita

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

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

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

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.