san jose — Blog

Shin Mune

“They still could do it, which is that they could make farmland out of nothing. That was the ingenuity and the hard work of Japanese.”

topaz, tanforan, san joseDiana TsuchidaApril 15, 2020tanforan, topaz, san jose, farmersComment

Yosh Uchida

“Judo got kind of a bad name because after the war, there were so many people that got injured. They didn’t know how to fall or anything. So we had to correct all that, and make sure they did the right thing.”

japan, san jose, postonDiana TsuchidaMarch 14, 2020san jose, poston, japan, bay areaComment

Setsuko Asano

“What bothered me was we lost that whole family unit because the children would sit with their friends. You know, that was really lost. I think that was sad because we were a very close knit family and we all of a sudden lost that.”

442nd, Rohwer, san joseDiana TsuchidaMarch 8, 2020Rohwer, Los Angeles, 442ndComment

Rose Tsunekawa

Every year my father had to go sign a lease and he’d go to the landlord's house. And I stayed in the car. He was never invited in to a white man's house. The landlord would bring the paper, and then my father would hold it against the door outside and sign it.

san jose, japanDiana TsuchidaOctober 16, 2019salinas, bay area, japan, farmersComment

Yoshiko Kanazawa

“The coyotes would come down from the mountains. At night you could hear them thundering and howling and so that was a very frightening time because the camp was emptying and that was happening.”

gila river, san jose, los angelesDiana TsuchidaSeptember 26, 2019gila river, arizona, Los Angeles, fresno assembly centerComment

Roy Matsuzaki

So you know, people were after us. I mean, they didn’t want us around. They made acquisitions and threats and things like that. So I couldn't believe those things were happening. Maybe it was the best thing that they sent us into the camp, to protect us.

Jerome, Rohwer, san joseDiana TsuchidaDecember 5, 2018rohwer, jerome, san jose, arkansasComment

The Oka Family

“All my normal U.S. citizens rights were taken away from me, just for what? Japan went to war with America? We were Americans. That’s what I really resent.”