Ken's first blog

So I am a intern at National Japanese American Historical Society. Yesterday was my first day. It was pretty intense but very interesting. Me and my fellow intern learned a little about Japanese American culture. I think there is a lot to learn and I look foward to being here.

NCI interns

Hi everyone!

NJAHS has two new interns. They've started working with us yesterday. Get ready for tons of blog posts!

Transcription for the Interview of Hatsuye Nakamura

I have just finished the transcription work for the Interview of Hatsuye Nakamura. Miss Nakamura is a former internee from the Tule Lake Internment Camp during the WWII. During her interview, she talked about her experience in the camp as a newlywed bride clinging onto her husband as they adjusted to their abhorrent predicament during the Japanese American internment period. Time and time again, she mentioned how fortunate her family was during the trauma and how resourceful they were to their environment. She stressed on the proudness of the Japanese race. She said that because Japanese Americans are a race of accepting, yet proud people, her family was able to make it through the Japanese American internment.
Hatsuye Nakamura was also very appreciative of her husband's talents as a civic mind, a well-established pharmacist and an elite member of the Japanese American Citizens League. She especially cried during the interview when she had to talk about her children's correlation to the internment camp experience in Tule lake. One memorable quote would be "I don't do these things for sympathy!" as she sobbed. It enphasized how proud she is that she's gone through such a historically significant experience with a gamely mindset and able to share it with us today in order to instill the importance of social justice in our society.
Though Japanese American were not able to seek a huge amount of monatery retribution for the mistreatment they received in the internment camps during the WWII, they did receive aids from the government to educate the current generations about their war stories of a demoralized government during their time.
I personally learned a lot from transcribing for Hatsuye Nakamura. I learned that "Desperate times call for desperate measures." is one of many excuses the U.S. government used frequently to cover up the hideous nature of its legislative actions in the past. I have deep sympathy for Miss Nakamura and anyone else who's had internment camp experience in the past. From this point on, we should vehemently voice our opinions about any subject that contributes to social injustice and rectify the problems as effectively and efficiently as we can as Americans with good will.

The Okinawan Diaspora

On Saturday, April 9, 2011 from 2-4 p.m., NJAHS hosted a book signing event for Ronald Nakasone's book Okinawan Diaspora. Nakasone first wanted to learn more about the Okinawan culture in honor of his mother. He released this book two years after the hundred year commemoration of when the Okinawans first immigrated to Hawaii in 1900. Although it is unsure where exactly the Okinawans came from, many believe they came from many countries and mixed together. They are a very spiritual civilization who have many native myths and songs. Although the Okinawans are a small culture they are still alive due to the fact that they are always threatened. Their culture and traditions are successfully perpetuated from generation to generation.

After Nakasone's discussion of his personal experiences as a Japanese American and his book Okinawan Diaspora, Rosalyn Tonai helped facilitate a Q&A session with the audience. Most were from the Bay Area and a few had ties to Hawaii. People continued to trickle in after the event started. At most, there was thirty people sitting in NJAHS listening to Nakasone speak. Wesley Uenten, a San Francisco State University professor also shared some traditional Okinawan music as well on his musical instrument, the sanshin.

Overall, my experience of helping out with this book signing event for Nakasone's book Okinawan Diaspora was an enjoyable one. More people than I expected showed up which was nice. Perhaps since the Cherry Blossom Festival was going on too, more people walking by happened to just stumble on into the gallery. Nakasone was upbeat and enthusiastic, throwing in some jokes here and there. The atmosphere was very laid back. The lovely event ended with the audience singing along with Wesley as he played. 

Booksigning with Rev. Ronald Nakasone, author of Okinawan Diaspora.

On Saturday, April 9, 2011 from 2 pm to 4 pm, there's a book signing event with Reverend Ronald Nakasone - Author of Okinawan Diaspora. The word Diaspora, according to my Asian American studies class Professor, Dr. Wesley Ueunten, means the spreading of the people. In other words, the dispersion of a group migrating from their home country. In this case, the book Okinawan Diaspora is about the Okinawans' diasporic experiences in the continental US, Canada, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Bolivia, Mexico, Cuba, Paraguay, New Caledonia, and the islands of Micronesia. The book stresses on the geopolitical issues from an East Asian point of view.

Reverend Ronald Nakasone started off by talking about a lot of his own firsthand diasporic experiences of being a Japanese American. Hostess Rosalyn Tonai helped orchestrate a Q & A session afterwards. Rev. Ronald Nakasone then took a few questions from a crowd of audience. He also introduced to the audience a music CD he sells in relation to his book. Dr. Wesley Ueunten played a couple of famous Okinawan songs for the audience using his signiture musical instrument called sanshin. The crowd was singing along with Dr. Ueunten's songs. Finally, Rev. Ronald Nakasone did a autograph signing session of copies of his book. This concluded the book release gathering for the book Okinawan Diaspora.

I had a good time attending the book signing event, especially because it was during the Cherry Blossom Festival. Though the event was solemn, the atmosphere was lively. I learned from the candid speech delivered by Rev. Ronald Nakasone from his firsthand experience. I also enjoyed the music delivered by Professor Ueunten immensely. Overall, introspectively, I felt that I shouldn't take granted for the good experiences I've had as a US citizen.

Treasures Revealed Workshop

On Saturday, March 5, 2011 the San Francisco JACL had a workshop called "Treasures Revealed". The workshop was about preserving artifacts and treasures so that they can be passed onto future generations. The presenter talked about how many artifacts and treasures from WWII have been passed down, but because they were not properly preserved they have become worn out usually due to negligence. Many WWII items from Japanese interns are presented in museums and exhibits, but they often appear worn out due to their lack of proper preservation.

The workshop began with some slides and then an introduction of everyone who attended. Many Japanese Americans have had parents or grandparents that saved artifacts/treasures whether or not they have monetary value. Unfortunately, many descendants of the Issei and Nisei may have found their grandparents or parents treasures and threw them out believing they were trash. Often times artifacts were discovered in bad shape because of lack of care. These objects represent previous generations and the stories they posses are what makes them treasures. So it is important to properly store these items and probably label them so that future generations will not simply throw them out.

The Japanese interned had to make do with what they had and became resourceful carefully not wasting anything. Objects like these tell stories about camp life and are physical evidence of those times. Seemingly insignificant things from previous generations could store valuable tales of heritage for descendants to find. But the important thing for saving objects is to consider what has a story that the next generations should know. The point of the workshop is not to hoard valuables, but to leave a legacy behind for future generations to discover. The presenter gives valuable tips for preserving treasures like leaving them protected in plastic bags and unexposed to the elements: sunlight, moisture, heat, etc. Keeping them covered will help prevent fading or becoming worn out. Label objects and maybe right down a description so that descendants will know why your old stuff is valuable and it will teach them a bit of history as well.

The workshop had a good turn out, there were about 10 or more attendees and people got to hear some stories about their treasures. Everyone got to learn a little about how objects are valuable because of their stories not monetary value. Everyone seemed to have a good time, no one was uncomfortable and shared their thoughts/stories. All attendees got to learn about preserving their treasures and leaving something behind for the futures. Overall it was a nice workshop and should done again in the future.

Kiyoshi Fujiwara's Story

The person I transcribed was Kiyoshi Fujiwara. Fujiwara talked about his life before the war, during the war, and after. He was born in Sacramento and his mother died when he was five years old. He moved to Hiroshima, Japan during that time because his father thought it would be ideal for him to do so, even though, according to Fujiwara, his father could take care of him and his three sisters. Fujiwara completed both elementary and high school in Japan. When he was seventeen he decided he wanted to go back to America. He mostly wanted to return to avoid being drafted into the service and wanted to see his father again since. Back in America, Fujiwara did one semester of continuation high school before the war. Fujiwara learned about Pearl Harbor at a friend's place when coming home from church on Sunday. His father thought he should go back to Japan during this and one of the conditions to do so was to renounce your citizenship. Fujiwara did this, but in spite of doing so ended up at the interment camp, Tule Lake. He was there for four years and held several different jobs. One of his first jobs was a dishwasher and someone then told there was an opening position at a slaughterhouse. So, he went and worked there until the whole crew and including himself got fired for unknown reasons. He then worked at a maintenance shop where he worked on and monitored all the water coming in from the camp. While he was there Fujiwara learned English from hanging around with Nisei Japanese kids. He was one of the lasts groups to leave the camp.

Out of the camp Fujiwara went and first worked in Chicago, where his cousin was, for two years at a factory. He then worked in the fields picking tomatoes and later took a test for a government federal job. He had a clerical job for six months until he decided it wasn't for him and quit, but then took another test for the Air force and got a job as a mechanic. During this time he was battling to get his citizenship back, since you have to be a citizen to work for the government. He ended up paying three hundred dollars to regain his citizenship. He ended up quitting his job at the Air force and went to work at a steel factory where he spent the rest of his career. He met his wife through the same church and got married in 1952. Fujiwara and his wife have two kids who have, along with their grandchildren, accompanied them on several pilgrimages to the camp. Fujiwara has gone to four pilgrimages to the camp.

Transcribing Fujiwara’s story was a very enlightening experience. I have learned about the political situation of Japan from a citizen’s perspective and being stuck in two worlds. I also have a better understanding of what happened at the internment camps.