LOS ANGELES — Last April, at the Manzanar At Dusk program that follows the annual Manzanar Pilgrimage, when participants broke up into small groups to share their stories and insights about Manzanar, the Japanese American Internment experience, and how it remains relevant today, one thing struck me…

For the first time in the history of the program, we did not have enough former Japanese American concentration camp prisoners to go around.

Glen Kitayama (far left) joins NCRR members, including Frank Emi (second from right)
during a Los Angeles press conference hailing the signing of the
Civil Liberties Act of 1988 on August 10, 1988.
Photo: Gann Matsuda

This year, that was a tremendous challenge because there were considerably fewer of them in attendance. Nevertheless, as the Manzanar Committee usually does, we scrambled to tweak the program, combining some of the groups, making them larger than is ideal. But we did the best we could to get at least one former prisoner in each group so that they would be able to share their stories with an audience that would be glued to every word they spoke, every gesture they made.

As the co-coordinator of the event, my only concerns were that the program was running smoothly and that our guests were getting as much out of the program as possible.

That left no time for me to dwell on the sobering fact that so few of the Nisei (second generation Japanese Americans, American citizens by birth; children of the first generation Issei, born in Japan), especially those who were imprisoned in American concentration camps such as Manzanar, Tule Lake, Poston, Topaz and Heart Mountain, among other camps and confinement sites, are still with us.

Since that time, I must admit that I have not given that fact much thought. But, a couple of days ago, that fact was thrust into the forefront of my thoughts when I learned of the December 1 death of Frank Seishi Emi at the age of 94.

But before I share my own reflections, a good friend of mine, Glen Kitayama, who met Emi around the same time that I did—back when we were in our twenties—and worked more closely with him, shared his own thoughts.

“I was aware that my family and other Japanese Americans living on the West Coast were imprisoned in concentration camps during World War II,” said Glen. “Like many other Sansei (third generation Japanese Americans) my age, I had heard about the camps at the dinner table, but the conversations always focused on the social connections that my family had with other Issei and Nisei. The camps were always an easy point of reference in which others could find common ground.”

“When I was a young kid, I had the distinct impression that the camps were a fun place to be since everyone seemed to know each other so well,” added Glen.

Thinking that the camps were a fun place to be is a common misconception among young Japanese Americans because so few of the former prisoners freely speak of their experiences, and even when they do, they often talk only about the fun times or whatever positive experiences they had—speaking of the suffering, injustice and hardship often brings back too much pain.

“As I grew older and began to understand the realities of the camps, I grew angry and decided that I wanted to learn more about the issue and do something about it,” Glen noted. “I also wondered where our heroes were in the Japanese American community.”

“Where were our Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King’s, Malcolm X’s, Cesar Chavez’s? As far as I knew, we didn’t have any heroes who stood up for justice while the government herded us away and locked us up in the desert behind barbed wire,” Glen added.

Glen’s anger and desire for action led him to join the National Coalition for Redress/Reparations (NCRR; now known as Nikkei For Civil Rights and Redress), where he had the good fortune to meet and work with Emi.

“My view began to change when I joined the NCRR in the Eighties,” said Glen. “I met Frank Emi and learned about his experience at the Heart Mountain Concentration Camp as one of the leaders of the Fair Play Committee. While his story is fairly well known now in the Japanese American community, it was pretty unknown to many Sansei and Yonsei (fourth generation Japanese Americans) in the Eighties.”

“Frank Emi and the other Heart Mountain draft resisters were pariahs in the community because they refused to be drafted into the army until their constitutional rights were restored as American citizens,” added Glen. “How amazing was that? Frank and the Fair Play Committee took a principled stand against the draft even though the established leadership in the community opposed them and labeled them as ‘troublemakers.’”

As Glen learned Emi’s story, he quickly began to view him as a hero.

“Frank and the other leaders in the Fair Play Committee refused to be drafted even though they knew it meant they would be separated from their families and sent to a federal prison,” Glen said. “They did this knowing that they would be labeled by many as traitors to their country and their own community. Heck, looking back on it, even Malcolm X had a dedicated group of supporters who believed in the same cause. Outside of family and friends, where was the support for Frank Emi and the Fair Play Committee?”

“To me, that’s what makes Frank Emi a true American hero.” Glen stressed. “He didn’t lose his moral compass in a time of great crisis. He had the courage to stand up for his beliefs when everyone else was willing to go along with the crowd and not cause any trouble.”

“When I talk with young college students about Frank Emi and the Fair Play Committee, I often hear them say that they would have done the exact same thing that Frank did during the war. And when I hear that, I often laugh to myself because I know that it’s not true. Frank Emi is the person that all of us want to be when the chips are down. Unfortunately, most of us fall short when confronted with a crisis of the magnitude that Frank Emi faced.”

Although our paths would cross at UCLA when Glen became a graduate student in Asian American Studies and History and became a fellow member of the UCLA Nikkei Student Union (NSU), my journey to activism took a different road. But, as in Glen’s case, Emi quickly became one of my heroes.

Frank Emi (left), Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga (center) and Dale Minami (right) spoke at a UCLA forum on the Japanese American Internment experience during the UCLA Nikkei Student Union's Week of Remembrance in February, 1986.
Photo: Gann Matsuda

That forum, held during our “Week of Remembrance” events dedicated to the camp experience and the fight for redress and reparations, featured Dale Minami and Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga, along with Emi.

Talk about three of the heaviest of heavy hitters in the Japanese American community.

Minami was one of Fred Korematsu’s attorneys for his 1984 coram nobis case, and Herzig-Yoshinaga’s research in the National Archives uncovered evidence that was withheld from the United States Supreme Court in the 1944 cases of Korematsu, Gordon Hirabayashi and Minoru Yasui, who challenged the constitutionality of their imprisonment. Her research also provided much of the legal basis for the class-action lawsuit against the United States Government filed by the National Coalition for Japanese American Redress that sought $27 billion in damages on behalf of the more than 110,000 Japanese Americans who were imprisoned.

As for Emi, all I knew at the time was that he was a draft resister. In fact, I knew relatively little about the internment experience back then. It was a paragraph or two in my high school history book that was glossed over in a couple of minutes, if that. I had to do a lot of research prior to the Week of Remembrance to bone up for the events I was coordinating, and read a great deal about the camps, along with the exploits and heroism of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team/100th Battalion, the most decorated unit of its size in United States military history.

Like Glen, I became angry. How could our own government treat its own citizens like dirt? The racism! The suffering under horrible conditions in the camps…and those were just a few of the thoughts that raced through my mind.

But, as Glen noted, there was very little about the draft resisters. It was not until I listened to Emi speak at UCLA that I began to understand the significance of his actions, the tremendous courage it took to take that stand, especially under the circumstances, not to mention his strength of conviction.

When the event was over and after talking more with Emi, Herzig-Yoshinaga and Minami, I did not know it at the time, but I had three new heroes in my life.

Of course, if I were to write about the impact each has had on my life, this story would reach the length of a novel, especially since I have worked with and built relationships with Frank, Aiko and Dale since that 1986 event. But as the years passed and as I got to know Frank through helping out with events and programs sponsored by NCRR, I knew that he was, as Glen noted, a true American hero.

Indeed, whenever I had the great fortune of being able to talk with him (which was not often, unfortunately), Frank would tell me a story or anecdote about his life, whether it was related to him being a draft resister, teaching judo or just about life in general. Although it is fairly well known among those who knew him, I will always remember him telling me about when he, along with other members of the Fair Play Committee from Heart Mountain, were sent to the federal penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas.

Their fellow prisoners harassed them and threatened them physically, even pushed them around, and that may be understating what happened. But once the draft resisters put on a judo demonstration, all that stopped—they were given their space after that.

Frank became even more of a hero in my eyes for his work with NCRR in support of other communities facing racism and injustice, most recently, Muslim Americans facing racial profiling, or worse. Frank always stood up and spoke out in solidarity, drawing parallels to his own experiences.

When I look back at my years of being a community activist, I realize that Frank’s courage, strength of conviction, his consistent support of people fighting discrimination and injustice, on top of his experiences as a draft resister, are among the primary reasons that I became an activist, not only working on issues affecting the Japanese American community, but also the wider Asian Pacific American community and those of others facing injustice and inequality.

“Rest in Peace, Frank,” said Glen. “Your contributions to our community will never be forgotten.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Gann Matsuda, a member of the Manzanar Committee, is the editor of the Manzanar Committee’s official blog.

Unattributed views expressed in this story are those of the author and are not necessarily those of the Manzanar Committee.

Related stories:

• Manzanar Committee Statement On The Passing Of Frank Seishi Emi
• Frank Emi, Leader of Heart Mountain Draft Resisters, Dies at 94 – Rafu Shimpo
• Frank Emi of Heart Mountain Draft Resisters Passes On – Amerasia Journal Blog
• Frank Seishi Emi, An NCRR Hero – NCRR Web Site

This story was reprinted by Discover Nikkei on December 8, 2010. It was also reprinted in the Rafu Shimpo in the December 11, 2010 edition (print edition only).

NCRR’s eulogy for Emi, delivered by co-chair Kay Ochi:

Another voice in the debate on the use of euphemistic terms to describe the Japanese American Internment experience is that of playwright Soji Kashiwagi, Executive Producer of the Grateful Crane Ensemble.

Responding to Rafu Shimpo columnist George Yoshinaga, who has, for many years, argued that concentration camp is not an appropriate term to describe the camps that Americans of Japanese ancestry and their immigrant parents were imprisoned in during World War II, Kashiwagi criticized Yoshinaga’s stance in a piece submitted to the Rafu Shimpo and to the Manzanar Committee blog.

The following is Kashiwagi’s response:

Since “Horse” Yoshinaga is now using the dictionary to define the word “opinion,” let’s take a look at the term concentration camp.

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines it as “a camp where prisoners of war, enemy aliens, and political prisoners are detained…typically under harsh conditions.”

Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga, in her essay entitled, Words Can Lie or Clarify: Terminology of the World War II Incarceration of Japanese Americans, defends the use of the term to accurately describe our community’s World War II camps of confinement:

“At what point are we, as Americans of Japanese ancestry, going to cease to resist having our history written for us by others? Is our empowerment so weak that we must capitulate and surrender our right to state our own history in our own words?”

Government written euphemisms, she found after years of research from the National Archives and University libraries, “…were deliberately used to obscure and conceal what was done to American citizens under the fraudulent rationale of ‘military necessity.’”

Euphemisms such as “relocation center” and “non-aliens” (to describe Nisei American citizens) cleverly covered up the truth that its action against our community was unconstitutional, it was wrong and it was a complete betrayal of American citizens.

For members of our community to continue to call what is commonly referred to as “camp” a “relocation center for non-aliens,” years after the U.S. Government has already admitted its mistake, apologized and paid redress and reparations, is to continue to cover up the truth. The truth, as uncovered by scholars inside and outside of our community, is these were “American-style concentration camps for U.S. Citizens,” and not “relocation centers for non-aliens.”

It’s time for us to define this story ourselves and tell it like it was, without sugarcoating and euphemisms. Our younger generations need to know and understand the truth, and be able to respond accordingly to prevent something like this from ever happening again. We also need to tell the truth to our fellow Americans so they will understand that the scapegoating and violence toward Muslim Americans today happened to our community 68 years ago, and that we cannot stand by and let it happen again.

“Horse” has his story (Rafu Shimpo, September 9, 2010), and I’m sure he’s sticking to it. He’s entitled to do so. But I don’t believe his experience of leaving camp and being “free” on the “outside” is representative of the entire Japanese American community, spread out over ten camps. Based on his experience, he wants to be “…rid of all this crap” about the use of the term concentration camp. I believe we should call “a spade a spade.” Instead of “crap,” let’s call it the “truth” and tell it. This is our responsibility now and for our future.

The views expressed in this story are those of the author and are not necessarily those of the Manzanar Committee.

• Words Can Lie Or Clarify Criticizes Euphemistic Language Used To Describe WWII Camps Used To Imprison Japanese Americans
• Manzanar Committee Member Joyce Okazaki: “Yes, It Was A Concentration Camp”
• More From Okazaki On Use of “Concentration Camp;” Refutes Rafu Shimpo Columnist George Yoshinaga
• Sue Kunitomi Embrey: Concentration Camps, Not Relocation Centers
• Mako Nakagawa Delivers Keynote Address At 42nd Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage
• Euphemistic Terms Used To Describe WWII Incarceration Of Japanese Americans Targeted At JANM Event
• Cast in Bronze: Terminology Symposium in San Francisco, October 22, 2011

Unless otherwise specified, all stories, images, video and audio content on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. You may copy, distribute and/or transmit any story, image, video or audio content published on this site under the terms of this license, but only if proper attribution is indicated. The full name of the author and a link back to the original article on this blog are required.

Manzanar Committee Comment Policies

Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga, was seventeen years old when she was imprisoned at Manzanar and later, at Jerome and Rohwer, Arkansas.

After camp, she became a community and political activist, but is best-known for poring over tons of documents in the National Archives, discovering evidence that the United States Government perjured itself before the United States Supreme Court in the 1944 cases Korematsu v. United States, Hirabayashi v. United States, and Yasui v. United States which challenged the constitutionality of the imprisonment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

Aiko Herzig Yoshinaga
Photo: Discover Nikkei

Recently, she wrote a paper on the use of euphemistic language to describe these camps. Indeed, the US Government officially called them “relocation centers” during World War II. To this day, the debate rages on regarding what they should be called.

Now that the Manzanar National Historic Site has been established and is progressing in its work to educate the public about the experiences of those imprisoned there, efforts are also underway to protect, preserve and provide interpretive and educational resources for other Japanese American confinement sites such as the Minidoka National Historic Site, Tule Lake, Topaz, Amache, Heart Mountain, and more.

The National Park Service, which administers the Manzanar National Historic Site, Minidoka, Tule Lake and other sites, uses “relocation center” to refer to these camps. As such, a movement has begun to change that, and Herzig-Yoshinaga’s paper, “…is a personal story of how [her] consciousness about the uses and abuses of euphemistic terminology has evolved through the hard work and courage of many individuals from myriad backgrounds, both without and within the community of Nikkei (persons of Japanese ancestry). I am certainly not alone, nor among the first, to be concerned about the power of words to lie or clarify, and the need to identify and replace inaccurate and misleading euphemisms that were used by government officials at all levels and perpetuated by many Nikkei as well.”

To read (download) her insightful and well-researched paper, click on: Words Can Lie Or Clarify: Terminology Of The World War II Incarceration Of Japanese Americans by Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga (requires Adobe Reader software to view/print).

The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and are not necessaily those of the Manzanar Committee.

Related Stories:

• Manzanar Committee Member Joyce Okazaki: “Yes, It Was A Concentration Camp”
• More From Okazaki On Use of “Concentration Camp;” Refutes Rafu Shimpo Columnist George Yoshinaga
• Grateful Crane’s Soji Kashiwagi Weighs In On Use Of “Concentration Camp”
• Sue Kunitomi Embrey: Concentration Camps, Not Relocation Centers
• Mako Nakagawa Delivers Keynote Address At 42nd Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage
• Euphemistic Terms Used To Describe WWII Incarceration Of Japanese Americans Targeted At JANM Event
• Cast in Bronze: Terminology Symposium in San Francisco, October 22, 2011

Unless otherwise specified, all stories, images, video and audio content on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. You may copy, distribute and/or transmit any story, image, video or audio content published on this site under the terms of this license, but only if proper attribution is indicated. The full name of the author and a link back to the original article on this blog are required.

Manzanar Committee Comment Policies

The following is press release from the Japanese American Historical Society of Southern California.

Two recurring themes of “Community” and “History” typify authors’ works at the Japanese American Historical Society of Southern California’s Saturday, March 6, JAHSSC Authors/Artists Faire at the Katy Geissert Civic Center Library, 3301 Torrance Bl., Torrance, California, 90503, from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

World War II and the incarceration, etched forever in art, history and literature as the defining moment of the lives of Issei and Nisei, are shown through various works of the historians, writers and artists. Such works as Diana Meyers Bahr’s oral history of the late Sue Kunitomi Embrey, The Unquiet Nisei, available for the first time in paperback at the Faire; Emeritus Professor of History, Don Hata’s Japanese Americans and World War II: Mass Removal, Imprisonment and Redress; Professor Lane Hirabayashi’s’ collection of War Relocation Authority photographs in his book, Japanese American Resettlement Through the Lens; Sharon Yamato’s DVD on the life of the late Michi Nishiura Weglyn, and the book, Moving Walls: Preserving the Barracks of America’s Concentration Camps; Eiko Irene Masuyama’s archive researched The Buddhist Church Experience in the Camps, 1942-1945; first-time fiction writer Stanley Kanzaki’s The Issei Prisoners of the San Pedro Internment Center; and artist Mary Higuchi’s award-winning Manzanar paintings reproduced on purchasable cards. Aiko Herzig Yoshinaga will also do a short presentation on a topical issue in her essay, Words Can Lie or Clarify: Terminology of the World War II Incarceration of Japanese Americans.

“Community” is also shared in a variety of ways. Through writings, such as Professor Hirabayashi’s Common Ground: the Japanese American National Museum and the Culture of Collaborations, and the Arcadia Publishing community series, Japanese Americans of the South Bay by Dale Ann Sato, and Sawtelle: West Los Angeles’ Japantown by Jack Fujimoto.

Professor Valerie Matsumoto’s works traces our history from past to present in Farming the Home Place: A Japanese American Community in California, 1919-1982, and also the stories of Nisei girls in prewar Southern California and Issei and Nisei artists in selected chapters within larger texts.

CSUN Asian American Studies lecturer, Glen Omatsu, traces what has become the Sansei legacy in Asian Americans: The Movement and the Moment, telling the story of the communities of activists for social justice and civil rights from the late 1960s that also link to current day issues. Further, Omatsu’s Teaching About Asian Pacific Americans: Effective Activities, Strategies and Assignments for Classrooms and Communities is a resource not only for college instructors but also high school social studies teachers and community organizations who seek resources for adult workshops and seminars in sharing heritage. He points out LAUSD high school teacher, Tony Osumi’s lesson, Feast of Resistance, which uses food to share experiences.

Sharing family stories reveals community ties through history, the values, and the lessons. Retired college professor, Midori Kamei, tells her story in Granddaughter of a Samurai, and Kaori Tanegashima, retired professor of Asian American Studies and Japanese language in Daughter of a Gun. Kathy Kobayashi, historical consultant, worked on Shades of L.A.: Pictures from Ethnic Family Albums, compiled in the 1990s, which includes many Issei and Nisei family photos (you may see friends and families!). Mystery writer, Naomi Hirahara, uses pieces of her family history in her Edgar award winning Mas Arai series, debuting her first hardcover and fourth novel, Blood Hina, at the Faire.

As the young generations today have their communities of sports leagues, the Nisei had judo among other Japanese martial arts. Ansho Mas Uchima’s Fighting Spirit gives the history of judo in Southern California from 1930 to 1941.

Wakako Yamauchi, playwright and short story writer, writes stories of what she knows from her life experiences in such works as And the Soul Shall Dance,12-1-A, and Songs My Mother Taught Me. She will read a short story from Rosebud, her new book to be published later this year.

Sansei writer, traci kato kiriyama, calls out to those who might want to join her in the exploration of art, death, war, place, and being, through her first book of poetry, signaling.

Lastly, FOOD. What is “community” without food? The majority of the Senshin Buddhist Temple Otoki cookbook committee are also JAHSSC members, including Chris Aihara, chairperson, and Qris Yamashita, design and layout. Iku Kiriyama, Otoki committee member, and chair of the March 6 Faire, submitted “Almond Chicken,” available only in Otoki, which she demonstrated on Torrance CitiCable’s Community Cooking around 1993. This recipe was one of the most requested and became a Community Cooking Classic and aired on other cable channels in the Southland. For several years, strangers and friends would come up and say that they had “just” seen “her” cooking show. She also shared several New Year “osechi ryori” recipes in Otoki—all “easy and good,” that she has used for over 30 years. Otoki is a virtual treasure trove of Issei, Nisei, and Sansei family recipes shared by temple families and friends. So, come to the Faire and take advantage of a new special price.

Artists Mary Nomura, fashion designer; quilters Mary Emi and Ruby Tabata; and Yasuko Sakamoto, Japanese artwork designs, were featured in the February 17 Rafu Shimpo article.

Carolyn Sanwo and Heritage Source will handle most of the sales and accepts MasterCard or VISA. Individual authors and artists will accept cash or checks only.

For questions regarding this free admission event, contact Iku Kiriyama at (310) 326-0608.

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Unless otherwise specified, all stories, images, video and audio content on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. You may copy, distribute and/or transmit any story, image, video or audio content published on this site under the terms of this license, but only if proper attribution is indicated. The full name of the author and a link back to the original article on this blog are required.

Manzanar Committee Comment Policies