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A Tulare Memorial Project Sheds New Light on a Little Known WWII Incarceration Site

Dr. Koji Lau-Ozawa is a postdoctoral fellow at UCLA and archaeologist studying the Japanese diaspora and intersections of Asian American and Indigenous histories. Much of his research focuses on the…

A man stands in the doorway of his hotel, located on Yesler Avenue in Seattle's Nihonmachi or Japantown, circa 1913.

Seattle’s Japantown Was Once Part of a Bustling Red Light District — Until Its “Troublesome” Residents Were Pushed Out

In Seattle from the Margins: Exclusion, Erasure, and the Making of a Pacific Coast City historian Megan Asaka examines the erased histories of the communities who built Seattle. In this…

Members of the Hirabayashi, Korematsu and Yasui legal teams pose for a group photo at a celebration in Seattle. Gordon Hirabayashi stands at the center of the group.

The Women Who Led the Fight to Overturn the WWII Supreme Court Japanese American Incarceration Cases

Lorraine Bannai was part of the legal team that in 1983 successfully overturned Fred Korematsu’s conviction for his wartime civil disobedience. Along with similar wins for fellow resisters Gordon Hirabayashi…

Activist Stan Shikuma speaking at a rally outside the Northwest Detention Center. In front of him are posters with photos of Japanese American incarceration camps that say "NWDC is a US concentration camp" and "No more US concentration camps."

Photo Essay: A Day of Remembrance and Resistance

Last weekend marked the 82nd anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066, which authorized the forced removal and incarceration of more than 125,000 Japanese Americans during World War II….

Photo of Erna Harris smiling and wearing a black beret circa 1970s, over a newspaper background

Meet Erna P. Harris: Writer, Dissident, and Ally

Through stories of remarkable people in Japanese American history, The Unknown Great illuminates the diversity of the Nikkei experience from the turn of the twentieth century to the present day….

Print Garden by Kanon Shambora. The artwork features several acrylic plates with laser cut drawings of fruits, vegetables, flowers and fish cultivated and caught by Japanese American agricultural workers prior to World War Two incarceration.

Kanon Shambora on the Making of Print Garden

Artist-in-residence Kanon Shambora used her time at Densho to explore the roots of Japanese American identity. Their culminating Print Garden pays homage to early Issei and Nisei, as well as…

Three Japanese American women and two girls standing behind a fence at Puyallup Assembly Center in 1942.

Justifying the Unjustifiable: Why Japanese Americans Must Stand with Palestine

Guest opinion essay by Maggie Tokuda-Hall. Densho publishes guest opinion essays that draw meaningful connections between the incarceration story and the present, and that promote equity and justice today. Learn…

A photomontage created by Dean K. Terasaki from two images. One is a detail of the Poston Concentration Camp Monument. The other is a request for inkstone, ink and brushes in a Japanese-language letter sent to T.K. Pharmacy.

Community Curator Spotlight: Dean Terasaki on Memory and Mystery

Erin Shigaki, Seattle-based artist and Densho’s inaugural Community Curator, caught up with photographer Dean Terasaki to learn how he’s turned his lens toward an 80 year old family mystery.

Diana Tsuchida as a baby with her father and grandparents. Her grandmother is holding Diana in her lap, sitting at a table next to her grandfather, while her father stands behind them.

Diana Emiko Tsuchida On How Her Grandmother’s Story Helped Her Write Her Own

In this guest post for Women’s History Month, Diana Emiko Tsuchida, creator of the journal and oral history project Tessaku, writes about how her grandmother’s experiences during WWII have shaped…

A large group of picture brides arriving at the Angel Island immigration station, c. 1910.

This Classic Novel by Yoshiko Uchida Chronicles the Dreams and Struggles of Japanese Picture Brides

In an excerpt from her foreword to a new re-release of Yoshiko Uchida’s Picture Bride, Elena Tajma Creef shines a light on the unsung history of the women who inspired…

The interior of preserved barracks at present day Heart Mountain

“Show Me The Way To Go to Home”: Photo Essay by Sandy Sugawara

Three years ago, Sansei journalist and photographer Sandy Sugawara set out to visit each of the War Relocation Authority camps where Japanese Americans, including her parents and grandparents, were incarcerated…

Aya Hori Masuoka in the 1960s. She is wearing sunglasses and a plaid blouse with a white scarf wrapped sylishly over her hair.

A Japanese Picture Bride in Montana: The Story of Aya Hori Masuoka

In this guest post, Kathryn Tolbert, creator of the oral history archive The War Bride Project, shines some light on the experiences of Japanese immigrant women in Montana through the…

Book covers of several Japanese American novels and memoirs with African American characters.

Japanese American Literature Traces Changing Relationships between Nikkei and African Americans Over Time

Co-authored by Brian Niiya and Greg Robinson In our many combined years of doing research on Japanese American history and literature, we each noted a striking fact with regard to…

Sarah Yomogi Okada standing in front of a barrack in Jerome concentration camp wearing a graduation cap and gown.

Lane Tomosumi Shigihara: “Vocal Young Woman”

In this final piece from our 2022 Women’s History Month writing challenge, gosei poet Lane Tomosumi Shigihara shares a haiku inspired by his grandmother’s courage in standing up for her…

Patricia Wakida: “Four Suns, These Issei Women”

The latest addition to our Women’s History Month writing challenge comes from yonsei artist, writer and community historian Patricia Wakida, who shares a photo from her great-grandmother’s 88th birthday and…

A young Japanese American woman posing next to a statue of Seabiscuit at the Santa Anita Assembly Center.

Karen L. Ishizuka: “Why, Oh Archive?”

Karen L. Ishizuka is a writer and chief curator of the Japanese American National Museum. In response to our Women’s History Month writing challenge—in which we ask writers to share…

Brynn Saito: “What exists outside the frame”

Brynn Saito is a Korean American and Japanese American poet, educator, and organizer, born and raised in Fresno, California. In response to our Women’s History Month call for writers to…

A young Japanese American woman on a motorcycle in the 1920s.

Nikiko Masumoto: “How to Wonder”

This Women’s History Month, we asked writers to submit short responses to photographs of women in the Densho archives or in their own family collections. Today’s submission comes from Nikiko…

Lauren Ito's grandmother holds a fish

Lauren Ito: “Arrival As We”

To celebrate Women’s History Month this year, we invited a select group of writers to submit short responses to photographs of women in the Densho archives or in their own…

Anti-Asian Violence Isn’t Un-American. It’s a Racist Tradition That Goes Back Over 150 Years.

In the wake of the heinous murders in Atlanta and a sharp uptick in anti-Asian hate crimes, Congress held its first hearings on discrimination against Asians in more than 30 years. Among…

Black and white photo of a grocery storefront. The words "Fruits and Vegetables" and "Wanto Co." are painted on the windows, and a large white sign with black lettering that reads "I AM AN AMERICAN" is posted on the building. A car is parked on the street in front of the store.

This Election Day, Asian Americans must refuse assimilation and loudly dream of a world that serves us all

Guest post by Miya Sommers On December 8, 1941, the day after Pearl Harbor, Tatsuro Matsuda commissioned and installed the famous “I AM AN AMERICAN” sign on his family business…

The Karma of Becoming American

In this guest post, scholar and Soto Zen Buddhist priest Duncan Ryūken Williams reflects on celebrating his first 4th of July as an American citizen in the midst of a…

Why Japanese Americans Should Join the Fight for Abolition

Guest post by Sara Onitsuka The last few weeks of protest, sparked by the murder of George Floyd and rising out of 400+ years of slavery, genocide, and other white…

Photo Essay: Minidoka National Historic Site Unveils New Visitor Center

Earlier this month, about 325 people gathered in southeast Idaho for the 17th annual Minidoka Pilgrimage. Over the course of four days, pilgrims learned about the history and legacy of…