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Loni Ding Collection
We are very pleased to have recently received a collection from the family of acclaimed filmmaker Loni Ding of the raw materials used to make her influential documentaries Nisei Soldier: Standard…
Yuri Kochiyama: Changing Perspectives on Racism and Prejudice
Civil rights activist Yuri Kochiyama was working for a USO office in Mississippi in 1944. Later, while working at a restaurant in New York, she talked to her black co-workers…
New Densho Encyclopedia Articles, May 17 to June 2
One of the often repeated stories that Sansei who grew up the ’50s and ’60s tell is of learning about the wartime removal and incarceration of their families during World…
Records about Japanese Americans relocated during World War II
There is an enormous amount of information on the Japanese American removal and incarceration available online even beyond the resources that Densho provides. This abundance is both a blessing and…
New Encyclopedia Articles, April 19 to May 9
The so-called “Citizen Isolation Centers” in Moab, Utah, and Leupp, Arizona—essentially War Relocation Authority maximum security prisons that held those deemed too dangerous for their run-of-the-mill concentration camps—have always had…
Roy H. Matsumoto: Shouting Military Orders in Japanese to Confuse the Enemy
In 2003, Densho interviewed the 90-year-old Roy Matsumoto who recounted his incredible story of fighting in the jungles of Burma with Merrill’s Marauders against the Japanese. Roy saved his unit…
Oddball Camp Stories in Popular Culture: Early Children’s Books
For whatever reason, there has been a flood of children’s and young adult books on various aspects of the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans in the last decade or so….
Nisei Vue and Scene Collection Added
Nisei Vue and Scene were resettlement era Nisei pictorial magazines based in Chicago that reflected the hopes and dreams of at least a segment of the Nisei population in the…
New Densho Encyclopedia Articles, April 5-18
If one were to make up lists of important or influential Japanese Americans viewed from an ethnic community perspective and from an external, mainstream American perspective, one would likely end…
Frank Kitamoto: Effects of the Incarceration Experience on Children
We are saddened to hear of the passing of Frank Kitamoto. Frank was one of Densho’s founding volunteers who helped define Densho’s mission of keeping the Japanese American story alive….
Cherry Kinoshita: The First Day of Remembrance
Cherry Kinoshita was a longtime Seattle activist and contributor to the Japanese American Citizens League and the redress movement. In this clip, she talks about the first Day of Remembrance…
Michiko Frances Chikahisa: Addressing Social Issues in the Japanese American Community After the War
Michiko Frances Chikahisa was a social worker in Los Angeles and Chicago directly after World War II. In this clip, she talks about the types of problems she observed among…
Henry Ueno: Hearing About the Bombing of Pearl Harbor While in Japan
Henry Ueno was born in Pendleton, Oregon, but was living in Japan with his mother and siblings when World War II broke out. In this clip, he talks about what…
Densho Online Giving Challenge Match
We need your help to support our teacher training and oral history interview programs. The Densho board and staff have pooled resources to create a $20,000 Densho Challenge match for…
Masao Watanabe: Feelings About Being Placed in an “Assembly Center”
Masao Watanabe grew up in Seattle, Washington, and during the war was initially sent to the “assembly center” at the fairgrounds in Puyallup, Washington. In this clip he talks about…
Sushi & Sake Fest a Success!
A heartfelt thank you to the 500 guests and sponsors who made this year’s Densho Sushi & Sake Festival the best! Kudos to the staff and volunteers for making MOHAI…
Mary Kageyama Nomura: A Five Year Old Singing for Issei
Mary Kageyama Nomura was removed to the Manzanar concentration camp, California, during World War II. There she was known as the “Songbird of Manzanar,” frequently performing in camp. She was…
Tsuguo “Ike” Ikeda: Talking About Democracy in a Camp Classroom
Tsuguo “Ike” Ikeda was a high school student at the Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho. In this clip, he remembers how he and his camp classmates reacted when their teacher brought…
Free Press behind Barbed Wire? Newspapers Published in the Concentration Camps
“A battalion of American troops of the 7th Army was cut off for a week near St. Die in France. All its attempts to break out were stopped by superior…
Izumi Hirano: Surviving the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima
Izumi Hirano was born in Hilo, Hawaii, but moved to Japan with his family as a child. He was in his classroom near the epicenter when the United States dropped…
Michiko Kornhauser: Meeting an American for the First Time
Michiko Kornhauser was a child living in Okayama during World War II. In this clip, she describes first meeting an American GI during the U.S. occupation of Japan after being…
Mo Nishida: A Frightening Encounter in Camp
Mo Nishida describes a childhood memory in the Santa Anita Assembly Center, California, which led to his mother’s nervous breakdown. Mo Nishida’s full interview is available in the Densho Digital…
Controlling the Historical Record: Photographs of the Japanese American Incarceration
Clandestine photographs from war in Iraq prove a long-known fact: images of soldiers in battle, prisoners of war, and civilians caught in the conflict have the power to provoke outrage,…
Oddball Camp Stories in Popular Culture: California Generation
By Brian Niiya, Content Director, Densho In the work I’ve been doing on the Densho Encyclopedia, I’ve come across quite a number of oddball camp references in mainstream popular culture…