Special Sections - Nidoto Nai Yoni - Let It Not Happen Again

Nidoto Nai Yoni “Let it not happen again�

75th Observance of the Bainbridge Island Japanese Imprisonment

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Let It Not Happen Again

June 30, 2017

EL ME WELW COMCO E Photo Courtesy of Pete Saloutos

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND

206.842.3848 343 Winslow Way E. Open 6 am-11 pm www.townandcountrymarkets.com

June 30, 2017

Let It Not Happen Again

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Photo courtesy of the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum

Workers harvest strawberries at Hayashida Farm, Manzanita.

Table of Contents Forced Removal Words of War

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Those Who Were Sent Away Timeline of a Tragedy

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Mary Woodward Remembers

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Harui Family Kept Bainbridge Gardens Alive A Young Girl’s Memories

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The Life-Changing Impact of World War II for One Entire Community 21 BIJAC Projects

PUBLISHER Terry R. Ward GENERAL MANAGER Donna Etchey ADMINISTRATIVE COORDINATOR Kari Jacobs

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More Plain Talk: A Look Back

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EDITOR Brian Kelly SPECIAL SECTIONS EDITOR Leslie Kelly CONTRIBUTORS Luciano Marano, Nick Twietmeyer

ADVERTISING MARKETING Marleen Martinez Priscilla Wakefield

PRODUCTION CREATIVE SERVICES MANAGER Sam Nugent CREATIVE ARTISTS Kelsey Thomas, Mark Gillespie, John Rodriguez, Vanessa Calverley

911 Hildebrand Lane NE, 202 Bainbridge Island, WA 98110 206-842-6613 www.bainbridgereview.com

Special Acknowledgement and Appreciation This special publication was made possible with the assistance of:

The Bainbridge Island Historical Museum The Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community The Museum of History & Industry Rick Chandler, Mary Woodward, Katy Curtis and Clarence Moriwaki

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June 30, 2017

Forced removal hurt Bainbridge Islanders

BY LESLIE KELLY

W

hen Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, and war filled the Pacific, Bainbridge Island was deeply affected. Anti-submarine nets spanned Rich Passage. Antiaircraft batteries scanned the sky above. Hundreds were drafted or enlisted in the U.S. military. Winslow shipyard

workers labored ’round the clock and built 20 steel-hulled minesweepers.

Car ferry service began from Point White on Bainbridge to Bremerton to accommodate Puget Sound Navy Shipyard workers. And Bainbridge Island became one of the first communities forced to respond to Executive Order 9066, calling for the imprisonment of any and all persons of

Japanese descent.

The presidential decree uprooted more than 120,000 people of Japanese heritage throughout America, including 278 residents of Bainbridge, of which more than 200 were U.S. citizens. Forced to go inland and live in camps, the Bainbridge Islanders left while their friends and neighbors watched, unable to help them stay.

The local paper, The Bainbridge Review, was one of the first and few to speak out against the forced removal. Editors Walt and Milly Woodward wrote editorials criticizing the incarceration of citizens and said it was a violation of the U.S. Bill of Rights.

While the Japanese Americans from Bainbridge Island were away, the Woodwards made certain

that they kept in touch and had correspondents from Bainbridge who were living in the camps. Those individuals — Sachiko Koura and Paul Ohtaki — mailed home the news from camp, helping to maintain connections and community. The Review ran letters of support for the Islanders who were forced to leave.

SEE REMOVAL, PAGE 5 Photo courtesy of the National Archives

The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

June 30, 2017

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Soldiers stand by at the Eagledale Ferry Dock as the ferry Kehloken approaches.

Photos courtesy of the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum

Notices for the relocation are posted at the Japanese Hall in Winslow, March, 1942. At right, the family of Kanekama Yamashita load their possessions onto an Army truck. At far right, the Takayoshi family waits at the Eagledale ferry dock on March 30, 1942.

REMOVAL CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

Several families on Bainbridge maintained the properties of those who were sent away as best they could.

And when the war was over, more than half of the uprooted families returned home.

The evacuation began with blunt language.

Western Defense Command issued this statement which was posted throughout the Island: “All Japanese persons, both alien and nonalien, will be evacuated from the area by 12 noon Monday, March 30, 1942. No Japanese persons will be allowed to leave or enter the island after 9 p.m. March 24, 1942… Before leaving the island all persons will be given a medical examination.”

Each family was to select a head of household to report to the Civil Control Office on

“All Japanese persons, both alien and non-alien, will be evacuated from the area by 12 noon Monday, March 30, 1942. No Japanese persons will be allowed to leave or enter the island after 9 p.m. March 24, 1942… Before leaving the island all persons will be given a medical examination.”

March 25, to report the names of the family members who would be evacuated. They were only allowed to take what they could carry with them.

A photo of Camp Manzanar, California, was on the front page of the next edition of The Review, on April 2, 1942. An article by Paul Ohtaki read “Camp Manzanar - April 1 - Bainbridge Island’s evacuated Japanese residents, well and cheerful, arrived here at 12 o’clock this afternoon. The last stage

of the trip which began in Seattle Monday morning was accomplished by buses that met the train at Mojave early this morning.”

The following are excerpts from letters between the Woodwards and their correspondents, particularly Paul Ohtaki. Several editorials and news stories from the three years that the families spend away from Bainbridge Island are also reprinted here.

Walt Woodward made arrangements with the Associated Press for this telegram to get

to the Review: “Islanders were greeted by warm sunshine. They found the Owen Valley region to be level land with mountains nearby.

Everyone enjoyed the trip, but missed their Island friends. On the train there was group singing, card-playing and chatting with the soldiers who accompanied the evacuees.

Islanders were treated ‘swell’ by the Army and in return fully cooperated because the soldiers were so courteous.”

Walt Woodward responded with a letter that read: “Dear Paul: Nice going on the telegram.

Got to us nicely Wednesday evening in time to make the last run. Hope your first letter gets to us promptly. It’s nice to know you all had a happy trip and were treated well. Uncle Sam is a funny guy. He’s nuts about this evacuations business; but I guess he intends to be SEE REMOVAL, PAGE 6

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REMOVAL CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

nice about it, anyhow.

“Sorry this has to be short, but we lost our printer’s devil a few days ago. So a man named Dizzy (Fred Tyscko) and me are really having to work hard for a change.

Sincerely, Walt.”

(Note: Paul was an employee of the paper prior to the evacuation, and Walt was referring to the fact that he and another man had to now do Paul’s job, too.)

On April 24, 1942, Walt wrote again: “Dear Lazybones: Come, come, my good man, I find the ‘Manzanar Free Press’ to be very fine reading, but where the hell has my Manzanar correspondent gone?

Seriously, butch, you’ll be doing your own people a great harm if you quit sending me all the local gossip down there. Here’s what I mean: When this whole mess is over, you people are going to want to come home. You’ll be welcomed with open arms by the vast major-

ity of us. But those who don’t or won’t understand will not feel that way. They may actually try to stir up trouble.

“But they’ll have a hell of a hard time of it if, in the meantime, you’ve been creating the impression every week that the Japanese are just down there for a short while and being in The Review each week, they still consider the island their home. Any and every scrap of stuff you can gather about how they miss the island’s fuel for that fire.

See what I mean?

“So, enough of this lazy man’s reporting. Let’s have Ohtaki back on the firing line. Sincerely, Walt.”

That letter must have worked because in the May 7 edition of the paper, Paul’s byline was back. He wrote about an outbreak of measles and chicken pox at the camp, and an accident where an industrial fire extinguisher fell and fractured the right foot of Islander Keto Okazaki, 18.

Letters and news articles exchanged between the two are nicely kept in a bound volume at the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum. The book was assembled

by Paul Ohtaki in March 1999.

News in June included that some at the camp were sent to Idaho to pick sugar beets, and that the camp’s softball team, the Comets, tied for the league’s lead with the team from San Fernando, California, also at the camp.

In July, Sachiko Koura was a winner in the Manzanar beauty pageant. In August, the first island baby, a boy to Mr. and Mrs. Saburo Hayashida, was born in camp.

In August, Bainbridge School Superintendent P.F. Ruidl secured the right to ship schoolbooks and instructions to the students at Manzanar so they could complete their school year that was interrupted when they were forcibly taken from the island.

There are also copies of letters sent from folks at the camp who wanted to renew their subscriptions to The Review (at $2 a year by mail) so they could follow the news happening back home on the island.

The Woodwards kept telling Paul in their letters that, “Your newsy items are just what we ordered.

Keep up the good work. By the

June 30, 2017 way, we owe you $11, $5.50 each for May and July, [his salary for his correspondence work].

Do you still want us to keep it here for you, or shall we send the bucks to you?”

One letter was a reference letter from Walt to the War Relocation Authority asking that Paul be given a pass to leave the camp. It read: “For a year, he was employed by me at The Review. Paul is a thoroughbred American citizen if there ever was one. His loyalty this nation has been manifest to me in many ways. For as you know, the Japanese on Bainbridge Island had no colony as such. They were scattered throughout the island and therefore lived typically American lives. Paul was educated in the island’s school system. He is a Christian, which after all is

Letter from Review Publisher Walt Woodward to Camp Manzanar correspondent Paul Ohtaki Photo courtesy of the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum

about the toughest loyalty test you can put to a Japanese or Japanese American.”

In December, Walt wrote about a riot that happened at Manzanar, in an editorial titled, “You shouldn’t pack apples with lemons.” He said that the bad behaviors at the camp came from some of the 10,000 California-Japanese who were living at Manzanar.

“There are about 275 Bainbridge Island Japanese there. That’s like

People. Parks. Play.

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Metro Park & Recreation District

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SEE REMOVAL, PAGE 7

June 30, 2017

Let It Not Happen Again

putting one Washington apple in a crate of California lemons.” He added, “The Review professing to see a serious problem facing the American-loyal JapaneseAmerican, has done and will continue to do what it can, to help better the understanding of their situation.”

And accompanying headline in The Review read, “No Islander implicated in Jap riot.”

Soon afterward, the island’s Japanese were removed at their request to Minidoka, another camp in southern Idaho.

In March 1943, a year after the evacuation, Walt wrote another letter for Paul asking that Paul be considered for relocation elsewhere so he could continue his education.

In September of 1943, The Review wrote in support of the government allowing Art Koura and Momoichi Nakata the opportunity to return to the island briefly for a visit.

The two were allowed to go to Bainbridge only because they were enlisted in the U.S. military and were in uniform. “Uncle Sam, who soon may ask them to die for their country, couldn’t very well tell them they couldn’t come home on furlough,” Walt wrote.

And in return, he received this letter to the editor from Harry Myers of Bremerton.

Photo courtesy of the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum

Minidoka Relocation Center, Twin Falls, Idaho, 1945. ilies began to return to Bainbridge Island in the summer of 1945. An article on July 27, 1945 told of two families returning,: Mr. and Mrs. F. Kitamoto and SEE REMOVAL, PAGE 8

© Michelle White

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6

“Your editorial in the last issue about the Japanese boys who returned to visit the island is one of the most inspiring things I’ve read and I am proud of you. Nothing less than what you say is American. It is regrettable that The Review does not have a hundred thousand circulation as have some papers which express the un-American opposite of your sentiments. Long may you wave.”

But not all supported The Review. By November of 1944, a group of Bainbridge Island residents who opposed the return of the Japanese Islanders to Bainbridge was formed.

This group, led by Lambert Schuyler, met at the Rolling Bay Grange Hall on Dec. 1, and 34 adults and six children attended. When it was formed a month earlier, more than 200 were at the first meeting. Schuyler is quoted as saying “Our only motive is to avoid trouble.

We’re not trying to cause it. It’s only in Woodward’s paper that we’re sowing seeds of hatred and are un-American.”

It wasn’t until May 15, 1985, that Schuyler’s son, Ethan, wrote to apologize for what his father had said.

“In the years following the war, my father regretted his impulsive actions as he came to personally know and respect and trust many of the imprisoned Americans.”

With the war ending, formerly imprisoned fam-

DISCOVER THE CONTEMPORARY ART & CRAFT OF THE PUGET SOUND REGION.

© Catie Cleveland

REMOVAL

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WWW.BIARTMUSEUM.ORG Roger Shimomura, American Alien #2, 2006, acrylic on canvas.

Promised gift of Sears-Buxton, BIMA Permanent Collection.

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REMOVAL CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7

children, and Mr. and Mrs. Y. Moji.

“War relocation offices in Seattle said they returned through the normal process. Both families were at Hunt, Idaho, before returning.

Evacuation centers are to be closed

by Jan. 1, 1946. By that time all Japanese ancestry residents will have returned to their homes, or will have moved to a new location.”

An accompanying article told of families from Bainbridge who had already re-established themselves elsewhere including Spokane, Oregon and Chicago.

A final article in the collection is an editorial by Walt from Sept. 27, 1995 where he speaks of Paul and how proud he is of him. “The other night I renewed a friendship with the little kid who cleaned up the press-night mess at The Review.”

He goes on to explain what a mess press night can be with ink, paper, rollers and type. “The next day Paul Ohtaki did his stuff. He cleaned up the mess. Cheerfully. He whistled

as he worked, always the same tune, John Phillip Sousa’s ‘Stars and Stripes Forever.’”

“Yes, when the federal government ordained that those of Japanese descent be deported to Manzanar in the high hills above Los Angeles, he left with his head held high and a smile on his face.

But before he left, we promoted him to reporter. We said he must send us news every week telling our readers what our departed neighbors were experiencing…”

Ultimately, Paul settled in San Francisco and became a successful businessman. Walt tells how he was reunited with Paul at an event in Seattle. That’s where he learned what Paul had been up to after Pearl Harbor.

“The little kid who swept up our messes at The Review was a member of the MIS, Military Intelligence Service, serving in the Pacific war zone where the fate of captured American military was a frightening thing to contemplate. We were and are so proud of you, Paul. Nice job.”

Thanks to Paul Ohtaki for use of his book of articles from The Review.

June 30, 2017

Words of War, Words of Exclusion: A Glossary Here is a list of terms that readers should be familiar with when reading or speaking about the internment of Japanese persons.

Alien land law — Laws enacted by various Western states that prevented Asian immigrants from purchasing, owning, and, in some cases, leasing land.

Assembly center — A term used by the U.S. government to describe a temporary camp that incarcerated Japanese Americans and legal residents of Japanese ancestry during World War II. Assembly centers were generally situated on fairgrounds in cities along the West Coast and were surrounded by fences, watchtowers, and armed guards. In many of these assembly centers, internees were forced to live in cramped, unsanitary, and degrading conditions, where livestock stalls were hastily converted to house internees. These assembly centers were holding facilities until the more permanent War Relocation Centers were ready for the internees.

Camp — A place where people are temporarily lodged or sheltered. Camp is the term many Japanese Americans and legal residents of Japanese ancestry use to describe the WRA assembly centers and relocation centers.

Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (U.S. CWRIC) — A congressional commission charged with studying the internment and incarceration of Japanese Americans and legal residents of Japanese ancestry during World War II. This commission made formal recommendations for an appropriate remedy.

We remember, and may we always strive to

“LET IT NOT HAPPEN AGAIN”

Concentration camp — A place where prisoners of war, enemy aliens, and political prisoners are placed under armed guards. On occasion, officials of the U.S. government used the term “concentration camp” to describe the places where Nikkei were incarcerated during World War II. Detainees — A word used to describe Japanese Americans and legal resident aliens of Japanese ancestry who were incarcerated during World War II. Detention — The act or state of keeping in custody or confining, especially during a period of temporary custody while awaiting trial.

Enemy alien — A national living in a country at war with that persons country. In the context of the internment and incarceration of Japanese Americans and legal residents of Japanese ancestry during World War II, all Issei were classified as enemy aliens, regardless of age, sex, or how long they had lived in the United States. Issei were prevented from becoming naturalized U.S. citizens under the Naturalization Acts of 1790 and 1922. In 1952, the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act, also called the McCarren-Walter Act, allowed Issei to become U.S. citizens.

Evacuation — The act or state of withdrawing, departing, or vacating any place or area, especially a threatened area. During World War II, the U.S. government forcibly removed Japanese Americans and legal residents of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast and forbid their

SEE GLOSSARY, PAGE 9

Never forget what happened March 30, 1942

Carden Middle School students visited the Bainbridge Island History Museum and heard the stories of Kay and Lily, Islanders who were excluded under Executive Order 9066.

Nidoto Nai Yoni: "Let It Not Happen Again"

CARDEN COUNTRY SCHOOL 6974 Island Center Road Bainbridge Island, WA 98110 (206) 842-6510 admin@cardencountryschool.org cardencountryschool.org Find us on Facebook

Serving Bainbridge Island Pets since 1986 Thomas Penn, DVM Lisa Barfield, DVM Jessica Haggar, DVM Jane O’Halloran, DVM

Christine Susumi, DVM Akiko Westerhout, DVM Kenneth Zebrowski, DVM

206.842.6621

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GLOSSARY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8 return until 1945; the government used the term “evacuation” for this process. In scholarly historical analyses, the term “evacuation” and its derivative “evacuee” are considered euphemisms for the government’s treatment of Nikkei during World War II. Exclusion — The act or state of preventing or keeping from entering a place; rejecting, barring, or putting out.

Exclusion Zone — A zone established by the Western Defense Command from which Japanese Americans and legal residents of Japanese ancestry were excluded. This zone encompassed Military Areas #1 (western halves of Washington, Oregon, California, and southern half of Arizona) and Military Area #2 (the remainder of California).

Executive Order — A regulation having the force of law issued by the president of the United States to the executive branch of the federal government.

Gaman — Translated: Patience, tolerance, stick it out, don’t rock the boat.

Haji o kakanai yoni — Translated: Do not bring disgrace to the family.

Hakujin — Caucasians or white people.

Incarceration camp — A term used to describe the WRA Centers, where Japanese Americans and legal residents of Japanese ancestry were forcibly confined during World War II. Internee — A person who is interned, especially during wartime. This term has been used to define Japanese Americans and legal residents of Japanese ancestry who were interned and incarcerated during World War II. Legally, this term refers to the imprisonment of civilian enemy aliens during wartime.

Internment — The act or state of being detained or confined. A term referring to the imprisonment of civilian enemy aliens during wartime. Sometimes called encampment.

Internment camp — A camp where civilian enemy aliens are confined during wartime.

Camps administered by the Justice Department.

Issei — The generation of people who were born in Japan and

Photo courtesy of the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum

Islanders being sent to incarceration camps gather at the Eagledale Ferry Landing for the trip to Seattle, the first stop on the journey to the Manzanar Relocation Center in California. immigrated to the United States primarily between 1885-1924.

During World War II, the majority of Issei were legal resident aliens. Direct translation is “first generation.”

Japanese — Of or pertaining to Japan; an inhabitant or citizen of Japan.

Japanese Americans — American citizens of Japanese ancestry. Two thirds of those incarcerated during World War II were Japanese Americans.

Sometimes Issei are referred to as Japanese Americans, since they were legally forbidden from becoming naturalized U.S. citizens but called the U.S. their home before, during and after World War II. Japanese legal resident aliens — Japanese citizens living legally in the United States. Japanese legal resident aliens did not have the right to become naturalized U.S. citizens until the passage of the McCarren-Walter Act in 1952.

Kibei — A Nisei who had spent a portion of his or her pre-World War II childhood and had gone to school in Japan, and who

had then returned to the United States.

Nagaya — The lower residential section in Nihonmachi (Japantown) consisting of a long narrow area of land mostly occupied by single men, at Port Blakely Mill, Bainbridge Island.

Nihonmachi — Translated as “Japantown”, a place where most Japanese Americans and other people of Japanese ancestry lived.

Nikkei — People of Japanese ancestry, including first generation immigrants (Issei), their immediate descendants (Nisei), and all later generations. In the context of World War II, Nikkei generally refers to Japanese American citizens and legal resident aliens of Japanese ancestry during that time.

Nisei — The first generation of people of Japanese ancestry who were born in the United States. Direct translation is “second generation.”

Non-aliens — The U.S. government sometimes referred to Nisei and Japanese Americans as non-aliens, as a way of

evading the fact that they were U.S. citizens.

Redress — To remedy, rectify or to amend for a wrong done.

Redress was used to describe the process for remedy for the internment and incarceration of Nikkei during World War II. Relocation — The act or state of being established in a new place. This was the term preferred by the U.S. government referring to the act or state of

forcibly removing Japanese Americans and legal residents of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast and incarcerating them in WRA Centers. In scholarly historical analyses, the term “relocation” and its derivative “relocation center” are considered euphemisms for the government’s treatment of Nikkei during World War II. Relocation Center — The term used by the U.S. government to define the places administered

by the War Relocation Authority where Japanese Americans and legal residents of Japanese ancestry were forcibly confined during World War II. Resettlement — A term used by the War Relocation Authority to refer to the migration of Japanese Americans and legal resident aliens of Japanese ancestry from the War Relocation Centers to areas outside of the Exclusion Zone.

Sansei — The second generation of people of Japanese ancestry who were born in the United States. Direct translation is “third generation.”

Shikata ga nai — Translated: It can’t be helped.

U.S. Department of Justice Camps — During World War II, more than 7,000 Japanese Issei and Japanese from Latin America were held in internment camps run by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, part of the Department of Justice.

There were 27 U.S. Department of Justice Camps, eight of which (in Texas, Idaho, North Dakota, New Mexico and Montana) held Japanese Americans. The camps were guarded by Border Patrol agents rather than military police, and were intended for non-citizens, including Buddhist ministers, Japanese language instructors, newspaper workers and other community leaders.

War Relocation Authority (WRA) — The U.S. government agency charged with administering the War Relocation Centers and their internees.

Yama — The upper or hill section of Nihonmachi (Japantown) at Port Blakely Mill, Bainbridge Island.

Yonsei — The third generation of people of Japanese ancestry who were born in the United States. Direct translation is “fourth generation.”

Nidoto Nai Yoni is a

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we all share.

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June 30, 2017

Those who were sent away

BY LESLIE KELLY

In all, 271 residents of Bainbridge Island were sent to internment camps or to justice prison camps during the time that Executive Order 9066 was issued.

According to records at the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum, the following information breaks out each family and lists the ages of family members at the time of the evacuation. Information on each individual or family is sometimes sporadic and this is only the basics. To learn more, visit the museum and review its book list.

AMATATSU FAMILY: Yoshiaki, 58, Taka, 51, Yoneko Elsie, Kazuko Kay, Michiki Rose, Dorothy. Yoshiaki was taken away by the FBI in a raid because they found dynamite on his property. (It was used to remove tree stumps to allow for crops to be planted.) The family farmed berries. Yoshiaki was sent to Bismarck, North Dakota. Taka was a math teacher on the Island before the war. The family was sent to Manzanar and then Minidoka. Dorothy left Minidoka in May 1943 for Chicago. The others returned to Bainbridge Island.

AROTA FAMILY: Miki Arota, 62. Miki was sent to relocation camps. Her husband, Evaristo was Filipino and wanted to go with her, but the government would not allow that. They are reunited after the war.

CHIHARA FAMILY: Fusakichi, 60, Tama, 50, Takashi,

28, Toshio, 22, Masa, 21, Joe, 20, Kuniko Kay, 18, Tokuo, 17, Mary, 15. The family originally farmed near Burlington, but later moved to the Port Blakely area on Bainbridge Island. They were sent to Manzanar.

FURUKAWA FAMILY: Hidematsu,62, Masaye, 44, Toshiko, 25. Sent to Manzanar.

FURUTA FAMILY: Koichi Frank, 56, Hideyo, 49, Shigeo, 29, Rumiko Margaret, 19. The father, Koichi was forced to leave Bainbridge just prior to the evacuation and was sent to a prison camp in Lordsburg, New Mexico. The family was sent to Manzanar.

HARUI FAMILY: Zenhichi, 56, Shiki, 39, Yoshiko Art, 16, Teruko, 15, Norio, 13, Junkoh, 8, Yoshihiro, 2.

The family established what became Bainbridge Gardens in the 1930s. They were forced off the island to Manzanar and then Minidoka. When they returned to Bainbridge Island what they had worked so hard for was in shambles. The father did not reestablish the business because he was broken-hearted. But 30 years later, Junko and his wife Chris began the process to rebuild what is now Bainbridge Gardens. Their daughter, Donna, now runs the business.

HAYASHI FAMILY: Hiroshi, 54, Narue, 44, Mary Yoko, 22, Iwao George, 20, Choko, 17, Teruko, 15, Teikichi Jack, 10, Yoichi, 7, Tsuichi, 3. The family was sent to Manzanar and then Minidoka. Mary enlisted in the Army.

HAYASHIDA FAMILY: Ichiro, 43, Nobuko Faith, 32, Tomiko, 7, Hissko, 6, Yasuo Sue, 5, Hiroshi, 3, Toyoko, 1. Ichiro was sent to prison camp in Missoula, Montana.

HAYASHIDA FAMILY: Saburo, 35, Rumiko, 31,

Honoring our connections to Japan Past, Present, & Future

Photo courtesy of the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum

Nobuzo and Moyo Koura at Manzanita on Bainbridge, sometime around 1940.

The Reynolds Family:

Dennis, Tedi, Deron, Yoko, Tyler, Luna, Todd, Mieko, Shizuku, Hiromi & Jennifer

Mamoru Neal, 2, Kayo Natalie, 1. The family farmed on Bainbridge and were taken to Manzanar and then Minidoka. When they returned to Bainbridge Island, they found their farm in poor shape and attempted to rebuild. In 1951, they moved to Seattle. Natalie is the baby being held by her mother on evacuation day in the photograph that is well-known throughout the world. She spent her adult years in Texas.

HAYASHIDA FAMILY: Tsuneichi, 33.

HIRAKAWA FAMILY: The Rev. Kihachi, 77. Started the Winslow Baptist Church on Bainbridge Island in 1925.

KATAYAMA FAMILY: Isosaboru, 61, Tome, 48, May,

27, Yoshio, 26, Toshiko, 25, Yukio, 24, Mitsuo, 20.

Sent to Manzanar.

KINO FAMILY: Kusunosuke, 47, Sono, 43, Video Joe, 21, Tsutomu Ben, Akiko, 14, Shoji, 10, Setsuko, 8, Reiko, 6. They were strawberry farmers on Bainbridge before the war. They were taken to Manzanar and then Minidoka. They didn’t return to Bainbridge but settled in Idaho after the war.

The father was sent to prison camp in Montana.

Setsuko was the girl in the iconic photo being held by the soldier during evacuation.

KITAMOTO FAMILY: Frank Yoshiko, 42, Shigeko

SEE FAMILIES, PAGE 11

June 30, 2017

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FAMILIES CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 Florence, 35, Lilly Yuriko, 7, Frances Hideki, 5, Frank Yoshikazu, 2, Jane Chieko, 9 months. Frank worked as a jeweler in Seattle and was taken to prison camp in Montana. The family was sent to Manzanar and Minidoka. They family returned to Bainbridge Island and Frank Jr. studied at the University of Washington, and became a dentist. He was active in the BIJAC. Lilly now lives on Bainbridge.

(See her story on Page 19.)

KITAYAMA FAMILY: Takeshi, 54, Masuko, 47, Tsutomu Tom, 18, Isamu Ray, 17, Yoshiko, 15, Susumu Kee, 14, Sadamu Ted, 12, Masako Martha, 9. The family operated greenhouses at Pleasant Beach. They were taken to Manzanar and stayed in California. They relocated there after the war. The brothers opened a nursery to grow cut flowers where they became very successful. Tom served as mayor of Union City, California.

KOBA FAMILY: Kichijiro, 67, Fujiko, 26, Frank Yoshifumi, 23, Robert Mitsuki, 20, Harry Suyeshi, 18, Fred Masuo, 16, John Minoru, 14. The family was sent to Manzanar.

KOJIMA FAMILY: Kaichi, 56, Satoye, 20, Tatsuyoshi, 18, Taiko, 16, Yuriko Lillie, 13. The family was sent to Manzanar and then to Minidoka. Daichi was sent to prison camp in Montana. Yuriko Lillie was 13 and was part of the teenage girls club called the 7-ups.

KOURA FAMILY: Nobuzo, 68, Moyo, 61, Otohiko, 49, Hatsuko Alice, 43, Arthur Yukio, 23, Noboru, 21, Dorothy Sachiko, 17, Tony, 15, Kenso, 13. The family farmed strawberries in the Manzanita area. Arthur served in WWII and was allowed to visit Bainbridge Island while in uniform during the war. The father, Otohiko was arrested in the FBI raid and was sent to Bismarck, North Dakota to pris-

Frank Kitamoto, and Kayo, Neal and Leonard Hayashida, stand in front of Frank’s barracks at Minidoka.

Photo courtesy of the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum

on camp. On Aug. 20, 1942, he was allowed to join his family at Manzanar where they were taken. Nakata assumed the correspondent role for the Review while at camp. Tony also wrote and took over for Paul when he left the camp. The family returned to Bainbridge after the war and resumed farming.

KUJI FAMILY: Hiromi Joe, 64.

He was sent to Manzanar and remained there. After the war, he stayed in California and died Oct. 25, 1955.

MATSUSHITA FAMILY: Ukichi, 62, Fusano, 58, Yoshiko, 27, Fusako, 22. The family raised strawberries on the island and were sent to Manzanar and Minidoka. They returned to Bainbridge and Fusako lived her entire life on the island.

MIKAMI FAMILY: Miyoko, 22, Toshiko, 19, Yoshiko, 20. Sent to Manzanar. (Part of the Ogawa family.)

MOJI FAMILY: Yosuke Moji, 57, Ume, 46. They were sent to Manzanar.

MORITANI FAMILY: Hayano, 54, Nobuichi, 27, Tatsukichi, 25, Shigeru, 20. Hayano was a widower. They came to Bainbridge to be berry farmers and were sent to Manzanar. While in camp, Nobuichi could always be found in the camp’s library and loved to read. They returned to Bainbridge Island and Tatsukichi served on the committee that founded the memorial.

NAGATANI FAMILY: Otokichi, 61, Kiwa, 46, Ichiro, 25, Kemiko, 23, Kiyotaka, 21, Miyoko, 15.

Otokichi was sent to prison camp in North Dakota, and the family was sent to Manzanar and the Minidoka.

NAKAMURA FAMILY: Seijiro, 60, Yukio, 19, Hideki, 17, Akira Archie, 15, Kiyoko Ruth, 11, Miyeko Jane, 8. The family was sent to Manzanar. Akira served in the military. Hideki served when he became 18.

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NAKAO FAMILY: Torazo, 67, Kuma, 68, Yonezo, 38, Isami Nakao, 27. They were strawberry farmers in the area west of what is now Bainbridge High School.

They were sent to Manzanar and then Minidoka until October 1945, when they returned to Bainbridge Island. Isami was married at Minidoka and first

came back to Bainbridge island in January 1945 to check on

SEE FAMILIES, PAGE 14

12

Let It Not Happen Again

June 30, 2017

Bainbridge Island 75th Anniversary of Japanese Exclusion

TIMELINE OF A TRAGEDY 1880s Japanese arrive on Bainbridge Island. Soon many were working at Port Blakely Mill Company.

1908 Moriotani Family begins strawberry farming on Bainbridge Island. Soon expands to many families farming berries.

Loggers for the Port Blakely mill; (Zenhichi Harui, left, and Kaichi Seko, second from right).

1900 Laws passed that Japanese could not own land or marry outside their race.

Photos courtesy of the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum

Soldiers gather at the Eagledale Ferry Landing on evacuation day.

1921 Jituzo and Shima Nakato begin selling groceries, doing laundry and cutting hair from the back of their residence. This was the beginning of today’s T&C Market.

1924 Japanese Exclusion by Immigration Act passed, limiting immigration of Japanese to the U.S.

1928 Bainbridge High School built and Japanese and American students begin going to school together on Bainbridge Island.

Torazo Nakao tends the strawberry fields.

1940 More than 2 million pounds of strawberries are produced on Bainbridge Island. Second-generation Japanese students excel at sports, academics and government at the high school.

The entrance to the Manzanar Relocation Center.

Feb. 19, 1942

March 30, 1942

Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9033 sending anyone of Japanese descent living on the West Coast to camps inland.

All persons of Japanese heritage are forced to leave Bainbridge Island and are moved to internment camp in California.

Dec. 6, 1942 Tensions at Manzanar cause those Japanese from California to riot. Martial Law is instituted in the camp.

Feb. 24, 1943 Most Bainbridge Island Japanese living at Manzanar are moved to another camp, Minidoka, near Hunt, Idaho.

Dec. 7, 1941

March 31, 1942

Summer 1942

Japan bombs Pearl Harbor.

The following day, President Roosevelt declares war on Japan.

Bainbridge Island Japanese arrive at Manzanar Camp in California.

Some at Manzanar are allowed to leave to work in nearby fields; those who were in college were allowed to attend another college in the Midwest.

June 30, 2017

Let It Not Happen Again

Milly and Walt Woodward

13

2000

Aug. 6, 2011

March 30, 2017

The Bainbridge Island WWII Nikkei Interment and Exclusion Memorial Committee formed to create a memorial to those who were forced to leave.

Dedication ceremony for the Exclusion Memorial draws a crowd estimated at 600 people.

Ceremony to acknowledge the 75th anniversary of the Japanese Internment and the removal of 271 residents of Bainbridge Island.

1990s Woodward Middle School and Sakai Intermediate School are named for the publishers of The Review who spoke out against internment, and for the Sakai family who farmed on Bainbridge Island.

1970s Bainbridge Island Japanese community begins an oral history project on the encampment.

1952

Nick Twietmeyer, Luciano Marano | Bainbridge Island Review

1988 President Reagan signs the Civil Liberties Act, apologizing to Japanese Americans for encampment, each survivor awarded $20,000.

1952

U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Alien Land Law is unconstitutional, clearing the way for Japanese to own land in the U.S.

Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community is organized to support each other.

January 1945

Japanese commanders surrender; World War II ends.

Nikkei are allowed to return to some parts of the West Coast.

April 1945 Daichi and Yone Takemoto are the first family to return to Bainbridge Island.

Top left and right; visitors to the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial. Above, paper cranes decorate the memorial.

Sept. 2, 1945

Aug. 6, 1945 Atomic bombs fall on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Nick Twietmeyer | Bainbridge Island Review

Gov. Jay Inslee speaks at the 75th anniversary ceremony earlier this year of the March 30, 1942 forced removal of Bainbridge Islanders of Japanese descent. The event drew an overflow crowd, and guests included Japanese Ambassador to the U.S. Kenichiro Sasae.

14

Let It Not Happen Again

FAMILIES CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11 the family’s land. Members of the family have remained on the island and Isami “Sam” was active in founding the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community.

NAKATA FAMILY: Jitsuzo, 66, Shima, 55, Sadako, 25, Momoichi “Mo”, 19, Kenneth, 15. Jitsuzo started the island’s barbershop and laundromat. The family was sent to Manzanar. Mo was serving in the military at the time.

NAKATA FAMILY: Masaaki Johnny, 35, Yukiyw Pauline, 29, Donald Tadashi, 7, Robert Kenji, 6, Wayne Yoshiaki, 2.

This family had the local market and were sent away to Manzanar and then Minidoka. Don was in the third grade when they we’re sent away. When the family returned he built up the family store to become T&C Market. He was the founder of the Central market concept.

NISHI FAMILY: Kaneyoshi 37, Miyeko, 28, Bobby Masami, 5. The father was sent to prison camp on Livingston, Missouri. Miyeko and Bobby were sent to Manzanar.

NISHI FAMILY: Emi, 26, Hisao, 24, Hanami, 20. Both Hisao and Hanami served in the military during the war.

NISHIMORI FAMILY: Kirohachi, 62, Tsue, 52, children Tarok, 25, Maako, 22, Kiyoko, 20, Sueko, 17, Matsue, 14, and Shimano “Sally”, 9. Kirohachi was sent

to the justice camp in Montana, the rest of the family was sent to Manzanar. At the time Matsu was in the ninth grade; Sally was in the fourth grade. Following internment, most of the family went to the Evanston and Chicago, Illinois area.

Tarok returned to Bainbridge Island in 1946 and became a farmer.

OGAWA FAMILY: Kazuom “Hank” 53, Kikuno, 43, Miyoki, 22, Yoshiko, 20, Toshiko, 19. The family farmed on Bainbridge. They were sent to Manzanar and Minidoka. After the war, the family relocated to Oregon.

OHTAKI FAMILY: Gyozo, 66, Tora, 60, Peter, 21, Paul, 17. The family was sent to Manzanar, and then later to Minidoka.

Paul served as a correspondent to The Bainbridge Review while at Manzanar.

Following that, he was allowed to go to the Chicago area to attend college.

OKAZAKI FAMILY: Tokuzo, 68, Masu, 58, Seiji “George”, 25, Naoshi, 23, Shiro, 22, Bill, 20, Keto, 18. Tokuzo assisted Rev. Hirasawa at the Japan Baptist Lighthouse Church on Bainbridge Island. Manu taught Japanese on the island and at the relocation camps.

The family was sent to Manzanar and then Minidoka. Tokyo died in 1943 at Minidoka. Because of that, Masu did not return to Bainbridge Island as she was a widow and has no property to go to.

Five of the six sons served in the military during the war. Following the war, the children relocated across the country, including Chicago, Philadelphia, San Jose, Los Angeles, Denver and Pullman, Washington. The family also farmed on the island prior to removal at the site where city hall is today.

June 30, 2017

Photo courtesy of the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum

Children from Bainbridge Island stand on the running board of Frank Kitamoto’s truck before their journey home to the island from the Minidoka Relocation Center.

OMOTO FAMILY: Masu, 56, Wetsuo, 27, Taketo, 24, Masakatsu, 21, Sadayoshi, 19, Nobuko “Nobi.” Masu was a widower at the time the family was sent to Manzanar. Her husband, Daikichi, died in 1930 at Port Blakely. Sada was able to leave camp to work at a printing company in Chicago in 1943. In July 1944, he was drafted into Army Intelligence. He also served as a correspondent to the Review from camp. He spent 40 years in Illinois and Michigan as a teacher.

OYAMA FAMILY: Kametaro, 69, Kamiyo, 65, Chiyeko, 24, Noboru, 20.

SAKAI FAMILY: Sonoji, 58, Yoshiko,

THROUGH JUSTICE, VIGILANCE, AND DEFENSE LET IT NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN

45, Kazuko “Kay”, 22, Toshio “Paul”, 20; Nobuko “Jean”, 18; Takeo, 15, Chinook, 14, Yaeko “Shirley” 12. The family grew strawberries on Bainbridge Island. They were able to have surrogates, including Pete Garcia, take care of the farm when they were sent away to Manzanar. When they returned, the house was OK, but the farm was covered with weeds. Kay worked as a checker at T&C, and was the first islander to be married while in the camps. She married Isami Kakapo at Minidoka. The FBI searched their home prior to the evacuation, but didn’t find any contraband.

SAKUMA FAMILY: Takeo, 56, Nobu,

48, Atsusa, 26, Akira, 24, Takashi, 22, Shinobu “Dale” 21, Milton Tsukasa, 20, Isaac Isagi 18, Satoru, 16, Shun, 14, Lillian Hatsue, 13, and Lucy Setsuko, 8.

Lillian was in the seventh grade when the family left Bainbridge. She was upset because they had to leave the family dog behind with neighbors. They were sent to Manzanar. Some of the family returned to Bainbridge. Some went to other places, including Denver.

SAKUMA FAMILY: Tadashi, Fujiko “Fudge”, 26. Had a strawberry farm on Sportsman Road. They were sent to Manzanar and then to Minidoka. Their son, Gary “Tosh,” was born in 1944 at Minidoka. The family returned to Bainbridge after the war.

SEKO FAMILY: Zenmatsu, 66, Hatsuno, 65. Zenmatsu was sent to prison camp in Montana. Hatsuno was sent to Manzanar, returned to the island.

He was in business with his brother prior to the war, owning and operating Bainbridge Gardens.

SHIBAYAMA FAMILY: Kamekichi, 49, Kimye, 41, Kameichi “George” 19, Zenji, 17, Kimiko, 16, Michio, 11, and Maseru, 2. The family lived at Moses Lake during the war. The family’s grandfather had a roadside vegetable and plant stand.

He was taken to the prison camp in Montana at the beginning of the war.

The family went to the Moses Lake area and farmed onions and potatoes.

SUYEMATSU FAMILY: Yasuji, 57, Mitsuo, 46, Kimiko, 20, Akio, 19, Isamu, 18, Toshio, 16, Yoshimitsu, 14, Eiko, 13.

SEE FAMILIES, PAGE 15

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June 30, 2017

Let It Not Happen Again

15

MARY WOODWARD

FAMILIES

She wrote the legacy of her parents

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14 The family had a strawberry farm which neighbors cared for while they were away. They had property in Moses Lake where they lived prior to being sent to Manzanar. The children’s father was taken away to prison camp in Missoula, but returned to Manzanar to meet up with the family. When they returned to Bainbridge, they farmed. Some members farmed in Oregon and eastern Washington.

Akio was featured In The Review in 2007, still farming at age 85.

TAKAYOSHI FAMILY: Henry, 43, Kikuyu, 34, Kiyoko, 12, Takato, 12, Tsutomu “Ben”, 10, Mieko, 9, Shizue, 7. The family was sent to Manzanar. Takayoshi, Saburo “Sam”, 25. Enlisted in the U.S. military.

TAKEMOTO FAMILY: Daichi, 56, Yone, 39, Mitsuru “Victor,” 15, Billy, 13, Roy, 9, Tokuo “James,” 7, and Teruko, 3. Family farmed on Bainbridge Island. They were taken to Manzanar, but stayed there when others were moved to Minidoka, mostly because “Dad liked the weather in California; Idaho was too cold for him,” according to Victor. They were the first family to return to Bainbridge Island. They found their home in shambles, with windows broken and personal property taken. But the pastor at the Winslow Congregational Church gathered residents of the island to help out and give donations, and within three weeks the family was able to move back in and reclaim their two acres.

TANIGUCHI FAMILY: Yataro, 70, Tsukiye, 41, Teruo “Bozo” 12, Tsuruo “Jim” 9. The family farmed at Port Blakely. They were evacuated with their grandfather to Manzanar. When they returned to Bainbridge, Teruo worked at T&C where he got his nickname, “Bozo.” He was in the 1950 Bainbridge High School yearbook in the baseball section where he was described as a “real hustler at second base and a good glove man.” He worked many years as the custodian at Bainbridge High School and retired in 1996.

TERASHITA FAMILY: Motokichi, 59, George, 24, Masao, 23, Hideo, 19, Henry, 18, Toshio. Motokichi was a widower with five children when the family was sent to Manzanar. He was sent to prison camp in Missoula. All five sons served in World War II. Hideo returned to Bainbridge Island and he and his wife, Sally, farmed strawberries. Several of the other sons were farmers in Arkansas.

TERAYAMA FAMILY: Otozo, 59, Yoneko, 47, Ritsuko, 21 Yoshi, 19, Morio,17, Kazoo, 16, Sueko, 14, Sadako May, 10. The family grew strawberries at Battle Point. They were sent to Manzanar. After the war the family settled in Walla Walla, then Auburn where they farmed. In the summer of 1960, Sueko moved back to Bainbridge Island. She married Gerald Nakata.

TONOOKA FAMILY: Kanekichi, 63, Shige, 49,

BY LESLIE KELLY

G

Photo courtesy of the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum

Masako Muramota, 1940.

Emiko, 16, Shinichi, 13. The children were active in school plays prior to being taken to Manzanar and then Minidoka.

YAMASHITA FAMILY: Kanekuma, 57, Tsuya, 48, Ayako, 28, Harley, 24, Chizuko, 20, Isao, 17. Tsuya was raised on Bainbridge Island. Because they were Issei, they were visited by the FBI and the father was sent to a prison camp at Missoula, Montana.

The family was sent to Manzanar.

YAMASHITA FAMILY: Moto, 55, Kazoo, 34, Masaharu, 26, Yaeko, 23, Michio, 21, Eba, 19, Emiko, 16, Anna, 14, Sally, 13. The family farmed strawberries. They later built a house in Winslow. The three younger children were students at Bainbridge High School when they were sent away to Manzanar.

YUKAWA FAMILY: Eizo, 61, Shizue, 43, Sumio, 16, Junji, 14, Toshiko, 12. The family had a strawberry farm near Fort Ward on the island. They later farmed near New Brooklyn. They were sent to Manzanar and then to Minidoka. They lost their property during the evacuation and after the war relocated to Seattle. Sum and Junji both served in the military.

Honoring the legacy of our Bainbridge Island Japanese American neighbors

rowing up a Woodward on Bainbridge Island, everybody knew your business.

Just ask Mary Woodward.

Mary is the third and youngest daughter of Milly and Walt Woodward, publishers of The Bainbridge Review, at the time of the internment. They and the paper are credited with keeping the unconstitutional internment of Bainbridge Island Japanese residents in the public’s view. They wrote editorials about it and they had correspondents at the camps who would send news along to The Review, so that the community could stay in touch.

But all that happened before Mary was even born. She, however, was the one to write about

their work in her book, “In Defense of Our Neighbors,” which tells the story of the removal of Japanese residents from Bainbridge Island to the prison camps where they were held for almost four years. And it tells the story of her parents who fought the unfair imprisonment.

“Being a member of the board for the history museum, I was well aware of what had happened,” Woodward said. “When we were working on the Japanese American Exclusion Memorial, the executive director of the museum kept saying, ‘This story needs to be told, and you need to be the one to tell it.’

“I’d never written a book before and it seemed overwhelming to me. But with the help and coopera-

tion of BIJAC (Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community), it was wonderful once it got going.”

Woodward said, in researching the book, she was able to meet many people and hear stories she hadn’t heard before.

“And members of BIJAC worked to convince their friends to dig through boxes in their attics,” she said. “That’s how we got some of the neverbefore-seen letters and photographs.”

When in high school on the Island in the early 1960s, what had happened wasn’t taught or discussed, Woodward said.

“It was as if it didn’t happen,” she said. “I knew about it because we talked about it at home. We were SEE LEGACY, PAGE 16

16

LEGACY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

the kind of family that sat around the dinner table talking about the news of the day and history and politics.

So I was surprised when I found out that some of my friends had never heard about the exclusion.”

It wasn’t until the U.S. government made an apology for what had happened in the 1980s that it seemed it was OK to talk about the exclusion, she said.

Growing up on Bainbridge also meant that anyone and everyone who read The Review knew her family’s business.

“He’d write about us,” she said. “Whenever he wrote about controversial things, kids whose parents disagreed would tell me so at school.”

But being a Woodward also meant sticking up for what was right.

Let It Not Happen Again “It never bothered me,” she said. “Both my mother and my father were strong willed people and I got that from them.”

Woodward thinks her father’s strong opinions stemmed from knowing he had to do what he thought was right.

“His father helped found Swedish Hospital in Seattle,” she said. “And he wrote columns for the paper. He hoped that my father would become a doctor and dad started medical school at the University of Washington.

But that wasn’t what happened.”

Her parents bought the paper in 1940, when they had just started their family.

Her sister, Carolyn Jane, was only a baby.

Because civics was important to her father, he knew that sending the Japanese away from Bainbridge Island was not constitutional.

“The Fifth Amendment

play. clearly “The states, ‘No mothers person There was never all got shall … not to know a question in their ‘No citizen each other shall…’” minds that they and when Woodward needed to speak they were said. “There out, because what sent away, was never a they were the government was question in taking our their minds doing was wrong. friends that they away,” Mary Woodward needed to Woodward speak out said. because It was a real challenge to what the government was stand up to the exclusion, doing was wrong.” she said.

“It’s clear that the influ“Because all the other ence of politicians can make newspapers and politicians some deny what you know were saying, ‘We want the is the truth,” she added, Japs out.’ I don’t think they comparing the exclusion to changed some people’s what’s happening today with minds, but they gave an enviMexican immigrants and ronment where people could Muslims. express themselves.”

Prior to World War II, Today, she marvels at how things on Bainbridge were her mother raised children so much different than other and worked at the newspaplaces because she and per. other students brought their “They were a team,” she Japanese friends home to said of her parents. “My dad

June 30, 2017

“

Leslie Kelly | Bainbridge Island Review

Mary Woodward and her book, “In Defense of Our Neighbors.” was loud and my mother was quiet. It took both of them to get the paper out every week.”

Woodward thinks the key to community is getting to know people on a personal level.

“You can’t see them as the ‘Other,’” she explained.

When she thinks about her parents, she wishes so much that they could have been at the candlelight vigil

this past March at the exclusion memorial.

“People all showed up and it was wonderful,” she said.

“It was the community today taking up what my parents had said so many years ago.”

The book, “In Defense of Our Neighbors,” was published in 2008. It is available at the Bainbridge Island Historic Museum gift shop and at local book stores.

in memory

of the families that suffered during the forced internment

in gratitude to those who used their voices in protest

Hyla Middle School is located on the historic Bucklin family homestead.

Surrounded by history, we value its lessons and proudly teach our students the past so they can improve the future. We encourage students to use their voices to posi�vely in�uence their own lives and the lives of others.

June 30, 2017

Let It Not Happen Again

17

Harui family kept Bainbridge Gardens alive

BY LESLIE KELLY

When Donna Harui thinks about the time when Bainbridge Island’s Japanese population was sent away, she thinks of what survived.

“The garden and the trees,” she said. “Really the garden is what survived and is still here 75 years later. It tells the story of our family.”

Harui spoke of Bainbridge Gardens, a business that has been in her family for three generations. In 1908, Zenhichi Harui came to Bainbridge Island from Japan and started growing flowers and plants in a small garden. The gardens flourished and soon became known throughout the island. Residents and visitors from other places would stop by to see the gardens.

But in 1942, when the Japanese residents on the island were sent away under Executive Order 9066, the gardens and the store that the family ran had to be cared for by those who remained behind.

Donna’s father, Junkoh, was 8 at the time and in second grade. He was the fourth of five children and his father asked the government if they could relocated to Moses Lake. They were granted permission and began to pack up their things.

“My father told me he

Photos courtesy of the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum

Mo Nakata at Bainbridge Gardens Grocery, 1948.

Right, Bainbridge Gardens, sometime between 1933-40. came home from school and found the family boxing things up,” Donna said. “He was told they were going away.”

Two of her father’s siblings were in Japan at the time studying, as was the tradition. Donna isn’t sure why Moses Lake was chosen as their destination, but she thinks that the family thought is was across the mountains and that would be enough for the government.

While they were away, another Island family was asked to care for their store and the gardens, so that the family would have something to come back to. At the

time, the store was very wellstocked with groceries and other things that Islanders would stop by for.

“My father didn’t talk much about what Moses Lake was like,” Donna said.

“But he did tell me that when the kids were on the playground, they played war, and he would say, ‘Guess which side I was on?’”

He also told her that a soldier would come by the house every week for an inspection, to make sure they didn’t have anything the government would view as contraband.

When the family was allowed to return to

Nidoto Nai Yoni

Bainbridge in 1944, the store had survived, but the gardens were devastated.

“One greenhouse had

the roof fall in,” Donna said.

“Many of the trees and statues were damaged or had been taken.”

Her grandfather decided he could rebuild, and re-opened as Harui Gardens.

It wasn’t the same as before, but he and his wife stayed on the land until he passed in 1974. Her grandmother, Shiki, died in 1970 In the meantime, Donna’s father opened a florist shop next door to Town & Country Market in downtown Winslow in 1958. That business moved several times and was located at Highway 305 and High School Road at the time that the Safeway shopping center was being planned.

“Mom and Dad were trying to decide if they would retire or move again,” Donna said. “Dad decided to go look at the original property on Miller Road, where the gardens had begun.

SEE GARDENS, PAGE 18

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Let It Not Happen Again

GARDENS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17

I remember it was the Fourth of July, 1989.

“Dad looked around and said ‘I can get this operational in six weeks,’ and he did.”

Her father “tore away the neglect,” Donna said, and he cleaned up the greenhouses. He also created a memorial garden to honor his parents. In that garden stands the pear tree that Zenhichi Harui grafted into the shape of an exquisite pear-shaped topiary.

Wisteria over a bamboo trellis still grows there and were treasures of Zen’s.

“When Dad came back here it was a huge undertaking,” she said.

“But it was his legacy.”

Donna pointed out the red pine trees which her grandfather brought over as seeds when he originally came from Japan.

“When the order to evacuate came, he took seeds and hid them in the woods, hoping no one would take them,” Donna said. “Those

June 30, 2017 across the island. But the person in 2014. who last had them gave them back “My parents lived their lives to us.” on this property,” she said. “They Donna were well-known came back and well-thoughtto the family of. Almost every business in week, if not every When Dad came And day, a customer back here it was a huge 2001. while there will come in and undertaking. But it was is the next talk about my dad generation of and mom with his legacy.

Haruis, it’s too such honor and Donna Harui soon to know fondness. I feel if any of them so humbled by will carry on that. This nursery the business. For now, though, became their legacy.”

Donna and her siblings have everyAnd, when the day is done, she likes to go sit in the Harui thing under control.

Memorial Garden, home to two And, when asked, Donna speaks lion statues that once sat at the to fifth-graders on the island, front of the original garden, but showing family photos and telling were missing when the family young students about the legacy of came back after the war.

Bainbridge Gardens.

“When Dad re-opened the gar“When the war tragedy hapdens, there were news crews here pened, this community accepted and that got mentioned,” Donna the Japanese and when they said. “The person who had them returned, the community supportrecognized them from the old ed them,” she said. “And through photo and pretty soon they were all the generations, we’ve been able returned. There are lots of stories to stay in business because of the of them being sold at garage sales community.”

“

Leslie Kelly | Bainbridge Island Review

Donna Harui stands in the garden on the property near the “pear” tree. trees are still here as the living legacy of our family.”

The red pines — Pinus demsiflore Harui — have been named for the family and have been propagated and are a noted item in the

garden’s inventory.

Donna has two brothers and one sister and all the family has been a part of the gardens since their father rebuilt them. Her father died in 2008 and her mother died

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June 30, 2017

Let It Not Happen Again

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A young girl’s memories of being sent away and coming home again

Leslie Kelly | Bainbridge Island Review

Lilly Kitamoto Kadoma listens as elementary students ask her questions about being sent away during a recent program at the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum. had gone calmly, they slept in Army-type barracks. At other camps, people had to sleep in animal stalls. They ate in a mess hall where the children lined up carrying a metal disk that each used as a plate.

“It was kind of like in Oliver Twist when the orphans line up to eat,” Lilly said. “At first, all we had was potatoes and little hot dogs, which actually were Vienna sausages. And then we got

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Lilly Kitamoto Kadoma was just 7 years old and in the second grade when the day came that her mother gathered her baby sister, her two siblings, and her and headed to Eagle Harbor dock. It was the morning of March 30, 1942, and all Japanese residents of Bainbridge Island had been ordered inland following the bombing at Pearl Harbor.

Lilly recalled that the night before her mother told them that they were going to go on a ferry ride in the morning.

“Back in those days, we didn’t leave the Island very often,” she said. “So to go on the ferry to Seattle was a big event. I remember being so excited, I tossed and turned all night.”

When morning came, the family’s Filipino helper, Felix Narte, drove them to the dock in the family’s big black Buick.

“I can’t recall that I even had a suitcase,” Lilly said.

“But I was so young, somebody was probably carrying it for me. And I don’t recall worrying about what to take.

I just know my mother made me wear my plaid coat and I didn’t want to wear it. I argued with my mother.”

Where they reached the dock, Lilly saw “soldiers with real guns.”

“As kids, we were excited about that,” she said. “And

our cousins were there.

My mother had two sisters on the island and the only time we got to play with our cousins was at holidays and family gatherings.”

Felix and his cousin Eulalio had promised to take care of the family farm while they were away, and in exchange, Lilly’s father promised he’d share the land with them when they returned.

Once the ferry reached Seattle, the Japanese from Bainbridge Island were told to board a train.

“There was a train waiting for us,” she said. “I’d never been on a train before. And while we were on the train, the soldiers read stories to us and one played his guitar.”

When night came, the children were put to bed on the Pullman cars.

“My siblings and I were arguing who got to sleep on the top bunk,” she said. “We played rock- paper-scissors to see who got to sleep up there.”

When they arrived at their destination, Manzanar Internment Camp in California, Lilly remembers that it was hot.

“It was nothing like Bainbridge Island,” she said.

No school had been established yet, so the children played. Because those from Bainbridge Island were the first to arrive and things

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this big, green globby stuff.”

It turned out to be canned spinach and she took one taste and found she didn’t like it.

“There was a dietitian who sat with us and you had to finish everything on your plate or you couldn’t leave,” she said. “Eventually, my mother came and rescued me.”

Later on, there was regular plates and silverware, and once the camp had it’s own

garden, the food improved, she said.

Most days, the children played typical children’s games, hop scotch, jump rope and hide-and-go-seek.

The parents worked in the mess hall and later gardened. Outside the wind blew and there were dust storms.

“There was an amphitheater where all the children sat on the ground and the adults helped them sing,”

she said. “One time, the wind blew up and sand was blown in our faces and our eyes. Everyone ran for the barracks. I was there watching my younger brother and we got trampled. My brother had abrasions on his face and I remember feeling so bad because I was supposed to watch him.”

Lilly’s father wasn’t with them in the beginning because he had been taken away before they family left for Manzanar.

“My father worked for Friedlander’s Jewelers in Seattle and part of his job was to meet the ships that came from Japan,” Lilly said.

“He would trade watches for things like rice and soy sauce and then he would take it to our friends in eastern Washington where they couldn’t get any. His job included traveling to take jewelry to stores, and because of that, and because he had a gun, that alerted the authorities that he might be involved in espionage.

“Men came to the house and asked him questions and they took him away.”

Nothing was ever shown to be out of order, she said, and her father eventually rejoined the family at Manzanar. The family was at Manzanar for 11 months and then they were moved to the Specializing center at Minidoka,Inin south-

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MEMORIES CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19

ern Idaho, were they stayed until April of 1945. Once at Minidoka, schools were set up inside the camp and the children were taught by two missionary teachers.

“I remember Mrs. Schmidt,” Lilly said.

“Somehow she got permission to take the children into Twin Falls. We each got a dime and got to pick out a toy at the dime store. And then we went to the drugstore and we got ice cream.”

Lilly was 10 when her family returned to Bainbridge Island. Her father went back first “to test the waters.”

“My father had heard from others who had gone back that we were welcome (on Bainbridge Island),” she said. “But he said, ‘I’m going back by myself to check it out.’”

He returned with Felix and the big black Buick.

Let It Not Happen Again Lilly said because of the work of the Walt and Milly Woodward and the Bainbridge Review, Japanese residents of Bainbridge were welcomed back.

“Throughout everything, Walt would always write ‘when you come back,’” she said. “It was just the opposite of what was happening everywhere else. There were signs posted that said ‘No Japs.’”

Lilly knew that she was almost home when she saw the floating bridge.

“That bridge meant we were almost home,” she said. “After driving straight through with eight people in the car, I was ready to be home.”

The family returned to their farm and her father gave an acre to Felix, on which he built a house for his family.

Lilly returned to the fifth grade and for the most part didn’t feel any racism on the island. But it was different

elsewhere.

“When I was about 12, my mother said we could go to Seattle to buy new school shoes,” she said. “We went to the Bon Marché. We sat and we waited and we saw the salespeople wait on others, but no one would wait on us.

“My mother didn’t want me to be upset, so she said, ‘They’re too busy. Let’s go to JC Penney.’ But the same thing happened there. So my mother told me we’d go home and order shoes from the Sears catalogue. I didn’t want to do that because that was the way we got our shoes when we were at Manzanar.”

Another time, a man approached them in Seattle and told them to “go back.”

“I wanted to say ‘I’m an American,’ but my mother grabbed me by the arm and said, ‘Don’t say anything.’”

Her father went back to work for Friedlanders and helped open a store in

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Photo courtesy of the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum

Lilly (far right) waits at the Eagledale dock with her family, March 30, 1942.

Seattle on Jackson Street.

For a time, she and others were embarrassed to eat Japanese food. She joined a group for Japanese women when she was a student at the University of Washington and recalled the group trying to find a place to have a dinner meeting.

“They were saying, ‘Would they want us?’ and I didn’t know what they were talking about because that was never happened on Bainbridge Island.”

She studied to be a nurse and eventually married Joe Kadoma in 1955. She worked at Harborview and her husband worked at Boeing.

They had four children, Jon, Mariko, Suyeko and Kara, and they raised them in South Seattle.

They had times when being Japanese Americans wasn’t easy, like when they

were turned down for an apartment on First Hill right after they married, and a hotel that wouldn’t give them a room on their honeymoon.

They also were ready to sign on a house in Bellevue, when at the last moment the seller pulled out because “the neighbors didn’t want Japanese Americans in their neighborhood,” Lilly said.

When Lilly and Joe retired, they moved back to Bainbridge Island and lived on the same property where her family farm has always been. Joe died in 2015.

Although she wasn’t on board at first, she’s glad that the Island has the American Japanese Exclusion Memorial.

“When the group first started, they talked about raising $1 million and I just didn’t think that could ever be done,” Lilly said. “But

the memorial is well-done.

It shows what can happen when the community pulls together.”

Lilly often speaks to groups and to school children about what she experienced. She is one of only three surviving who were interned who still lives on Bainbridge Island.

However, many children and grandchildren of those who were sent to camps still call Bainbridge home. Her family received the $20,000 award from the government when President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act which said the government was wrong for removing the Japanese.

“What’s sad is that those who were most affected are not around anymore,” she said. “People had to start over. They lost their homes and their businesses.”

She admits that the experiences she’s had when she’s been rejected because she is of Japanese heritage still are with her, even at 82.

“I went on a bus trip with other Japanese Americans to a reunion at Minidoka,” she said. “There were also Muslim women with us.

When we stopped for lunch I saw a man standing by a big pickup truck staring at us. It gave me that same feeling as I had way back when. But when we left, he smiled at me. He was just curious about us. But that feeling never leaves you completely.”

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Let It Not Happen Again

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The life-changing impact of World War II for one entire community

BY CLARENCE MORIWAKI

On April 1, 1942, after a threeday journey that began with riding a ferry from Bainbridge Island to downtown Seattle and then boarding a train with the window blinds shut tight, then-22-year old Kay Sakai remembers that even after the train finally stopped at high noon in a hot desert. Everyone was herded onto crowded buses. Sakai and all of the other 276 Japanese Americans from her Puget Sound island home still had no clue of where they were being taken by bayonet-armed U.S. Army soldiers.

As the bus droned on, after a couple of hours Kay remembers that the air was getting hotter and dryer when, in the distance, she spotted a few makeshift buildings with more under construction.

“You could see the heat waves rising from the black tar paper that covered the buildings and I thought to myself, “Thank God we’re not going to a place like that,” Sakai recalled. “Then suddenly, the bus turned towards the buildings and my heart just sank. This was not an April Fool’s joke; this was where we were going to live.”

Sakai her family, and the entire Japanese American community from Bainbridge Island became the first players in a sad chapter in American history — the first community to be forcibly removed and placed into Manzanar — which was the first of 10 major concentration camps that eventually incarcerated 120,000 Japanese Americans from the west coast, or about 95 percent of the entire Japanese American population of the continental United

States.

This chapter did not begin on April 1, 1942, but on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941.

The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service had bombed Pearl Harbor, which was in Hawaii U.S. Territory, destroying the majority of the U.S. Naval Pacific Fleet and claiming more than 2,400 American lives.

The next day, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress and declared war on Japan, famously stating, “Dec. 7, 1941, a date which live in infamy.”

“When I heard the news I didn’t even know what or even where Pearl Harbor was,” Sakai recalled.

“My parents were very, very shocked, and they thought that was a very bad move by Japan. In fact, my dad went and turned in his life insurance policy and bought liberty bonds. He wanted to help the American cause, you know.”

Immediately after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover commenced a massive, nationwide dragnet of elders within the Japanese American community.

In just two days, from New York and Miami to San Diego and Seattle, FBI agents imprisoned 1,220 Japanese American men from 21 cities and the Hawaii territory without any charges, warrants or trials.

The FBI was able to accomplish such a logistical achievement because the entire population of Japanese Americans — down to 1/16 Japanese heritage — had already been under surveillance

Photo courtesy of the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum

Nob and Mary Koura, right, hang out with friends on Bainbridge. since the early 1930’s following Imperial Japan’s 1931 invasion into Manchuria. It was not revealed until 2007 that the U.S. Census Bureau had provided U.S. government intelligence agencies, including the FBI, with individual identifiable information on all Japanese Americans.

The FBI dragnet of Bainbridge Island occurred on Feb. 4, 1942, when their agents — along with assistance from the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office and the Washington State Patrol — simultaneously searched every Japanese American home, arresting 34 men and one woman, again, with no charges, warrants or trial. Eventually, 19 men would be incarcerated in special Department of Justice prison camps for nearly the entire duration of World War II. The FBI’s surveillance and coordinated dragnets weren’t the only

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actions by the U.S. government that moved very swiftly against Japanese Americans.

Barely two months after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, on February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, of which authorized the Secretary of War with broad powers to create of areas “from which any and all persons may be excluded.”

Roosevelt appointed U.S. Army Lt. General John DeWitt as Commanding General of the U.S. Army’s Western Defense Command, with the authority to define the West Coast military zone and placed civilian Justice Department authority under military command.

While some high-ranking members of the Roosevelt Administration, including U.S. Attorney General Francis Biddle,

had strong opinions and opposition to the president’s actions, not one member of Congress opposed the extraordinary and constitutionally challenging measures and the consolidation of power under military control without declaring marital law.

Indeed, prior to the war many (mostly West Coast) elected officials and agricultural business leaders and organizations had been urging incarceration and expulsion of all Japanese from America including, but not limited to, forced revocation of U.S. citizenship.

Ironically, Hoover, who after years of intense surveillance and investigation of Japanese Americans, determined that there was no actionable evidence of espionage or disloyalty and opposed President Roosevelt’s decisions as “utterly unwarranted.”

In less than a week and a half after being placed in charge of the Western Defense Command, on March 2, 1942, Commanding General DeWitt issued “Public Proclamation No. 1” which among other actions, designated areas west of the Columbia River in Washington, west of the eastern ridge of Oregon’s Cascade Mountain Range, western California and southwestern Arizona as under DeWitt’s complete authority “with respect to which, the right of any persons to enter, remain in, or leave shall be subject to whatever restrictions” he could unilaterally choose to impose.

Three Japanese American SEE COMMUNITY, PAGE 22

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COMMUNITY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21

families from Bainbridge Island received permission to “voluntarily” relocate to Moses Lake east of the Columbia River, but shortly after DeWitt ended the relocation program.

Just three weeks after the announcement of Dewitt’s Public Proclamation No. 1, on March 23, 1942, Army soldiers detached from New Jersey arrived on Bainbridge Island and began posting — with the assistance of Japanese American high school students — “Civilian Exclusion Order No. 1” posters at key sites across the island.

The order stated that all persons of Japanese ancestry (including all second generation American born citizens, who were now euphemistically defined as “non-alien” and their immigrant parents classified as “alien” since they were forbidden by federal law to become naturalized citizens until 1951) must report to military officials “between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Wednesday, March 25, 1942” for registration and further instructions, and all would be “evacuated (from Bainbridge Island) by noon Monday, March 30, 1942.”

With only six days to anxiously settle all business and personal affairs, many families were fortunately able to find supportive people to look after their homes and productive strawberry farms, while others like the renowned Bainbridge Gardens fell into disrepair during the war, with indiscriminate looting of plants and garden sculptures.

Others were forced to sell personal property and possessions for pennies on the dollar.

“We had so little time to get everything all squared away, and with all of the suspicion and wanting to prove we were loyal Americans,

Let It Not Happen Again my dad said to destroy anything that looked Japanese,” Sakai recalled.

“So we just started burning, burying and breaking things up, getting rid of all of the nice things that Grandma sent from Hiroshima. The only thing that we saved was my Japanese doll and kimono that was stored in a hidden trunk. I feel very badly. All of our prized family heirlooms were all destroyed and we can’t pass them on.”

The six days since the posting of Exclusion Order No. 1 passed quickly, and on the morning of March 30, 1942, Sakai and the remaining 226 Japanese Americans — two thirds of them U.S. citizens — assembled at the Eagledale Ferry Dock. Many arrived in their own cars or were offered rides, and if you didn’t have transportation the Army provided troop carrier trucks with an armed escort.

Friends and neighbors gathered to say goodbyes, students skipped school under threat of disciplinary action, and the Bainbridge Review reported that even the soldiers from New Jersey had tears in their eyes, with one army officer saying “having to move these people is one of the toughest things we’ve ever had to do.”

The Seattle PostIntelligencer newspaper took many now iconic photographs of that historic day.

One set of photos depicts a childless middle aged couple, the Mojis, sitting in an army truck while their beloved white Samoyed dog “King” attempted to, then later successfully jumped into the truck sitting between them. Soldiers removed King and delivered him to friends of the Mojis, but King became so despondent that he refused to eat and died shortly after.

The ferry Kheloken arrived at 11:03 a.m. and prior to the bottom of the hour, the Japanese Americans, dressed in multiple layers of clothing

and carrying suitcases and infants, solemnly walked down Taylor Road to the long Eagledale Ferry Dock, boarded the ferry and departed, leaving their Bainbridge Island home and beginning their three and a half years of unconstitutional incarceration.

Coming from wet, green and forested Bainbridge Island, it was a shock to arrive at the Manzanar concentration camp placed within the arid eastern California high-desert climate of the 4,000-foot elevation Owens Valley in the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

“Blowing sandstorms would kick up so bad you couldn’t see anything at all, and the sting of the sand would hurt your face,” she recalled. “The winters were bitter cold as well, so very hot in the summer, so freezing in the winter.”

However, adjusting to the weather was perhaps easier than adjusting to their new living conditions.

Manzanar would eventually be comprised of 36 blocks, the center of each block containing a mess hall, shared men’s and women’s shower and toilet building and a community laundry, surrounded by 14 hastily constructed barracks 100 feet by 20 feet, broken into four “apartments” measuring 25 feet by 20 feet containing up to eight people per unit.

When the Bainbridge Islanders arrived they were placed in Block 3, which was nearly finished. Blocks 1 and 2 were occupied by Los Angeles area Japanese American workers and volunteers who were building the concentration camp.

The dividing walls of each living unit did not reach the open ceiling, and the only furnishings provided were an oil stove, a single light bulb hanging in the middle of the unit, metal cots, some blankets and large bags stuffed with straw to serve as mattresses.

“So there was absolutely

June 30, 2017

Mark Briant | Kitsap News Group

Clarence Moriwaki stands at the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial. no privacy. Everyone in the family was just in this one big room, one unit, and we had no tables or chairs or anything. My dad went out and scrounged around for scrap lumber, and he made a bench . . . crude, but it was a bench, and a table, had four legs, so it worked,” Sakai recalled.

“And of course, all our toiletries and other items, we just put it between the two by fours, which were showing, there was no insulation, no inside wall or anything, it’s just one wall with all these two by fours showing.

So we just put everything on the ledge, because there was no closet or anything.”

Unlike the fresh farm produce, fruit and seafood enjoyed by the Bainbridge Islanders, the meals in the mass mess hall were mostly made from canned and prepared foods, which lead to wide-spread sickness and long lines at the shared community latrine which,

as designed, posed its own problems.

The latrines had no partitions between toilets, and the showers were multi-headed and openly shared, causing an upsetting loss of privacy and dignity amongst most of the population used to traditional values of modesty and personal space.

Another cultural shock came with the arrival of waves of thousands of Japanese Americans from the Los Angeles area. Mostly urban city dwellers and many living their entire lives in segregated Nihonmachi, or Japantown, it was a sharp contrast to the rural Bainbridge Islanders whose lives by necessity amongst a small, isolated island population became more assimilated.

Friction between the two communities did emerge, with many Bainbridge Island parents disapproving of the influence the youth from the city were having on their

children. As the Bainbridge Review put it, it was “like mixing up the country mice with the city mice.”

The Bainbridge Review played a unique role in the lives of their Japanese American community members in several ways.

The publisher/editors Walt and Milly Woodward supported the community at the outbreak of World War II, editorialized as unconstitutional the actions of the Roosevelt Administration and their War Department, and they hired young Bainbridge Island Japanese Americans as “camp correspondents” to write articles for every edition to keep the community abreast of news of their friends and neighbors behind barbed wire.

The Bainbridge Review was part of a unique and historic legacy that would later prove to be influential for the future of the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community.

It is worth remembering that the U.S. was also at war with two other Axis powers — Nazi Germany and fascist Italy — and while a few thousand German and Italian nationals that were suspected of, charged with and found guilty of crimes were held in special internment centers during World War II, there were no Civilian Exclusion Orders, forced exclusion or mass incarcerations for the more than 12 million German and Italian Americans.

It was never seriously considered, and such an attempt would have proved logistically problematic, if not impossible. Indeed, such actions would have changed the course of history for German American General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Italian American Joe DiMaggio.

Clarence Moriwaki is president of the BIJAC and a founder and past president of the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial Association.

June 30, 2017

Let It Not Happen Again

23

BIJAC projects include the Woodward Fund Milly and Walt Woodward used their small weekly newspaper — The Bainbridge Review — to oppose the forced incarceration of nearly 300 Bainbridge Island Japanese Americans and to keep the two elements of their community in touch with each other.

Throughout the war their editorials spoke of the violation of the Nikkei’s constitutional rights.

They also employed high school

students – first from Manzanar and later from Minidoka – to send weekly reports from the camps about the news of their exiled neighbors.

In honor of their courageous stand, the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community set up a memorial fund in their names to promote constitutional principles. The Walt and Milly Woodward Fund will support activities, such

as forums and other community gatherings related to constitutional issues. It will also support individuals who wish to further the principles of sound journalism and community participation the Woodwards personified. Grants from the fund will be available to all Bainbridge Islanders.

The group hopes to establish an endowment of $100,000, and, thus far, has raised $56,000. Donations

MORE PLAIN TALK: A look back at the Bainbridge Review’s stance on the forced removal This is the original editorial by the Woodwards that ran in the Bainbridge Island Review on Feb. 5, 1942.

T

he time has come to bear out truth of our words, written two months ago in an extra edition of The Review, published the day after Hawaii was bombed.

We spoke of an American recoil to Japanese treachery and wrote: Up and down the Pacific Coast, in the newspapers, and in the halls of Congress are words of hated now for all Japanese, whether they be citizens of America.

These words reached a shrieking crescendo when Harry McLemore, with all the intelligence of a blind pig, wrote in the Seattle Times, “Personally, I hate the Japanese. And that goes for all of them.”

That may be patriotism of a hysterical degree, but it certainly isn’t the kind of patriotism that will win the war. Let’s think for a moment, what would

happen if the government should adopt Mr. McLemore’s fervid plea for the “immediate removal of every Japanese on the West Coast a point deep in the interior. I don’t mean a nice part of the interior, either.”

Just who would grow our fruits and vegetables if Mr. McLemore’s advice is followed? We have no figures before us, but it certainly is an apparent fact that the bulk of our produce, and, dare we say, the bulk of the produce grown for our Army and Navy encampments on the West Coast, come from Japanese gardens. The economy of one-third of the nation would be thrown into utter confusion if all Japanese were herded up into the interior.

Front page of the Feb. 5, 1942 Bainbridge Review.

But what of another factor - the wreckage that it would bring to lives of thousands and thousands and thousands of loyal American citizens who can’t avoid ancestry Japan?

For who besides those as blind as Mr. McLemore can say that the big majority of our America-Japanese citizens are not loyal to the land of their birth - the United States! Their record bespeaks nothing but loyalty: their sons are in the Army, they are heavy contributors too the Red Cross and to the defense bond

to the Walt and Milly Woodward Fund can be made through BIJAC’s online PayPal account or by mail. Mail a check made payable to BIJAC to 1298 Grow Ave. NW, Bainbridge Island, Washington, 98110.

To find out more about the American Japanese Exclusion Memorial Association and wall, visit www.bijac.com.

Contributions also can be made

drive. Even in Hawaii, was there any record of any Japanese-American citizen being other than intensely loyal?

The Review argues only with Mr. McLemore and his ilk. It will not dispute the federal government if it, in its considered wisdom, calls for the removal

at that website to support the ongoing work of the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community and its memorial projects.

An exhibit of artifacts and stories from those Bainbridge Islanders who were sent away will continue throughout the summer at the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum, 215 Ericksen Ave. NE. Call 206-842-2773 for more information.

from the Coast of all Japanese. Such order which we hope will not come - will be based on military necessities and not on hatred.

Japanese people, whether citizens or aliens, must prepare themselves for what may seem to them unfair and unreasoning

treatment. But if they value their American citizenship and the right to live in this free nation, they must stand fast in their loyalty. American boys - including some of their sons - are giving their lives for Liberty.

Any other sacrifice is not too great.

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Let It Not Happen Again

June 30, 2017

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