We are privileged to present a new Topaz Story this week, a rare communication written by an Issei man who was incarcerated in Topaz.
Many thanks to Jean Hibino, who shared a letter written by her grandfather, Junzo Hibino, to his son, Jean’s father.
The voices of the Issei are rarely heard in Topaz lore. Because many of the Issei community leaders had been arrested after Pearl Harbor and separated from their families in DOJ facilities in other states, camp administration looked to the Nisei generation, who spoke English, as the leaders and representatives of the community. The Issei were disempowered, their stories rarely translated or preserved. A minority lived long enough to see reparations and the decades-later groundswell of interest in what happened in the camps.
Many thanks to Jean Hibino, who shared her grandfather’s letter, written in English to his son, Jean’s father. The letter is brief–but it gives us a glimpse of what it must have been like to feel powerless against the constant threat of violence. Read “Letter to a Nisei Son” by Jean Hibino on our website.
The Topaz Stories Team
Plan to visit the Topaz Stories Exhibit in Salt Lake City
Listen to Ruth Sasaki on KQED Forum, February 15, 2022
Listen to our interview on KRCL RadioActive, February 9, 2022
Read our Discover Nikkei interview
Listen to the Topaz Stories podcast
Follow us on Instagram @topazstories
Contact us if you have a Topaz Story to share.