My grandmother lived in Hakushima, a neighborhood in Hiroshima that was just north of Hiroshima Castle.
On that morning, she had just come into the house from the garden, waving a prized ear of corn she had grown, when the bomb fell.
The atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima obliterated my dad’s Japanese past, and he never talked about it.
A grandmother, never met. I knew her only through my mother’s stories. Read “A Telegram to Topaz” and “Life Goes On.”
The Topaz Stories Team
Join us on August 13, 2022 (1-2:30 pm) at the AZ Gallery in the Tanforan Mall. Five Topaz Stories authors will read their stories, and we’ll talk about how a few non-techy retired volunteers gathered over 70 stories from Topaz survivors/descendants, launched a website, and hosted two exhibits to share the stories with the public. Click here for details and registration or just register here (the event is free).
- Plan to visit the Topaz Stories Exhibit in the Salt Lake City State Capitol building, open through December 2022.
- Contact us if you have a Topaz Story to share.
- Follow us on Instagram @topazstories
Media Coverage:
Watch Topaz survivors tell their stories (abc4 news, 4/22/2022)
Listen to the “In the Hive” podcast with interviews with Ann Dion, Jonathan Hirabayashi, and Topaz survivors Jeanie Kashima and Joseph Nishimura (KCPW, 4/28/2022)
Read How a Utah exhibit about Topaz Camp looks to find empathy in ‘an ugly stain on American history (ksl.com, 4/22/2022)
Read “Topaz Stories rise from the dust,” (Department of Culture & Community Engagement, 4/2022)
Listen to KQED Forum, Day of Remembrance interview with Ruth Sasaki, 2/15/2022
Listen to Max Chang and Ruth Sasaki interviewed (KRCL RadioActive, 2/9/2022
Read On Topaz Stories and ‘Authentic Voice’, the Discover Nikkei interview with Ruth Sasaki (10/14/2022)
Listen to Remembering the Japanese American Incarceration, the Topaz Stories podcast with Ruth Sasaki and Jonathan Hirabayashi (6/2/2021)