Seiji Aizawa (A Family Torn Apart)
Seiji Aizawa was born in 1926 in San Francisco, CA and was interned in Tanforan and Topaz. He graduated from Topaz High School and attended Elmhurst College in Illinois. Seiji was drafted in 1951 and served in the Army’s Military Intelligence Service in Korea and continued working in military intelligence in Japan as a civilian. Seiji returned to California after retirement and taught Japanese at a local state college. He passed away in 2020.
Michio Aoyagi (Ant Hills)
Mich was almost two when his extended family was imprisoned at Tanforan Assembly Center in 1942, and later at Topaz. His dislike of hot summers, windy days, sandstorms, and canned red beets likely results from his formative years at Topaz. After graduating from the University of California, he was an engineer and researcher at NASA, developing telemetry control systems. For this work, he was awarded the NASA Medal for Exceptional Service and NASA Medal for Exceptional Engineering.
Helen Harano Christ (The Rowdies)
Helen Tayeko Harano was born in 1933 to George and Chieko (Katayama) Harano in Berkeley, CA. She was the third of nine children. From 1942 to 1945, their family was interned in Topaz, near Delta, Utah. After leaving Topaz, the family moved to North Platte, Nebraska, where they owned a flower shop. Helen received degrees in Sociology from Hastings College, NE and a Master’s in Christian Education from McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, where she met her husband, Frank Christ. Frank became a Presbyterian minister. They married and had three children, Mary Kay, Steve and Alan. Helen was a teacher and an active volunteer in the Presbyterian Church and her communities. They lived in North Dakota, Illinois, Indiana and Iowa before retiring to St Joseph, MO and then to Seattle, WA. She died in January 2023.
Jun Nakahara Dairiki (Topaz Fish Story, The Long Haul)
Jun was born in San Francisco in 1934. She was seven years old when the Nakahara family was incarcerated in Tanforan. While her two elder sisters resettled in Chicago, Jun and her parents were in Topaz for the duration of the War and farmed in Idaho when the camp closed. After graduating from high school, Jun worked in Chicago, then spent two years in Japan with the civil service. She met her husband Jack after returning from Japan and settling in San Francisco.
Ann Tamaki Dion (Min’s Decision, Kiku’s Angel)
Ann’s parents, Min Tamaki and Iyo Yamashita, were married in Topaz in 1943. Ann was born in 1948 in Massachusetts, where her father served as an Army pharmacist. After the War, the family returned to California. Ann grew up in Oakland and received a BA and teaching credential from UC Berkeley. She taught in the Oakland Public Schools before she retired. Ann was one of the founders of the Friends of the Topaz Museum.
Amy Morizono Eto (Dancing to Duke)
Amy was born in Soledad, CA in 1924. She was raised in Oakland, where her parents owned a grocery store. Amy graduated from University High School prior to being sent to Tanforan, then Topaz during World War II. After camp, she lived in Chicago, where she met her future husband, Frank. They married and relocated to Berkeley, where they raised their daughter, Susan. Amy was a secretary for the Berkeley Unified School District before retiring in the 1980s.
Mitsi Nakamizo Fuchigami (Hoop Dreams)
Mitsi (Mitsuko) Nakamizo Fuchigami was born in San Francisco in 1928. Her father worked in the import/export business and the family lived on Buchanan St. until the forced removal. She, her parents and two older sisters were incarcerated in Tanforan, then Topaz, where Mitsi played on the girls’ basketball team. The family left Topaz and resettled in New York in 1944. Mitsi returned to California after marrying, and currently lives in Southern California.
Steve Fujioka (A Teen in Topaz)
Steve Fujioka was born and raised in Lincoln, California. He graduated from high school in Topaz, and joined the U.S. Army. Upon completing his service, he went on to study at Placer College and then UC Berkeley, where he received his bachelor’s degree in architecture. He worked as an architect in Sacramento, designing both public and private buildings throughout central California, including the Placer Buddhist Church. In the 1960s, he and his wife, Marjorie, moved to Berkeley, California, where they raised their two children. In the 1970s, he changed careers to facilities management and went to work for the university, where he was awarded the Berkeley Citation for distinguished achievement in 1991. After retirement, he enjoyed reading, traveling with his wife, helping friends and family remodel their homes, and spending time with his grandchildren. He passed away in 2015.
Ruth Naruo Saito Hara (First and Last Tanforan Babies)
Before the family’s removal to Tanforan and later Topaz, the Naruo family had a chicken ranch in Castro Valley, and then Ruth’s brother Bob started a nursery in San Leandro. After the Exclusion order was lifted in 1945, the family returned to San Leandro to reclaim their property. This story was contributed by her son, Sam Saito.
Norman Makoto Hayashi (Every Little Moment)
Norm’s grandfather and granduncle opened the Hayashi Nursery in Oakland, CA in 1906. His grandfather was President of the California Flower Market in the early 1930s. The family was incarcerated in Tanforan and Topaz when Norm was two years old. After the War, they returned to find most of their property sold, so they began again. Norm’s dad Henry and Uncle Warren re-established the Hayashi Nursery in Union City in 1949. Norm took over the management in 1964 and ran it for almost 30 years.
Ruth Hayashi (Separation, Not Oxford Street, Hazukashii)
Ruth grew up on the Berkeley estate called “Cedars,” where her father worked as a chauffeur-gardener and her mother helped in the household. She was in the second grade at Topaz. After the War, she and her mother returned to Cedars, where her mother became her former employer’s caregiver. Ruth graduated from Berkeley High in 1951.
Jean Hibino (Letter to a Nisei Son)
Junzo’s letter was shared with us by his granddaughter–Yosh’s daughter, Jean Hibino. Jean is the Executive Secretary of the Nisei Student Relocation Commemorative Fund, a national scholarship program founded by a group of Nisei in New England, including Jean’s parents, Yosh and Nobu Hibino. The founders were able to leave the WWII concentration camps to complete their college educations with the help of the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council. In the spirit of ongaeshi (repaying a kindness), they committed to “pay it forward” to students in overlooked and underserved communities.
Kimi Hill (Harold’s Excuse)
Kimi was born in Berkeley, CA in 1955, and is the family historian for her grandfather, Chiura Obata.She received her BA in Visual Design from the University of California. She is the consultant on numerous exhibits of Obata’s art and has lectured for the National Park Service, the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco and the Topaz Museum. She is a founding member of the Friends of Topaz Committee.
Jonathan Hirabayashi (The Proposal, Ties That Bind)
Jonathan was born in 1946 in American Fork, UT. His parents, Toby and Sugar, farmed and later opened a produce store near Pleasant Grove before returning to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1956. Jon graduated from UC Davis, served in the Army, and got an art degree from Cal State Hayward. He worked as a graphic designer at the Oakland Museum before establishing his own business as an exhibit designer and fabricator. He volunteers as the Topaz Stories Project’s exhibit designer and lives with his wife, Susan Kai, in Oakland, CA.
Nancy Hirabayashi (Alternating Currents)
Nancy was born in Cotati, CA in 1939. Her family was relocated to Merced, CA before being sent to Amache, CO. After the War, they returned to the family egg ranch that had been entrusted to the care of a friend. Nancy met her future husband, Irvin, at a Buddhist Church mixer. They married in 1959, moved to South San Francisco, and raised two daughters. Nancy worked for JFC International until retiring at the age of 72.
Dan Hirano (Father and Son)
Dan’s family was “relocated” from Berkeley to Tanforan, CA; then to Topaz, UT, where Dan was born in 1942. The Hiranos were one of the last families to leave Topaz in 1945 and settled in San Francisco’s Japantown, where they lived until moving to Berkeley in 1951. Dan received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Oregon and practiced as an architect until retirement. He has been happily married to Colleen Chun for 50 years.
Suzanne Hitomi (Bank Alley)
Suzanne is a Sansei, born in 1946. She attended Oakland High School and majored in art photography and elementary education at San Francisco State University. After retiring from a long career with the Federal Government and U.S. Postal Service, she started taking writing classes at Berkeley City College and J-Sei, focusing on poetry. Her poems have been published in local papers. She lives in Alameda near ‘Bank Alley.’
Tracy Takayanagi Hui (Toddy’s Story)
Tracy was born and raised in Berkeley, CA in the early ‘60s. An Asian Studies program in the 4th grade made her realize she was third-generation Japanese American. She continued her Asian Studies at San Francisco State University and volunteered at Friends of Topaz events because her grandparents and parents were interned in Topaz. She worked in retail until retirement and currently lives in San Francisco.
Ann Akiyama Ichiyasu (Ann’s Letter)
Ann was born in Los Altos, CA in 1915 and grew up in Berkeley. She was 26 years old and a young mother of two children when her family was incarcerated in Tanforan Assembly Center. Her father, Jirozo Akiyama, died in Tanforan before the family was transferred to Topaz. Ann returned to Berkeley after the War and had a long career working for the Federal Government as a personnel manager at the Oakland Army Base and Fort Mason. She passed away in 1996. In 1942, she wrote to a Berkeley friend of the forced removal and life in Tanforan and Topaz–a letter which, miraculously, survived through the years and was returned to her daughter, Diane, by Ann’s friend’s daughter decades later. Diane shared the letter with us and donated the original to the Topaz Museum in 2021.
Annie Inouye (Annie Remembers)
Annie Matsumoto Inouye was born in San Francisco in 1934. She was seven years old when her family was sent to Tanforan and Topaz. On leaving Topaz, they ended up in Richmond, CA, where the family lived in public housing. Annie graduated from El Cerrito High School and worked at UC Extension in Berkeley. In 2016 Annie’s nephew, Mark Inouye, first trumpeter for the SF Symphony, gave a benefit performance in support of the Topaz Museum.
Kazuko Oyamada Iwahashi (Questions I Never Asked Mom)
Kaz was born in Berkeley, CA and incarcerated with her family in Tanforan and Topaz from ages 12-15. Her junior high years were spent in Topaz. She returned to Berkeley and started Berkeley High in September 1945. Kaz became a registered nurse, working for San Francisco and Oakland Kaiser until retirement. She and her husband Mike raised four children. She has been exploring her past through writing classes for over ten years.
Roy Iwata (Pride, Uprooted, Brownie, Sweet Tooth, Visit to a Civics Class)
Roy Taichi Iwata was 12 when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. Roy’s family was sent to Walerga Assembly Center in Sacramento; then Tule Lake, CA; and finally, Topaz, UT in 1943. After the War, the Iwatas returned to Sacramento. Roy finished high school and joined the Army. While stationed in Japan, he married. The Iwatas settled in Sacramento and raised four children, celebrating almost 60 years of marriage. His memoir was shared with us by his daughter, Nancy Roskoff.
David Izu (In the Shape of a Heart, Doll With Eight Band Aids, Father’s Day)
David Izu is a San Francisco Bay Area-based artist. His mother was incarcerated at Poston, AZ; his father escaped imprisonment in a family caravan to Utah, where he was drafted to serve in the U.S. Army in Europe. Dave has taught at Stanford, UC Berkeley, the SF Art Institute and the California College of the Arts. His work is in the permanent collection at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art as well as other institutions.
Cynthia Kami, Diane Kami, Carolyn Loughlin (The Dedicated Dentist)
Dr. Carl and Uta Hirota have three granddaughters and six grandchildren. His granddaughters shared this story. Cynthia continues her grandfather’s dental practice in San Francisco. Diane teaches middle school in Los Angeles and Carolyn does photography and volunteers at a music Academy in Massachusetts. They are pictured here with their mother, Joyce.
Frank Kami (Frank and Miyoko, Babe)
Frank Kami was born and raised in Berkeley until his family’s removal to Tanforan, and later, Topaz. He graduated from Topaz High in 1943 and was drafted and sent to Germany just as the War ended. He went to UC Berkeley and dental school at Marquette University in Wisconsin. He and his wife Miyoko then returned to Berkeley, where they raised two sons. Frank, a long-time supporter of the Topaz Museum, served as a barracks consultant for the exhibit.
Eugenia (“Jeanie”) Takagi Kashima (Topaz Birth)
After camp, Jeanie returned to Berkeley with her family. She later earned a BA from SF State University and an MA from San Diego State University. She married the late Tetsuyo Kashima and raised two children. Jeanie was a Resource Specialist in Learning Handicapped for the San Diego Unified schools. She is retired and lives in San Diego.
Emiko Katsumoto (Mystery at Topaz)
Emiko Endo Katsumoto was born in Salt Lake City in 1944, and grew up in Oakland. She graduated from UC Berkeley in 1965 in Public Health Microbiology. She has been affiliated with Daruma no Gakko for many years and has been co-leading sing sessions at J-Sei. She and Kiyoshi live in El Cerrito and celebrated their 50th in 2018; they have two children and one granddaughter.
Kiyoshi Katsumoto was born in Decoto in 1936, and returned there after the war ended. After graduating from Washington High in 1953 he helped oversee his family’s farm, eventually enrolling in San Jose State University and receiving his PhD. in chemistry from UC Berkeley. He retired from Chevron in 1997. He led a memorable family pilgrimage to Topaz in 2018.
Tom Kawakami (Better Than Crystal City)
Tom was born in Salt Lake City, UT. His father worked in the coal mines of Utah, became the manager of the Japanese labor camp, and later, owned a restaurant in Salt Lake City. As Utah residents, Tom’s family was not incarcerated during WWII; but he remembers playing basketball against “a bunch of Topaz Nisei” (second generation) in high school. After serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, Tom settled in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he met his wife, Hana Abe. Tom passed away in 2024.
Yoneo Kawakita (Pomp and Circumstance, Topaz Trucker)
“Yon” grew up in San Mateo, CA, where his father worked for the Leslie Salt Company. He was a senior at San Mateo High School when the internment order came through, and missed his graduation. He was incarcerated in Tanforan and Topaz before joining the military. He and his wife Yoriko settled in San Mateo after the War. Yon passed away in 2021.
Kerrily Kitano (Adopted by Quakers)
Kerrily grew up in Los Angeles. Her parents, Harry H.L Kitano (professor, UCLA) and Yuriko Lillian Miyachi (registered nurse), were both interned at Topaz as young teens. Like her dad, Kerrily became a social scientist (PhD, MSW, UC Berkeley), researching HIV/AIDS and substance abuse issues among Asian/Pacific Islanders, and is currently training as a hospital and hospice chaplain through the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband Matt and son Conor.
Mia Kodani (The Topaz Poppy Poetry Club)
Textile artist Mia Kodani, Chiura Obata’s granddaughter, and other Obata relatives visit Koho whenever they are in New York City. Mia attended UC Berkeley and Cranbrook Academy of Art for an MFA. Her large commissioned art works can be seen at many public places in the San Francisco Bay Area. Mia is a founding member of the Friends of Topaz Committee.
Artist and poet Koho Yamamoto was born in San Francisco. She was introduced to sumi-e (Japanese brush painting) by Professor Chiura Obata at Topaz Art School—“one of her most memorable experiences.” Her art name “Koho” means Red Harbor and is derived from Obata’s art name in recognition of her talent and spiritual succession to teach the art of sumi-e. She continues to teach and create art in New York at age 99. In 2021, an exhibition of her works (Koho Yamamoto: Under a Dark Moon) appeared at the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum in New York.
Ibuki Hibi Lee (Young Artist)
Ibuki Hibi was born in 1937 in Oakland, CA. Her parents, George Matsusaburo and Hisako Hibi, were both fine artists. Her family was evacuated to Tanforan horse stalls in May 1942 and then to Topaz. After the War, they relocated to New York City. Ibuki’s father died of cancer in 1947. Ibuki attended college in California, then returned to New York to work, married, and eventually had five children. Ibuki is retired and lives in California.
Harue Hirai Minamoto (Forced Removal, Tanforan, First Winter in Topaz, Dust-up in the Desert, The Aftermath)
Harue Hirai was born in Oakland, CA in 1916. A graduate of Oakland Technical High School, she completed bookkeeping and secretarial courses at Merritt Business School and was hired by the U.S. Department of Immigration and Naturalization Services in 1937. After Executive Order 9066 was issued, she was forced to resign. She married Toshiro Minamoto in February 1942, shortly before they were incarcerated in Tanforan. Two of her three children were born in Topaz. Sponsored by a Quaker family, the Minamotos resettled in Philadelphia in 1944; but when Tosh was drafted in 1945, Harue and the children returned to Oakland. Harue often spoke of the injustices of incarceration to her children and grandchildren and never hesitated to inform others of what EO 9066 did to American citizens. She passed away in 1999. Her story was shared with us by her family: Melyssa Minamoto, Gay Kaplan, John Minamoto, Ed Minamoto and their children.
Meri Mitsuyoshi (Untitled by Saburo Tamura)
Meri’s father and mother were relocated to Tanforan and Topaz from the farming and chrysanthemum-growing communities in Irvington and Redwood City, CA. Meri graduated from UC Berkeley, where she earned a degree in Electrical Engineering. While working in Silicon Valley, she drummed with San Jose Taiko, and has recently embarked on a second career as a psychotherapist. Meri lives in San Jose with her husband, Mark Gonnerman, and their cats, Tabi and Sujata.
Michiko Takeshita Mukai (A Topaz Childhood)
Michiko was born in 1935 in San Mateo, CA. At the age of six, she, her seven siblings and parents were incarcerated in Tanforan Assembly Center, then Topaz in Utah and later, Tule Lake, CA. After the War, she returned to California and graduated from San Mateo High School. She worked for Pacific Bell, then married and had two sons. She worked as a teachers’ aid in the San Mateo Elementary School District for 14 years. Her grandchildren are now grown, but she still dog-sits their “babies.”
Shirley Muramoto (Desert Winds and Strings)
Shirley Muramoto is a koto musician, teacher, band leader and filmmaker. She grew up in Oakland, CA after the War. She received her instructor’s license (1976) and master’s degree (2000) from the Chikushi School in Fukuoka, Japan. She was the Creative Director of the 2014 documentary, “Hidden Legacy: Japanese Traditional Performing Arts in the WWII Internment Camps.” In 2012 Shirley was honored by the Hokka Nichibei Kai Japanese American Cultural Association of America by being inducted into the Bunka Hall of Fame for her life-long dedication to teaching and performing on the Japanese koto.
Gail Hoshiyama Nanbu (What is an American?, The Quality Market, Scotties)
Gail was born in Chicago, IL in 1944, where her parents, Willie and Fumiko Hoshiyama, were married after an early exit from Topaz. The family returned to San Francisco in 1949, but Gail has lived in Walnut Creek, CA for many years. She and her husband, Gerry Nanbu, love to travel, especially to Japan. Gail enjoys Ikebana and making Kimekomi dolls while still helping clients with their tax issues as an enrolled agent.
Joseph Nishimura (Leaving Topaz)
Joseph Nishimura was born in Berkeley, CA, where his father was the pastor of the Berkeley Free Methodist Church, which he founded. The Nishimura family of six was interned in Tanforan and Topaz, but resettled in New York City in 1944. Returning to Berkeley in 1945, Joe’s father resumed his ministry and Joe went to Berkeley High School. He graduated from Princeton, served in the U.S. Navy, got an MBA from Stanford, and had a successful career in business and financial management until retirement. Joe and his wife, Joyce, live in Palo Alto.
Setsuko Asano Ogami (The Topaz Japanese Library)
Sets was born and raised in San Francisco until her family was sent to Tanforan and Topaz. After the War, she returned to San Francisco and graduated from George Washington High School and UC Berkeley. She then spent one year in Chicago and met her husband, Sam. They were married in SF and moved to San Mateo, CA, where they raised four children. Sets worked as a medical transcriptionist and Registrar of Mills High School in Millbrae, CA until retirement.
Ruth Sasaki (Left Behind, Good Friends, Journey and Arrival, A Telegram to Topaz, Structuring Chaos, Life Goes On, The Other Stories, Venturing Out, Kiyo’s Story, The Oda Boys, Go For Broke, Two Camps)
Ruth was born and raised in San Francisco after the War. The Takahashis, her mother’s family, were incarcerated in Tanforan and Topaz. A graduate of UC Berkeley (BA) and SF State (MA), she has lived in England and Japan. Her short story “The Loom” won the American Japanese National Literary Award, and her collection, The Loom and Other Stories, was published in 1991 by Graywolf Press. She shares her more recent writing via her website: www.rasasaki.com. Ruth volunteers as the editor and curator of the Topaz Stories Project.
Patricia Shiono (The Honeymoon)
Born and raised in San Francisco, Pat Shiono was active in the vibrant Japantown community as a member of the Girl Scouts and Buddhist Temple. Pat received an AA degree from San Francisco City College and a BS, MS and PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Hawaii. She worked at the National Institutes of Health as a perinatal epidemiologist, then became a founding member of the Packard Foundation’s Center for the Future of Children. After retiring, Pat helped create Kokoro Assisted Living in Japantown and worked to obtain National Historic Landmark status and National Park Service management for the Tule Lake Segregation Center. Pat is an avid golfer and cooks Nisei style Japanese dishes the way her mother and grandmother taught her.
Eugene Takei (Test case)
Gene was born Mamoru Sasaki in 1921 in Colusa, CA. He was adopted by the Takei family in 1925. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on December 22, 1941, and spent the war years with the OSS in Burma, monitoring Japanese ships for General Frank Merrill. After the War, he graduated from Macalester College in Minnesota and had a long career in the marketing and sales of art materials. He raised a family in Richmond, CA and passed away in 2005. His story was contributed by his daughter, Dawn Ishisaki, , with an assist from her siblings, Kevin Takei, Dina Kanaya, and Tonia Kramp.
Ben Takeshita (A Star is Born)
Ben Takeshita was born in Alameda, CA, but grew up in San Mateo, where his father ran the family landscape gardening business. The family was sent to Topaz, but was later transferred to Tule Lake. After the War, Ben graduated from San Mateo High School, then served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. With a degree from UC Berkeley, he worked for the State Department of Employment until retirement. He lives in Richmond, CA with his wife Fumiko.
Grace Mori Saito Tom (December 7, Oakland to Tanforan, On to Topaz, “Romance”, Homesick, Winter Sports, Resettlement)
Grace grew up in Chinatown in Oakland, CA. She was 11 and attending Lincoln Elementary School when Pearl Harbor was attacked. The family was sent to Tanforan and later, Topaz. After the War, Grace’s family was among the last to leave Topaz, having nowhere to go. They returned to the San Francisco Bay Area, where the family lived in one room at a church hostel. Grace wrote her memoir in 1999 and passed away the same year.
Yae Wada (The Band’s Visit)
Yae grew up in Berkeley and Oakland, CA and operated a beauty salon before the war. She was 23 when she was incarcerated in Tanforan. From Topaz, she and her husband resettled in Cleveland. Yae returned to the East Bay after the War. In March 2019, Yae attended San Mateo High School’s Day of Remembrance to express gratitude for an act of kindness by its war-time faculty and band members. In 2019, Yae was interviewed as part of an article on the Topaz Stories Exhibit at J-Sei in Emeryville, CA. You can read the article here. Yae passed away in 2023 at the age of 103.
Cynthia Wright (The Lost Sketches of Topaz)
Cynthia was born in Southern California and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. She worked in high tech for 15 years until moving to Salt Lake City, Utah with her husband Joe in 2005. They have three daughters. Cynthia became interested in learning more about her grandparents’ history at Topaz after coming across a Topaz Story on Instagram that sparked her curiosity, having only vaguely known about Topaz. She has since spent the past two years researching and learning about the history in order to preserve and share the story.
Doris Yamada Yagi (Swept Away)
Doris Yagi was born in 1932 in Sacramento, CA, and was incarcerated with her family at Marysville Assembly Center, Tule Lake, and Topaz. She graduated from Manual High School in Denver, CO and attended the University of Denver, studying music. She and her late husband Donald raised four children in suburban Denver, where she still resides today.
Kenneth Yamashita (Kibei Cowboy, Kiku’s Angel)
Kenneth Akira Yamashita was born in Topaz on 9/11/45. His father, Susumu, was granted “unofficial” leave in New York City in June 1945 while his mother, Kiyoko Kitano Yamashita, grandmother and aunts remained in camp. He rejoined the family in Berkeley in December 1945. Ken grew up in New Jersey and received a BA and MLIS from Rutgers—The State University of NJ and a PhD from Simmons University in Boston. He retired from a 40-year career in public libraries in 2010.
Jon Yatabe (Toy Story, Two Camps, The Wizard of Provo, The Winds of Topaz, The Jungle Gym, Escaping Topaz, The End and the Beginning)
Jon was born in Berkeley in 1937 and grew up in Redwood City, CA, where his father, Tak Yatabe, grew flowers. From Topaz, his father joined the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and fought in Europe. The Yatabes settled in Berkeley after the War. Jon graduated from UC Berkeley and received a PhD from the University of Illinois. After a long career in Washington and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, he retired and divides his time between Alaska and Colorado (where he loves spending time with his grandchildren).
Yaeko Kami Yedlosky (A Family Divided, Friends Forever)
Yae was born and raised in Berkeley. Her family was in Tanforan and later, Topaz. She graduated junior high in Topaz in 1945. The family returned to Berkeley after the War, and their home served as a hostel for returning internees. After graduating Berkeley High and Armstrong Business College, Yae worked for a research station as a secretary and later, administrator. She currently resides in Oakland, CA.
Carol Yoshimoto (Galvanized Buckets, Koi)
Carol was born after the War in Berkeley, CA. Her grandfather, Hikojiro Mabuchi, was a master carpenter who helped design and build many of the East Bay’s pre-War nurseries. Her family operated Contra Costa Florist in El Cerrito, CA for many years. Carol has an MA in classical Japanese literature from UC Berkeley and a JD from Hastings College of the Law.
Diane Yuen (Exit From Tanforan)
Diane Takahashi Yuen was born in San Francisco after the War, along with her siblings Steve, Lynn and Todd. They were raised in Richmond, CA, near the pharmacy in San Pablo that their dad, Kazuo Takahashi, purchased.
They all live in the East Bay or Sacramento area and are retired: Steve, from his job as head of estimating & sales for a commercial mechanical construction company in Lafayette; Diane from her job of 20 years as an elementary school secretary in Roseville; Lynn from executive special assistant/marketing for the Sacramento Kings after supporting Steve Jobs at General Magic, NeXT, and Apple; and Todd from 40 years as a pharmacist at Kaiser Roseville.