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.
Tamesuke Harada (Horses, Shadow, Moon)
Tamesuke (poet name “Senba”) (1889-1968) was born in Fukuoka
Prefecture, Japan. He was a student of free-style haiku poetry
founded by Ogiwara Seisensui. Incarcerated in Topaz during
WWII, he was a member of the Topaz Poppy Poetry Club. Some of
his free-style poems have been preserved and translated by his
stepson, Taneyuki (Dan) Harada. Unfortunately, after Dan passed away we were unable to get permission to include his stepfather’s poetry on our website.
Taneyuki (Dan) Harada (The M.P. Building — Topaz)
Dan was born in Los Angeles in 1923. Between 1931-1938, he lived in Fukuoka, Japan with his grandparents. He returned to Oakland, California in 1938 and was incarcerated in Tanforan and Topaz with his mother and stepfather. There, he attended art school and studied with Matsusaburo Hibi. After five months in Leupp Isolation Center in Arizona, he was transferred to Tule Lake. After the war, Dan studied at the California College of Arts and Crafts. His works are in the permanent collections of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Autry Museum of Western Heritage, and were featured in the Japanese American National Museum exhibit “The View from Within: Japanese American Art from the Internment Camps, 1942-1945.” Dan passed away in 2020. Unfortunately, after Dan passed away we were unable to get permission to include his story on our website.
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, Marbles and Memories)
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, It Could Have Been Delight)
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.’
Yoko Matsuura Honda (Town Hall)
Yoko was born in 1952. Yoko attended City College of San Francisco, UC Berkeley and UCSF School of Pharmacy. After graduating, she married her classmate Dennis Honda and settled in the East Bay, working 40 years as a hospital pharmacist at John Muir Health. After her two daughters were born, Yoko continued part-time work while raising her family. Now retired, she treasures time with her granddaughter and enjoys vegan baking, puzzles and LEGO®.
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.