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 Endo Katsumoto (Mystery at Topaz)
Emiko 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.