December 11, 2021: Bank Alley

WWII dealt a harsh blow to Japanese American communities in the Western States. Today, only three Japantowns remain in the entire country: in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Jose. 

This week Topaz Stories brings you a poem by Alameda poet Suzanne Hitomi, whose parents, Toichi and Tomoye Hitomi, were interned in the Fresno Assembly Center, but later transferred to Topaz. Suzanne lives near the “Bank Alley” neighborhood that used to be Alameda’s Japantown.

Toichi "Tad" and Tomoye Hitomi in Fresno, May 1942.
Toichi (“Tad”) and Tomoye Hitomi in Fresno, May 1942. Image courtesy of Suzanne Hitomi

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