Exit From Tanforan

by Diane Yuen

…by signing their names, (they) sent a message for the ages: “We were here.”

It’s just the kind of thing that a quietly mischievous 17-year-old might do: steal a sign and get all his friends to sign it.

Except that this 17-year-old, Kazuo Takahashi, was in a detention center, about to be transferred to a concentration camp in the Utah desert. 

Pencil drawing by Kenneth Iyeki of Tanforan Mess Hall 8 and surrounding barracks.
Illustration of Tanforan Mess Hall 8 by Kenneth Iyeki, May 29, 1942. Courtesy of the Kenneth Nobuji Iyeki Collection, Densho. Licensed under cc by-NC-SA 4.0.

Just a few months earlier, Kaz had been a high-school kid in San Francisco. His father, Yonezo, and uncle, Shigetaro, had a store on Grant Avenue. His mother and two sisters were in Japan, visiting relatives.

With FDR’s signing of Executive Order 9066, Kaz and his dad were incarcerated in Tanforan Assembly Center with his uncle’s family along with thousands of other Bay Area Japanese Americans, where they spent over five months while “permanent” camps were built in remote areas inland. Kaz’s mother and sisters were trapped in Japan, unable to return to the US.

On his last day at the so-called assembly center, in an ironic act commemorating his exit from Tanforan, Kaz took down the cardboard “Exit” sign over the mess hall and had his friends sign it.

Cardboard sign reads "EXIT" in large letters. Signed by more than 50 people.
“Exit” sign from the Tanforan mess hall, signed by more than 50 friends. (Ruth Sasaki) Courtesy of the Takahashi family and the Topaz Museum.

It was a kind of incarceration high-school yearbook.

Kaz collected over 50 signatures from friends with nicknames like “Spider” and “Fido,” not counting a few that were illegible or written in Japanese. “Messmate Walt” trusted that Kaz would remember him, and left off his surname. Frank Kami wished Kaz “Lots of luck”—upside down.

In Topaz, Kaz and his dad would be part of the Takahashi family unit, residing next to his uncle, aunt and three cousins in Block 4, sharing the apartment with Eddie Oda (an orphan who had been adopted by his uncle’s family) and Takio Yokoyama, a family friend. 

Kaz would graduate from Topaz High School in 1943 and enlist in the U.S. Army, Military Intelligence Services Division, where he worked for the CIC (Counter Intelligence Corps), translating and reading Japanese propaganda designed to counter the establishment of democracy in postwar Japan. 

Kaz Takahashi in U.S. Army uniform with cousin Shigeharu and two Japanese men at a train station in postwar Japan.
Kaz Takahashi in uniform at a train station in postwar Japan. Cousin Shigeharu is in front.
Kaz Takahashi and Fusa Uyemura get married in the 1950s.
Kaz marries Fusa Uyemura in the 1950s.

Stationed in Japan after the War, he was able to get passports so that his mother and sisters could return to the US. He returned to California after completing his military service and went to UC Berkeley on the GI Bill, becoming a pharmacist. He married Fusako Uyemura, and they raised a family and opened their own drugstore in 1961. 

Kaz loved fishing, traveling, and camping. In 1977 he suffered a sudden heart attack while en route to one of his favorite fishing spots, and passed away.

Postage stamp depicting a Japanese American soldier from WWII, with the motto of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, "Go For Broke."
U.S. Postal Service stamp honoring Japanese American soldiers of WWII.

His widow, Fusa Takahashi, an Amache survivor, would live another 45 years, running the business and raising four children. She would be one of the three Japanese American women who fought for 15 years to get the Nisei Soldier stamp approved and issued by the U.S. Post Office. 

Because Kaz died so young, his children did not have time to ask all the questions that would arise when the stories of World War II began to come out. 

But he kept that Tanforan exit sign–a treasured token of his 17-year-old self and his displaced but resilient community of friends who, by signing their names, sent a message for the ages: “We were here.” 

If you knew and remember Kaz, please share your memories in the “comments” section below; his family would love to hear them! 

Here is a partial list of people who signed Kaz’s “Exit” sign, with approximate location. Signatures that were illegible or written in Japanese are not included:

  1. Akio (Kimura?)  (bottom left corner)
  2. Bob Kato (bottom left corner, upside down)
  3. Dorothy Okada (top edge, center)
  4. “Fido” Obayashi (under “I”)
  5. Frank Kami  (under the “E”, upside down: “Lots of luck, Kaz — Frank Kami”)
  6. Geo. Katsumi Hashimoto  (superimposed on the “I”)
  7. Grace Iida (top edge, to right of “T”)
  8. Grace Shioya (?) (Shioga?) (upper left corner: “To Kaz, Very sincerely, Grace Shioga”)
  9. Gus Horita  (below Grace Iida)
  10. Harriet Kimura (under “E”)
  11. Haru Kaneko (over “X”)
  12. Hideko Maruyama (sideways along left side of “T”)
  13. Hiroshi Ehi….??  (bottom right)
  14. Ichiro Ota (left of “E”, between bottom 2 lines)
  15. Irene Kikuchi (under “E”)
  16. Ish Isokawa (over “E”)
  17. J. Furuzawa?  (left side, top 3 lines)
  18. Jack  (upside down, right, between bottom 2 lines)
  19. Jim Michio Matsuno (along right side of “X”, sideways)
  20. Joe Igarashi under “E”)
  21. Joe Yamagishi (?) (Yamanashi? Yamauchi?) (sideways, along left side of “I”)
  22. Jun Kitamura
  23. Kazue Imamura (?)  (upside down, bottom right)
  24. Kelly Koma(tsu?) (upside down, along bottom of top left stroke of “X”)
  25. Ken Kitamura (left side, below bottom line)
  26. Kimiyo Kiuchi (within “E”, between bottom and middle strokes)
  27. Kiyoshi Tatehara (under “T”)
  28. Leah Tokunaga (bottom edge, under “X”)
  29. Marian Iida (under “T”)
  30. Mary (Migami?)  (top edge, over “T”)
  31. Mary (Nakashige?)  (bottom right, right under bottom line)
  32. Masu Komatsu (between “E” and “X”)
  33. Messmate Walt (over “E”)
  34. Mits N.  (between two strokes of X, top)
  35. N. Hashiguchi (?)
  36. N. Hata (to right of “T”)
  37. Noboru  (on second stroke of “X”)
  38. Philip Igarashi (over “I”)
  39. Roy Kaneko (left side, bottom 3 lines)
  40. Rusty Kimura (superimposed on the “T”)
  41. S. (Haki? Isaki?) (over “T”)
  42. Sachi Takano (under “T”)
  43. “SETSU” (between the top and middle horizontal bars of the “E”)
  44. Sheen (?) Sakada (upper right)
  45. Shizue Kato (Top, between “E” and “X”)
  46. Spider (along left side of bottom left stroke of “X”)
  47. (Suenobu?) Yamasaki  (sideways, superimposed on back of “E”)
  48. Tad Yoshida (superimposed on bottom right leg of “X”)
  49. Takashi (Nakagawa?) (left edge, diagonal, first 3 lines)
  50. Tadashi Tanaka (sideways between “I” and “T”)
  51. Tom Oishi (inside “E”, between top and middle strokes)
  52. (Tony?) Kimura (sideways, left edge, bottom line)
  53. Yoshi Teramichi (Terumichi?) (bottom left corner)

If your / your family member’s name is on this list, let us know! You can “comment” below or use the “Contact” page to get in touch.

About the contributor: 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. 

Copyright 2022, Diane Yuen. All rights reserved.

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