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.
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.