If you were a young man incarcerated at a race track surrounded by barbed wire, and you were offered an opportunity for a chauffeured ride into the heart of San Francisco for a few hours, would you take it?
“Hell, yes!” That was Min Tamaki’s reply.
Min was in his last year of Pharmacy School at the University of California when Japanese Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area were removed from their homes and incarcerated at Tanforan Race Track before final exams.
Offered the opportunity to leave camp for a few hours to take the exam in San Francisco, Min jumped at the chance.
Read Ann Tamaki Dion’s story, “Min’s Decision,” on our website to find out what he did with his few hours of freedom.
The Topaz Stories Team
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Media Coverage:
Read Internee’s story told with ‘Topaz Collages’ (Wheel of Dharma, Vol. 5, Issue 3, March 2023).
Watch Topaz survivors tell their stories (abc4 news, 4/22/2022)
Listen to the “In the Hive” podcast with interviews with Ann Dion, Jonathan Hirabayashi, and Topaz survivors Jeanie Kashima and Joseph Nishimura (KCPW, 4/28/2022)
Read How a Utah exhibit about Topaz Camp looks to find empathy in ‘an ugly stain on American history (ksl.com, 4/22/2022)
Read “Topaz Stories rise from the dust,” (Department of Culture & Community Engagement, 4/2022)
Listen to KQED Forum, Day of Remembrance interview with Ruth Sasaki, 2/15/2022
Listen to Max Chang and Ruth Sasaki interviewed (KRCL RadioActive, 2/9/2022
Read On Topaz Stories and ‘Authentic Voice’, the Discover Nikkei interview with Ruth Sasaki (10/14/2022)
Listen to Remembering the Japanese American Incarceration, the Topaz Stories podcast with Ruth Sasaki and Jonathan Hirabayashi (6/2/2021)