On Fathers’ Day, we feature Tracy Takayanagi Hui’s remembrance of her father, Tadao, or “Toddy.”
Toddy’s grew up in West Berkeley, where his family had a nursery business. Forced to drop out of U.C. Berkeley in the spring of 1942, Toddy ended up in Topaz with his family, where he worked for a while as an ambulance driver.
Eager to get out of camp, Toddy found work as a busboy in Salt Lake City before moving to Ann Arbor, where he worked as a butcher. From there, he and a group of friends from Topaz enlisted in the U.S. Army.
Toddy eventually found himself in India, working for the OSS (Office of Strategic Services), the precursor to the CIA.
From incarceration to OSS agent, Toddy was well acquainted with life’s ironies and gave sage advice to his daughter. Read “Toddy’s Story” by Tracy Takayanagi Hui.
Two announcements:
Author seeks descendants of Issei for book
Paul Richter, L.A. Times journalist and author, is seeking family lore about Issei for an upcoming book. He is especially interested in the first two decades of the 20th century and the discrimination faced by the immigrant generation. Particular areas of interest are:
- The early decades in San Francisco, including how the newly-arrived families dealt with the anti-immigrant tensions.
- The controversy over the segregation of San Francisco schools in 1906. He’s especially interested in how that looked from the personal perspective of the Nisei schoolchildren, their parents, and other Issei who were involved. Among the schoolchildren was Kazue Togasaki, who became a prominent physician in the city. He hopes to find a way to get in touch with her family.
- Kyutaro Abiko, the businessman, activist and publisher of the NichiBei Shimbun. Abiko was so important to the community over the years. Richter is eager to find whatever he can about Abiko’s personal life, the newspaper and his activities.
If you can provide any stories or information, please contact Paul Richter at goldenlandbook@gmail.com.
For more information about Paul and his project, read this article from the Pacific Citizen.
Ireicho exhibit extended
The Japanese American National Museum has extended the ireicho exhibit through the end of 2024, so those of you who have not yet made the trip to stamp your family’s names have plenty of time to plan a trip! Make your reservations here.
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)