What is an American?
Ide Osako Yaki became an American citizen on December 5, 1955, three years after the McCarran-Walter Act enabled foreign-born Asians to become citizens for the first time. She had been in the U.S. for 44 years by that time.
But it’s not just a piece of paper that makes someone an American.
Born into a samurai family in Japan, Ide had an arranged marriage at 18 and came to the U.S. to join her husband. Like many immigrants before and since, on her arrival, she found the reality of life in America to be much harsher than portrayed to those back home. Despite her privileged upbringing, Ide worked hard, raised a family, and when given the opportunity to bring her only son back to Japan on one of the last ships sailing before the War, she refused to leave her husband and daughters behind.
Instead, the family was incarcerated in Tanforan and Topaz, where Ide suffered the humiliating lack of privacy and being ostracized as the mother of a U.S. Army volunteer (her son George).
Gail Hoshiyama Nanbu tells her “Grandma Yaki”’s story. Read “What is an American?”
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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)