by Ann Tamaki Dion and Ken Yamashita
“Although Kiku was aware that he was suddenly living with his relatives in a strange new place, he did not know why.”
Kiku was only eight years old when he and his family were ordered to leave their home and imprisoned in Tanforan Assembly Center in 1942. They were subsequently moved to the Topaz Internment Camp.
Although Kiku was aware that he was suddenly living with his relatives in a strange new place, he did not know why. It’s possible he thought he was on “vacation”; Topaz seemed like an exciting adventure to a youngster who loved the outdoors and relished finding creepy crawly things which were abundant in his new desert surroundings.
He enjoyed sticking horny toads onto his Grandma Tomi’s window screens to “surprise” her and brought four lizards to school one day (to the delight or disgust of his Japanese American classmates). Every night before he went to bed, his mother Chizu routinely emptied his pockets, often filled with live creatures: a lizard, toad or centipede. Chizu was happy that Kiku seemed to be adjusting well. She wanted him to feel secure despite her own sense of loss and fear.
Then one night as she was tucking him into his Army cot in their one-room barrack, Kiku looked up at her and abruptly announced, “I’ve had a really good time here, but now I’m ready to go home!” Chizu felt tears well up in her eyes. “Oh no,” she thought, “I knew this was going to happen eventually…now what do I tell him?”
“We can’t go home just yet,” she said gently while looking into his expectant eyes, hoping to soothe his anxieties.
“Why not?” he pressed. Chizu had to smile. Her boy was not one to be put off.
“Some people don’t think we’re Americans. They look at us and only see our Japanese faces,” she tried to explain.
“But I’m an American. I salute the flag every day in Miss Yamauchi’s class,” he declared proudly.
“Yes, I know,” she grinned at her little rascal and hugged him close. “I’m sure we’ll go home before too long,” she promised. “Now, go to bed and don’t worry. I love you!”
But when snow fell in Topaz, they were still there.
In Miss Yamauchi’s class, the children drew pictures to celebrate the holidays. Kiku drew a Christmas angel to bring “home” to share with his family. When he proudly unveiled his art work, Chizu smiled and clapped her hands with glee.
“Kiku,” she laughed, “I love your angel!”
The little black-haired angel appeared on the Kitow family Christmas tree every year from 1943 to 1997 until Chizu passed away in 1998.
About the contributors: Ann Tamaki Dion and Ken Yamashita are cousins. Ann’s parents, Min Tamaki and Iyo Yamashita, were married in Topaz in 1943. Ann was born in 1948 in Massachusetts, where her father served as an Army pharmacist. After the War, the family returned to California. Ann grew up in Oakland and received a BA and teaching credential from UC Berkeley. She taught in the Oakland Public Schools before she retired. Ann was one of the founders of the Friends of the Topaz Museum.
Kenneth Akira Yamashita was born in Topaz on 9/11/45. His father, Susumu, was on leave in New York City while his mother, Kiyoko Kitano Yamashita, grandmother and aunts remained in camp. Ken grew up in New Jersey and received a BA and MLIS from Rutgers—The State University of NJ and a PhD from Simmons University in Boston. He retired from a 40-year career in public libraries in 2010.
Copyright 2019, Ann Tamaki Dion and Kenneth Yamashita. All rights reserved.
Kiku was a best friend to my husband and me for the last 30 years of his life. He shared so many memories, including those of Topaz. A post script on “Genga” his Christmas angel: his mother asked why she had dark hair instead of golden like so many pictures of angels. He explained to her that his angel was like all the girls that lived in Topaz, and therefore should have the same black straight hair. Ed never held a grudge against the US where he’d been born. He served a long career in the US Air Force, and retired as a Lt. Colonel. He and his parents were great Americans.
Thank you for sharing your memories of Kiku, Jane. It always enriches a story to learn something of the people in other aspects of their lives, outside of the Topaz experience.