The Berkeley Historical Society’s “Here Lived” map reveals a thriving Japanese American community in Berkeley before World War II. The attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, and the issuance of Executive Order 9066 on Feb. 19, 1942, led to the forced removal of the entire population of Japanese Americans in Berkeley, most to a concentration camp in Topaz, UT. A long-established community was obliterated.
When the war ended in 1945, where did Japanese Americans go?
Join Ruth Sasaki, editor of the Topaz Stories Project, and Topaz survivors and descendants Kazuko Iwahashi, Joseph Nishimura, Kenneth Yamashita, Gay Kaplan and Sandra Yagi, who will share stories of what happened to their families “After the War.”
When: Sunday, March 30, 2025, 2-3:30 pm. (Doors open at 1 pm to allow visitors to see the exhibit, “Roots, Removal, and Resistance: Japanese Americans in Berkeley.”
Where: Berkeley Historical Center Auditorium, 1931 Center St., Berkeley, CA (about two blocks from the Downtown Berkeley BART station).
You can register for the event here.
Other news: Our traveling exhibit was covered by ABC4 News Utah on the Day of Remembrance. Watch the segment here. We were also mentioned in Holly Richardson’s Feb. 26 opinion piece, “Utah Once Said ‘Never Again’–Do We Mean It?” in Deseret News, as well as Fanny Felixine’s piece in the SUU News: “Topaz Stories Exhibition: A Way to Remember the Past.” Thanks to all involved for helping us share the stories!
The Topaz Stories Team
Contact us if you have a Topaz Story to share.
Follow us on Instagram @topazstories
Media Coverage:
Watch “Utah Historians Run Exhibit on Japanese American Internment,” abc4 News, 2/19/2025).
Read “Utah Once Said ‘Never Again’–Do We Mean It? Deseret News, (2/26/2025).
Read “Topaz Stories Exhibition: A Way to Remember the Past.” SUU News, 2/7/2025.
Read ‘Topaz Stories’ exhibit travels Utah showing human side of WWII internment (KSL.com, May 24, 2024)
Read ‘Topaz Stories’ mines the history of a Japanese American internment camp (ParkRecord, May 18, 2024)
Read Remembering Japanese American Internment–Day of Remembrance (Rosie the Riveter Trust blog, March 24, 2024)
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)