In 1945 we were finally allowed to leave Topaz to return to our homes before the War. My father received a request from the War Relocation office, asking him to supervise a hostel service of the San Francisco Buddhist Church to temporarily house those who would be discharged from the camp. So in August 1945 we left the camp by private car for Delta, Utah and boarded the train for Salt Lake City. The next day we boarded another train, this time to San Francisco. Somehow I did not enjoy this trip too well. My mind, and I am sure my parents’ minds, were filled with fears of how our new life would be like in the city. How would we be treated? Would we be discriminated against? These were the questions that filled our minds. However, on the train everyone treated us kindly, and our fears were temporarily forgotten.
We got off the train at Oakland, California and took a ferry across the bay to San Francisco. As we boarded the ferry, all the wonderful memories of the prewar days came back to us. Especially those of the many times we rode the ferry to Treasure Island to see the World’s Fair.
At the Ferry Building in San Francisco we tried to find a cab to take us to the Buddhist church. The fears we had as we left Salt Lake City came back to us, for as soon as we mentioned the Buddhist church and the drivers noticed our names on the name tags on our luggage, they seemed to shy away. Father knew that it was because we were Japanese, but he did not say anything. We just stood there, holding our bags until one taxi driver came up to us and told us that he would be glad to take us to the church. We were naturally greatly thankful to this person. He restored our faith in human nature, and most importantly, in the United States.
An exhibition of Keisho Okayama’s works, “Solace in Painting: Reflecting on a Tumultuous Century,” will be held at the following locations in 2025:
— The Gallery at UTA, University of Texas at Arlington, Feb. 4-March 29, 2025
— UNO Gallery, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Sept. 2-Oct. 31, 2025
More resources about Keisho Okayama’s career in art:
Coleman, Fletcher, and Lippit, Yukio. “Keisho Okayama (1934-2018).” London: Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers, Ltd., 2025.
Coleman, Fletcher. “Solace in Painting: Reflecting on a Tumultuous Century” (Exhibit introduction). London: Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers, Ltd., 2025.
Coleman, Fletcher. “Solace in Painting? Diasporic Artists and the Market for Conflict.” Orientations Magazine, Vol. 56, No. 1, pp.78-81. Jan-Feb 2025.
Keisho Okayama. https://www.keishookayama.com/index.php. Accessed 2/3/2025.
About the contributor: Keisho Okayama was a painter who was born in 1934 in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. His father’s position as a Jodō Shinshu (Pure Land) Buddhist priest brought the family to California in 1936. The family was incarcerated in Tanforan and Topaz detention camps during WWII. Keisho studied art at UCLA in the 1950s and 1960s and taught part-time at the College of Creative Studies, UCSB; East Los Angeles College; and UCLA. Written when Keisho was in high school in the early 1950s, his memoir is a faithful account of his memories of being a young boy behind barbed wire. He and his wife, Lauren, were based in Los Angeles, where he passed away in 2018.
“Portrait of an Artist” was excerpted, with edits, from “Ancestry,” a memoir by Keisho Okayama. ©1952, Keisho Okayama. All rights reserved.
I am immeasurably pleased to see Topaz collecting details, stories and memorabilia about its former detainees. Keisho Okayama has always been a bright light in our family and community with his brand of grace, artistry, wisdom and love. He and his wife Lauren have been stalwarts in our family as they lived life to the fullest extent following their dreams. Keisho is able to breathe his light and life into hundreds of fantastic and intricate paintings that evoke the surroundings and his feelings over the years. What a rare treat you are providing with this story and Keisho’s and other folks’ artwork.
I enjoyed, deeply, your note on Keisho and Lauren. Having been dear friends
since the ‘Jefferson Blvd” days, I often felt as one of the family as Keisho and I had the deepest regard for each other’s artworks.
I believe you may be Lauren’s sister, sharing Lauren’s maiden name.
So, Hello, and thank you for your thoughtful note.