The Stories Page Eight

In 1942, more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were removed from their homes along the West Coast of the United States after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. They were incarcerated in concentration camps in remote areas until 1945. One of those camps was in Topaz, Utah. Volunteers from the Friends of the Topaz Museum have gathered these stories of Topaz survivors, told by the survivors themselves or their descendants.

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4 koto players and a shamisen player, all Japanese American women dressed in kimono, perform on stage at Topaz concentration camp.
Desert Winds and Strings
by Shirley Muramoto
Photocopy of a letter from the U.S. Dept. of Immigration and Naturalization Services attesting to the U.S. citizenship and employment of Harue Minamoto. The photo shows a young Japanese American woman with glasses.
Forced Removal
by Harue Minamoto
A group of Japanese Americans dressed in suits, coats, and hats, with baggage and small children in tow, gather at the entrance of a racetrack.
Tanforan
by Harue Minamoto
Japanese American baby on her stomach, smiling toward the camera.
First Winter in Topaz
by Harue Minamoto
A young woman sits outside barrack, sketching, with a dog and little girl on either side. The girl sits in a home-made vehicle with long handle.
The Lost Sketches of Topaz
by Cynthia Wright
A young Japanese American couple stand on the porch in front of a barrack apartment that bears the nameplate "T. Minamoto" next to the door. The woman is carrying a newborn baby. Another Japanese American woman, a friend, joins the photo.
Dust-up in the Desert
by Harue Minamoto
A Japanese American family--father in suit carrying a young child, mother peering into window, and five-year-old girl--returns to their home after the war. Windows are boarded up and "No Japs Wanted" has been painted on the walls.
The Aftermath
by Harue Minamoto
A teenage Japanese American girl in a short white skirt and white sweatshirt raises her arms after shooting a basketball into the air.
Hoop Dreams
by Mitsi Nakamizo Fuchigami
A sketch of the interior of a barrack room converted into a library, with pot-bellied stoves, shelves of books, and many people, men, women, reading newspapers, sitting at tables reading, chatting, etc. A man adds coal to the stove.
Escaping Topaz
by Jon Yatabe
Japanese American family (mother with two daughters and two sons--one, a baby) pose in front of a garden store.
Questions I Never Asked Mom
by Kaz Oyamada Iwahashi
A Japanese American teenaged high school graduate in cap and gown.
A Teen in Topaz
by Steve Fujioka
Three generations of a large Japanese American family pose in front of their barrack in Topaz, Utah. 1944.
The Rowdies
by Helen Harano Christ
A lone bus heads into the distance on a two-lane road. To the right is a concentration camp surrounded by barbed wire fences. A large crowd gathers behind the fence, watching the bus leave.
The End and the Beginning
by Jon Yatabe
Two boys (around 9-10 years old)--one a blond Caucasian, the other Japanese American --pose behind a cartoon of two figures in garish plaid suits astride a bucking donkey.
Marbles and Memories
by Jonathan Hirabayashi
A middle-aged Japanese man with a mop of graying hair holds a tube of paint. Behind him is a large painting. To his right is a table with paints.
Portrait of an Artist
by Keisho Okayama

Each page has 12 stories. New stories are posted at the end of the last page.
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