My friend Yae Wada (who is one year younger than my mother would have been) once told me that she was starting to hear a lot of stories come out of the camps, but they were mostly stories told by the younger Nisei, who are still around to talk about it–in other words, people who were toddlers or small children in camp. As young children at the time, the younger Nisei didn’t necessarily have an awareness of the context, or carry any of the responsibilities of the older Nisei and particularly, the Issei. When asked what camp was like, many replied that it “wasn’t so bad.”
At first, Yae had mixed feelings. She was glad people were asking questions and survivors were speaking out; but at the same time, she was worried that the picture of the camps that emerged would be far rosier than the one she remembered.
