The Long Haul

by Jun Nakahara Dairiki

The Nakahara family in Topaz: Mother Kita, two sons and four daughters, including Jun, in the center.
Jun with members of the Kami family, her neighbors in Topaz. Courtesy of Yae Kami Yedlosky and Jun Nakahara Dairiki.

By the time we got to Topaz I was eight years old. Two elementary schools eventually opened–one called “Mountain View” in Block 8, and the other called “Desert View,” in Block 42. Neither school was near our barrack, which was in Block 20. I was put in Desert View. 

Then, for some reason, they decided that two students had to be transferred to Mountain View, and I was one. 

I remember my mother questioning one of the school administrators about that–there were two boys in our block who did NOT get transferred–just two of us girls; and no one knew why they had picked on us–but there were a lot of things we didn’t know reasons for or get answers to in those days, and that was one.

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4 thoughts on “The Long Haul
    1. Joan – Thank you for your kind remarks. I totally agree with you that we must continue to perpetuate these oral histories.

      Happy Holidays to you and yours; let’s hope that 2023 will be better than 2022.

      Jun Dairiki

  1. Thanks for sharing your story! We all try to forget the “unpleasant” aspects of our history, but we should not and dare not!

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