(Upcoming Event) Dispersed: The WWII Scattering of the Japanese American Community

Join us on Thursday, October 3 (2-3:30 pm) as we share stories by Jean Hibino, Joseph Nishimura, Mitsi Nakamizo Fuchigami, and Jun Dairiki.

Four young women in dresses, suits, hats, smile into the camera. One is Japanese American. The others are Puerto Rican and Caucasian; a photo of a small town's main street with a banner reading "Weiser, Idaho"; an elderly Japanese American couple in suits and hats stand in front of a cast iron fence and a Boston brownstone.
(Clockwise): Mitsi Nakamizo in New York, circa 1944; Ito and Junzo Hibino in Boston; the Nishimura family in New York; Weiser, Idaho, where Jun Nakahara Dairiki’s family settled after camp. All personal photos courtesy of the authors.

The forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII was followed by the resettlement program, an accelerated assimilation program in which resettling Japanese Americans were advised not to speak Japanese (if they did in the first place) or associate with other Japanese Americans–advice which was generally ignored. However, it was successful in dispersing Japanese Americans throughout the country to places like New York, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Idaho, Nebraska, etc. Some families eventually returned to the West Coast. Others never returned. Join us to hear some stories of those whose families resettled.

The event is free and open to the public and will be held in person and online via Zoom. Register here.

What: “Dispersed: The WWII Scattering of the Japanese American Community”
Where: J-Sei, 1285 66th St., Emeryville, CA.
When: Thursday, October 3 (2-3:30 pm) 

Reminder: Don’t forget to register for “Children of Topaz: Stories and Art, upcoming at J-Sei on Sunday, September 22, 2024. Special guests: Yonsei and Gosei “Storytime” readers and Dana Shew. For more information about our entire speakers series, click here. For information about J-Sei’s Family Festival, and to pre-order bento, click here.

The Topaz Stories Team

Contact us if you have a Topaz Story to share.
Follow us on Instagram @topazstories

Media Coverage:
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)

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