Latest / Japanese America / S1E11 Quakers Acts of Kindness and Resistance: Japanese American Incarceration and Holiday Traditions

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S1E11 Quakers Acts of Kindness and Resistance: Japanese American Incarceration and Holiday Traditions · Japanese America

• 0:00
  After due deliberation, this responsibility has been accepted.
• 0:04
  It seems appropriate, however, that in undertaking this service, a statement should be made to our own membership concerning the entire evacuation.
• 0:13
  It would be untrue, in a matter of regret, if the decision of the Service Committee were understood by friends and others to mean that we accepted the evacuation as a matter of regret. It has come to us with deep humiliation and profound concern that events have revealed in the bloodstream of our American life, a poison which has caused this disease of hatred, whether it be greed or race prejudice or war hysteria.
• 0:43
  It is equally dangerous.
• 0:45
  It blinds the patient to the long established values so dearly bought and which we had thought are represented in American citizenship.
• 0:55
  Our boast of fair play in our emphasis on the value of the individual.
• 1:01
  One of the things that made the American Service Committee.
• 1:04
  Unique at that time was our outspoken opposition to the evacuation.
• 1:12
  There were many religious groups who, once the camps were started, took to.
• 1:17
  Making or trying to make as, as clearly as they could as well as they could.
• 1:22
  Life more bearable in the camps.
• 1:25
  But the American Friends Service Committee.
• 1:27
  Is the only religious institution at the time that spoke out publicly against the internment. That letter of Clarence Pickett's was written on May 16th.
• 1:40
  That was Joe Franco, former AFSC regional director, and was at a public program at the Japanese American National Museum in 2010.
• 1:48
  Michelle, what's the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?
• 1:51
  I don't know, people do nice things for me all the time.
• 1:55
  I don't. I don't know, am I begging for Things?
• 2:00
  Maybe it's your face. I was going to say.
• 2:03
  Yeah, because, like, even when, you know, I used to live in Japan and I was on a train and I was just like, I don't know, staring at the air.
• 2:14
  And somebody offered me a gum.
• 2:16
  Is that a way that does it mean I have bad breath?
• 2:22
  That's the nicest thing anyone's ever done for you?
• 2:23
  No. But, like, I don't know this guy that I met, um, a Japanese American guy from Camarillo. He brings me avocado every week.
• 2:33
  That's nice.
• 2:35
  For what reason?
• 2:36
  Just. Just to give you avocados?
• 2:38
  Yeah. I mean, he's got an avocado orchard in Camarillo, so he gives me avocados.
• 2:44
  I haven't bought any avocados for the last half year.
• 2:47
  Oh, wow.
• 2:48
  I know, And Avocados are expensive.
• 2:50
  I know, and also, like Koji, you got me co-host to do this podcast.
• 2:56
  That's nice.
• 2:57
  No.
• 2:59
  Oh, man, if that's the nicest thing anyone's ever done for you, then you're in trouble.
• 3:03
  Oh, no.
• 3:05
  No. I don't know all the nice things that people do for me.
• 3:08
  And I feel like I'm being under nice to everybody else.
• 3:14
  What about you, Koji? Is there anything that's, um, somebody did for you?
• 3:18
  That was very nice.
• 3:19
  I mean. I always feel like, you know, in the beginning of my writing career, when people read my work and I wasn't a good writer, and I was very anxious to hear good news.
• 3:28
  I think people who are kind to me were being really nice to me.
• 3:31
  The people that took the time to read my work and then not be mean to me about it was very, very kind.
• 3:39
  Because, you know, I read I read a lot of people's work now, and sometimes, you know, you could be snarky and you could kind of be an asshole about it, or you could be nice, you know, and I think that, that that's, that makes a big difference.
• 3:49
  And it's not it might not be the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me, but it's something that I think is very kind.
• 3:55
  Yeah. I, you know, I've been doing stand up comedy and when I started out, ladies used to come to talk to me after the show and then I got my gosh, Michelle, you are so, so, so inspiring. I'm like, what?
• 4:11
  I thought I was funny, but I guess inspiring.
• 4:17
  Okay, um, am I like the Special Olympics of comedy?
• 4:21
  I don't know, yeah.
• 4:32
  Welcome, welcome, welcome to episode number 11 of the Japanese America Podcast.
• 4:36
  My name is Koji, and I am one of your hosts.
• 4:39
  Did you say September 11th or episode number 11?
• 4:42
  I said episode 11.
• 4:45
  And I'm Michelle.
• 4:46
  It's December, so it's Christmas time.
• 4:48
  Koji, are you guys doing anything fun for Christmas?
• 4:51
  We don't do anything fun for Christmas.
• 4:53
  I think it's just a time off and spending time at home.
• 4:56
  What about you guys?
• 4:57
  Uh, I don't like Christmas trees because, you know, it's nice.
• 5:01
  It's fun to decorate the Christmas tree, but you have to take it down afterwards and nobody wants to take it down, so I don't know.
• 5:09
  I don't want to do Christmas tree, but I guess we have to.
• 5:12
  And this year it's a shorter Christmas season, so I don't know.
• 5:17
  We just put up our Christmas tree this afternoon.
• 5:19
  Oh. You did.
• 5:19
  It was very exhausting.
• 5:20
  I well, you know what it is, I think I think when when my son was little, it was, you know, Christmas was a very magical time.
• 5:28
  Yeah.
• 5:28
  Like, I remember the first time my son was, you know, aware enough.
• 5:32
  He was so in awe of Santa coming in and kind of like, he he thought he came through the dog door just to see his face, to see how happy and magical it was.
• 5:42
  Yeah.
• 5:42
  That was the best time for Christmas when he believed it.
• 5:44
  Now it's like it almost sometimes feels like a chore, like, oh, dude, we got to put up the Christmas tree, you know?
• 5:49
  Yeah, well, I mean, I grew up in Japan, and we don't have nobody has chimney.
• 5:54
  And I asked my dad, like, where would Santa Claus coming in and he's like, ah, from the bathroom window.
• 6:02
  I'm like, oh my gosh, we have to keep the bathroom window open so the Santa could come in.
• 6:09
  Do you guys do anything for like, dinner or anything or is it or and how and how much of like, oshogatsu stuff do you guys do?
• 6:16
  Do you guys do a lot of stuff or no?
• 6:18
  Well, when I was growing up, the first three days of the year I think was like no stores were open. So the fourth day of the new year is the first sale of the year, and you get otoshidama the money for the New Year's.
• 6:34
  So I just save all my money till the first sale of the year.
• 6:38
  And I used to spend money on, like, stuffed animals and Legos.
• 6:43
  What about now? I mean, do you guys do like, osechi?
• 6:45
  So my my mom used to do osechi, but now I don't do osechi because it's too much work and it's just too expensive.
• 6:55
  And nobody eats them at my house, So, um, but I read in LA times that Japanese people are supposed to eat ozoni like, ah, I forgot.
• 7:06
  So I've been eating only for New Year's.
• 7:09
  Or. Uh, soba at night, right?
• 7:12
  Yeah. At midnight. Yeah, midnight?
• 7:14
  Yeah. For the, um.
• 7:15
  What is it? Long life?
• 7:16
  No, no.
• 7:17
  Oh, yeah.
• 7:18
  It's the toshikoshi soba.
• 7:19
  So it's just like the going to the next year soba.
• 7:23
  I don't know, I should look it up.
• 7:25
  I don't know anything.
• 7:26
  Like we sometimes get osechi from, like, marukai.
• 7:28
  Yeah, it's hard because I don't eat all of the stuff.
• 7:31
  Yeah, And then nobody. And then my son doesn't eat it.
• 7:34
  I mean, I pretty much like kurikinto.
• 7:36
  I like Kimura Gobo, I like, uh ooni.
• 7:41
  What about that tatemaki? That's my favorite.
• 7:43
  No.
• 7:45
  I mean I could eat it like I try to eat all of it, because all of it means, you know, like different things, right?
• 7:50
  Like good luck or health.
• 7:51
  Prosperity.
• 7:52
  Prosperity. Kurikinto is prosperity.
• 7:54
  That's why I always eat the kuri.
• 7:56
  Because, uh, that's important for, you know, I just want to make money.
• 8:00
  You just want to make money.
• 8:02
  Yeah. This is where we look at all things Japanese American.
• 8:07
  We'll bring alive the history, culture, and people that make up this diverse community.
• 8:11
  You'll be doing a lot to help us keep bringing exciting and fun content every month.
• 8:16
  In honor of the holiday season, we're talking about a very specific part of the Japanese American story.
• 8:21
  I'm not sure if you know this, Michelle, but I worked at jam full time for almost 13 plus years, and during my most of my time, I was doing public programs like screenings, book events, family days, that kind of thing.
• 8:33
  But there was always one program that stood out to me.
• 8:35
  On June 5th, 2010, JANM hosted an event titled Quakers Friends of the Japanese American community.
• 8:42
  It's an event where we as a community thank the Quakers and their service arm, the American Friends Service Committee, for their support for Japanese Americans during World War Two.
• 8:51
  The Quakers and social justice activism began before the Second World War.
• 8:55
  It is important to know that the Quakers were the first religious movement to condemn slavery, and were among the first white people to do so in the American colonies and Europe. Quakers believe that all people are equal in the eyes of God, and provided models of equality in their relationships.
• 9:15
  They were influential in the first Women's Rights Convention.
• 9:20
  The Quakers protected the rights of, gosh, I don't know, Conscientious, Conscientious or conscientious, conscientious.
• 9:28
  Conscientious. Which brings us to the Second World War.
• 9:31
  They were one of the few national organizations that spoke out against the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans.
• 9:36
  But they did not stop there.
• 9:38
  They supported Japanese Americans in camps and were instrumental in helping get Nisei men and women into colleges outside of the exclusion zone on the West Coast, and provided living arrangements for the elderly, Nisei or second generation following the war. During the program, they discussed some of the wonderful work the Quakers did.
• 9:54
  Once again, let's hear from Joe Franco, former AFSC Regional director.
• 9:59
  Dear Mr. Eisenhower.
• 10:00
  This is from Mr. Pickett.
• 10:01
  Dear Mr. Eisenhower, we have received your letter of May 5th, in which you lay before us the American Friends Service Committee, a request that it should use its facilities in relocating college and university students from the West Coast to inland institutions, that they may be enabled to continue their college career.
• 10:21
  I am authorized to inform you that our organization accepts the responsibility which you have suggested we assume.
• 10:29
  However, all of us were deeply humiliated that such a relocation problem has seemed to be inescapable, and especially that American citizens are being detained.
• 10:42
  Having expressed our humiliation as American citizens, we wish to offer our service in any way we can to assist them in the alleviation of the distress caused to them and to prepare them for useful membership in American society.
• 10:58
  Here's another clip from Joe.
• 11:00
  Many Quakers opened their doors up at the time.
• 11:04
  Many Quakers, before the relocation made arrangements with Japanese Americans to buy their businesses, with the agreement to sell their businesses back to them when they returned. Many Quakers made loans so that Japanese Americans who returned could start again. There's a wonderful story about a strawberry farmer back east who was in an internment camp, who was given a loan of$10,000 to restart a farm back there after the internment. Herbert Nicholson was another Quaker in the area.
• 11:44
  Before the war, he had spent a lot of time in Japan, could speak Japanese.
• 11:50
  After the war, he and a lot of other people in Pasadena spent time at Manzanar trying to make conditions there easier, if that.
• 11:59
  If you could make conditions there any easier.
• 12:02
  And here's a clip from Doctor Lane Hirabayashi.
• 12:04
  The AFC and I don't have pictures of everything, but the AFC clearly escorted Japanese Americans back home, especially people going back to the West Coast where they were sometimes shot at or burnt, you know, subject to arson and things like that, especially in 45, right after the war, Quakers went back with them to make sure that there are witnesses to, to, you know, so that people wouldn't get lynched.
• 12:29
  Um, and especially important to me is the Quakers sought out placement for elderly Issei and even sought to build special care and nursing homes from.
• 12:39
  This brings us to the reason this program was so meaningful.
• 12:42
  At the end of the program, Japanese American got on the microphone to thank the Quakers and the AFSC for what they did.
• 12:51
  Let's listen to some testimony from people who were directly helped by the Quakers.
• 12:56
  Hello. Uh, I'm speaking for my mother.
• 12:59
  Uh, Tomie Sakita.
• 13:01
  We were at Tule Lake, and after the war, uh, there was, uh, four of us, uh, two sisters and two and me and my brother.
• 13:13
  And, uh, I don't know how my mother got us from Tule Lake to Lomita, but I know it was the Quakers that helped us.
• 13:24
  And from Lomita, we went to Burbank in the trailer camps.
• 13:29
  And from there we went to the Shonien or the orphanage.
• 13:32
  And I have this book.
• 13:40
  It's called Treasures in Earthen Vessels.
• 13:44
  And he mentioned the name Nicholson.
• 13:49
  And, uh, so.
• 13:53
  Uh, no, I know you can't see this, but it's written right here with the signature of Nicholson and I don't know the date because there was no date on here, but I'm sure it was somewhere in the 1950s.
• 14:05
  So I want to thank, uh, the Nicholson and his family and all of the Quakers that have helped my mother.
• 14:14
  So thank you very much.
• 14:16
  My name is Kunio Tsunayoshi, and I was about seven years.
• 14:21
  I was seven years old in Harriman, Wyoming, during World War two, World War two, and Christmas of 43.
• 14:32
  I think I got a I was seven years old and we had a Christmas program, and Santa Claus was giving out gifts.
• 14:43
  And, uh, I got a little gift, too, but I wasn't going to go up to see Santa Claus to get it, because I was really scared the first time I saw Santa Claus.
• 14:51
  A big red dressed person suited person and I was afraid to go up.
• 14:56
  But I did get this gift.
• 15:00
  I still kept the book.
• 15:01
  This is the original book I got.
• 15:04
  It's called.
• 15:05
  Well, I'll tell you. It's the little engine that could.
• 15:10
  And this was given to me by the Quakers.
• 15:16
  There was a little slip of paper in here, and I think it was maybe pasted on there.
• 15:21
  And it said, if you'd like to thank the person who sent you this gift, write to.
• 15:29
  I think it said Quakers.
• 15:31
  And I think they're just as New York, New York City.
• 15:34
  And I never did write that thank you letter.
• 15:37
  So a little late.
• 15:38
  Hearing their stories left a mark on me even 14 years later.
• 15:42
  The Christmas one especially hit me hard.
• 15:44
  Michelle, when you heard these clips, what did you think?
• 15:46
  I didn't know these people were so helpful.
• 15:49
  And then I had to look it up because I really don't know Quaker people Peep about anything about Quaker people, and it's so amazing that they did for Japanese people and slaves and women equal rights.
• 16:06
  Like, wow, they are so advanced in thinking.
• 16:10
  Like, you know, they did a lot of things.
• 16:11
  They they first actively spoke against it.
• 16:13
  They didn't believe that it was just and right, which is a lot, you know, like even organizations that you would think should have come to come to the defense of Japanese Americans didn't on the national level.
• 16:23
  But, you know, so and once they kind of realize the camp was happening, then they were they were there, you know, when the buses picked him up, they helped them.
• 16:31
  Once they were in camp, they were bringing, you know, like, like some of these testimonies they're saying, like they brought books and toys for the kids.
• 16:37
  I mean, the story about the kid who, you know, was at Christmas and the only present he got was from a Quaker that's, you know, that's stuff, moving stuff.
• 16:44
  And then once they were in camp, they were helping get jobs and get go to college outside of the exclusion zones.
• 16:50
  And a lot of the colleges that were that accepted them were actually Quaker colleges and then post camp, they were there to watch, to make sure that they weren't, you know, they weren't messed with when they came back to the West Coast.
• 17:02
  That's crazy.
• 17:03
  And also, I think some of the Quakers kept the land for the Japanese Americans, and they return it to the their original owners when they came back.
• 17:13
  That's like so, so nice because I've heard of people gotta take an advantage when they had to abandon everything.
• 17:22
  They just some people just took them away and they never returned.
• 17:26
  And that's something that I think is really important to say.
• 17:29
  This is wildly unpopular.
• 17:31
  I mean, even the, you know, obviously the slave stuff to like all that, like the women's rights, the slaves, the Japanese Americans, these were wildly unpopular.
• 17:39
  Now you're like, of course slavery is bad.
• 17:41
  Of course, I mean, hopefully women should have rights, right?
• 17:43
  And Japanese Americans shouldn't be incarcerated in these camps.
• 17:45
  But at the time, I mean, this was this was revolutionary.
• 17:48
  This was stuff that, like, people hated, you know, for the fact that they were willing to to do this stuff, you know, and a lot of them were, you know, like, I mean, they ran from young people to old people to people that had no connections to Japanese Americans. And, you know, that's why it is so inspiring to see what that they were willing to stand up in a time when no one else was willing.
• 18:08
  I mean, sorry, people were willing to stand up, but not, as, you know, not nearly as much as they should have.
• 18:14
  And as a group to like an organization.
• 18:16
  Yeah. I mean, that's it's it's it's one thing when one person is saying, hey, this is wrong, but it's a whole different thing when a whole group of people are saying, this is wrong, this is not acceptable.
• 18:26
  That's amazing. And did you know there's a Japanese Quaker?
• 18:29
  There was a Japanese Quaker.
• 18:31
  I looked them up, but I.
• 18:33
  I don't know what happened to my memo.
• 18:35
  You mean the Japanese American?
• 18:37
  No, it's a Japanese.
• 18:38
  Japanese guy.
• 18:40
  Oh, really? Okay.
• 18:40
  Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Let me look him up.
• 18:42
  Uh, and he became like, a one of the leader leaders of the Quakers.
• 18:48
  Okay.
• 18:49
  And he was on a Japanese money, ¥5,000 yen.
• 18:53
  Oh, really?
• 18:53
  Yeah. Nitobe inazo.
• 18:55
  Quaker in the world.
• 18:57
  Quakers in the world.
• 18:58
  Nitobe Inazo was a Japanese Quaker who became the first Undersecretary general for the League of Nations.
• 19:07
  Oh, wow.
• 19:07
  I know. Like, wow.
• 19:09
  I didn't know that, did you? You didn't know that before?
• 19:11
  I didn't know. I looked it up and then, like, what?
• 19:13
  That guy was on the Japanese money.
• 19:15
  What? And it was like.
• 19:18
  Like, uh, 1900 that he.
• 19:21
  So he's a son of samurai.
• 19:23
  And then he came to America to study.
• 19:28
  He became a Quaker.
• 19:29
  And then he went he got married to a white lady named Mary.
• 19:34
  And so she's in Japan.
• 19:37
  She's Mariko instead of Mary.
• 19:39
  And she they went to Europe, and he got a master's degree from a German university and came back to America, went back to Japan, and came back to America like he was all over the place. And that's like early 1900s.
• 19:56
  Wow.
• 19:56
  I know. Wow.
• 19:59
  To me, what's really inspiring about the Quakers is that, you know, they have this very strong belief about social justice and that it's not just something that they talk about in church or they don't talk.
• 20:10
  They don't have a church in the traditional sense of the word church, but that it's not just something they talk about, but it's something that they actually put into practice. And I think that that's something that's, to me, really, really inspiring.
• 20:20
  Reading about the Quakers and listening to this program, you know, 14 years later, I think a lot about if something were to happen again, that was was something like Japanese Americans, I don't think it would be Japanese Americans.
• 20:30
  But if it were to happen again, hopefully I could be as brave to be able to stand up for and speak out on what I think something is not right or not just.
• 20:38
  And you know, what are we willing to do for it?
• 20:41
  And yeah, like as a group, you have more power to change the world.
• 20:45
  Yeah. You know, when I used to give tours at the museum, I would always say there was only one group of people, one national organization that supported Japanese Americans. And everyone's like Chinese Americans or African Americans or, you know, like NAACP or any of those groups, like, no, none of those groups, you know, it was it was really the Quakers, American Friends Service Committee.
• 21:04
  Those are the guys that really were there and really supported us, you know, and that's why I like, you know, after 9/11, when there were calls for locking up muslim and Arab Americans, you know, one of the first groups to stand up and say, hey, we, you know, like this was a terrible national tragedy.
• 21:20
  Obviously we don't, you know, 3000 plus people died.
• 21:23
  But it doesn't mean that we need to lock up every Muslim and Arab American person.
• 21:27
  We can't stand for that.
• 21:28
  And that's what, like I tell my son, the legacy of the the incarceration, the concentration camps for me and him because we were, you know, our families were incarcerated is that we can we speak out whenever something like it happens that we have a we we talk about my father, we talk about my grandfather, we talk about what happened and how it happened.
• 21:45
  And and that we have to make sure that people know.
• 21:48
  And so it doesn't happen again because, you know, nobody spoke out for I mean, no, like people did speak out, but, you know, it wasn't this wasn't a group of people speaking out other than the Quakers.
• 21:57
  Yeah. It's, um. It's amazing.
• 21:59
  I think I really didn't know about.
• 22:01
  I thought Quakers were the oatmeal people.
• 22:07
  And one of the stories that we did, I.
• 22:08
  We didn't even talk about too much because there's just not enough time in this podcast is that Lane Hirabayashi is related to Gordon Hirabayashi.
• 22:16
  Oh And Gordon Hirabayashi was a Quaker.
• 22:18
  He got in trouble or got in trouble.
• 22:20
  He tested the curfew laws in World War two.
• 22:23
  During World War Two, they made the Japanese Americans.
• 22:25
  They couldn't go out at night.
• 22:26
  And they he tested those laws.
• 22:28
  And he was convicted because he went out and tested it.
• 22:31
  The you know, there's amazing stories around what Hirabayashi did.
• 22:35
  But one of the stories that I love, and they talk about it in the program a little bit, is that he went to prison like he got convicted.
• 22:42
  He was supposed to go to prison. He shows up at the prison and they're like, we're not ready for you.
• 22:46
  Oh.
• 22:48
  He says okay. And he goes out.
• 22:50
  He goes back into town, eats dinner, does whatever comes back and gets arrested.
• 22:54
  Oh, this was something that he was willing to do.
• 22:56
  He was willing to go to jail.
• 22:57
  He was willing to, you know, for what he thought.
• 22:59
  And he was a Quaker.
• 23:00
  He was a Quaker, Quaker.
• 23:01
  And he, you know, it's like he's to me, he's the he's the most important constitutional test case for Japanese Americans or for for social justice and for what would happen?
• 23:11
  Because, I mean, I would be very surprised if a camp, if the concentration camps happened again. But the one thing I wouldn't be surprised is that there's curfew laws.
• 23:20
  Yeah.
• 23:20
  And it's the curfew law that would be would be tested by the Hirabayashi case.
• 23:25
  We couldn't end this without sharing this clip from Doctor Hirabayashi, because it expresses our community's eternal gratitude for their support.
• 23:32
  And here it is from 42.
• 23:33
  They're saying these guys are in trouble and Japanese Americans are in trouble.
• 23:37
  Where's your conscience?
• 23:39
  Get out your wallet.
• 23:40
  These people need some help right now.
• 23:42
  Right. And you can look it up online on the bulletin.
• 23:45
  This is all on the record.
• 23:46
  So I'd like to take this occasion to acknowledge that service.
• 23:50
  And I'm appreciative of the chance to to speak here and to recall the many Japanese Americans who have you seen and I've named who also benefited.
• 24:00
  And I personally like to thank the Quakers and the American Friends Service Committee for their commitment to our family specifically, and then to the Japanese American community generally.
• 24:09
  I would like to personally thank the Quakers and the AFSC for everything they did.
• 24:12
  It brings me to tears to think about what they did, even when I'm sure it was very unpopular. They gave me the courage to act and speak out when if I see wrongs happening.
• 24:22
  I would also like to take a moment here to mention Doctor Lane Hirabayashi.
• 24:25
  He was a professor at UCLA and author, and most importantly, someone I respected greatly. He has passed away in the years between this program and now.
• 24:32
  I miss him and our many conversations over lunch in Little Tokyo.
• 24:37
  We encourage you to come to JANM to check out our ongoing exhibition, Common Ground Heart of Our Community, where you can find more information about some of the other people and groups that The supported and fought against the incarceration of Japanese Americans during the Second World War.
• 24:56
  Also one one story that I don't know if you ever heard of Ralph Lazo.
• 25:00
  Have you ever heard of Ralph Lazo?
• 25:02
  He was this half-Latino kid in Los Angeles, and he was going to school with a bunch of Nisei boys.
• 25:07
  He didn't think what was happening was right.
• 25:09
  So when they went to showed up for the bus to take them to Manzanar, he went with them.
• 25:14
  And just like he went and what's you know, what's amazing about that is that at that moment, nobody knew what was going to happen to Japanese.
• 25:21
  I mean, for all we know, they could kill Japanese Americans like the death camps in Europe, you know?
• 25:26
  But this guy was willing to do it and be in jail.
• 25:30
  And he later he becomes his war hero.
• 25:33
  He fought in the Pacific.
• 25:34
  And so, you know, people like him were people who really, really, uh, ah, like gave, like gives me hope that not everybody was against us.
• 25:43
  Not like some people saw that it was wrong.
• 25:46
  There's other ones, too. There's Claire Breed.
• 25:48
  She was a librarian from Southern California, who sent books and letters to some of the kids. And there were other.
• 25:55
  There were a lot of teachers who came to the camps and who taught at the camps, and that was wildly unpopular.
• 26:01
  You know, people were writing editorials about how you shouldn't teach those Jap kids.
• 26:04
  So there are a lot of people who are willing to, you know, do things.
• 26:14
  If something like this happened again, what would you be willing to risk?
• 26:17
  So funny story. I was speaking to my wife about kind of, you know, with with kind of what's happening now.
• 26:23
  There's a lot of talk around creating concentration camps for, for undocumented and, and other people.
• 26:29
  And, you know, I was talking to my wife that I said I could write in jail, you know, like, I'm going to protest. I could write in jail.
• 26:35
  I mean, it doesn't matter where I'm writing.
• 26:36
  I could just write in prison.
• 26:37
  And she's like, what are you talking about?
• 26:39
  I was like, but you'd have to take our kid to baseball, you know?
• 26:43
  Yeah.
• 26:44
  You know, as I said that it's important that we speak out.
• 26:47
  It's important that we make sure that the Japanese, I mean, like the Japanese American story, is part of the conversation and that it doesn't repeat itself.
• 26:55
  And let me just say this also, within the Japanese American community, I know there are people who say things like to me that are happening now aren't similar to what happened to Japanese Americans.
• 27:04
  You know, they talk a lot about how these people are undocumented.
• 27:07
  But what I will say to them is that the Japanese American, the Japanese people who came here weren't always legally coming here.
• 27:15
  Right? And all these things that they say about the the people who are undocumented, like, you know, that they're bad and that they're, they they bring disease in or whatever. Those are things that they said about us.
• 27:26
  Right? They said about our grandparents or great grandparents.
• 27:28
  And so I think it's important that we have a little bit of kindness and grace toward the people who are, you know, who who have come here for mostly for a better life.
• 27:39
  But but, Michelle, what about you?
• 27:40
  You know, like, if something like this were to happen again, what would you be willing to risk?
• 27:44
  I don't know, I will I will definitely make quilts.
• 27:48
  I. I made so many blankets before.
• 27:55
  When? Before my kids were born, because I had so much time on my hand and I used to give them away to the people who needed and so I could make, I don't know, I'm very crafty. I could make blankets and bring it to whoever needs them.
• 28:12
  But. I would also want to ride the bus to wherever people are going because I want to go see it and I'm good at taking pictures so I could take pictures.
• 28:27
  Thank you for listening.
• 28:29
  There are almost 4 million podcasts.
• 28:31
  We are honored that you've chosen to listen to ours.
• 28:34
  Please consider writing a review of our show on the platform.
• 28:37
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• 28:38
  We know it's a pain in the butt, but it does go a long way in helping the show.
• 28:41
  It helps us reach new listeners, grow our show, and most importantly, enables us to keep putting out the content that.
• 28:47
  We hope you enjoy.
• 28:49
  This podcast is a program of the Japanese American National Museum.
• 28:53
  The museum's mission is to promote understanding and appreciation of America's ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Japanese American experience.
• 29:03
  Please rate, review and subscribe to our podcast.
• 29:06
  And that's the end of our first season of our show.
• 29:09
  Michelle, can you believe it?
• 29:10
  We've done this for one season already.
• 29:12
  Oh my gosh, I cannot believe it.
• 29:15
  But I yeah, I remember.
• 29:17
  We ate ramen.
• 29:18
  Yeah. Eat ramen.
• 29:19
  Yeah, that was a good ramen.
• 29:21
  It was actually. Yeah.
• 29:24
  I mean, what was what are some of your favorite moments or favorite show or something that you've learned?
• 29:28
  I learned so much.
• 29:29
  I'm like, so embarrassed that I don't know anything.
• 29:33
  How did I miss all these things?
• 29:35
  But I don't know anything.
• 29:36
  And this is this has been great that I've been learning all kind of things that people had to go through.
• 29:43
  So we have better life now and there so much suffering.
• 29:49
  But that made a little bit better world than before, I hope.
• 29:54
  I hope too. Yeah.
• 29:55
  My favorite thing, and the thing that I'll always remember, is how when you became an American citizen, they changed your name.
• 30:02
  Oh, yeah.
• 30:03
  In kanji in that.
• 30:04
  Like I've told that story to like a hundred people.
• 30:06
  I know. It used to be kanji and now katakana.
• 30:09
  That makes me feel ahhh.
• 30:11
  For some reason that that story is really, you know, really hit me because it really it really encapsulates Japan and citizenship and how important it is to them.
• 30:22
  You know, because in America, for example, I don't know if I'm sure you know this, but America in American citizenship, it's it's by birthright.
• 30:30
  So if you're born here, you're a citizen.
• 30:32
  But that's pretty rare.
• 30:34
  I didn't realize this until this whole immigration thing started happening.
• 30:37
  But like, there's only a few countries that do that, like.
• 30:40
  But Japan is not one of those, right?
• 30:41
  Like in Japan, just because you're born there doesn't mean you're a citizen and most other countries as well.
• 30:46
  Citizenship is something that you have to earn or, you know, apply to, not something that's automatically given.
• 30:51
  I thought that was really interesting.
• 30:52
  Well, what do you want to do next for next season or any ideas, any thoughts?
• 30:56
  Well, I want to learn more about people who are brave because I, I've, I've never even gosh, I'm so embarrassed.
• 31:04
  I didn't know anybody.
• 31:06
  But there are so many great and brave Japanese Americans, and I don't think I could be like them, like the how great they are.
• 31:19
  But I hope I am stepping toward that direction by learning about them.
• 31:25
  Well, we Could get arrested together.
• 31:26
  Yeah, yeah.
• 31:27
  I mean, it's pretty easy. We could just go to a protest and we could just get arrested.
• 31:33
  Yay.
• 31:34
  Then you could use it in your comedy.
• 31:36
  You could talk about when you were arrested.
• 31:38
  You could do a whole comedy show.
• 31:46
  You could do your one hour on the phone.
• 31:48
  From the. From the prison.
• 31:49
  Prison? Oh, that would be my first comedy special.
• 31:54
  Yeah. On the phone from the prison that would see, like, that would be a that would be a whole new thing. I don't think anybody's ever.
• 32:00
  Wow. Wow. I'll be the first one.
• 32:02
  Yeah. Well, you know, one of the things I hope to do in season two is talk a little bit more about Japan and kind of the the relationship between Japanese and Japanese Americans and a little bit more about like, the Shin Issei Shin Nisei your story.
• 32:20
  You know, those are the things I would love to talk a little bit more about because like I said, you know, my like, my family is both.
• 32:25
  And I think one of the things that Japanese Americans would be good for Japanese Americans to know a little bit more about Japan and you know, where they you know, where we come from historically and all of that good stuff.
• 32:35
  So I think that that's one of the things we'll talk more about.
• 32:37
  Yeah, I did the, um, the how do you call it ancestry testing because it was 70% off.
• 32:43
  No, don't do that.
• 32:44
  I did it and.
• 32:46
  No, Why? Why not?
• 32:48
  They're taking your DNA.
• 32:49
  I know, um, well, first time I got different results, and this time I got another result.
• 32:55
  I was told I was 95% Japanese and 5% southern Japanese.
• 33:01
  Like, I didn't know there was a southern Japanese like Alabama of Japan.
• 33:07
  Isn't that like Osaka?
• 33:08
  No, that's West Japanese.
• 33:11
  That's West Japan. Japanese.
• 33:12
  Okay.
• 33:12
  But then I got an update saying 100% Japanese.
• 33:16
  Oh, okay. I want I'm I'm curious about that, but I'm very hesitant with those companies because they're, they're trying to they collect people's DNA codes and then ultimately, like 21 and me is being sold.
• 33:29
  And what they're selling is not the company they're selling.
• 33:32
  I mean, they're selling the company, but they're selling the all the DNA codes, and people like all that stuff that they got.
• 33:39
  Oh, no. It's too late for me.
• 33:41
  Too late for you. So if you commit a crime, They know.
• 33:44
  Your DNA yeah. Your DNA is going to be sequenced in there, so they'll figure it out so well. Michelle, thank you so much for for everything.
• 33:51
  This whole season has been wonderful and I look forward to another season with you.
• 33:56
  Well, thank you so much.
• 33:57
  It's been such a, I don't know, such a great journey for me to learn so much about Japanese Americans.
• 34:03
  And I'd love to Thank the the Japanese American National Museum and all the staff that has helped out. I know it's a lot of extra work for you guys, and we definitely appreciate, you know, your your work and your time and, and everybody and obviously everyone who's listened.
• 34:17
  And we're going to take a break next month.
• 34:20
  But after that we'll come back in February and we'll have a bunch of new content for everybody.
• 34:25
  Thank you so much.
• 34:26
  Thank you everybody.
• 34:27
  Bye.
• 34:28
  Bye.