Camps
At all the camps, the incarcerees celebrated this summer Buddhist festival honoring ancestors, and they especially enjoyed dancing the “Tanko Bushi.”
What is obon?
The first all-Japanese military unit for World War II. Its light blue clubhouse remains across the street from ‘Iolani School in Honolulu, HI.
What is the 100th Battalion?
His presidential signature is on the official White House letter of apology enclosed with the redress checks to the surviving incarcerees. His president number is 41 (not 43).
Who is George Bush?
Children of Issei, they are the generation of Japanese heritage who were born in the US.
Who were Nisei?
Considered a token symbolic amount, this was the amount of the redress checks. Also the multiplicative product of 25 and 54.
What is $20,000?
A sport that is considered All-American, this was a popular pastime for the incarcerees to play on a diamond and to watch.
What is baseball?
[DAILY DOUBLE] The first JA to serve in the House of Representatives from California, he served as a cabinet member to two U.S. presidents. The San Jose International Airport is also named after him for his time serving as Mayor of San Jose and US Secretary of Transportation.
Who is Norman Y. Mineta?
The Japanese American National Museum closes every year on this date in observance of the signing of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.
What is August 10?
The number of FDR’s Executive Order that gave the military authorization to exclude persons of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast.
What is 9066?
The California Alien Land Law prohibited Issei immigrants from doing this.
What is owning land/holding leases longer than 3 years in California?
The camp where the pilgrimages started. It is also in the title of Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston’s memoir, “Farewell to…”
What is Manzanar?
Nicknamed ‘Sparky’ after the character Spark Plug in Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, his efforts as a US senator from Hawai’i ensured the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 was “veto proof”.
Who is Spark Matsunaga?
The arcane legal petition that was used to successfully overturn the criminal convictions of Min Yasui, Gordon Hirabayashi, and Fred Korematsu.
What is coram nobis?
An onomatopoeic (and slightly derogatory) term that soldiers from Hawai’i called soldiers from the mainland. It refers to the sound a coconut makes when it hits the ground.
What are kotonks?
A popular author of children’s books such as One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and The Lorax, he was also known for his anti-Japanese-American political cartoons.
Who was Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss)?
Three camps in one, known as Roastin, Toastin and Dustin, was known for its extremely harsh weather conditions.
What is Poston?
This US President knew about the heroism of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team during World War II and signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.
Who is Ronald Reagan?
[DAILY DOUBLE] This US senator of Japanese ancestry opposed redress.
Who is S. I. Hayakawa?
The term preferred to “evacuation.”
What is “forced removal”?
This unit composed primarily of Nisei is famous for its rescue of the Texas-originating “Lost Battalion” in France (141st Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division).
What is the 442nd Regimental Combat Team?
An Assembly Center that was located at a racetrack and its parking lot, what is now a major shopping center in nearby Arcadia.
What is Santa Anita?
The 1944 Supreme Court decision that bears his name upheld the constitutionality of the wartime incarceration.
Who is Fred Korematsu?
Founded in 1929 to fight prejudice and bigotry, the oldest and largest Asian American civil rights organization in the U.S.
What is JACL? (Japanese American Citizens League)
How the government referred to Nisei as American-born citizens in the military exclusion orders.
What are “non-aliens”?
They answered “No” to Questions 27 and 28 on the so-called “Loyalty Questionnaire.”
Who were the No-No Boys?