Valley Interview : Survivor Remembers the Lessons of Internment Camps

A reporter’s search for one of more than 100,000 U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry relocated to camps during World War II led to the San Fernando Valley Japanese American Community Center and Ed Koyama, a 73-year-old retired pharmacist from North Hollywood.

“Did you go to camp?” the center’s receptionist called out to senior citizens, in a surprisingly matter-of-fact way, as she led the way through the kitchen and dining room.

Koyama volunteered to share his experiences in the camps and his feelings about a new exhibit about them at the Japanese American National Museum, as well as the current political sentiment toward immigrants.

Koyama said he harbors no resentment about being relocated from his home in Los Angeles to Arkansas in his late teens but feels strongly that people should know what happened. He donated more than half of the $20,000 in reparations he received to the museum to memorialize his relatives and support his community.

A Nisei is a second-generation Japanese American; Sansei, third generation, and Nihonjin, a Japanese person.

Question: Do you remember what happened when it was announced that people were going to be interned? Can you tell me what that was like?

Answer: It was all over the radio at that time, and it was kind of strange. We knew it was coming: The posters were up, the police and the Italian evacuation.

Most of us were going to the camp at Santa Anita, but we had relatives in Fresno and in the San Joaquin Valley. So the thing was, my dad’s brother and my mother’s sister married so they were very close. When we found out that my dad’s brother was interned because he was a professional photographer--of course, he was taking pictures of dams and all of this stuff--and somehow the FBI found out all that stuff. So all of a sudden they just picked him up, like many strategic individuals were picked up.

There were four girls in that family and no father, and we had two boys and two girls in our family, so we thought we’d better go up there and stick together. We never knew what was going to happen in the future.

We thought that if we ran to the San Joaquin Valley, we would get away from the evacuation because we weren’t actually in L.A. But that wasn’t true.

We didn’t know what was going to happen, but we were finally put into the Fresno fairgrounds, which became the temporary center for people within the Fresno area.

And then they sent us to Arkansas. We were sent to Rohrer Camp. Anyway, it was quite a ride in these old rickety-rackety trains that were pulled out of the woodwork. They were old sleeper cars, and they were really dusty and dirty, but we were younger, so we didn’t realize too much of it. It was a long ride, though.

So then we got settled there. Of course, we never knew what the future was. We didn’t know how long we were going to be stuck there. I had a little medical background, so I worked in a hospital.

Q: Before you were sent to the camp, how were people reacting to people like you who looked like they were of Japanese ancestry?

A: It’s really hard to say. There was some killing going on, you know, with some of these crazy nuts going to these farms. So there was some tension.

We had a cleaning shop on 7th and Alvarado, and when it was announced, you know, as we walked down our street, people would be spitting on us. Of course, we were kind of young and not experienced at this kind of thing. We were rather humiliated. I didn’t think it was right.

Anyway, we had a cleaning shop and they gave us a certain amount of time to get rid of it. Well, we really didn’t have too much time, so most all people just gave it away for practically nothing just to get out of it.

We had a home and then we had a two-unit in the rear where we put all our furnishings. We galvanized all our windows with metal, and within six months or so, we had a real estate company taking care of the place. We didn’t know how much we could depend on them.

All of a sudden we found out the place was ransacked. It was so ransacked there wasn’t a rag on the floor. We had just bought that furniture six months ago, you know, all of it. But what are you going to do?

It’s hard to say how I really feel about it. I think, in one way, thinking very shallowly, I thought we were safer in camp than being outside during those rough times, because of how crazy people were outside. There could have been a lot more harassment and killing.

I think it’s only in the U.S. where they are going to set up these camps and clothe you and feed you. They had all these different auditoriums and schools set up, and Boy Scouts and everything. I think it would have been a lot different in Germany or something like that.

A lot of Niseis are very bitter about this whole thing. I think the U.S. did what they could do, despite the fact that it was wrong to put people in camps.

Well, just think, after the war they really opened up avenues for Nihonjin and Niseis and Sanseis, and we really bounced back. You can tell how well the Niseis have done and you just don’t know how well we would have done if we stayed in the city while the war was on.

So, in one sense, it was good.

Q: Then how was it bad?

A: It’s bad that we were American citizens, you know, and they did this. But I think it was inevitable. At least, I’m thankful for what the government did. In Europe, we would have really been put in concentration camps.

I really don’t have much bitterness to the whole thing.

Q: Let’s talk about things that are going on now, like Proposition 187.

A: From what I hear, the thing about 187, most people think it’s strictly a Spanish problem. Because all we see is these Spanish people coming in, the Mexicans coming through creating all these social problems. And then we have to take care of them.

Pretty soon they have kids here, and they become American citizens. But I understand the problem is with Japanese, too. And there are other races that are involved in this. People are coming in illegally all the time.

It’s the fault of the U.S. government. They should stop illegal immigration. You can’t condemn people and not give medical aid to babies and try to ship them back out. It’s too late for that.

From now, they should really do something very seriously. I think Mexico should do something about it.

The United States is just too liberal.

I’m a little despairing about Japanese families as a whole. You don’t hear them raising too much noise about their heritage. You know why? Because they worked hard, made money and sent their kids through college. They are well-fixed. They don’t make any waves. Nihonjins aren’t making waves.

Blacks are. The Spanish are. Some Japanese are, you know, the die-hard Japanese. I think that’s good. Like the Japanese American Citizens League. Even JACL has the right ideas but they don’t go all out trying to help blacks and Mexicans. But I think one thing. Nihonjins feel that we got money, we got education, so we shouldn’t have to help them in any way, and I think the Japanese better wise up. Japanese also have to get together and start learning about their heritage and see how important it is.

Q: What do you want people to know about your experience in the relocation camps?

A: I think it was a good experience. I really realize the value of parents now. I try to tell my daughter, too. Whether she’s getting it or not, I don’t know, but you have to try. If you hear it once, they are going to remember. If I die, she’s going to repeat my story.

Talking to you is like talking to my daughter. I think it’s hard for you to visualize. No matter how much I tell you, and I’m trying to tell you the truth, it’s hard to visualize.