Letters from the End of the World, Part Two (page 3)

(Page 3 of 3)

“I am trying to learn how to play bridge too. Just now with all the exercising and music lessons, I am kept busy after work. It certainly helps keep my mind off the fact that I can’t relocate just yet.”

After the war, Tets returned to San Diego. He took a job at Consolidated, an airplane factory, and later worked for General Dynamics. Lynn Eller, his niece, says he was reticent to talk about the past, but would answer questions if asked. Inspired by Clara Breed, he remained a voracious reader all his life. He died in 1991.

Late in life, Tets wrote: “The letters Miss Breed sent to her ‘children’ during the war years helped all of us keep the faith. I am sure those of us who were touched by her avoided bitterness over our fate.”

Elizabeth Kikuchi Yamada (who met her husband Joe at Poston when both were 12 years old), after the war: “My parents and many internees resumed or searched for a new life and occupation without time for the ‘negative’ feelings. Tets, like most Nisei, worked hard to support his family without regrets. As we now say, ‘it is what it is’ — ‘shikata ga nai.’” ■

— Jeff Smith

QUOTATIONS

Roger Daniels: “The barbed-wire fences, the guards, and the surrounding wasteland were always there to remind the detainees that they were exiled, incarcerated Americans, who didn’t know whether they would ever be allowed to return to their former homes.”
President Gerald Ford: “We know now what we should have known then — not only was the evacuation wrong, but Japanese-Americans were and are loyal Americans…on the battlefields and at home.”
Clara Breed (to Tets): “You have been one of my restorers-of-faith in the human spirit. I know that you will keep your courage and humor in the weeks and days that lie ahead, no matter what they may bring.”

SOURCES

Daniels, Roger, Prisoners Without Trial: Japanese Americans in World War II, New York, 2004.
Estes, Donald H. and Matthew T., “Further and Further Away: The Relocation of San Diego’s Nikkei Community,” Journal of San Diego History, Spring, 1993.
Hirasaki, Tetsuzo, letters, Gift of Elizabeth Y. Yamada, Japanese American National Museum (93.75.31G), (3.75.3EL), (93.75, 31FK).
Oppenheim, Joanne, Dear Miss Breed: True Stories of the Japanese American Incarceration During World War II and a Librarian Who Made a Difference, Singapore, 2006; interview.
Schlenker, Gerald, “The Internment of the Japanese of San Diego County During the Second World War,” master’s thesis, San Diego State University, 1968.
Interviews: Lynn Eller, Joanne Oppenheim, Elizabeth Yamada, Joe Yamada.

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Read Part One

Jay Allen Sanford Sept. 18, 2012 @ 2:42 a.m.

Hoping there will be a part three of this series? These letters detailing what Japanese U.S. citizens underwent during their forced interment (or rather imprisonment) are fascinating. The accompanying illo with this one, of the wood nameplate engraved with a bedspring-turned-chisel, is particularly poignant. This story is all the more timely right now, with George Takei's musical "Allegiance" playing at the Old Globe through October 21 and tackling the same sensitive (and somewhat shameful) subject matter.

Jeff Smith Sept. 18, 2012 @ 9:40 a.m.

Jayallen, just the two parts. The books and articles listed in the "Sources" section are a place to go. Esp. Joanne Oppenheim's Dear Miss Breed. And the Japanese American Historical Society of San Diego has much to offer, including a current exhibit at the Museum of Man( that has the nameplate Tets carved for Clara Breed). I'm probably not supposed to say this - authorial distance and whatever - but I really connected with Tets. His intelligence, his humor, his love of books, and most of all how he faced adversity head-on.

Twister Sept. 19, 2012 @ 11:25 a.m.

Gentlemen:

You need a link to Part One just under the title (labeled: "link to Part One"). This should be a standard part of the website software.

Duhbya Sept. 21, 2012 @ 11:08 a.m.

Nice to see that the staff acts quickly upon relevant suggestions. Thanks are in order, Twister, for pointing that one out and saving me from having to search for Part One of this gripping story. Ditto to the staff.

Twister Sept. 19, 2012 @ 11:54 a.m.

Two things:

Smith's work is hard to find. This is a website design issue.
Referring people to books rarely works. I understand, Jeff, that you want to sample all the candy and not write too much about anything, but this needs an "end."

PS: I like the way Smith just lays the information out, letting the readers draw their own conclusions without indulging in preachy stuff; I think that can be more potent for a certain kind of reader. But other readers, the kind who may most need to be reached by good literature, may need a little subtle analysis. If not outright preaching.

[NOTE TO READER: You've got a good thing going, but it needs work. You could be an international phenomenon as well as a local one, but you seem to be leaving the former on the table. Can square become cool?]

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