Post War Trajectories

Post War Trajectories


What was it like for the Yamashita family to re-enter free society. Many had been able to use their closeness to white supporters to get them privileged access to freedom and leave clearance. Other members of the family had to stay in camp. What happened once the war was over? Did the family return to their home in Oakland and their businesses (of dry cleaning and farming?) Some members had grown up over the course of the war. This section traces the resettlement period of incarceration history when Japanese Americans tried to re-build their lives. The dispersal of this family represents one story of the rest. What was the lived experience of resettlement?

John seems to have been contracted by the War Relocation Authority to run a hostel in the church building that he grew up in. After having gone to Divinity School and becoming a pastor, he returned to the hall where all of the Japanese American congregational members' belongings were stored. John and his volunteer friend Ish Isokawa, and a white member of the Church and caretaker of the building during the war, Lee Mullis, worked to house returning Japanese Americans on cots in the church and ship belongings to the Japanese Americans who decided not to come back to Oakland. An inventory of items and a correspondence across states.

Returning to Oakland

John Yamashita and Ish Isokawa, a friend from church, returned to Oakland in February of 1945 to organize a hostel for Japanese Americans who were returning to Oakland area and to ship the property that had been stored there when Japanese American members of the Oakland Japanese Methodist Church (at 797 10th Street) were first detained in spring of 1942. The property had been cared for by Lee Mullis, a white member of the church. The War Relocation Authority entered into an agreement with John where the WRA would give them cots and mattresses for a specific period to be used to help resettle Japanese Americans. See this letter from Roscoe, a WRA Assistant Project Director to another WRA official and this contact drawn up for John by the WRA.

John and Ish Isokawa would write letters to the people who had stored property in the church to coordinate the return of their property at their own expense.

The list to the left has names and addresses. Many are still the barrack number at Topaz. Some are at Tule Lake without a barrack number included. Some have already received clearance and resettled to Midwestern cities like Chicago, Illinois and Cleveland, Ohio.

The papers were kept how John had organized them into manila folders.

The Manila Folders are as followed. Some of the hostel files have been uploaded.

Bank Statements
WRA [War Relocation Authority]
Office of Price Administration
Thank you's
Thank you's II
Thank you's III
Other hostels
Warehouse Storage
Storage Bus
Untitled Folder I
Hostel Property
Blankets Linens
Food Receipts
Laundry
Returnee Correspondence
Hostel Reservations
Yoshimura Storage
Topaz Correspondence
Isokawa
Eastern Correspondence
Rivers (Gila) Correspondence
Untitled Folder II
Tule Lake Correspondence

Looking for Work in New York

After being allowed to leave Topaz in 1945, Sus did not head back to Oakland, but moved to New York looking for work. He wrote back frequently to his wife Kiyo who took care of their two children, Kimiko and Ken. His FBI file reveals that he was being followed in New York by agents. 

We are not sure to what extent Sus had ever worked as a domestic servant before this point. Before WWII, Sus had a position of possible upward mobility in a Japanese firm with offices in the United States- Mistubishi. His wife, Kiyo, did much of the housekeeping before the war as we see from her diary and through the time of incarceration where she handwashed sheets and diapers in the communal latrine and wash room. This diary shows Sus opting for any work that he can get. He is trying to keep up communication with his wife and mother in camp so that they can make decisions together about how to move forward at a time when the camp administrators were allowing and possibly encouraging people to vacate the camps. Sus' sons note that after the war, he shaved his moustache. What this means is still a mystery. What would it be like to have been raised in Japan during childhood, educated in the United States, and possibly seeing himself as in a place to become an international businessman? Those of his generation that were educated in Japan, often are described as not being accepted in either culture or social group- as neither like their younger siblings who were brought up entirely in the United State nor like their cousins or families who were entirely culturally Japanese. How must have Sus positioned his own identity in this context? He can't sleep the night that he learns of the first atomic bomb being deployed. He writes as though in disjuncture. "Whatever the cause couldn't get to sleep for hours." Is this self-censorship? Is this a natural emotional distancing that builds up in times of war? Excerpts from Sus' Diary from 1945 June 30 Old Oakaland M. E. Church folks had a get together at the Hostel. Monday July 16 [1945] Registered at the Ny Technical Institute. Friday July 20 Phoned Joe Yasumura of American Baptist service re a school boy job. Saturday July 28 Studied a little during the morning. Was hard to concentrate as I have three things coming up to my head- the welfar of K.Y. and her possible departure for Calif., accepting the job at Dr. Rice's or otherwise and my study. Saturday, August 4 Bright but not too warm, the best day since I came to N.Y. The long awaited letter from Kiyoko finally came today via airmail. She still deosn't know when she'll leave for Berkeley. Wrote a long letter to her. Finished it 11:10pm. Went to the Hostel to get a few more of my belongings. Saw one of the most beautiful sunset across the Hudson River this afternoon (and yesterday to a lesser degree). Tuesday, August 7 Tried to study after writing K.Y. but couldn't. Went to bed after midnight. Whatever the cause couldn't get to sleep for hours. News of the atomic bombing of Japan on Monday, August 6, came today. Thursday, August 9 The news that Russia declared way on Japan yesterday came today. Friday, August 10 One of the most memorable day in my life. Got the news of Japan's proposing to surrender unconditionally late this afternoon. Official Gov't news was held up this evening. The U.S. Gov't did not receive Japan's offer officially. How glad our parents must be now that thye are sure of seeing their sons coming home without a single injury during their service! Sunday, August 19 Did not rise until 8:00 AM since the Chaplain did not wish breakfast this morning. Tuesday, August 21 I shall be forever grateful to Uncle Hisashi for his action at this time proposing to stay in camp with my family to help their departure in packing and seeing thme leave safely. Wonder what he's planning to do himself and where he intends to resettle. He's really kind. Friday August 24 Cooked supper for him and his guest for the first time.

Dispersal

Here are images of the Yamashita siblings in the 1950s and 1960s. Did the siblings disburse after the war from their varied paths away from Topaz? Did they recoalesce in Oakland? How did this impact the way the next generation moved through the world?

Kay is pictured in her apartment in Chicago, suave and living in a cosmpolitan city. She would later teach her nieces how to drink certain cocktail drinks before, during and after dinner. Sus and Kiyo would raise their five kids in New Jersey, after staying a few years after the war in Oakland. Iyo and Min moved back to Oakland and raised their three kids there in the West 10th Methodist Church. John pastored this church before being sent down to lead a Japanese American church in Los Angeles. John and his wife, Asako, would move there and raise their two kids in Crenshaw and Gardena. Tom and his wife, Carol, lived in Hong Kong and raised their three kids. Chiz lived in Oak Park with her husband Ed, and worked as a nurse in Cook County hospital in Chicago and would get her nieces and nephews summer jobs there. Marty volunteered to dig ditches in Germany with the Red Cross after the war and then got a masters in social work and settled in Cleveland, Ohio with her husband Eugene. Kix went to college. Kimi and Bob moved back to Berkeley. Ted joined Military Intelligence Service and worked in Japan in the postwar years.

How did these locales affect the directions that these families took?

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