5 comments about Farewell to Manzanar: A True Story of Japanese American Experience During and After the World War II Internment.

1. Farewell to Manzanar is a brilliantly written historical memoir recounting the memories of life in internment during World War II, seen though the eyes of a young girl: Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston. However, jumpy at times, Houston unravels the story to her readers in chronological order. Born as a Japanese American, Jeanne struggles to find her true identity. Growing up, Jeanne is exposed to prejudice and hatred, two things she is unaware of but will learn more about as she grows older. Since a young age, her family was constantly moving around due to their ethnicity and the suspicion against all Japanese in those days. This instability made it hard for Jeanne to cope with her surroundings. The Japanese Internment tore apart the Wakatsuki family, leaving Jeanne on her own to understand who she is.
   
   As Jeanne was only a small child when her family went into internment, she obviously was unaware of what was happening. The way the author portrayed her innocence, I found quite appealing. Describing her Mother, "She was a small plump woman who laughed easily and cried easily, but I had never seen her cry like this. I couldn't understand it. I remember clinging to her legs, wondering why everyone was crying" (9). Jeanne grew up not knowing why she was treated differently, and why her life vastly differed from those of Americans. She expresses how living in Manzanar was especially hard for children, as they had yet to learn the concept of prejudice.
   
   Houston does a splendid job relating life at Manzanar to the dysfunction of the Wakatsuki family. The eloquence with which she depicts the indignities and humiliation of everyday life in internment really puts the reader in her shoes back in 1942. It was the minute details of life in internment that made it agonizing, Houston does a great job in describing how most Japanese families were not used to what they were forced to endure. "Down the center room twelve toilet bowls were arranged in six pairs, back to back, with no partitions. My Mother was a very modest person, and this was going to be agony for her, sitting down in public, among strangers" (31-32). The author clearly expresses the distress felt by the tens of thousands of people interned in Manzanar, and how day-to-day life had become horrific.
   
   Although extremely descriptive, many times I found myself searching for action and excitement where I just could not find it. Many scenes illustrated by Houston lacked enthusiasm, even when appropriate. Numerous times, she would summarize the "potentially" exhilarating pieces that the novel greatly needed. "She would catch someone staring at me as we walked home from school and she would growl, `What are you looking at? She's an American citizen. She's got as much right as anybody to walk on the street!'" (161). On several occasions, Houston would not describe the actual event and would instead give the reader a general idea of what happened. Jeanne's Father was a suspected accomplice in the bombing of Pearl Harbor; he was taken into custody but later released for lack of evidence. Many times he would abuse his wife in the internment camp while he was drunk. These scenes would have been a lot more interesting if they were more vividly described.
   
   In conclusion, this novel would come highly recommended for anyone with a taste for history, especially told through the perspective of a particular family. Farewell to Manzanar is a light read for those who enjoy mild stories, who are also seeking to learn a thing or two about the life of the Japanese during the Second World War. Those who are entertained by the idea of finding one's identity and facing racial prejudice may find it quite enjoyable.



2. I purchased this used book and got it in the mail 4 or 5 days after my purchase. The book quality is good as listed on the profile.



3. QUESTIONS I considered while reading "Farewell to Manzanar":
   
   The most powerful and passionate parts of "Farewell to Manzanar" are the author's descriptions of her father that show him as a vain, sometime drunk, arrogant braggart & a tyrant, but she also showed him as a man who helped others with legal problems, who could make false teeth, and who was a successful fisherman. In camp he became an alcoholic and threatened to kill his wife. Was Jeanne's father responsible for increasing the difficulty of their years at Manzanar?
   
   If is fair to compare Jeanne's experience at Manzanar with Anne Frank's experience under the Nazis? I believe it is like comparing being scratched by a kitten to being torn apart and eaten by lions. Although the first year at Manzanar was very difficult with inadequate housing and bad food, the rest of the time at Manzanar seemed like a typical small town experience with classes for dance, religion, baton twirling, high school year books, gardens, plenty of food and considerable freedom within the camp. Yes, they were forced to go there, but they weren't starved, tortured and killed when they got there, and they were released when the war was over.
   
   Jeanne's description of the riots during the first year at Manzanar showed that some of the Japanese interned there were pro-Japan. What else could Roosevelt have done to protect the west coast from possible sabotage from the Japanese-Americans who supported Japan?
   · 12/7/41 - Pearl Harbor was bombed.
   · 2/19/42 - Roosevelt's order 9066 was made 2+ months after Pearl Harbor and was used to justify the internment camps.
   · 3/25/42 - Manzanar was opened 3 ½ months after Pearl Harbor.
   · At the time, Japan was conquering much of Asia. After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, people were frightened, things happened very quickly and perhaps mistakes were made.
   
   Most of the Japanese-Americans in the camps were wonderful examples of people who could make lemonade out of the lemons they were given. Except for the riots during the first year, they got along, worked together to improve the camp, and focused on helping their children.
   
   Would other groups have been as creative and hard working as the Japanese-Americans?
   · They transformed old army clothing that was too large into useful stylish clothing.
   · They took linoleum and made beautiful floor patterns to decorate their homes.
   · The cooks competed to make the best food and get the most "customers"
   · They turned the whole camp into an American small town complete with dance bands, music lessons, and everything you'd find in an American town of the same size.
   · They volunteered to fight in the Army and had one of the best US Army fighting units.
   · They immediately went to work to rebuild their lives after they were released and didn't spend the rest of their lives doing nothing but complaining.
   · They used sayings, such as "Shikata ganai (it can't be helped), to help them cope.
   · They used humor ("they'll feed us rice and log cabin syrup") and hard work ("If we're going live in this place, we better get to work!") to help them make their lives better.
   
   Was interning 120,000 Japanese necessary? No, I don't think it was necessary, nor was it justice for the majority who were patriotic citizens. I don't know if Roosevelt based his decision on information that we don't have, but the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Japanese-Americans shortly before the end of the war.
   
   If most of the Japanese-Americans had lived in non-coastal states like Colorado (where Japanese-American residents were not interned), I don't believe 120,000 would have been put in internment camps. There might have been smaller numbers interned, similar to the numbers of Germans and Italians who were also put in internment camps. I wish another solution could have been found to deal with the few Japanese-Americans who might have been a problem.
   
   I admire the Japanese-Americans who coped so well when internment cause them their loss of freedom and loss of much of their wealth. They deserve their current success and respect.



4. This book is written by someone who truly lived there. Jeanne tells about her life at Manzanar, uprooted from her other life and forced into a a camp for other Japanese Americans by the U.S government, believing these people might be in contact with Japan.
   
   Imagine what it would be like if suddenly, because of your race, you were thrown into a camp lacking supplies and adequate shelter. All your rights as a citizen snatched away and forced to suffer in a huge camp in the middle of no where. This is exactly what happened to Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, who's whole family was interned at Manzanar for a few years.
   
   This story focuses on Jeanne, who was seven at the time of internment, and her perspective on life there. The families found ways to work around the hardships and get through it.



5. Look, it would be one thing if this memoir were presented as the story of a hard-working and law-abiding Japanese family that was abruptly uprooted and subjected to one indignity after another. Everybody has a story somewhere in them, and if you don't tell yours, someone else will. Sure, the essential part of yours may well have been said before, but there are always new audiences growing up. If Wakatsuki had been my grandmother, for example, I would have been both mesmerized and outraged by this memoir. And danged proud.
   
   This is a book about the time Wakatsuki's family was forcibly removed to the Manzanar internment camp. They were Japanese, and this was shortly after Pearl Harbor. The writing ranges from clear to muddled, but there is the occasionally inspiring passage. E.g.:
   
   ". . . [my father] never really recovered from this, either financially or spiritually. Yet neither did he entirely give up. One of the amazing things about America is the way it can both undermine you and keep you believing in your own possibilities, pumping you with hope. To maintain some hold on his self-esteem Papa began to pursue his doomed plan for . . ." (p. 154)
   
   So the one star is not necessarily for the author, who writes clearly and poignantly most of the time.
   
   My beef is with the publisher, Laurel-Leaf Bantam, who saw fit to advertise Wakatsuki's memoir this as "as harrowing as the Diary of Anne Frank."
   
   Er, ARE YOU JOKING? You can't market this as being anywhere remotely comparable to Anne Frank's diary. This is not even in the same ballpark.
   
   Oh, both were forcibly removed to "prisoner" camps during World War II, and both were innocent girls. Okay, I'll give you that, but let's just consider the following harrowing passages, during which the full misery and hopelessness of Wakatsuki's time in Manzanar is brought home:
   
   "The Caucasian servers were thinking that the fruit poured over rice would make a good dessert. Among the Japanese, of course, rice is never eaten with sweet foods, only with salty or savory foods. Few of us could eat such a mixture. But at this point no one dared protest. It would have been impolite. I was horrified when I saw the apricot syrup seeping through my little mound of rice. I opened my mouth to complain. My mother jabbed me in the back to keep quiet." (p. 20)
   
   "He blinked it away and hugged her tighter. . . 'We'll make it better, Mama. You watch. I'll find out what they're giving us for breakfast.' 'Probably hotcakes with soy sauce,' Kiyo said. 'No.' Woody grinned, heading out the door. `Rice. With Log Cabin Syrup and melted butter.'" (pp. 26-27)
   
   "Unskilled labor started at eight. All volunteer of course. You didn't have to get out of bed in the morning if you didn't want to." (p. 39)
   
   "Some families would vie with one another for the most elegant floor designs, obtaining a roll of each color from the supply shed, cutting it into diamonds, squares, or triangles, shining it with heating oil, then leaving their doors open so that passers-by could admire the handiwork." (p. 97)
   
   ". . . classes of every kind were being offered all over camp: singing, acting, trumpet playing, tap-dancing, plus traditional Japanese arts like needlework, judo, and kendo. The first class I attended was in baton twirling, taught by a chubby girl about fourteen named Nancy." (p. 108)
   
   Oh, good grief. So lemme get this straight: while the sensitive, angelic soul of Anne Frank was dying of typhus in Bergen-Belsen, Wakatsuki was out of sorts because somebody ignorantly poured Log Cabin syrup on her rice?!
   
   If Wakatsuki (or her co-author, husband James Houston) had been better read in WWII literature, she would have realized that the net effect of her recounting of all her "horrors" is simply to make the U.S. look humane and benevolent, which certainly isn't the intention of multicultural public-school teachers who routinely cram this tripe down the throats of hapless students.
   
   (By the way, I love how Asians get on their high horse about people calling them Orientals, but think nothing of labeling all white people "Caucasians" (e.g., p. 171 and elsewhere). Uh, since when can the genealogy of all white people be traced to southern Russia?)
   
   Here's my advice: Read either Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich or Wiesel's Night (Oprah's Book Club). Then come to this book. You won't be able to take it seriously.
   
   On its own merits, though, the story is fair, not particularly self-indulgent and occasionally boring. (Its central merit is the characterization of her father.) My only point is that, out of respect to the millions who died in real prison camps, those who publish this volume ought to market it more delicately.
   
   (Incidentally, the epigraph beginning this memoir quotes some completely outdated intelligence by Henry Steele Commanger: "The record does not disclose a single case of Japanese disloyalty or sabotage during the whole war." Oh? Check out Takeo Yoshikawa on Wikipedia -- and others. Having pointed this out, though, I concede Wakatsuki's point: there were very few.)

No comments about Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption.

5 comments about Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood.

1. This item is EXACTLY what I was expecting. The shipping was fast and the entire experience was hassle free! Thanks.



2. While reading this book I got the impression that it was a memoir. It is actally not so please be aware of this when reading. Considering that it is fiction the author was surprisingly "tame" in telling the story. I was expecting another depressing memoir of a family destroyed by the Japanese occupation. In Kim's book, however, the family's suffering is more subtle and their eventual triump refreshing. It's nice to not read a book where everyone and their mothers die a painful death. This book gave a lot of insight into the lives of Koreans during the occupation. It was also nice to know that not all of the imperial Japanese soldiers were as gruesome as they were in the Rape of Nanjing.



3. The "scenes from a Korean boyhood" in this book, which are evidently based on actual events, are very compelling and convey powerfully what life was like under the Japanese occupation of Korea. So that's the reason to read this book. Unfortunately, these scenes are set in a kind of fiction jello that connects one episode with another by means of impressionistic accounts of the Korean landscape and so on. This sort of writing is much less successful, and you'll find your eyes sliding past some of it. Kim is not as skillful at blending fiction and nonfiction as, say, Dave Eggers, and one wishes the author had related more about the father, who had been imprisoned by the Japanese, or the grandparents, or even the village, which was located in what is now North Korea. However, that would be a different book. Lost Names is not difficult reading and is certainly a good place to begin learning about what Koreans endured during World War II.



4. Imperialism is something that is often associated exclusively with the West. The histories of the British colonization of India and the Spanish colonies of Latin America abound, but many fail to notice the history of the Empire of Japan, which held Eastern Asia prior to and during the Second World War. Richard Kim writes about his childhood experience in Korea from 1932 to 1945 in his book Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood and focuses on the situation of Japanese imperialism on the Korean peninsula, and the effects of the colonization.
   Richard sees first hand how Japan influence on Korea is affecting his family life, school, and friendships. The book begins with an image of Kim's family leaving Korea for a job and being stopped by the Japanese Imperial Army. This was the first of the scenes that were told through the eyes of Richard Kim. The book goes on to depict six more stories, separated by chapters.
   Japan is painted as an outside influence, which is taking over Korea in a more passive way. The narrator describes the Japanese as not bad people, but people who are distinct from the native Koreans, and collectively more powerful and all-surrendering when it comes to their Emperor. This is shown when the narrator talks about how the books gets it's name, in which the Koreans are made to give up their Korean names in exchange for a Japanese name. Showing the strong nature of his family the name chosen by his father means "Foundation of Rock."
   Throughout the book, Koreans are portrayed as being in control in Korea behind the thick wall of Japanese occupation. This is largely personified in the character of Kim's college-educated father, whose firm anti-Japanese standpoints are looked-up-to by much of the local community. In spite of this, many Koreans are portrayed to be people who are indebted to the Japanese - shown by the character of Kim's teacher.
   Aside from the educated people, Koreans are portrayed as being unaware of the events around the world at the time, shown by the narrator's mother's obliviousness to the unfolding of German invasions in Europe and Japanese occupations in China. These chapters's focus on day-to-day event, which make it very important to the overall understanding the reader, gets of the depth of the effects of the Japanese colonization.
   Overall this book was very informative, one is able to see the true impact of the Japanese during World War II. However, not every event depicted in the story is completely true is still shows a first hand perspective in a new way, through a child eye. I would recommend the book to anyone interested in history or the impact of war. Just keep in mind this is not completely factual, but it will give you a better understanding of Korean history.



5. This was probably my favorite of the books we read in the Japanese History course I took my senior year of college. Young Richard Kim spent the majority of his childhood in his native Korea while it was under occupation by the Japanese, who were not very nice to or tolerant of his people, no matter they were the majority and the occupying Japanese were the minority. There are many hardships and much prejudice he faces growing up, from neighbors, the government, teachers, and schoolmates, but he never loses his sense of pride and Korean nationalism, constantly being reminded by his parents (who are ministers) and his grandmother to remain aware of where he comes from, his identity, the sustained hope that the Japanese won't always be in Korea, and to do well in school and set a fine example to the Japanese, since he mustn't let those Japanese boys at school think they're better than he is. When WWII comes along, everyone suffers the normal wartime deprivations, such as food shortages and bombing raids, but it is especially hard for the Koreans in the midst. Young Richard is forced, along with his classmates, to bow in the direction of the Emperor each morning, recite an ode of allegiance to the Emperor and Japanese government, and, worst of all, to even change his family name. All Koreans are forced to change their surnames to Japanese surnames, although Richard's father is clever and changes their family's name to one with the root meaning "rock," which of course is a reference to Saint Peter and the family's religious faith, a reference the Japanese won't get. It's enough to take away and try to usurp one's culture, traditions, customs, language, and way of life, but when you take away someone's name, that is in a way the ultimate erasure of their identity. Even when forced to, at least on the surface, speak a foreign language, submit to foreign leaders, and follow alien customs, there's still the comfort of knowing your base identity, your name, is still the same, but taking it away makes this prejudice and attempted usurpation of Korean culture incredibly personal and insulting.
   
   It didn't really bother me that some of these memories and thoughts are very complex and detailed for a child as young as Richard is in the beginning. Many times memories of traumatic defining events are stronger and more vivid and real precisely because they were so awful and traumatic, leaving more impact than something as mundane as, say, eating breakfast or walking the dog. And even if some gaps in Richard's memory may have been filled in by what he imagines happened or what his family have told him happened, it doesn't lessen the emotional impact of these events in the slightest. And I like how it was told in the present tense; since discovering quite some time ago that books can be written in the present tense and there's no rule written in stone saying you must only and always write in the past tense, I've much preferred books written in the present tense. It makes the events seem more real and gripping, full of suspense and tension, like constantly wondering what's going to happen next, living right in the moment.

5 comments about Desert Exile: The Uprooting of a Japanese-American Family.

1. This was a book assigned for my son over the summer and he said it was a fast read and was well written.



2. Desert Exile: The Uprooting of a Japanese-American Family
   Researching the history of Japanese internment camps led me to a great links on the subject through Amazon. Desert Exile will bring tears to your eyes and a hunger for more books on this subject. My interest in the subject was put into action after reading a novel Hotel on Avenue between Bitter and Sweet, another don't miss book.



3. Desert Exile
   Written by Yoshiko Uchida
   Review by MC
   
   Description:
   This book was about the life of Yoshiko Uchida and her family in the time period when World War II was happening. Her family was a Japanese American family living peacefully in Berkeley, CA, but being treated as though they were only Japanese in America. In these times, Japanese people living in America were being treated just as well as the dirt that they walk on. These Japanese people were being taken away to concentration camps that were being called "relocation centers". They could not go anywhere outside of their home barracks at these camps, unless they were being moved to another camp. Eventually, they made it out when the war ended, but not without claiming many victims of these people who had done nothing wrong in this time period, let alone possibly their lives.
   
   Review:
   This story was very well written by Yoshiko Uchida. Since it was written in first person point of view, and that it really happened, it made this story even more powerful. I enjoyed this gripping story of this family that was taken into camps involuntarily, with only the possessions that they were able to carry. In good stories, there are almost always ups and downs, but this story had one big up, and many saddening downs. These poor people were taken out of their homes to somewhere that they were very unfamiliar to with few precaution to keeping everyone healthy. These people were born in America, and salute the American Flag, they are no less American than you or me.
   This story shows the human spirit because these people had their freedom taken away for doing absolutely nothing wrong. They were being punished for their looks. They, and for generations in their family, have probably never committed a crime. I would like to say that I am glad that this book was written to show people what hardship these people had to suffer through, and it is shameful. It is in my best hope that this will never happen again in my lifetime and forever.



4. I was very interested in finding a book that wasn't just dry history. I wasn't born in this time period of World War II, so I was really eager to find a book relating to this topic. Possibly learning about someone who lived through this time period, something a little like Ann Frank's Diary.
   
   My initial thoughts were, this book would be interesting learning about history without any government interference with the conditions of the camps. In fifth grade I made friends with my best friend who had just moved from Japan and her family was getting aquainted with the United States. I interviewed her mom on how she was liking America and the one resp9onse that really stuck out was, I have so much Freedom.
   
   In the Book I realized that many Japanese Families experienced Racism from many nationalities. Children were taken out of school and from colleges. For a few years the students that were attending Universities were no longer able to graduate with their friends.
   
   Having a friend from Japan gave me an extra push to read the book. To my surprise, I couldn't believe that families were living in horse stalls and that people did not have proper barials if they did die while in the camp.
   
   The beginning of the book started off with how this Japanses-American Family pushed their way through life in America and tells us about their family success. At the end of the book I found that some of these Japanese American Families were actually more patriotic than many American families.



5. I had to read a memoir for my 8th grade English class. This book was about Yoshiko Uchida's Japanese American family, who were put in camps during World War II. I chose this book because I was very interested in the war, which put over 8,000 Japanese American people into old race tracks and deserts. Yoshiko was placed in two different camps, one in Northern California and the other Utah, both the same: over stuffed with people and nowhere to cry.
   
   Even though she suffered a lot while in the camps, Yoshiko learned that all the things in life, are worth living. She was a student, about to graduate from UC Berkeley, when they were taken off and disconnected from the "American's". They were stuck in the camps for a whole year, with no where to cry without someone seeing you.
   
   This book gave too much background before the war, but when the war hit, the book got much more interesting and exciting.
   
   Lori Sue
   Northern California

5 comments about Dr. Deming: The American Who Taught the Japanese About Quality.

1. This book is well written, and sufficed for my quality management class. Dr. Deming is a statistical genious who brought quality to America.



2. Fantastic. Really gets to the essence of implementing quality and explains Deming's concepts in a truly digestable form. Makes me realize why so many things in our world do and don't work, why most software is lousy, why our system of governance is doomed to produce endless boom/bust cycles, why America is doomed to endlessly lose industries to othter countries, and why my car and lawn mower are both made by Honda. I'm buying copies of this to give away.



3. This is a great book that explores the theories and history behind some of the major business/manufacturing practices used today. It illuminates the key mistakes of the US auto industry, chronicles the rise of Japanese dominance in electronics manufacturing, and provides clear direction for the business leaders of today. In short, Quality is everything. Great read, highly recommended.



4. This book seems geared more towards managers not currently implementing a Deming style approach - almost trying to convince one why the Deming style is better.
   
   The bulk of the book seems to stress Deming's 14 points. The author touches on (well, more than touching but less than 'in depth') profound knowledge. He also talks about current management styles and how that is dangerous to a company and its customers and employees' well being (management by objectives, bonuses *ouch*, things you see a lot etc). While reading some of those, you might think, "OH, I've definitely seen this at MY workplace."
   
   This book does not go deep into Deming, the man (though you might get some major plot points of his life). If you are looking for the statistical aspects or deeper how-tos, this book is probably not the best option for you either. I take that back, his how-to implement a Deming style system in your work place consisted of the following: hire a consultant. Sometimes, the material within the chapters seems repetitive.
   
   I find Deming and his concepts well deserving of 5 stars, but this book is closer to a 3.5.



5. This is a great book on the principles of Deming.
   
   It contains much of the same information as Out of Crisis, but is more readable (though less detailed).
   
   This book (and Deming) changed the way I looked at quality.

5 comments about Citizen 13660.

1. Mine Okubo, a Japanese-American art student when WWII broke out, created this singular study of the plight of Japanese interned in the United States following the attack at Pearl Harbor. Illustrated with drawings of a primitive, yet engaging, style Citizen 13660 goes through Ms. Okubo's experiences from her designation as a member of Family 13660 (in the United States!) to everyday life life in camps hastily put together to house internees to her departure from the system in 1944. This is a great first-hand account of a chapter in American history in which we failed to meet our own high standards for human rights.



2. FDR put them in internment camps to 1) prevent sabotage, 2) in fear of a west coast invasion, 3) to prevent non asian citizens from killing them as we lost battle after battle in the pacific and as 10's of thousands of american died in victories over the next few years.
   Sure there were Japanese americans who died in the camps, but not because they were executed. Take out the natural death rate and the misfortunes of epidemics and the number is miniscule.
   
   I grew up in those times and I know people who would have burned homes, killed them in the hundreds and thousands up and down the west coast had they not been kept safe by FDR in those camps. We were pissed and the news was full of dead fellow americans in the pacific every day. Drunks and the vicious would have been killing them off one by one. FDR did a great, brave and awful thing in makeing the decision.
   
   The crime was to not give them their property back after the war. That is FDR and the democrats great shame under FDR and then Truman.
   
   This book tries to rewrite that history, to make us feel uneasy with a tough choice that was really for the best.
   
   Its in the vein of those sob stories trying to rewrite history on the atom bombing of japan. People forget why we dropped the bomb and what the situation was. 1) The Japs started it. 2) the japs had killed 5 million chinese before they hit us, 3) the japs had 2 million men on mainland china when we dropped the bomb, 4) we wer flying 1,000 plane raids 2times a day into japan burning cities to the ground daily and would have for 2 more months prior to invasion, 5) truman was faced with reports of potential loss of US life in the 200,000 to 1mil plus range, 6) the russians were positioning to invade northern japan (which they would have enslaved like eastern europe), 7) we would have killed over 1,000,000 japanese leading up to and including the invasion of japan anyways and thats not counting the suicides.
   
   Remember your history and note the big picture.



3. Book was pretty much brand-spankin' new as far as I can tell, and arrived when it was supposed to. Super!



4. The novel Citizen 13660 is an exceptional graphic novel that describes the events of the Japanese internment camps. I truly enjoyed the novel by Mine Okubo because it used both illustrations and text to describe the events of the internment camps. Another reason that I really enjoyed the novel was because Okubo describes the camps the way that she experienced them. She doesn't add detail to make the events more or less atrocious. In other words, it wasn't a personal attack on the American people, which is what I expected before opening the novel. Furthermore, Okubo provides a basic understanding of what Japanese internment camps, which is something that I feel that people need to learn about. I think that it would be an exceptional novel for junior high and high school students to read since many American history books don't discuss the Japanese internment camps. Also, since cameras, video recorders, etc. were banned from internment camps and since most of the camps have since been destroyed, Okubo's illustrations illuminate what it was like to live in the internment camps. The images of the hard straw coming out of a thin covering that was supposed to be their bed and the restrooms that provided no privacy and unhealthy conditions are stuck in my head. For those that truly believe these camps were created for the protection of Japanese people, I would like you to look at Okubo's illustrations and explain to me your definition of the word protection.
   As previously stated, there are limited pictures and videos from the Japanese internment camps. However, if you are interested in viewing footage of the internment camps, the film "Something Strong Within" provides footage from ten different internment camps. Through this film, you can see the horrid conditions that the Japanese people had to live in. It also shows images of teenagers graduating high school in an internment camp. I found these images to be extremely effective because there are so many things that we take for granted that the Japanese and Japanese Americans didn't have the opportunity to experience. Through this film and Mine Okubo's graphic novel, people can learn about the struggles that the Japanese experienced during World War II.



5. On the morning of December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. At that moment, the terrible suffering and war that seemed so far away from America reached its shores. America was no longer safe. People panicked, and anyone of Japanese decent became the enemy, even if they were loyal U.S. citizens. Not so much unlike the Jews of Europe, the Japanese of America were sent to detention camps out of fear that they might still be loyal to Japan and betray the U.S. Among the many Japanese prisoners was Mine Okubo, who wrote and illustrated her biography, Citizen 13660, about what it was really like to live in Japanese internment camps during World War Two. Okubo's account is full of detail and elaborate drawings on every page, giving the reader an inside scoop into what internment camp life was really like.
   
   Citizen 13660 is a complete account of Okubo's life from the start of WW2 in 1939 to when she was released from the internment camp after living in several other camps over a couple of years. She was a Bay Area resident living in Oakland when she and her brother were forced from their homes along with 110,000 other Japanese Americans living on the West Coast. They had to put most all their belongings into storage and leave for Tanforan Relocation Center, which was located in what is now South San Francisco. The living conditions were poor, and the camp was a mess. It was not the ideal place for any human beings to live. She goes into great detail about every aspect of camp life, and it was startling to realize just how bad the Japanese Americans had it. For example, "the flush toilets were always out of commission," (pg. 72) "the sewage system was poor," (pg 78) and their living quarters was a "20 by 9 ft. horse stall." (pg 35)
   
   If you are looking for a book that is well written and a great piece of literature, I would recommend reading some other book. Citizen 13660 is mostly just simple sentences describing the detailed illustrations on every page. Rather than describing her life through words, she tells her story through beautiful pictures. Yet even with minimal words, she still manages to get her message across. I recommend this book to people who are looking for an easy yet interesting read, and to people who would like to know the real story behind the Japanese internment camps.

5 comments about Nisei Daughter.

1. Very nostalgic and many mutual experiences and shared neighborhoods. Keep me turning pages until I finished. Well done!!!



2. Nesei daughter is quite an intriguing narrative based on an autobiography of a Japanese-American woman who lived in Seattle during the 1920's and 1930's.The author presents an illuminating account of the complexities surrounding being a US citizen of Japanese descent and how this affected them after the outbreak of World War II when they had to be evacuated from Seattle, isolated and kept in concentration camps without trial.The book is useful for understanding issues of identity, racism, social justice, citizenship and gender. It is an invaluable tool for understanding the history of orientals within the US and can serve as memoir for them.



3. Great book. Classic first person narrative of the times surrounding Japanese-American "relocation" (internment) in the Seattle area during WWII by a young girl turned young woman. The book is well-balanced with humor and seriousness. Many books of this Coming of Age genre are often boring ramblings of someone's traumatic teen age years. This book is much different. It provides a good balance of eyewitness accounts and personal musings. Not only it is a must read for anyone interested in the period or topic, it is on the short list pertaining to the Pacific Northwest in general.



4. I was required to read this book for My History of the American West course, and I enjoyed the book as it was a great story written by someone who experienced the internment, but after reading Strawberry Days by David A. Newiwert, I realized that Sone left out the true feelings of the War World II time period. She only briefly touches upon the racism and the hatred towards the Japanese during that time, and the injustices that they suffered. Still I did take into consideration the time period that the book was published, and the sentiments still being felt at that time. So I would highly recommend this book but I would also suggest to do any further reading of the topic to get a true feeling of the Japanese Internment.



5. As a real Japanese daughter in Tokyo of Today, I very much enjoyed Ms. Sone's narrative. This is a story about prewar Seattle and the life of Japanese-Americans, as well as her identity struggle during the war time.
   With the eyes of an observant Nisei girl, Ms. Sone tells us about people around her, and school life, both local and Japanese, in a positive (somewhat humorous, sometimes sappy..) way.
   This is amazing. No one told me such an interesting story like this. Travel guide books only show us lovely views or baseball stadiums. Japanese school textbooks NEVER mention Japanese-American history and heritage. What a waste. We could share their feelings...
   I could have been a Nikkei(JA) daughter if my great-grand parents had emmigrated to the West Coast. (Actually, they once lived in Manchuria instead.)
   Since I found this book, I also have searched my heart and wondered where I had come from... It's so stimulating.
   ARIGATO, KAZUKO-san ! Seattle does not only mean Ichiro Suzuki.

5 comments about Evidence Not Seen: A Woman's Miraculous Faith in the Jungles of World War II.

1. I couldn't put this book down. It was a little slow in the beginning but then picked up all the way to the end. It has definitely challenged my walk with God. Trusting Him!



2. This is one of the most remarkable stories I have ever read. If you don't believe in God, you will after you read this. This woman went through trials and dangers that few men ever had, and she prevailed through belief in her faith and putting it into practice. No matter what your particular faith is, it will be stronger after reading this.



3. Darlene Deibler Rose's Brother was a cheerful man in my neighborhood I met, who was always humming a tune, singing a line from an old song, or quoting a favorite poem. When I saw this book on his table, and learned it was the story of his sister's survival as a WW II POW, I had to read it.
   
   Even if I had not known him, this would have turned out to be one of my all-time favorite books. There are very few books I will re-read, but I expect to re-read this many times, and have given it as a gift to several delighted recipients.
   
   This is a page-turning account that is hard to put down. Reading her account of survival through hardships puts one's own seeming difficulties into perspective and is quite inspirational. An amazing account of triumphing over adversity, focusing on what is important, and how focusing on other's needs provides strength and encouragement to persevere and triumph through one's own plight.
   
   I would recommend this book to anyone, but especially as an inspiration to anyone enduring through personal struggles.



4. Slow beginning, but i had a hard time putting it down at night once i got into it.



5. Evidence Not Seen is a wonderfully personal walk through the suffering of life while holding on to the hand of God, trusting His plan to work things out for good and experiencing His peace along the way. What an encouraging story!

5 comments about Looking Like the Enemy: My Story of Imprisonment in Japanese American Internment Camps.

1. My relationship with Looking Like the Enemy began five years ago, when Maureen Michelson at NewSage Press sent me the manuscript. "We're going to be publishing this book," she told me. "I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on it." This was hardly a bolt from the blue; I had been designing book covers and typesetting interiors for NewSage Press for a few years at the time.
   
   I sat down, opened the paper box holding the manuscript, and began to read. I have never had a stronger initial reaction to a book, particularly one that hasn't made it all the way through the editing process. Mary Matsuda Gruenewald, age 80, had at long last written about her experience as a Nisei--a second-generation Japanese-American citizen--interned during World War II. The memoir is remarkable on many levels, not least because the subject is one that many Japanese-Americans avoid speaking of to this day.
   
   Gruenewald recounts hearing the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor--in the kitchen of their family strawberry farm on Vashon Island, off the coast of Seattle. She writes movingly of seeing wartime caricatures in magazines, and then looking at her own face in the mirror and wondering, "Is that how they see me?" She writes of her family's desperate efforts to prove a loyalty that should never have been called into question--US Government studies done at the time demonstrated that there was no "loyalty problem" among the Japanese-American population. Those efforts included burning family heirlooms, and even sending the family's only son, Yoneichi, to fight for the country that had imprisoned him, and his family. In short, Gruenewald movingly portrays what it felt like to be a high school senior, on the verge of beginning her life, and then to suddenly have that life stripped away and replaced with a prison camp existence.
   
   Reading the memoir was stunning, partly because the Japanese-American internment camps are a largely ignored page in American history. I had heard occasional references to the "camps," but Looking Like the Enemy took those references and gave them a human face. I cried as I read of the camp women banding together to sew a protective sash for Yoneichi when he decides to enlist. The need for such a sash was more than symbolic; the desire many Japanese-Americans felt to prove their loyalty meant that their military units often saw the most brutal action, and took the heaviest casualties. The irony is most biting perhaps because Gruenewald leaves it largely unsaid.
   
   When I finished that initial read-through, I knew that this was a book that was more than just a good read--it was going to be important for the questions it raises: questions that were pressing at the time, and have become increasingly so in the years since Looking Like the Enemy first hit bookstore shelves.
   
   How do we decide who the "real Americans" are? How do we deal with immigrants from nations with which we are at war? How do we judge loyalty? Under what circumstances, if ever, is it appropriate to strip American citizens of their rights? Does national security trump personal liberty? Perhaps most significant, is loyalty a one-way street? Can we require loyalty of citizens from whom we have stripped basic rights? Looking Like the Enemy is more than a book about our national past: it raises questions about how we deal with immigrant populations here and now.
   
   Gruenewald's story is enhanced by images from her private collection, from the National Archives, and from various other sources. Some of the images included were taken by Ansel Adams, and donated for public use. The images combined with the story make Looking Like the Enemy an important resource for understanding a little-known facet of American history.
   
   This memoir is used in university, college, and advanced high school classes. In Fall 2010, a Young Reader's edition of Looking Like the Enemy will be available for readers in grades 5 through 8. It will include many of the images from the adult version.
   
   by Sherry Wachter
   for Story Circle Book Reviews
   reviewing books by, for, and about women



2. This is a personal memior of life in a World War II era American internment camp for people of Japanese living in the US and their American born children. The author really shares her heart with the reader as she describes the conflicting emotions finding a national and ethnic identity. It so happens that her internment takes place during those same formative years when adolescents and young adults seems to want to discover who they are. It is also the story of an outstanding American family who brought strong values from Japan to America. The author and her parents accepted their fate with a quiet dignity and the brother even went off to fight in Europe for the same governemnt that placed his parents in a dirty, crowded, barbed-wire-surrounded encampment.
   
   In my mind, I always tended to minimized what happened to the Japanese in America and their American children. Perhaps that was because I always compared it to the holocaust. The author concedes that the holocaust was much worse. However, the author also shares some pretty graphic scenes that could not have been easy for a young woman:
   
   *group showers
   
   *group toilets that must have stunk
   
   *crowded living spaces where there was no privacy. While trying to sleep, a person could hear people coughing, wheezing, snoring, passing gas, giggling, grinding teeth, having sex.
   
   *constant uncertainty as to the status of your future and your parent's property.
   
   *add to that a brother fighting in a world war.
   
   Anti-Japanese propaganda did not help matters, as the author describes the evil-monkey "Jap" stereo-types that even seem to have her feel somewhat ashamed to be Japanese. The author further goes on to describe the strong and conflicting emotions upon hearing about the bombing of Hiroshima.
   
   It really is a fascinating story of an outstanding American family. Anyone who is interested in the social history of the USA should read it. It is a story that highlights one of the many aspects of the American melting pot experience. It is also very well written and is easy to read. I read all 200 pages in two days. Unlike many history books written by professors and professional historians, it requires almost no prior knowledge of World War II or the time period.



3. I agree completely with Cindy Lee's July 12 review of this book. I am also a sansei (3rd generation Japanese-American), and have heard only bits and pieces of my parents experience in the internment camp. The other bits and pieces I heard about these camps when in school were that they were for the "protection" of the Japanese who had migrated to this country and that it was a "good" thing.
   
   Even though this happened back in the 1940's, it was very frustrating and angering for me to read the account of how people of Japanese ancestry were deprived of all their rights just because of that ancestry, and also because they could be more easily identified by their physical appearance than the German or Italian people. You can see the same situation brewing now with people of Middle-Eastern descent.
   
   Ms. Gruenewald puts us right in the scene with her and her family as they undergo evacuation to the camps, and make do the best they can when they are forced to live there for several years.
   
   I would also like to say that I felt the author tried to be objective in her writings. Her feelings are expressed very well, but she does not let it degenerate into a black and white, one side is all good and the other side is all bad portrayal. There are good and bad guys on both sides, and she also does a good job of pointing out the conflicts within the internees as far as loyalties. This was a very difficult time for everyone and decisions were not easily made. Ms. Gruenewald gets that across in her narrative. She does not try to incite the readers by making anything overly dramatic, she simply tells what she saw and experienced, along with how she felt about it, and I am appreciative of her account. Very well done.
   
   On a side note: there is a reference to her website at the end of the book, but beware - it has been identified as a site that downloads viruses onto your computer. This was announced to me by my Firefox browser, which then allowed me to skip the page. Internet Explorer, which is not so secure, allowed me to visit the site at which time my anti-virus software warned me that the site was attempting to download viruses onto my computer, and it blocked them. Hopefully the author can get this remedied because I would like to visit the site and see what else she has to say.



4. I'm a history buff of sorts and alsways looking for books on American History. I've just started reading this book and it is already very interesting. We need to know how our citizens felt when they were treated like the enemy. We don't want to do it again.



5. I loved this book. As a Sansei, 3rd generation Japanese in America, I learned so much from reading this book. Both of my parents were interned during the war, but in all these years, they've only shared bits and pieces or vague generalities of their own experiences. Reading Mary Matsuda's vivid and detailed account of her own experience gave me a much greater appreciation and understanding of this traumatic, stressful period, along with a better understanding of basic Japanese customs and beliefs that have guided my own life. It has been a powerful step towards better understanding my own family's history, and I so appreciate that this story was shared by the author. It was beautifully written. I highly recommend this book to all.

5 comments about Epitaph for a Peach: Four Seasons on My Family Farm.

1. Because I grew up with peach juice dribbling down my chin, I've been longing for that sensation for years! With mouth-watering anticipation, I read this book hungrily as I prepared for our Book Club discussion next week.



2. This book doesn't quite live up to its promise. I found the concept of his quest to save his heirloom peaches inspiring, but the book lacks the focus and drama I expected. Instead it meanders through the agricultural seasons, without much explanation of, say, the marketing and distribution process, which is apparently the challenge with the kind of peaches he's growing. The book has a nice mood, but after a while I began to feel that he was saying the same things over and over again. I didn't finish the book, which is rare for me.



3. Epitaph for a Peach chronicles a year on Mas Masumoto's farm in the great Central Valley of California. If you are not familar with his work, Mas is a third generation Japanese American (Sansei) farmer, a disappearing breed. If you were raised on a family farm, Mas nails the experience right on the head. His writing is accessible; doesn't require that you have a degree in Literature to understand. He weaves a tale that keeps one engaged.
   
   The book opens with a prologue written by Mas that was published in the Los Angeles Times. Mas laments having to bulldoze his Sun Crest peach orchard in order to plant a more "popular" and profitable variety. (The article was syndicated nationally - I don't know how I missed it.) This sets the stage for Mas' effort to find a market for his peaches as well as tell his story of life on the farm. Each season brings work and change. He disputes the notion that a farmer's life is unchanging. It is also filled with symbolism - egrets, owls, ghosts - and optimism. The end leaves you with an unanswered question - does the peach orchard survive beyond the year chronicled in the book?
   
   If you are a refugee from a family farm, have spent time on a family farm or want a vignette into the life of a Sansei farmer, I highly recommend Epitaph for a Peach.



4. Author David Masumoto has written an excellent vignette into the year in a life of a small-scale, family farmer. His passion for his life's work, his connection to the land, and his strong family values are so clearly evident in his writing. I think a lot of readers will be envious of the life he describes. I share many of his views on the value of small family farms and the need to focus on how food should taste. Masumoto's book will reonsate deeply with those of us who know what it means to be curious about how something grows, who look forward to the first ripe peach or melon of the year, who prefer to make things from scratch and sit down with all our kids at dinner.



5. I feel a connection with David Masumoto. Not that I've met him or anything - in fact, there's a good chance I never will (although I keep hoping that one summer day I can make it over to his farm to pick peaches). No, this feeling is based on an impression that we have both fought the same fight over different things, for the same reasons. It is also because he writes so poignantly about a landscape I grew up in. Mr. Masumoto is an organic farmer in the valley of California, and his story is becoming more and more familiar to me as I see this way of life disappearing across the country.
   
   A third generation Japanese American peach and grape farmer, David Masumoto inherited the family orchard from his father. He also had the heritage of his childhood memories of how that particular peach variety, Sun Crest, tasted and ran with juice unlike the pretty red baseballs that have passed for today's supermarket peach varieties. Mr. M wanted to show the world how delightful an old-fashioned peach could be.
   
   When he took over his father's farm, he resolved to not only continue growing his Sun Crests, but to do it organically. This would prove challenging in our day and age of cheap, quick fixes; moreover, it would test his strongly felt ideals. The land needed to heal and replenish itself after years of chemical fertilizers and toxic pest control methods. Masumoto had to take his example from research on other organic farming practices, planting wildflowers to encourage beneficial insect life and sowing "green manure" crops to act as natural mulch and compost. All this took time, patience, and faith that his hard work would eventually pay off.
   
   Epitaph for a Peach is rich in sensory descriptions, philosophy, and nostalgic flashbacks. It is a picture of the way a farmer's life is connected to the seasons, capricious weather patterns, and changing market conditions. Not incidentally, Masumoto also teaches about the obscure history of Japanese farmers in the Valley - something that even I, native to Fresno, had little idea of. Reading this book was a slow, thoughtful experience much in the same manner that one slows down to savor a rich fruit. Recommended to anybody interested in history, growing food, or the vanishing California landscape.
   -Andrea, aka Merribelle