Nikkei West Covers Vanished

Here's a media account of our wonderful book-signing in San Jose.

In Nikkei West writer John Sammon does a masterful job of covering all the details of the gathering and includes a delightful picture of the Suzuki sisters, from left to right Tsuyako, Yayoi and Midori.

Thanks, John, thanks Nikkei West, thanks Aki Iwata for calling my attention to the story, and thanks everybody for a memorable 2011.

Here's the link.
http://www.nikkeiwest.com/index.php/the-news/archived-article-list/198-author-recounts-vanished-nisei-of-

Lompoc Grant Opportunity

Thirteen months after publication, Vanished is still a topic of conversation in Lompoc.

The Lompoc public library was just awarded a grant from the California Council for the Humanities to present a "Community Read" event centered on Farewell to Manzanar during 2012. Library Director Molly Gerald wrote yesterday "I would like to talk with you about the possibility of programming that would also include Vanished. Today I spoke with the Manzanar author, Jeanne Houston."

Vanished on the same stage with Farewell to Manzanar?  Wow.

We will definitely keep readers here in the loop. Thanks Molly, thanks everybody for your support.

And Another Outlet

We are happy to announce that Eastwind Books of Berkeley will soon be carrying Vanished.

Eastwind is located at 2066 University in Berkeley. Check out their website at www.asiabookcenter.com

According to Bea Dong of Eastwind-- "We had a book event for Making Home From War and one of the contributing authors Michi Tashiro recommended we carry Vanished. Thank you for writing this book. We are very pleased to have this opportunity to retail your book."

Thank you Bea, and thank you Michi.

Vanished now has sixteen outlets including four in Northern Calfornia, in Berkeley, Sacramento, San Mateo and San Jose.

Yet Another Signing

You thought maybe after one entire year, the Vanished caravan might end? Well, slowing down it is, but not ending.

For those of you on the Central Coast, you are invited to The Bookstore in Lompoc on Thursday, November 17 from 6:00 to 9 p.m. where John McReynolds and two other local authors will be signing and talking.

Come on by to 1137 North H Street, Suite Q, in Lompoc. We look forward to seeing you.

Another Great Story from San Jose

                                   Jane Iwata, Midori Suzuki Satow, Aki Iwata, Michi Nakai, and
                                             Nancy Satow Ito get together in San Jose. 

Just as at all the Vanished book presentations, the book became secondary to the reunions at the San Jose Museum last month. In this case people who met long after 1942 came back together.

Witness this note from Aki Iwata--

Everyone had a good time at your presentation in the JAMsj.

It's hard to get people to say anything in public like during your discussion, but they sure gave me an earful afterwards.

Thank you again for the contribution your book has made to the history of our country.

Here is a photo of 91-year-old Midori Satow, the prominent focal point on the cover of your book.

Her daughter Nancy is on the far right of this photo

On my left is Michi Nakai.  Turns out that Nancy was Michi's bridesmaid.  They haven't seen each other in years.

Michi (& Roy) we've known for many years. They live in Nipomo. Their daughter Kim is married to Allen Hayashi who farms in Arroyo Grande.  Believe the Hayashis date back to Tsunejiro Hayashi that is mentioned in your book on page 97.

San Jose Booksigning Unforgettable

 

                                                                           

                  Tsuyako Suzuki Miyagishima, John McReynolds, Jean Yayoi Suzuki Handa
                                       and Midori Suzuki Satow in San Jose on Saturday

THIS POST WAS PREPARED ON OCT. 18, BUT WAS NOT POSTED. MY APOLOGIES.

The San Jose presentation of Vanished last Saturday was unforgettable.

Like all of the earlier presentations, from Lompoc to Montrose to Livermore, to Los Angeles, to Reno to San Jose, and I’m probably leaving one out, it was less academic and literary than it was family reunion and celebration.

Fifty people filled the conference room of the Japanese American Museum-San Jose. Arrangements were wonderful with overhead projector and chairs close enough to feel the connection between speaker and audience. Over half the crowd had read the book, thanks to a book study earlier in the year.

Aki Iwata and his wife Jane, who attended the very first book signing event one year ago in Lompoc, were there. “I always knew the wartime as a child,” Iwata told the group. “Now I know it as an adult.”

Mr. and Mrs. Tom Nishikawa, who live part of the year in San Luis Obispo County, were present after having attended the SLO Obon where Vanished was featured. “We need to work to see that the events of the book never happen again, to anyone,” Mr. Nishikawa said.

Rich Endo, who helped organize the Fourth of July Iwamoto-Tachiki-Endo Family Reunion presentation of Vanished in Reno, was there to help share details of that event.

Margaret Nakamura Cooper and her brother David, were present to bestow upon the museum a copy of a biography of their mother who passed away only a year ago at the age of 107. Their mother was a resident of nearby Los Altos. Margaret was born in San Jose.

Nikkei West sent reporter John Sammon, who asked good questions and followed up later to double check accuracy.

But the highlight was the unexpected. All three Suzuki sisters, all of whom played a role in the book, were present.

“I am 91 and I’ve never spoken to a group this size,” said Tsuyako Suzuki Miyagishima, author of four segments of Vanished.  They were written as an assignment in her memoir class in Fairfield, California.

She was joined by her elder sister Midori Suzuki Satow who appears on the cover of Vanished shepherding the little girls in the Guadalupe Buddhist Temple parade, the photograph of which was first believed to have been snapped in Lompoc.

Also present was Jean Yayoi Suzuki Handa, who first told the story on page 87 of hurrying with her sister to take winter clothes to her father who had been arrested by the FBI in February of 1942. She also appears in the basketball team photo on page 220.

The three sisters were accompanied by an entourage of a dozen or more family members, all of whom came wielding cameras. To a small-town ex-newspaper reporter, it felt like the paparazzi on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Thank you, Aggie, Eva and Joe of the museum. You made us feel completely at home.

Two More Special Guests Expected in San Jose

Tsuyako Suzuki Miyagishima and Margaret Nakamura Cooper have been added to the Special Guest list for Saturday at the Japanese American Museum in San Jose.

Mrs. Miyagishima authored four chapters in Vanished including the Prologue "Sentimental Journey," Chapter 2 "Generations," and Chapter 15 "December 7, 1941." She is a resident of Fairfield, CA.

Mrs. Cooper grew up in Los Altos where the Nakamura family is well known. Her mother passed away only two years ago at the age of 106.

They join Mrs. Miyagishima's sister Yayoi Jean Suzuki Handa of San Jose and Aki Iwata of Sunnyvale who also appear in the pages of Vanished. All four special guests will be available to talk to the public about the book.

The event begins at 1 p.m at the Museum located at 535 North Fifth Street, between Empire and Jackson in Japantown. The public is invited.

Yayoi Suzuki to Also Appear in San Jose

Yayoi Suzuki, the young woman whose 1942 visit to the Lompoc jail with her father's underwear brought tears to the eyes of readers in Vanished, is planning to be present on Saturday, October 15, at the Japanese-American Museum San Jose.

Now known as Jean Handa, she wrote this week: "My husband’s family is having a family reunion on Oct.14th  in San Francisco and we were planning to stay overnight there. However, I will try to meet you at the Japanese museum by one o’clock on Saturday….(Things always seem to happen at once!!!)"

Mrs. Handa is a resident of San Jose. If scheduling works out, she will join author John McReynolds and eye-witness Aki Iwata in speaking about Vanished in the first formal presentation about the book in Northern California.

In February of 1942 Mrs. Handa's father had been jailed by the FBI at the Lompoc police station after mass raids had taken place. More than thirty Lompoc Nikkei leaders were incarcerated at the time. Mr. Suzuki had not been able to bring clothing so two of his daughters brought them to him.

As the girls departed, the prisoners called out to them, "Take care of the women and children." Mrs. Handa said last year that she cried all the way home.

The public is invited to the museum. It is located at 535 North Fifth Street, between Empire and Jackson in Japantown.  

Aki Iwata to Help Present

Aki Iwata, whose contribution to Vanished based on his visits to Lompoc in the early 1950s, helped contrast the vivid 1930's with the post-war era, will be present at the book's next discussion.

On Saturday, October 15, Mr. Iwata will join author John McReynolds in speaking at the Japanese American Museum of San Jose beginning at 1 p.m.

"Thank you for inviting me to say a few words," Mr. Iwata wrote yesterday. "I am planning to attend ... and will be more than happy to speak."

During the Korean War, Mr. Iwata was stationed at the Camp Cooke Disciplinary Barracks adjacent to Lompoc. He frequently visited the Inouye family, one of only two Nikkei families still living in Lompoc.

His memories of the town in those years, contrast dramatically with the vibrant place of pre-World War II and form a major part of Chapter 33.

The public is invited to the museum. It is located at 535 North Fifth Street, between Empire and Jackson in Japantown.  

San Jose Presentation One Month Away

The presentation of Vanished in San Jose is just one month away.

On Saturday, October 15, from 1 to 4 p.m., the subject at the Japanese American Museum in San Jose will be Vanished.

As Eva Yamamoto, a director of the museum, wrote yesterday:

All the promo is set and posters are going out this week. You are on our website, e-news (email newsletter), printed newsletter, posters and in the news letters of other community organization. We will also do an email invite to our membership.

John McReynolds will be there to talk about the book, answer questions, and sign. Others will be present as well. They will be announced here in coming weeks.

So, if you are anywhere in the San Francisco Bay Area, please consider coming to San Jose.

For further information, go to the San Jose museum website at http://www.jamsj.org/

Chapter One Figure Pictured

Thanks to Lompoc's Jim Sloan, we are now able to present a picture of Noboru Wakumoto as he looked in 1941 when he escorted Chiyo Iwamoto to the Lompoc High School Prom. This took place one week after Wakumoto competed at the Japanese-American Olympics at San Francisco's Kezar Stadium and served as the basis for Chapter One of Vanished.

                                            Noboru Wakumoto on the Lompoc
                                                  High athletic field.  

Next week we will return to the still-unidentified photographs from the files of the Lompoc Police Department. .

Thirty Photos Still Unidentified

With eight photos identified from Lompoc's Nikkei community in 1941, some thirty remain still unknown.
If you have any idea who this gentleman might be, just send an email to lompocwriter@gmail.com

Already identified are Jintaro Fukawa, Akita Hasegawa, Nobujiro Inouye, Masakichi Iwamoto, Gitaro Kitaguchi, Genzo Murakami, Yasohachi Nakashima, and Kinhachi George Shibuya.

The photos date from 1941 when the Nikkei community was required to turn in their radios, cameras and firearms. The pictures were found in an abandned file cabinet at the Lompoc Police Department a monh ago.

Four More Photos Identified

Kinhachi George Shibuya
Co-op Packing Shed Manager

The total rose to eight this week as four more photographs stashed away in an abandoned file at the Lompoc Police Department since 1942 were identified.

This week's new names include Kinhachi George Shibuya, manager of the Lompoc Co-op Packing Shed, and farmers Jintaro Fukawa, Akita Hasegawa,and Yasohachi Nakashima.

Farmer Jintaro Fukwa

Identified earlier were storekeeper Nobujiro Inouye, farm leader Masokichi Iwamoto, restaurant owner Genzo Murakami, and independent farmer Gitaro Kitaguchi.

Storekeeper Nobujiro Inouye
Identified earlier

                                                                                                                            
Shibuya's identification is particularly significant because it confirms that these photos do not date from the FBI arrests in February 1942. Shibuya was not picked up at that time. Nor was Gitaro Kitaguchi who was identified earlier. Neither had reason to be at the police station until, perhaps, when their familes were incarcerated in April 1942. The photos most likely date from mid-December 1941 when all Lompoc Issei were asked to report to the Lompoc PD and turn in cameras, radios, and firearms.

Farmer Yasohachi Nakashima

Farmer Akita Hasegawa

                                                                                   

                                                                                                                       

The photos, unlabelled, turned up in an unused file drawer several weeks ago. Some thirty other photos remain unidentified. They will all be posted here in coming weeks.

First Foto Identifications Beginning to Come In



Masakichi Iwamoto




The first four identifications have been  made of the forty photographs from seven decades ago uncovered by the Lompoc police recently.

In addition five more faces have been tentatively named.

The first four to be identified by their families are merchant Nobujiro Inouye, owner of the Hinode Store, farmer Masokichi Iwamoto, president of the Lompoc Farmers Association, independent asparagus farmer Gitaro Kitaguchi, and restaurant owner Genzo Murakami, owner of the New China Cafe.

Their photographs will appear here soon..

Tentative ID's, which may still turn out to be false, have been made for farmers Akita Hasegawa and Yasohachi Nakashima,  fisherman Kinsaburo Tsuyuki, and farming cousins Jintaro Fukawa and Inosuke Fukawa, both representatives to the regional Farmers Association. The photographs of these five will appear soon on the Photographs page of this website.



If you have confirmation for any of these five, or if you are convinced tentative ID is incorrect, please e-mail lompocwriter@gmail.com to share your thoughts.

The photographs appear to be a random selection of a larger group of shots probably taken in December of 1941 when the police asked all Lompoc Issei to turn in cameras, radios and firearms. The shots are no longer believed to have been taken at the time of FBI arrests made in February 1942 since Gitaro Kitaguchi is included. Kitaguchi was not picked up in February but remained with his family until the entire Nikkei community was incarcerated in April 1942.

Genzo Murakami	Gitaro Kitaguchi

Lompoc PD Finds Priceless Photos from 1942

The Lompoc Police Department has made a breathtaking discovery. Last week a detective found a photographic treasure chest-- thirty-one mug shots which appear to be the Issei community leaders arrested by the FBI and LPD in Lompoc in February 1942.

Until now only 28 arrestees had been identified, and some of them without confirmation

Detective Milt Baldwin was rummaging through his desk last week as his retirement approached, and happened upon the unnamed images, now 69 years old. He promptly went on-line to find someone knowledgeable about the time period and the community. He contacted Chris Komai of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles who forwarded his note to us here in Lompoc. Here is his letter..

Sir,

Going through old files I found a box of negatives that were marked “Japanese Registration Negatives”.

I believe these were photos taken of some Japanese citizens who lived in Lompoc or the area who were rounded up by the government after Pearl Harbor.  There are approximately 31 negatives and no names are attached to the negatives.   

I found your email address attached to an article about Lompoc and the Japanese American National Museum.

If you are interested in these please contact me and I will see what I can do to have them released to the museum if at all possible.

Respectfully,

Retired Detective Milt Baldwin

Lompoc Police Department

These photographs should be available soon to the families of all those arrested in Lompoc on February 19, 1942. They will almost certainly expand the list published on page 174-5 of Vanished. Police Chief Timothy Dabney has approved their release pending the approval of the Lompoc City Attorney.

Since the photographs are not labelled by name, the participation of family members may be necessary to accurately identify them. Please monitor this website for the latest news.

News from the San Luis Obispo Obon Festival

Thanks to Carolyn Sanwo of the book distributor Heritage Source, John McReynolds got fifteen minutes of speaking time last Saturday in front of more than one hundred listeners. 

First he told the story of the writing of Vanished, and how George Yoshitake had triggered its research. Then he read the following excerpt from the final report of Eric Thomsen, the War Relocation agent for California's Central Coast in 1945. The excerpt comes from a visit Thomsen made to the SLO Sheriff's Department. It is dialogue with a deputy. The questions come from Thomsen, the answers from the deputy.

QUESTION: “Don’t you think these people who own their own homes and were born and raised around here should be allowed to return?”

ANSWER: “No, they ought never to come back here.”

QUESTION: “If any should nevertheless try to exercise their legal right to return, to you anticipate any difficulty?”

ANSWER: “You’re damned right there is going to be trouble. All Japs are disloyal!”

QUESTION: “But don’t you think that the Army whose responsibility it is to determine the loyalty of those who return has screened them pretty well?”

ANSWER: “I have done business with the Japs for years. And they are all disloyal. They all have a double citizenship. You can’t trust any of them!”

QUESTION: “Would you say that this was pretty generally the sentiment of the community?”

ANSWER: “Everybody in this department feels that way.”

In subsequent conversations with the sheriff’s office and with the sheriff himself that proved to be almost uniformly true.

Thomsen's statistics indicated that only 16% of San Luis Obispo's Nikkei retuned to the area after the war. Two visitors to the Heritage Source booth brought similar numbers. One said that only fifteen families returned, and another said that of the forty families in the Pismo-Oceano Vegetable Exchange, just eight returned. These numbers are only marginally better than the two percent of families returning to Lompoc.

McReynolds' next speaking engagement will come on October 15 in San Jose at the Japanese American Museum.

San Luis Obispo Signing; Video from JANM

On Saturday, August 6 John McReynolds will appear at the San Luis Obispo Obon from 1-5 p.m. at the SLO Veterans Building, 801 Grand Avenue. He will speak on stage at 2:15 regarding a special San Luis Obispo insert to Vanished.

                                                                         -0-


For those of you unable to attend the presentation of Vanished at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles on June 18, a DVD of the event is now available.

Please send $10 to Press Box Productions, 409 South A Street, Lompoc, CA 93436.

Twenty-year-old Interview Confirms Vanished Thesis

Two years after research began on why only two Nikkei families returned to Lompoc, a document has turned up which confirms the entire Vanished story.

An interview with Tony Armas, who worked as a mechanic for Jintaro Fukawa, tells the Lompoc Nikkei story and even adds a few details about postwar resistance that Vanished could not find -- like which oil company refused to deliver diesel to Victor Inouye. A transcript of the interview recently turned up in the files of the Lompoc Valley Historical Society.

We reprint it here, beginning in February 1942 when the FBI was arresting Issei leaders.

Tony Armas: They’d just go up to the house and knock on the door and ask for so and so and they knew where all of them were. They had a record, I guess, of all of them. And they went to the house where my boss lived and he was in the shop where I was working on a tractor. And so she told them what it was. They came over there and took out their billfold and a badge of some kind and said they were the authorities. And I happened to look over and I could see some other Japanese that I knew. They came in caravans – they wanted them all at once. And they took every Japanese alien, men, from this valley, I believe, in the first day.

Interviewer: What did they do with the families then?

Tony Armas: Families just stayed and tried to find out what’s gonna happen next. And they just brutally took their people away from their families. That’s the way I could put it.

Interviewer: They didn’t give them time to pack?

Tony Armas: They didn’t give them time, no more. My boss asked if he could get an overcoat in the house, and one of the officers went with him. They came back out and started to get in this truck, an army truck – it was green on the side. You could see it was a military truck. Then there was also a bus. I think the bus was mostly government people in case there was trouble or anything. Then no more than when he got ready to step up on the truck, (the tailgate was down), he took out his billfold and his wife started to cry and he gave his billfold to his wife.

Interviewer: They didn’t get to take anything?

Tony Armas: They didn’t get to take nothing. They did allow them to go in and get an overcoat.

Interviewer: Were these families compensated in any way?

Tony Armas: They didn’t give them nothing. They lost everything they had.

Interviewer: And then the families had to leave?

Tony Armas: Later the families had to leave. I wasn’t there when they took the families. It was about a month or two later, the families went to join them wherever they was at. I heard they had taken some down to Santa Anita Racetrack. They took the horses out and made housing for them to live in there. They took them to different parts of California. Some of them they took clear back into Colorado.

Interviewer: Did the government actually sell their land to other…?

Tony Armas: They didn’t own their land. There was only two Japanese families that owned land in Lompoc and that was the Inouyes and the Kitaguchis out here by Rivaldis. They were the only two that I know that owned land because they were American citizens. They couldn’t even have the lease in their name. They had an American citizen that used to sign all the leases in Lompoc for all the Japanese.

Interviewer: This was before the war broke out?

Tony Armas: Before the war broke out. He would sign all the leases. George Nishimura, he was about 35 or 40 years old – he was an American citizen. He was the one that had a packing shed here, and he signed all the leases for all the Japanese. And these two people that owned the land – they couldn’t take it away from them. People just started farming it because it was vacant. But they came back. These two families came back. The rest of them tried to come back and start businesses here and the attitude of everybody – all the farmers in the valley – banded together and they would just not lease a piece of ground to a Japanese. Now Guadalupe was a little bit different. They did come back there and started farming there.

Interviewer: The ones that left here then, more or less, just had leases?

Tony Armas: Just had leases.

Interviewer: The two that came back then, were they able to regain their property?

Tony Armas: They were able to start farming their property. One of them I knew real well. I was farming their ground because I went to school with one of the daughters.

Interviewer: Which one was this?

Tony Armas: Inouye, Toshi Inouye’s folks owned the land right back over here. There was fifteen acres in one spot and about ten acres in another spot. And I, on the side, was doing some farming. So I farmed that ground for them toward the end of the war. I mean, at first I don’t know who had it. Some person let it grow into weeds and nobody had it and then somebody went in there and worked it up and planted it. They lost all their equipment. Most of these farmers had tractors, big tractors, Farmall tractors, planters, rollers, everything it would take to farm vegetables. They just left it sit and most of them were paying on that so much each year. A lot of it got repossessed by the companies they had contracts with and some of it was sold for whatever they could get. Who was in charge of that I don’t know but I heard that Grossman was in charge of quite a bit of  selling some of the equipment. They got little or nothing for it.

Interviewer: Your boss’ name was……..

Tony Armas: He was George Fukawa.

Interviewer: The two who came back, was there strong feelings against them by the farmers in the valley?

Tony Armas: Yes, I heard it from the horse’s mouth that an oil company that was supplying diesel fuel refused to deliver diesel fuel to this one Japanese that wanted to start farming. He just flat refused to deliver fuel to him. This was Inouye, and they wrote to the oil company that they had credit with, Union Oil Company, that they refused to deliver diesel fuel to them. They were all banded together in Lompoc. They wasn’t gonna let Japanese back into Lompoc and they did a good job of doing that, because you don’t see any of them farming in Lompoc. I mean, I think there is one or two that were born here. They’re farming here. The company wrote to this oil company man and told him “You will deliver fuel to Inouye.” He made the brag that he wasn’t going to deliver any fuel to them, and later I heard the company gave him strict orders that he’d lose his dealership if he would not deliver fuel to them.

Interviewer: This was a representative here in Lompoc?

Tony Armas: Yes, the delivery man. Delivered here for years. There’s a few of the die-hard farmers, the bigger farmers here in the valley, that just didn’t want to see them come back. You see, they had gotten so poor while they were farming here. They figured they could do it good. We didn’t need the Japanese any more. But the Japanese came in here and showed them what they could do with these parts.

Interviewer: Anything else about the Japanese that you remember?

Tony Armas: Well, all I could say I enjoyed working for near five years for the one that I worked for. That’s the first job I had. After my dad passed away, he leased thirty-five acres. He didn’t even get a crop out of it. The river took it. He gave me a job knowing that I was alone. He helped me out with his equipment to do the farming. The rest of the farming that my dad used to do was with horses. My boss had these two big tractors and he says, “You getting ready to farm your ground? Here, take my equipment.” Never charged me a penny. Even furnished the fuel. 

The Rest of the Story on San Luis Obispo

As I began last week to tell the story of post-war resettlement in San Luis Obispo, here is the rest of the story. A longer version will be available as a supplement to copies of Vanished sold at the SLO Obon Festival.

When Eric Thomsen’s War Relocation Authority office for the California Central Coast closed in February 1946, resettlement numbers indicated that resistance had been more successful than not.

On January 31 Thomsen wrote, “Individuals and families constantly encourage other families to come West but not with much success up in San Luis Obispo County, where it is manifestly almost impossible for them to earn a living.”

Before the war one-quarter of the Tri-Counties’ Nikkei population resided in San Luis Obispo County, 925 out of 3700. But after the war, specifically by January 19, 1946, sixty days after closure of all but one of the WRA’s camps, Thomsen’s SLO statistics counted only 149 Nikkei who had returned.

In his entire three-county district, Thomsen had placed 1400 returnees, assisted hugely by the city of Santa Barbara which took in far more than its share. But the district total represented only 38% of the 3700 Nikkei sent away in 1942. San Luis Obispo County’s 149, reduced from 925, was even less, representing a return rate of only 16%.

San Luis Obispo a Lot like Lompoc

In advance of the San Luis Obispo Obon Festival, to which I have been invited by Heritage Source booksellers to speak and sign books, I have done a bit of research to compare San Luis Obispo County to the Lompoc area. Here's what I've found.

On at least one score, call it the Nikkei index, World War II-era San Luis Obispo was a lot like Lompoc. After Pearl Harbor much of the town turned against its Asian residents. The city council even changed the name of Eto Street to Brook Street before the Nikkei community was bussed away to intermountain “internment” camps in April 1942. 

By 1945 most camps were scheduled to close, in November. The Department of the Interior’s War Relocation Authority (WRA) was charged with assisting Japanese-Americans in resettling. They were free to leave camp beginning in the spring and many wanted to return to their pre-war hometowns. But fear kept the vast majority either in camp until they closed, or led them far afield to cities like Chicago, Cleveland and Philadelphia, none of them near California.

The WRA agent for San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties was Eric H. Thomsen, whose previous experience in relocation was with the Tennessee Valley Authority and then with the Resettlement Administration which assisted Dustbowl Refugees.

Thomsen considered public officials in his area to be allies in his agency’s efforts, with a few exceptions. SLO Sheriff Murray C. Hathway was one of them.

Thomsen’s reports to his superiors in Los Angeles pulled no punches. Thomsen labelled Hathway a “Nippomaniac.” He was, Thomsen wrote in August 1945, “of less help to us than any other public officer in the district.” Thomsen reports numerous examples, some involving Hathway, others business people or neighbors of would-be returnees, all of which contributed to statistics almost as dramatic as Lompoc’s.

TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK

Endo Family Discusses 'Vanished' in Reno

A big round of applause for the Endo Family Reunion which was held in Reno last week--

This was the twelfth biennial reunion of the Endo, Hirano, Iwamoto, Sugiyama, and Tachiki families. More than 230 attended. If that were not impressive enough, for a Saturday workshop to discuss Vanished and the importance of recording family histories it was expected that maybe twenty might attend.

To the organizers’ surprise the room was jammed with fifty people interested in the topic.

John McReynolds told stories about assembling Vanished, then offered guidelines that anyone can use to conduct an interview with a family member. After demonstrating, he helped the group to divide into eight or nine subsets to conduct brief interviews. After overcoming their hesitancy, the sub-groups could barely stop talking when it was time to close and give reports.  

“We learned so much we didn’t know, just in a few minutes,” exclaimed one group reporter. "I hope we can do more of this back home."

Many thanks for the invitation.

Letters, We Get Letters

In the aftermath of the reunion/party/teach-in/booksigning at the Japanese-American National Museum, we have received lots of calls, e-mails and letters. Here are two of them.

It was great to see you again and finally meet your wife Barbara.  Jean and I really had a great time.  For me, it was extremely rewarding because I was able to renew acquaintance with a lot of friends and relatives from my early Lompoc years.  My sister May kept telling me stories about my father catching steelhead trout in the Santa Ynez River.  I started to doubt that he ever caught any steelhead because among her voluminous pictorial documentation of Lompoc I didn't see one picture of anyone catching a steelhead.  I don't recall the woman's name but May informed me she had a picture of her father and my father holding up the steelhead they caught in the Santa Ynez River.  I looked at the picture and sure enough both were holding up steelhead and they were huge.  To me the picture is priceless and I asked her to send me a copy.

I wasn't able to locate the letter from the Department of Fish and Games to the hardware store regarding my father's fishing license.  I did find a letter from the Department of Interior to the Department of Fish and Games requesting them to inform Mr Perrozi (owner of the hardware store) that it is okay to issue a fishing license to my father.  -- George Murakami

It’s been fun being a small part of this journey with you and my mom.  I appreciated the chance to share a thank-you to the Niseis who were in attendance.  If my mom decides to go to the reunion next year, we’ll be sure to look you up. Take care, Mike Mori

JANM Presentation a Monster Event

The presentation and book-signing for Vanished on Saturday at the Japanese American National Museum was a thundering success.

More than seventy-five people attended in the Tateuchi Democracy Forum theatre, a 200-seat hall with cushioned seats. Food was served by volunteers organized by Chiyo Iwamoto Kobayashi and one thousand decorative paper cranes were provided by Tets and Betty Furukawa.

Chris Komai of the museum staff led off with a summation of Vanished and John McReynolds thanked the crowd. “You all have showered me with thanks, but I should be thanking YOU,” he said. He went on to emphasize the importance of “collective memory” and of all of us writing about our families.

He made special note of the contribution of George Yoshitake who had kicked off the research for the book two years ago but who could not be present Saturday.

McReynolds was followed to the podium by former Lompocans Chiyo Iwamoto Kobayashi, Tets Furukawa, Rev. Ed Iwamoto, Jean Nakashima Tekawa, May Murakami Musenga, Kuni Inouye Omura, Mike Mori, Dr. Kent Haldan and Dr. Art Hansen.  “’Vanished,’ what a great title,” exclaimed Hansen.

Connections were re-established after decades, and new bits of information were shared about the post-war climate in Lompoc.

Rev. Ed Iwamoto and Jean Nakashima Tekawa met once again after sixty years. George Murakami and Alan Endo laid eyes on one another for the first time since high school.

Murakami told the story of his father being denied a fishing license in 1946 by a Lompoc hardware store.  He was also able to document that the “No Japs” sign which hung in the window of Al Johnson’s gas station in Lompoc remained there at least through 1963, three years longer than previously estimated.

The impact of the event may be seen in a note sent by John McReynolds to Koji Sakai of the JANM staff.

Hello Koji:

I want to let you know what a special day you and your staff created for me and the contributors to Vanished: Lompoc’s Japanese.

I’m not prone to rave on but honestly, you made us feel like royalty. I was shocked to discover an outside sign reading “Vanished” and arrows to the Tateuchi Democracy Forum. What an honor. I was beyond shocked to see that we were gathering in a Hollywood-quality banked THEATRE with 200 cushioned seats. I would have been happy with a small classroom which for me is a step up.  In most bookstores I make do standing somewhere over in a corner at the end of a book row near the restrooms.  

You arranged everything without missing a beat. The thousand cranes given as a gift by the Furukawa family were placed in a perfect spot. The food that our folks brought was handled just as flawlessly. Chris’ opening comments were so apropos and flattering I had to make sure that my wife was still sitting nearby and that I had not been transported to some alternative reality. You had at least six staff people present. I was just floored. You had Powerpoint available even though when you asked me earlier, I mistakenly told you  that Powerpoint would not be needed. I never seemed to find time to apologize for misleading you. You monitored the time graciously and effectively.  Your staff was courteous and helpful. 

The folks who attended were as pleased as I.  A day which began at 1:30 did not end until about 7:30.

All I can say is thank you, thank you. I was pleased beyond words. When somebody asked me if I was happy with the event I think I mumbled gibberish I was so numb.  Please share this note with your boss. It should go into your personnel file. I can’t wait to see the DVD.

Best wishes,

John

McReynolds’ next public appearance will be at the San Luis Obispo, California, Obon festival on August 6. He will be signing at the Heritage Source booth.

JANM Date Just Four Days Away

The long-awaited visit to the Japanese American National Museum by the Lompoc Nikkei and their friends, including the author of Vanished, is now only four days away.

"We've done more than a dozen speaking engagements and book-signings, but the visit to JANM will probably be the highlight," said John McReynolds today. "The museum is so well-respected and so many people from the Nikkei community have sacrificed for its success that it cannot be otherwise. And also because so many onetime Lompocans relocated to the Los Angeles area."

The event will begin at 2:00 p.m. It will include a welcome from Koji Sakai, JANM Director of Programs, introductions of everyone present, remarks by Mr. McReynolds and comments from Lompocans Chiyo Iwamoto Kobayashi, Rev. Ed Iwamoto, Jean Nakashima Tekawa, May Murakami Musenga, Kuni Inouye Omura, and Michael Mori. It will be concluded by comments from Dr. Kent Haldan and Dr. Arthur Hansen and social time. It will end at 4:00 but there is talk of further social time at a nearby restaurant afterward.

A new addition to the speakers list is Tets Furukawa of Santa Maria who was a friend of many Lompocans at Gila River Camp. Another addition is to the guest list. George Fukawa, who has been ill, is expected to be present. Welcome Tets and George!!

Additional copies of the book will be available in the JANM bookshop.

Six Speakers Sign Up at JANM

Six speakers have signed up to speak at the Vanished presentation and book signing Saturday, June 18, at 2:00 p.m. at the Japanese-American National Museum in Los Angeles.

"I'm overjoyed," said John McReynolds, author of Vanished. "I hope there will be more. Nobody wants to hear me gab for two hours.

Besides the author, other speakers will be Chiyo Iwamoto Kobayashi, Rev. Ed Iwamoto, Jean Nakashima Tekawa, May Murakami Musenga, and Kuni Inouye Omura, all of them onetime residents of Lompoc, followed by Mike Mori, son of a former resident, and Dr. Kent Haldan, whose research was instrumental in the writing of the book.

The draft agenda calls for a welcome by Koji Sakai of JANM, introductions of the attendees, remarks by Mr. McReynolds, comments by the speakers listed and social hour/book signing.

The museum is located at 369 East First Street in downtown Los Angeles.

JANM Presentation Draws Near

Our presentation on Vanished: Lompoc’s Japanese at the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) in Los Angeles is less than three weeks away on Saturday, June 18.

We are looking now for those who once lived in Lompoc who would like to speak.

Just a few words, it does not need to be a long speech. If you know somebody who woul like to do that, please RSVP. And tell us which memory or observation you would most like to share. The best way to let us know would be by e-mail to lompocwriter@gmail.com

If you cannot come in person, we still have a way in which you could participate! Do you have a Skype account on your computer? (they’re free). If so we can conduct a brief interview with you by Skype! We are making a list now of those who cannot come in person but could be connected for a few minutes on Saturday afternoon, June 18. Your picture would go up on the screen and people could hear you as you talk. The entire event will be recorded by JANM.

If you are interested in participating in this way, please contact Mike Mori at mmori@hw.com or 818-523-5510.

Solicitor General Admits Suppression of Evidence

The Acting Solicitor General of the United States has admitted that the government deliberately withheld evidence from the Supreme Court in 1943 and 1944 as the Nikkei community was swept out of California and incarcerated.

The extraordinary admission was made on Tuesday by Solicitor General Neal Katyal who said that U.S. Naval Intelligence had issued a report saying that the Nikkei community posed no military threat, that there was no evidence Japanese Americans were disloyal or were acting as spies as government officials claimed.

The report however was not presented in the Hirabayashi case or the Korematsu case, both of which challenged President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066.  Solicitor General at the time, Charles Fahy, was told that not presenting the report would be considered “suppression of evidence” yet he took no action.

Fahy, who died in 1979, also neglected to tell the court that information that Japanese-Americans "were using radio transmitters to communicate with enemy submarines off the West Coast had been discredited by the FBI" and the Federal Communications Commission, Katyal wrote

“It seemed obvious to me we had made a mistake,” said Katyal. “The duty of candor wasn’t met.”

Hiding the truth, he said, “harmed the court, and it harmed 120,000 Japanese Americans. It harmed our reputation as lawyers and as human beings, and it harmed our commitment to those words on the court’s building: ‘Equal Justice Under Law.’”

Here are links to the story.

http://www.salon.com/wires/allwires/2011/05/24/D9NDLIVO1_us_wwii_internment_justice_department_apology/index.html

http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/acting_sg_katyal_tells_of_mistakes_by_a_predecessor_in_world_war_ii_koremat/

http://hosted2.ap.org/CAVAN/7d8cc182f2be4ace870269f44557ee9a/Article_2011-05-24-US-WWII-Internment-Justice-Department-Apology/id-fddd151494c342b2be55bce2d3fe5158  

Meeting Dr. Don Hata

Signing books at the Heritage Source booth Saturday at USC at the Los Angeles Times Book Fair was an honor and a pleasure.

One of the biggest pleasures was meeting Dr. Don Hata, retired professor from Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Dr. Hata was once voted the top professor in the California State University system. He bought a copy of Vanished and I bought a copy of his Japanese Americans and World War II.

Want some inspiration? Read this about Dr. Hata.

www.csudh.edu/univadv/dateline/archives/20060403/facstaffnews/nadineanddon.htm  

Kaoru 'Bill' Honda's Memorial Service

The memorial service for Kaoru Bill Honda on Thursday offered a study in reinvention.

Some of us referred to him as Kaoru. Maybe 40% referred to him as Bill. And half the crowd of 140 called him “Billy.”

Pastor Anthony Chaboya told us what he knew of the deceased: that he came to church every Sunday wearing a suit and a smile. He was pleasant and quiet. He had retired from the U.S. Postal Service. That was Bill.

Nephew Chris Kawate talked of his uncle in Lompoc as a young man. He coached sports teams, he chaired the Presbyterian Church’s Japanese Society. He wrote to the editor in defense of the Nikkei community after December 7. And he helped form a local chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League. “He was a leader,” Chris told us.

Chiyoko Iwamoto Kobayashi talked of Kaoru giving her a chance to make the only basket she ever made on the only basketball team she ever played on, a cherished memory from seventy years ago. That was the Kaoru we knew.

But the biggest group came wearing mismatched polo shirts, some even in shorts. They were all men in their sixties and seventies. They were senior citizen softball players who enjoyed competing with “Billy” on the softball field where he played second base past the age of 90. He was so unflappable at second base that a frustrated opponent once yelled “Honda, why don’t you just stay home!” They all loved “Billy” as only teammates can.

The common thread through Kaoru to Bill to Billy was integrity. He served as leader when needed. He supported others when that was needed. And he and Lucille always walked five miles a day.

Afterward, Chiyoko Iwamoto Kobayashi and her sister Miyoko Iwamoto Tachiki went to visit Kenji Ota at the Santa Barbara Convalescent Hospital.

Not having seen each other for 70 years, the first order of business was for Ota to recognize who was visiting him. After a few tips: “Lompoc,” and “Iwamoto,” Ota asked “which one?” There were five sisters, remember.

When Chiyo replied “Chiyoko,” Ota knew immediately. And his words were just as he said when Vanished was being researched.

“You’re the one at the prom,” he said.

Lucille Honda and the Iwamoto sisters hope to be with us on June 18 at the Japanese American National Museum.

Invitations Continue

Seven months after Vanished was launched, speaking engagements continue to roll in. The latest came today from the Japanese American Museum of San Jose and from the Solvang Rotary.

Thank YOU for all the word-of-mouth publicity. We are very grateful.

Kaoru "Bill" Honda Passes

Kaoru “Bill” Honda, 94, of Santa Barbara, California, died peacefully on Sunday, April 17, after a brief illness.

Mr. Honda was a leader in Lompoc’s pre-World War II Japanese-American community.  He was coach of Lompoc’s championship girls basketball squad and organized many other athletic teams. He was an officer of the local chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League and chaired its inaugural meeting in August of 1941. In December 1941 he wrote to the Lompoc Record to make a "public statement of our faith in, and loyalty to, the United States" on behalf of the Japanese Society of the Presbyterian Church. 

A clerk and bookkeeper at the Iwamoto Store, he took part in the car caravan to Keetley, Utah when the Japanese-American community was ordered away from coastal California in March 1942.

Recently he was a key participant in recapturing the history of the Nikkei community in Lompoc. He is pictured on this website with two of the players from the girls team.

He was born December 8, 1916, in Lompoc, the son of Senmatsu and Sumi Yura Honda, who worked for Burpee Seed Company. He was the oldest of three brothers. He graduated from Lompoc High in 1934. From 1942 to 1959, Bill lived in Utah where he was married to Lucille Kawate in 1954. They relocated to Santa Barbara in 1959. Bill retired from the U.S. Postal Service after 32 years of dedicated service.

He was a very avid walker, bowler and softball player well into his 80s and early 90s. In 1997, Kaoru was inducted into the Japanese American National Bowling Association Hall of Fame.

He is survived by his loving wife of 57 years, Lucille; sons Clifford of Canoga Park, CA; David and wife Cindy of Vail, CO; Paul and wife Marie of Diamond Bar, CA; and Mark and wife Marian of Bothell, WA; grandchildren Davey, Katy, William, Natalie and Daniel; and many nephews, nieces and good friends.

A memorial service will held at 12:00 pm on Thursday, April 28 at Bethany Congregational Church,

556 North Hope Avenue, Santa Barbara

, CA. Family and friends are welcome with a reception immediately following from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm.

Donations in Kaoru’s memory may be made to Bethany Congregational Church or a charitable organization of your choice.

Sales Continue to Surprise

April 12: today it’s been six months since Vanished was first announced.

And yet this week, M&S Pharmacy in Los Angeles requested another order of books and so did Sushi Teri Restaurant in Lompoc. This is the sixth order for Sushi Teri and the seventh for Sushi Teri.

And I’ve been invited to speak to the Solvang Rotary.

A most surprising ride. Thank you everybody.

John

Orders Keep Coming

Orders for Vanished keep coming. Last week we received orders from the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation and from the Japanese American Museum of San Jose.

San Jose Museum Trustee Applauds "Vanished"

This week's e-mails brought this wonderful comment from Paul DeWitt of San Jose.

I have just finished reading "Vanished: Lompoc's Japanese" and consider it to be an outstanding book.  I began studying Japanese American history when I was a Social Science teacher and Department Chair in 1988.  I am now on the Board of the Japanese American Museum of San Jose.  Over the years I have tried to find any book that described the personal histories of Issei settling in California, the confrontations they had to deal with in their communities, the incarceration in the concentration camps during World War II and the problems both Issei and Nisei faced upon their return to the coast after internment.  Yours is the first book I have read that deals with these issues on a very personal level.  Although you are writing about Lompoc's Japanese, the same conditions existed for JAs  through out the west cost.  I recommend that "Vanished: Lompoc's Japanese" be read by anyone interested in JA, WWII and California history.
Thank you
Paul DeWitt

Readers Applaud Vanished; JANM Reorders

This past weekend was a memorable one. On Saturday the Santa Maria Chapter of the American Association of University Women heard George Yoshitake and John McReynolds tell the story of Vanished. The crowd of one hundred purchased almost all the copies available as their applause filled the room.

Later in the day came the following e-mail from Marlene Silva, once of Lompoc but now of Coarsegold, with more applause. She sent it to her friend Barry:

Barry, I want to thank you again for sending me that wonderful book about the Japanese in Lompoc. That writer did a great job in writing  just how it was. I remember so well at the age of 8, my parents crying, busses waiting for people and them rushing around trying so hard to save their beloved belongings in such a short time, by passing them on to their neighbors...we were such neighbors that still have beautiful dishes and treasures that these innocent people held so dear. So many names in the book I so do remember, as the generation down were listed in my year book and many graduated with me in 1950. Many of the Inouye are still a family we keep in touch with. .I'm also glad that Tom Parks was put where he belonged...not on a pedestal where he thought he was. I didn't like him the first time we met and my feelings were right after reading the book...there are always bad guys and good guys ‘til this day, huh? I am sharing the book with the Inouye family in Santa. Maria...thanks again, good reading and I think I am going to read it the second time before  passing it on...love to all....Marlene

Then on Sunday the Japanese-American National Museum ordered a new shipment of books.  

It was a very good weekend. Thanks to AAUW, Marlene Silva, JANM and everybody.

"Vanished" Debuts on Kindle

Know friends who prefer the new e-books?

Maybe they like to pack 300 books in a single small device?

Buy them Vanished. For $9.99 it's now available on Amazon's Kindle

Irma Bortolazzo Gadway and Terry Wakumoto Kuzuhara Reconnect after Seventy Years

Last year some time Karen Paaske, one of my collaborators at the Lompoc Valley Historical Society, told me she had happened to speak with Irma Gadway of Lompoc. They spoke about the upcoming book, Vanished.  As a child growing up in Lompoc, Mrs. Gadway was Irma Bortolazzo. Mrs. Gadway told Karen that she always wondered what had happened to her friend Toyoko Wakumoto.

Later, in an e-mail exchange with me, Terry Kuzuhara of Buffalo Grove, Illinois, who was once known as Toyoko Wakumoto, mentioned her friend Irma Bortolazzo. She wondered what had ever happened to her.

In November Mrs. Kuzuhara e-mailed me noting that she had had a wonderful lunch with another Lompoc acquaintance.

“Marian Konishi and I had a very happy reunion yesterday with her sister-in-law Nancy Nishimura. This was possible because of your book,” she wrote. Then she asked for Irma Bortolazzo’s address. She wanted to send a holiday greeting.

On December 13 I was the keynote speaker at the annual Christmas meeting of the Lompoc Valley Historical Society. Who should appear in the line to purchase a book but Irma Bortolazzo Gadway. She wanted to get in touch with her friend Toyoko.

Three days later I called Illinois and left a message on the voice mail with Mrs. Gadway’s address. I also gave Mrs. Gadway the Illinois number, address and e-mail.

On December 18 Mrs. Gadway sent an e-mail to Illinois, but received no response.

On January 12 Mrs. Kuzuhara sent an e-mail to me saying “I did send a note to Irma Bortolazzo but have not heard from her.”

Somehow electrons of the Ethernet and the carriers of the United States Postal Service were passing in the night unawares.

Finally in February came this from Illinois: “Just a quick note to say that I was delighted to receive a note from Irma over the weekend. Your book made this possible.”

Four days later I received another bit of news, this from Lompoc.

“I received a Christmas card from my friend (Terry K) and it was so exciting to hear from a friend that I had wondered for seventy years what had happened to her. I’m so happy that her life in Illinois has been good. She told me the hardest thing she had to do, when the family was taken from Lompoc, was to leave her dog behind. I have written to her and hope that we continue our newfound relationship. Thank you for finding my friend. s/Irma Gadway”

Then on March 7 came this from Illinois: “A quick note to tell you that I somehow overlooked e-mail which Irma sent to me on December 18. I must have passed over her e-mail and I am very embarrassed and apologize for this. I am happy Irma wrote again via US mail and followed it by a phone call last week during which we had a long and happy reunion. The many years since 1942 melted away.”

They talked for more than two hours. The story makes someone else feel good too--me.