Discover Nikkei Logo

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/295/

His father describes the importance of photographing camp life

After he got into camp, he called me and told me I have something to tell you. I didn't know what he was going to tell me. I was just so curious because he rarely set me aside like this and says something so serious and he wants to talk to me, because he was so busy with his work. He never did talk to the children that much. But because of that I was really anxious to hear what he wanted to say, and this is what he told me. He said, You know, as a photographer, I have a responsibility. I didn't know what he was talking about, responsibility. He says, As a photographer I have a responsibility to record the camp life, because the kind of thing that happened to us should never happen in the future again.


photography Toyo Miyatake World War II camps

Date: March 22, 2001

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Robert Nakamura, Karen Ishizuka

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum.

Interviewee Bio

Archie Miyatake, the son of famed photographer Toyo Miyatake, was born in Los Angeles in 1924. In 1942 he was incarcerated in the Manzanar concentration camp where he and his family were confined for the duration of World War II—and where he graduated from high school. A photographer himself, Archie continued to run the Toyo Miyatake Studio in Little Tokyo after his father’s death in 1979, eventually moving the business to its current location in San Gabriel, California. He passed away on December 20, 2016, at age 92. (December 2016)

Jean Hayashi Ariyoshi
en
ja
es
pt
Jean Hayashi Ariyoshi

Father retouching photos of picture brides

Former First Lady of Hawai'i

en
ja
es
pt
James Hirabayashi
en
ja
es
pt
James Hirabayashi

Life in camp as teenager

(1926 - 2012) Scholar and professor of anthropology. Leader in the establishment of ethnic studies as an academic discipline

en
ja
es
pt
Yuri Kochiyama
en
ja
es
pt
Yuri Kochiyama

Hiding what happened in camp

(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.

en
ja
es
pt
Yuri Kochiyama
en
ja
es
pt
Yuri Kochiyama

Camp as a positive thing

(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.

en
ja
es
pt
Yukio Takeshita
en
ja
es
pt
Yukio Takeshita

Involvement in JACL

(b.1935) American born Japanese. Retired businessman.

en
ja
es
pt
Roy H. Matsumoto
en
ja
es
pt
Roy H. Matsumoto

Train ride to Jerome Relocation Center

(b.1913) Kibei from California who served in the MIS with Merrill’s Marauders during WWII.

en
ja
es
pt
Richard Kosaki
en
ja
es
pt
Richard Kosaki

442 soldiers visiting U.S. concentration camps

(b. 1924) Political scientist, educator, and administrator from Hawai`i

en
ja
es
pt
Roger Shimomura
en
ja
es
pt
Roger Shimomura

Receiving a negative reaction from father upon asking about World War II experience

(b. 1939) Japanese American painter, printmaker & professor

en
ja
es
pt
Frank Yamasaki
en
ja
es
pt
Frank Yamasaki

Loss of happy-go-lucky adolescence in Puyallup Assembly Center

(b. 1923) Nisei from Washington. Resisted draft during WWII.

en
ja
es
pt
Frank Yamasaki
en
ja
es
pt
Frank Yamasaki

Memories of dusty conditions at Minidoka incarceration camp

(b. 1923) Nisei from Washington. Resisted draft during WWII.

en
ja
es
pt
Pat Adachi
en
ja
es
pt
Pat Adachi

Family life in a Japanese Canadian internment camp in Slocan

(b. 1920) Incarcerated during World War II. Active member of the Japanese Canadian community

en
ja
es
pt
Paul Terasaki
en
ja
es
pt
Paul Terasaki

Difference between experiences of youth and older people in WWII camps

(b.1929) Pioneer medical researcher in tissue transfer and organ transplantation.

en
ja
es
pt
Kip Fulbeck
en
ja
es
pt
Kip Fulbeck

The Hapa Project

(b. 1965) filmmaker and artist

en
ja
es
pt
Kip Fulbeck
en
ja
es
pt
Kip Fulbeck

Lessons learned from The Hapa Project

(b. 1965) filmmaker and artist

en
ja
es
pt
George Katsumi Yuzawa
en
ja
es
pt
George Katsumi Yuzawa

Death of sister in October 1942

(1915 - 2011) Nisei florist who resettled in New York City after WW II. Active in Japanese American civil rights movement

en
ja
es
pt

Discover Nikkei Updates

SUMMER INTERNSHIP
Discover Nikkei is hosting a summer intern through the Nikkei Community Internship. College students, apply by April 4!
SUPPORT THE PROJECT
Discover Nikkei’s 20 for 20 campaign celebrates our first 20 years and jumpstarts our next 20. Learn more and donate!
PROJECT UPDATES
New Site Design
See exciting new changes to Discover Nikkei. Find out what’s new and what’s coming soon!