Tessaku

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Tessaku Tessaku was a short-lived magazine published in Tule Lake. It also means barbed wire. This project began solely to preserve my family history.

Tessaku’s mission is to preserve stories from the WWII Japanese American incarceration to inspire racial empathy, tolerance and understanding for future generations. My dad and grandparents were incarcerated in the Japanese American internment camps, and grandfather was eventually targeted as a “troublemaker.” He was separated from the family, shuffled to various FBI interrogation camps and when the war ended, he started to write a memoir about his experience. Years passed and he never published it. I hope to continue what he started, to tell the untold stories of people whose lives were affected by the camp experience. If you have a friend or family member whose story you’d like share with Tessaku, please email me at [email protected].

Alice (Tanaka) Hikido remembers a childhood filled with exploring the coastlines, forests and mining trails of Juneau, A...
09/21/2026

Alice (Tanaka) Hikido remembers a childhood filled with exploring the coastlines, forests and mining trails of Juneau, Alaska, before the war. Her parents ran a Western-style restaurant called City Cafe that catered to the Russian, Scandinavian and Yugoslavian men who worked in the mills and mines in the area. “I never saw families eating there,” she recalls. In the aftermath of Pearl Harbor and the sweeping FBI raids, Alice’s life would drastically change with the arrest of her father — a separation that would last two years.

“He was taken to Fort Richardson in Anchorage, all the Isseis [were]. They were kind of imprisoned there. But we had no communication with him. From there, it was some place in Montana, just a short time evidently. But that’s when we first got a letter from him. And then from there, they went to some place in Texas, then they went to Lordsburg, New Mexico, and then finally to Santa Fe, that was more of a permanent place. He was there until 1944. When my father was in Santa Fe, we got one letter from him saying that he had signed up for repatriation because he said that is one way we could be reunited as a family. And that was what his desire was, was for us to be together. But my two older brothers were adamant, they did not want to go to Japan. They wrote back and said, ‘No, no, we don’t want to go.’ And then my father wrote back and said, ‘The only reason I signed up is so we could be together, but if you do not want to go to Japan, I’ll honor that and take my name off the list.’ My father was a typical Issei man, very strong-willed, but yeah, he honored my brother’s wishes and desires. In fact, years later after we were in Juneau again, he said it was so good we didn’t go to Japan.

In 1944, we were finally able to be reunited. I remember him coming off the bus. Gosh we were just so happy to see him. It seemed like we stayed up all night just listening to him, telling us everything that happened to him. I can remember just listening so intently.”

I recently unearthed unseen family photos that were in my dad’s cousin’s possession for what is likely the last 40 or 50...
05/19/2026

I recently unearthed unseen family photos that were in my dad’s cousin’s possession for what is likely the last 40 or 50 years. These are some of the youngest photos of my grandmother that I’ve seen, aside from just one or two of her as a child. Not only are these from before the war, but they capture a time before she was a mother. She married young, and in turn became a young mother, so to see her living as just a young woman is actually remarkable and bittersweet. She is on the far left in the first photo, and standing next to her sister in the last photo.

(A community member said these are likely taken at the top of Mt. Tamalpais!)

"Even kids know, how come they're taking only Japanese? We told those girls, my classmates, I said goodbye. We were take...
03/30/2026

"Even kids know, how come they're taking only Japanese? We told those girls, my classmates, I said goodbye. We were taken in. And they started to cry. And we were crying. They said, 'When you get into camp, you write to me, okay?' And then we used to correspond from camp to my classmate. You see, that's America for you. You know, you think America is good? They're not good. I mean, to me. Well, at least we survived."

As one of the thousands of Japanese families living on Terminal Island before the war, Kayoko's parents were part of the vibrant, critical industry of fishing and canning tuna. Her memories within this interview are full of admiration and affection for her mother and the hospital work she did in Manzanar, which ultimately shaped her career: https://www.tessaku.com/oral-histories/kayoko-nakagawa

Kayo passed in December 2025. I deeply regret I was not able to finish this interview before she passed, but am grateful for the opportunity I was given to hear her story. ❤

Did the wind feel exactly the same today as it did back then? Was it the same unforgiving, relentless wind that roared o...
02/20/2026

Did the wind feel exactly the same today as it did back then? Was it the same unforgiving, relentless wind that roared over Utah, over the border between California and Oregon?

Does the soft, sandy earth still carry remnants of your footprints, the impressions of everyone’s steps still impacting the ground that now lies bare?

Did you trust — perhaps at the end of your life in a moment of clarity that only lived in your head — that someone would unearth all of your truth? That your story would change me?

When we go and visit, when we remember, do we really see what they saw? How we desperately grasp for a fuller understanding, a new epiphany. We feel their presence, but it is not always comforting. Instead, we are haunted by how much we did not see with our own eyes but could only see in black and white photos.

How will we still remember when it is only us that are left to talk amongst ourselves?

Shoichi (James) Okamoto. The thing that most people know about him is that while on a job in which he was allowed to dri...
01/28/2026

Shoichi (James) Okamoto. The thing that most people know about him is that while on a job in which he was allowed to drive in and out of Tule Lake, he was shot and killed by a guard over an irrational misunderstanding and racially charged paranoia. In a perverse kind of justice, the only punishment the sentry faced was to pay for the cost of the bullet.

In reading the transcript of the investigation into the shooting (which was requested by the Spanish embassy), eyewitnesses at the scene paint a picture of the guard as a paranoid, quick to anger, racist man. “According to Shiohama, the new sentry just came on duty [and] was in a disagreeable mood and was known as one of the tougher sentries. ‘You J**s and your WRA friends are trying to run the whole camp.”

My dad remembers this happening as a child, and it might have been one of the first memories he shared with me about Tule Lake. I recently had the honor of connecting with James Okamoto’s niece, Jan Okamoto. She said that her father, Joe, never mentioned this incident at all. It was only when she was 30 years old and a cousin spoke about an Uncle Jimmy that had been killed in camp, that she went to ask her father. (Her uncle, coincidentally, was 30 years old at the time of his death).

“He asked me how I found out and then just shook his head. I saw tears welling so I just dropped it. Any mention of camp from my dad was nothing positive. [Uncle Jimmy] was his older brother who he looked up to.“ Her father would never speak about it again.

This was not the only tragedy the Okamoto family endured while incarcerated. Two years before, their father, Tokuichiro, passed away in Tule Lake. “He had an aneurysm," said Jan. “My dad’s opinion was that the lack of quality medical care and the shame of being locked up caused him too much stress that resulted in the aneurysm.”

Below are highlights of the transcript from the report. This completely unnecessary, heartbreaking loss of life that forever changed a family with absolutely zero accountability from the government is really all too familiar to today.

"While he had been waved through the gate a few minutes before, he was now ceremoniously halted. It is claimed Okamoto said words to the effect of, 'Well here's the pass.' Perhaps this sounded cocky to the already irritated guard. The sentry ordered him off the truck and commanded Shiohama to drive. Without a driver's license the latter explained, he could not drive a truck. The sentry, it is said, was irritated at this delay. From then on, commands were peppered with curses. Heavy equipment boys, not many feet away, were talking among themselves of the sentry's aggressive and insulting manner. 'This one has it in for 'J**s.' Okamoto was apparently apprehensive by this time.

The sentry then ordered Okamoto to the back of the truck. This would have been just outside the gate. Okamoto started but then hesitated for an instant. At this point, sepeculate on the guard's motives, with true concentration camp psychology, the suspicion is that the guard wanted to shoot him outside the gate. (Shot while trying to escape). In the moment of hesitation, which most say no pipes were lit and no words said, the sentry struck Okamoto sideways on the right shoulder with a r***e butt. Okamoto raised his right arm and moved his body slightly back to ward off any further blows. While in this defensive position, the guard stepped back one pace and from a distance of four or five feet, fired without warning, in all accounts stemming from eyewitness testimony, the act was looked upon as an unprovoked attack. Okamoto fell with what seemed to have been a close-range stomach wound."

Deeply grateful to Jan for her willingness to share her family's tragic but vitally important story, as well as these photos from the honoring of her uncle at Tule Lake by the Wakasa Memorial Committee. ❤

Every time I see this house, its age shows more, like another ten years have passed in just a few months. Its condition ...
01/04/2026

Every time I see this house, its age shows more, like another ten years have passed in just a few months. Its condition seems to signal an inevitable end to the existence of the Hirahara house, a truly iconic structure of Watsonville. First designed in 1897, the Queen Anne Victorian was first lived in by James Redman then sold to J. Katsumi Tao, an in-law to Mitoshi Hirahara, who could not buy property due to anti-immigrant laws preventing Isseis from owning property. In 1940, Tao sold the home to Mitoshi’s 16-year-old son for $10, bringing the house under the Hirahara name.

During the war, the Hiraharas were sent to the Fresno detention center, then to Jerome and Rohwer, Arkansas, all while a good friend and local attorney in Watsonville watched and protected the farm and property for them. When the family returned in 1945, they housed other displaced Japanese Americans who had no homes to return to, even employing them to work on the farm.

Just this year, Santa Cruz County has moved forward to delist the house from the National Register of Historic Places, which would essentially clear the way for its demolition. The commission that overseas historic sites in Santa Cruz states “that the building’s deteriorated condition, coupled with there being no interest in the community or current or previous property owners to restore the building weighs in favor of its demolition.”

A few organizations over the years have fought for its survival and preservation but right now, it is absolutely facing its biggest threat with no descendants owning the land upon which it stands and no stakeholder with a historical investment. I don’t know what it will take to preserve the house — which needs a tremendous amount of work — but to see it rot away or eventually get torn down seems like a gut punch to Japanese American history not only in Watsonville, but Northern California. For it to have survived this long, only to succumb to the neglect and perceived “disinterest,” would be such a shame. Japanese American MemorIal Pilgrimages has announced plans to make a documentary to preserve the stories and memories around this house, please support their work as the film unfolds! ❤️

12/08/2025

The third and final part of the WRA propaganda film defending the incarceration of American citizens, touting the “fair”
and “decent” treatment within the confines of the camp, seemed an appropriate post for this Sunday, December 7. A day that shifted the tides of our lineage and history.

Which part of “Christian decency” informed the beatings, assaults and shootings of innocent people behind barbed wire? Is it the same decency that justified the dropping of two atomic bombs upon civilians?

安らかに眠って下さい 過ちは 繰返しませぬから “Let all the souls here rest in peace; for we shall not repeat the evil.”
11/23/2025

安らかに眠って下さい 過ちは 繰返しませぬから

“Let all the souls here rest in peace; for we shall not repeat the evil.”

11/14/2025

More documentation of the forced removal and incarceration, set to the backdrop of a sunny, patriotic musical theme. Notice the use of euphemistic language like “pioneer communities” and “new homes,” and the laughable claims of “plenty of healthful, nourishing food for all.” We all know the truth behind the food served in those mess halls. Also not shown:

The many families (like mine) who were sent to live in the horse stables, not “new” barracks at Santa Anita, and other racetracks.

The army trucks and soldiers patrolling the grounds.

The people who passed out from the heat.

The closed shades of the train to hide and disorient.

However, I’m always surprised to see in this film how they actually documented the mass closure/erasure of those Japanese businesses. A handwritten sign on the outside of the building reads, “Closed for good.” 💔

10/30/2025

My favorite lines from this cheery, WWII propaganda film attempting to absolve the U.S. government of any racism and bigotry as they imprisoned American citizens:

“The Japanese themselves cheerfully handled the enormous paperwork involved in the migration.”

and

“Government agencies helped in a 100 ways.”

The hypocrisy was (and remains) out of control here.

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