Alan Nishio

from East Wind Magazine Vol. 1 No. 1 (1982)

Subheadings were added to the original publication to make this more readable on the web.

| was born in an American-style concentration camp called Manzanar on August 9, 1945–the day the U.S. government decided to drop an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. The concentration camps and the A-Bomb – two acts of genocide against people of color rationalized under the guise of "national security." The circumstances and timing of my birth have since caused me to do a great deal of reflecting on what it means to be a Japanese American.

Like other Nikkei (persons of Japanese ancestry), the concentration camp experience had a significant impact upon my life and identity. Prior to the imprisonment of my family, my parents owned a small grocery store. The store was purchased after years of saving enough money to make a down payment. The store was doing well until Executive Order 9066 was issued on February 19,1942.

When E.O. 9066 was issued, all was lost. With the expulsion from our home, our family was forced to sell the store and other goods at a tremendous loss. Other valued personal possessions that were not sold were stored at a neighbor's house. This property was later all stolen while we were in camp. What money that was available was spent to help other relatives or was spent while in camp in order to provide for the daily needs of the family.

The camp experience made my father a bitter man. We left Manzanar after three and one-half years of imprisonment with little with which to start a new life. With the pressures of supporting a family, my father was forced to take up gardening. My father hated gardening, but his pride would not allow him to consider a job where he had to work for the people who had imprisoned him. Besides, he considered gardening only a temporary occupation until he was able to save up enough money to buy another store.

Nishio 2 (Learning How My Father Died)