Farewell to Manzanar
Encyclopedia
Farewell to Manzanar is a memoir
published in 1973 by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
and James D. Houston
. It was adapted in the form of a television movie in 1976 starring Yuki Shimoda
, Nobu McCarthy
, Pat Morita
, and Mako
.
The book describes the experiences of Jeanne Wakatsuki and her family before, during, and following imprisonment at the Manzanar
concentration camp, which was due to the United States
government's internment of Japanese Americans
during World War II
.
, near San Pedro, California. Her father, a fisherman who owned two boats, was arrested by the FBI following the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941.
Soon after, she and the rest of her family were imprisoned at Manzanar
, an American internment camp, where 11,070 Americans of Japanese ancestry and their immigrant parents (who were prevented from becoming American citizens by law) were confined during the Japanese American Internment
of World War II
. The book describes the Wakatsuki's family's experiences during their imprisonment, as well as events concerning her family both before and after the war.
Ko Wakatsuki, Jeanne's father, emigrated to Honolulu, Hawaii
and then to Idaho
from Japan
, running away with his wife and abandoning his family. Stubborn and proud, he negatively copes with his isolation, constantly drinking and abusing his family.
Woody, Jeanne's brother, wants to preserve his family's honor by joining the U.S. Army. After joining and fighting in the Pacific Theater
, Woody visits Papa's Aunt Toyo, who gave Papa the money for the voyage to Hawaii. There he gains a new found pride in his ancestry. He constantly proves himself the "man" of the family; leading them early in their internment. The role is enhanced prior to his return from Japan and Ko's state.
In the morning of December 7, 1941, Jeanne Wakatsuki says farewell to Papa’s sardine fleet at San Pedro Harbor in California. But soon the boats return, and news reaches the family that the Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Papa burns his Japanese flag and identity papers but is arrested by the FBI and brutally beaten when taken to the jail. Mama moves the family to the Japanese ghetto on Terminal Island and then to Boyle Heights in Los Angeles. President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066, which he signs in February 1942, gives the military the authority to relocate potential threats to national security. Those of Japanese descent in America can only await their final destination: “their common sentiment is shikata ga nai” (“it cannot be helped”). One month later, the government orders the Wakatsukis to move to Manzanar Relocation Center in the desert 225 miles northeast of Los Angeles.
Upon arriving in the camp, the Japanese Americans find cramped living conditions, badly prepared food, unfinished barracks, and swirling dust that blows in through every crack and knothole. There is not enough warm clothing to go around, many people fall ill from immunizations and poorly preserved food, and they must face the indignity of the nonpartitioned camp toilets, an insult that particularly affects Mama. The Wakatsukis stop eating together in the camp mess halls, and the family begins to disintegrate. Jeanne, virtually abandoned by her family, takes an interest in the other people in camp and begins studying religious questions with a pair of nuns. However, after Jeanne experiences sunstroke while imagining herself as a suffering saint, Papa orders her to stop.
Papa is arrested and returns a year later. He has been at Fort Lincoln detention camp. The family is unsure how to greet him. Only Jeanne welcomes him openly. Jeanne has always admired Papa, who left his samurai
family in Japan to protest the declining social status of the samurai. She looks back fondly on the style with which he has always conducted himself, from his courting of Mama to his virtuoso pig carving. Something has happened to Papa, however, during his time at the detention camp, where the government interrogators have accused him of disloyalty and spying. The accusation is an insult and has sent Papa into a downward emotional spiral. He becomes violent and drinks heavily, and nearly strikes Mama with his cane before Kiyo, Papa’s youngest son, saves her by punching Papa in the face.
The frustration of the other men in camp eventually results in an event called the December Riot, which breaks out after three men are arrested for beating a man suspected of helping the U.S. government. The rioters roam the camp searching for inu, a word that means both “dog” and “traitor” in Japanese. The military police try to put an end to the riot, but in the chaos they shoot into the crowd, killing two Japanese and wounding ten others. The same night, a patrol group accosts Jeanne’s brother-in-law Kaz and his fellow workers and accuses them of sabotage. The mess hall bells ring until noon the following day as a memorial to the dead. Soon after, the government issues a Loyalty Oath to distinguish loyal Japanese from potential enemies. Camp opinion about whether to take the oath is divided. Answering “No No” to the loyalty questions will result in deportation, but answering “Yes Yes” will result in being drafted. Both Papa and Woody, one of his sons, endorse the “Yes Yes” position, and Papa attacks a man for calling him an inu, or collaborator. That night, Jeanne overhears Papa singing the Japanese national anthem, Kimi ga yo, which speaks of the endurance of stones.
After the riots, camp life calms down and the Wakatsuki family moves to a nicer barracks near a pear orchard, where Papa takes up gardening. Manzanar itself begins to resemble a typical American town. Schools open, the residents are allowed to take short trips outside the camp, and Jeanne’s oldest brother, Bill, even forms a dance band called The Jive Bombers. Jeanne explores the world inside the camp and tries out various Japanese and American hobbies before taking up baton twirling. She also returns to her religious studies and is just about to be baptized when Papa intervenes. Jeanne begins to distance herself from Papa, while the birth of a grandchild draws Mama and Papa closer than ever.
By the end of 1944, the number of people at Manzanar dwindles as men are drafted and families take advantage of the government’s new policy of relocating families away from the west coast. Woody is drafted and, despite Papa’s protests, leaves in November to join the famous all-Nisei 442nd Combat Regiment. While in the military, Woody visits Papa’s family in Hiroshima, Japan. He meets Toyo, Papa’s aunt, and finally understands the origin of Papa’s pride. In December, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the internment policy is illegal, and the War Department begins preparations to close the camps. The remaining residents, out of fear and lack of prospects, try to postpone their departure, but eventually they are ordered to leave. Papa decides to leave in style and buys a broken-down blue sedan to ferry his family back to Long Beach.
In Long Beach, the Wakatsukis move into a housing project called Cabrillo Homes. Though they fear public hatred, they see little sign of it. On the first day of sixth grade, however, a girl in Jeanne’s class is amazed at Jeanne’s ability to speak English, which makes Jeanne realize that prejudice is not always open and direct. She later becomes close friends with the girl, Radine, who lives in the same housing project. The two share the same activities and tastes, but when they move to high school, unspoken prejudice keeps Jeanne from the social and extracurricular successes available to Radine.
Jeanne retreats into herself and nearly drops out of school, but when Papa moves the family to San Jose to take up berry farming, she decides to make another attempt at school life. Her homeroom nominates her to be queen of the school’s annual spring carnival, and for the election assembly she leaves her hair loose and wears an exotic sarong. The teachers try to prevent her from winning, but her friend Leonard Rodriguez uncovers the teachers’ plot and ensures her victory. Papa is furious that Jeanne has won the election by flaunting her sexuality in front of American boys. He forces her to take Japanese dance lessons, but she stops taking them after a short time. As a compromise, she wears a conservative dress to the coronation ceremony, but the crowd’s muttering makes her realize that neither the exotic sarong nor the conservative dress represents her true self.
In April 1972, much later in life, Jeanne visits the Manzanar site with her husband and three children. She needs to remind herself that the camp actually existed, because over the years she has begun to think she imagined the whole thing. Walking through the ruins, the sounds and images of the camp come back to her. Seeing her eleven-year-old daughter, Jeanne realizes that her life began at the camp just as her father’s life ended there. She recalls Papa driving crazily through camp before leaving with his family, and she finally understands his stubborn pride.
s and universities
across the United States. In fact, in an effort to educate Californians about the experiences of Japanese Americans who were confined in American internment camps during World War II, the book and the movie were distributed in 2002 as a part of a kit to approximately 8,500 public elementary and secondary schools and 1,500 public libraries in California. The kit also included study guides tailored to the book, and a video teaching guide.
On October 7, 2011, the Japanese American National Museum
(JANM) announced that they had negotiated the rights for the NBC
produced movie that was directed by John Korty and aired in 1976. The movie will be available for purchase from JANM on DVD.
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
published in 1973 by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston is an American writer. Her writings are mostly focused on the ethnic diversity of the United States...
and James D. Houston
James D. Houston
James Dudley Houston was an American novelist. He wrote nine novels in total.Houston was born in San Francisco, where his parents had migrated from Quanah, Texas, a small town near Oklahoma...
. It was adapted in the form of a television movie in 1976 starring Yuki Shimoda
Yuki Shimoda
Yuki Shimoda was an American actor best known for his starring role as Ko Wakatsuki in the NBC movie of the week, Farewell to Manzanar in 1976. He also co-starred in a 1960s television series, Johnny Midnight , with Edmond O'Brien. He was a star of the silver screen, early television and the stage...
, Nobu McCarthy
Nobu McCarthy
Nobu McCarthy was a Japanese Canadian actress, stage director, and fashion model.-Early life:McCarthy was born Nobu Atsumi in Ottawa, Ontario, the daughter of Yuki and Masaji Atsumi, a Japanese fashion designer and diplomatic attache stationed in Canada at the time. She was raised in Japan, where...
, Pat Morita
Pat Morita
Noriyuki "Pat" Morita was an American actor of Japanese descent who was well-known for playing the roles of Matsuo "Arnold" Takahashi on Happy Days and Mr. Miyagi in the The Karate Kid movie series, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1984.-Early life:Pat...
, and Mako
Mako (actor)
, born , was an Oscar- and Tony-nominated Japanese actor. Many of his acting roles credited him simply as Mako, omitting his surname. -Early life:...
.
The book describes the experiences of Jeanne Wakatsuki and her family before, during, and following imprisonment at the Manzanar
Manzanar
Manzanar is most widely known as the site of one of ten camps where over 110,000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned during World War II. Located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada in California's Owens Valley between the towns of Lone Pine to the south and Independence to the north, it is...
concentration camp, which was due to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
government's internment of Japanese Americans
Japanese American internment
Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Synopsis
Jeanne Wakatsuki, the book's narrator, is a Nisei (the child of a Japanese immigrant). At the age of seven, Wakatsuki — a native-born American citizen — and her family were living on Terminal IslandTerminal Island
Terminal Island is an island located in Los Angeles County, California between Los Angeles Harbor and Long Beach Harbor. Originally a mudflat known to the Spanish as Isla Raza de Buena Gente, and later called Rattlesnake Island, it has officially been Terminal Island since 1918...
, near San Pedro, California. Her father, a fisherman who owned two boats, was arrested by the FBI following the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941.
Soon after, she and the rest of her family were imprisoned at Manzanar
Manzanar
Manzanar is most widely known as the site of one of ten camps where over 110,000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned during World War II. Located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada in California's Owens Valley between the towns of Lone Pine to the south and Independence to the north, it is...
, an American internment camp, where 11,070 Americans of Japanese ancestry and their immigrant parents (who were prevented from becoming American citizens by law) were confined during the Japanese American Internment
Japanese American internment
Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on...
of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The book describes the Wakatsuki's family's experiences during their imprisonment, as well as events concerning her family both before and after the war.
Ko Wakatsuki, Jeanne's father, emigrated to Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...
and then to Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
from Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, running away with his wife and abandoning his family. Stubborn and proud, he negatively copes with his isolation, constantly drinking and abusing his family.
Woody, Jeanne's brother, wants to preserve his family's honor by joining the U.S. Army. After joining and fighting in the Pacific Theater
Pacific War
The Pacific War, also sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War refers broadly to the parts of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia, then called the Far East...
, Woody visits Papa's Aunt Toyo, who gave Papa the money for the voyage to Hawaii. There he gains a new found pride in his ancestry. He constantly proves himself the "man" of the family; leading them early in their internment. The role is enhanced prior to his return from Japan and Ko's state.
In the morning of December 7, 1941, Jeanne Wakatsuki says farewell to Papa’s sardine fleet at San Pedro Harbor in California. But soon the boats return, and news reaches the family that the Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Papa burns his Japanese flag and identity papers but is arrested by the FBI and brutally beaten when taken to the jail. Mama moves the family to the Japanese ghetto on Terminal Island and then to Boyle Heights in Los Angeles. President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066, which he signs in February 1942, gives the military the authority to relocate potential threats to national security. Those of Japanese descent in America can only await their final destination: “their common sentiment is shikata ga nai” (“it cannot be helped”). One month later, the government orders the Wakatsukis to move to Manzanar Relocation Center in the desert 225 miles northeast of Los Angeles.
Upon arriving in the camp, the Japanese Americans find cramped living conditions, badly prepared food, unfinished barracks, and swirling dust that blows in through every crack and knothole. There is not enough warm clothing to go around, many people fall ill from immunizations and poorly preserved food, and they must face the indignity of the nonpartitioned camp toilets, an insult that particularly affects Mama. The Wakatsukis stop eating together in the camp mess halls, and the family begins to disintegrate. Jeanne, virtually abandoned by her family, takes an interest in the other people in camp and begins studying religious questions with a pair of nuns. However, after Jeanne experiences sunstroke while imagining herself as a suffering saint, Papa orders her to stop.
Papa is arrested and returns a year later. He has been at Fort Lincoln detention camp. The family is unsure how to greet him. Only Jeanne welcomes him openly. Jeanne has always admired Papa, who left his samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
family in Japan to protest the declining social status of the samurai. She looks back fondly on the style with which he has always conducted himself, from his courting of Mama to his virtuoso pig carving. Something has happened to Papa, however, during his time at the detention camp, where the government interrogators have accused him of disloyalty and spying. The accusation is an insult and has sent Papa into a downward emotional spiral. He becomes violent and drinks heavily, and nearly strikes Mama with his cane before Kiyo, Papa’s youngest son, saves her by punching Papa in the face.
The frustration of the other men in camp eventually results in an event called the December Riot, which breaks out after three men are arrested for beating a man suspected of helping the U.S. government. The rioters roam the camp searching for inu, a word that means both “dog” and “traitor” in Japanese. The military police try to put an end to the riot, but in the chaos they shoot into the crowd, killing two Japanese and wounding ten others. The same night, a patrol group accosts Jeanne’s brother-in-law Kaz and his fellow workers and accuses them of sabotage. The mess hall bells ring until noon the following day as a memorial to the dead. Soon after, the government issues a Loyalty Oath to distinguish loyal Japanese from potential enemies. Camp opinion about whether to take the oath is divided. Answering “No No” to the loyalty questions will result in deportation, but answering “Yes Yes” will result in being drafted. Both Papa and Woody, one of his sons, endorse the “Yes Yes” position, and Papa attacks a man for calling him an inu, or collaborator. That night, Jeanne overhears Papa singing the Japanese national anthem, Kimi ga yo, which speaks of the endurance of stones.
After the riots, camp life calms down and the Wakatsuki family moves to a nicer barracks near a pear orchard, where Papa takes up gardening. Manzanar itself begins to resemble a typical American town. Schools open, the residents are allowed to take short trips outside the camp, and Jeanne’s oldest brother, Bill, even forms a dance band called The Jive Bombers. Jeanne explores the world inside the camp and tries out various Japanese and American hobbies before taking up baton twirling. She also returns to her religious studies and is just about to be baptized when Papa intervenes. Jeanne begins to distance herself from Papa, while the birth of a grandchild draws Mama and Papa closer than ever.
By the end of 1944, the number of people at Manzanar dwindles as men are drafted and families take advantage of the government’s new policy of relocating families away from the west coast. Woody is drafted and, despite Papa’s protests, leaves in November to join the famous all-Nisei 442nd Combat Regiment. While in the military, Woody visits Papa’s family in Hiroshima, Japan. He meets Toyo, Papa’s aunt, and finally understands the origin of Papa’s pride. In December, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the internment policy is illegal, and the War Department begins preparations to close the camps. The remaining residents, out of fear and lack of prospects, try to postpone their departure, but eventually they are ordered to leave. Papa decides to leave in style and buys a broken-down blue sedan to ferry his family back to Long Beach.
In Long Beach, the Wakatsukis move into a housing project called Cabrillo Homes. Though they fear public hatred, they see little sign of it. On the first day of sixth grade, however, a girl in Jeanne’s class is amazed at Jeanne’s ability to speak English, which makes Jeanne realize that prejudice is not always open and direct. She later becomes close friends with the girl, Radine, who lives in the same housing project. The two share the same activities and tastes, but when they move to high school, unspoken prejudice keeps Jeanne from the social and extracurricular successes available to Radine.
Jeanne retreats into herself and nearly drops out of school, but when Papa moves the family to San Jose to take up berry farming, she decides to make another attempt at school life. Her homeroom nominates her to be queen of the school’s annual spring carnival, and for the election assembly she leaves her hair loose and wears an exotic sarong. The teachers try to prevent her from winning, but her friend Leonard Rodriguez uncovers the teachers’ plot and ensures her victory. Papa is furious that Jeanne has won the election by flaunting her sexuality in front of American boys. He forces her to take Japanese dance lessons, but she stops taking them after a short time. As a compromise, she wears a conservative dress to the coronation ceremony, but the crowd’s muttering makes her realize that neither the exotic sarong nor the conservative dress represents her true self.
In April 1972, much later in life, Jeanne visits the Manzanar site with her husband and three children. She needs to remind herself that the camp actually existed, because over the years she has begun to think she imagined the whole thing. Walking through the ruins, the sounds and images of the camp come back to her. Seeing her eleven-year-old daughter, Jeanne realizes that her life began at the camp just as her father’s life ended there. She recalls Papa driving crazily through camp before leaving with his family, and she finally understands his stubborn pride.
Distribution
This non-fiction book has become a staple of curriculum in schoolSchool
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
s and universities
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
across the United States. In fact, in an effort to educate Californians about the experiences of Japanese Americans who were confined in American internment camps during World War II, the book and the movie were distributed in 2002 as a part of a kit to approximately 8,500 public elementary and secondary schools and 1,500 public libraries in California. The kit also included study guides tailored to the book, and a video teaching guide.
On October 7, 2011, the Japanese American National Museum
Japanese American National Museum
The opened its doors in 1992. The idea for the museum was originally thought up by Bruce Kaji with help from other notable Japanese American people at the time. The museum is located in the Little Tokyo an area near downtown Los Angeles, California. It is devoted to preserving the history and...
(JANM) announced that they had negotiated the rights for the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
produced movie that was directed by John Korty and aired in 1976. The movie will be available for purchase from JANM on DVD.