*M

D r . Hachi ro Yuasa spoke to an aud ien ce of a p p ro x i m a t e ly

seven hundred men and women t h i s a f t e r n o o n in the s ch oo l a u d i t o ­

r ium. The h i g h l i g h t s of h i s speech a r e r eco rded be Ion*

1. In lew York he saw a l e t t e r w r i t t e n in J a p a n e s e . This

l e t t e r had been picked up p robab ly in A t t u . I t was a l e t t e r sentyounger

to a J a pan ese s o l i d e r by his^ s i s t e r , who l ived in N i i ca ta p r e f e c ­

t u r e . The w r i t e r seemed to be a g ra d u a t e of h igh s c h o o l , and row

was working in a de fe nse f a c t o r y ne a r he r home town.

The l e t t e r began w i t h a d e s c r i p t i o n of t he coming of Spr ing

in the c o u n t r y s i d e . I t mentioned wild f&omers b lo s s o mi n r in

the f i e l d s b e a u t i f u l l y . Then, i t went on to d e s c r i b e the DoAi t t l e

bombing e x p e d i t i o n .

'A bombing r a i d ---- f o r t h i s we wa i t ed and wai ted eve ry day

---- has come. A plane v i s i t e d our town w i t h r o a r i n g sound. Then

we heard a r a a r i n g ' boom ' , s h a t t e r i n g our e a r drums, in the d i r e c ­

t i o n of the Nakatsugawa R i v e r . Then a n o t h e r booming sound. The

sound of t h e ' p l a n e waned, "'e rushed to th e d i r e c t i o n of the sounds1 *־to see what happened. We were c u r i o u s , ^hen we a r r i v e d a t the

p l a c e , t h e r e - e r e a l r e a d y many people around a gaping h o l e . I t

was in the middle of f i e l d (p r o b ab l y r i c e f i e l d ) . The o th e r

bomb f e l l in the r i v e r . My de a r b r o t h e r , the American ai rmen have

myopia. They had come down to the low l e v e l t o bomb, but t hey

missed the t a r g e t . I t was c l eo r t h a t t he y had aimed a t the r a i l ­

road b r id ge spanning the r i v e r . ' '

I t os presMmed t״״ h a t t h i s i s the plane t h a t landed in S i b e r i a .

(This p a r t of YuasalLmade a g r e a t impress ion on the a d u i e n c e . They

seemed to l i k e i t . Hear ty l a u g h t e r s were heard s e v e r a l t i m e s . )

The l e t t e r con t inued w i t h an in f o rm a t io n t h a t a new, n e a t ,

but not l a r g e , a d m i n i s t r a t i v e b u i l d i n g of t he to^n had been b u i l t .

OCTOBER 2P -- (1)

OJ'l'OB'JR ? ? -- ( 2 )

Yuasa commented t h a t j a p a n had enough energy to spare to b u i l t

town b u i l d i n g s , a i t hough i t i s p o p u l a r l y b e l i e v e d t h a t t he vhole

c o un t r y has been geared to the war e f f o r t s .

The Japane se g i r l , t h e n , ex p la in ed t h e appro ach in g e l e c t i o n

of town Jounc i l me n . She sa id p o s t e r s were put on a l l over the

town; a sk in g the v o t e r s t o c a s t t h e i r b a l l o t s f o r t h i s or t h a t

c a n d i d a t e . '1 am a woman, and I d o n ' t pre t end to know an y th in g

about the p o l i t i c s . (Yuasa - - I t was obvious t h a t she knew a

g r e a t d e a l , but f o r femine p r o p r i e t y she denied her knowledge. )

But I do know t h a t when women were, r i v e n r i g h t s t o voice t h e i r

op in i ons on n a t i o n a l a f f a i r s , j a p a n nould be a b e t t e r c ou n t r y among

the n a t i o n s of t he w o r l d . ' .

The g i r l concluded he r l e t t e r w i t h a p raye r f o r the s a f e t y

of her i i r o t h e r . ' 'I d o n ' t know ״׳here you a r e r i g h t now. But p l ease

t ake ca re of y o u r s e l f and se rve our c o u n t r y i׳׳! t h your b e s t . '

(Thisj!(onciuding sen tence moved the a u d i e n c e . )

?. The Japane se people a re t r o u b l e d w i t h i n t e l l e c t u a l myo­

p i a . i hen th e y speak of J a p a n , t he y say ' ' the Great J a p a n " . They

s t u d y , and were t a ug h t t o s t u d y , the h i s t o r y of J apan by i t s e l f .

They forget , t h a t t h e r e a re the h i s t o r y of Greece , t h a t of Rome,

t h a t of F r a n c e , and so on b e s i d e s the h i s t o r y of ^a pa n . The

^appnese people must l e a r n to see t h e i r h i s t o r y in terms of t h e s e

o t h e r h i s t o r i e s . To see themse lves w i t h i n a^pphere of the i n t e r ­

n a t i o n a l world i s e s s e n t i a l t o get a long !״ i t h o t h e r s .

3 . The N i s e i of h igh s c h o o l age a re d i s g u s t i n g . They cannottt

speak n e i t h e r E n g l i s h nor J a p a n e s e . I r e fu s e d to t a l k to th e s e

s t u d e n t s , because to speak to any persons who have no command of

a language is ve ry d a n ge ro us . The Ja pa ne se people have had a

g r e a t t r o u b l e ׳? i t h E ng l i sh . hey had a t endency to say 'yes '

t o any s t a t e m en t made by f o r e i g h e r . ( ' Hai׳ ' ' i s t r a n s l a t e d as 'yes

But t h e Hai ' Nuasa meant in t ׳ h i s i n s t a n c e i s the one w i th a con­

n o t a t i o n of I under s tood you "without any f u t u r e commitment or

moral· o b l i g a t i o n . ) This ' y^s , y e s , yes ' caused many m i sun de r ­

s t a n d i n g s between the Jap a n e se and th e f o r e i g n e r . This could be

one of the f a c t o r s which caused an im p re ss io n to the o u t s i d e worl^d

t h a t the Japane se do not l i v e up to t h e i r p romises .

4 . There a r e only few f o r e i g n e r s who unde r s tood Japan and

the J a p a n e s e . Jo s ep h R. frew i s one of t hos e few who knen Japan

w e l l . In h i s 'Ten y e a r s in Japan , Yuasa r e c e i v e d an i n f o rm a t io n

t h a t the war began on October ?5. The Emperor i s peacep lov ins ,־

and e d i c t e d to p re se rv e peace a t any c o s t . Rut the m i l i t a r i s t s

d i sobeyed the I m p e r i c a l e d i c t .

5. C h r i s t i a n i t y i s o f f i c i a l l y r ecogn ized as one of the n a t i o n a l

r e l i g i o n s of J a p a n . There a re a t l e a s t 300,000 C h r i s t i a n s in

.japan and the number i s s teadi ly i n c r e a s i n g , any bibl ׳ .es ^ i i t ^ e n

in Ja pan ese have been r ecove red by the American in v a s io n f o r c e s

on the b a t t l e f i e l d s . Yuasa h a i ^ seen two p o c k e t - s i z e b i b l e s in

Ja pa ne se t h a t had been picked up a t Attu.№ These b i b l e s had nany

u n d e r l i n e s marked in them; i t i n d i c a t e d t h a t the s o l d i e r s of the

^apanese army a re a l lowed to pursue t h e i r own r e l ^ p n even on the

b a t t l e f i e l d s . In o rde r t o lead the f u t u r e J a p a n , the Ja pa ne se

must become t r u e C h r i s t i a n s . I f you a re to remain as h a l f ­

baked , h y p o c r i t i c C h r i s t i a n s , you a re ^o r se than t r r e B u d d h i s t s .

(Many of the a u d i e n c e , except chruch g o e r s , did not a c c e p t t h i s

c o n c l u s i o n . )

OCTOBER 2P -- (3)

A r e g u l a r mee t ing of t he Block Managers was held t h i s morning

f rom 9 o ' c l o c k in the c o n fe re n c e room of the Un i t a d m i n i s t r a t i o n

B u i l d i n g .

I t was dec ided by the Managers t o hold t h e i r meet ing from

9:3* A. M. h e r e a f t e r . I t was d i f f i c u l t , t h e y s a i # , t o ge t up

e a r l y enough t o come out t h e r e on t i m e , i f i t was held a t 9 o ' c l o c k .

Sa ka i announced t h a t t h e r e would be n o ^ d e p a r t u r e of r e l o c a -

t e e s t o n i g h t , because the s p e c i a l t r a i n was postponed f o r one

day on accoun t of t r o o p movement.

Saka i read a l e t t e r from the Community ^ o u h c i l of Hear t

Mountain to the Community C o u n c i l h e r e , which was r e f e r r e d to him.

The C o un c i l wanted t o know

1. Whether t h e r e s i d e n t s he re had g o t t e n l i no leum f l o o r i n g

in t h e i r a p a r t m e n t .

2. Whether t h ey a r e s up p l i e d amply and r e g u ^ l a r l y w i t h

b u c k e t s , brooms -

3 . Whether t h e y ge t^ a d e q u a te supp l y of soap .

4 . Ae ther they have wi re s c r e e n s on t h e i r Windows.

From the c o n t e x t of t he l e t t e r i t was obvious th e y a re compla in ing

about t h o s e t h i n g s a t Hear t Mountain . At P o s t o n , we have no com-

p l a i n t s about t ho s e t h i n g s excep t so ap . The r e s i d e n t s r e a l i z e

t h a t soap i s hard t o o b ta i n even on the o u t s i d e , a l t h o u g h th e y

complain about i t s p o r a d i c a l l y f o r a good meas u re . The S u p e rv i s o r

had been p l a c i n g o r d e r s f o r soap a t t he b e g in n i ng of eve ry f i s c a l

q u a r t e r , bu t he had been n o t i f i e d t h a t i t was imp oss ib l e to p u r ­

chase i t in g ig q u a n t i t i e s .

Yanamoto of Block 11 expres sed h i s a p p r e c i a t i o n f o r the d o ­

n a t i o n s to the M i t a n i f a m i l y who l e f t f o r C r y s t a l C i t y on A p r i l

14.

APRIL 18 -- (9)

MARCH 23 -- (3)

Denver has 1,083 of t he Ja pa ne se r e l o c a t e d f rom the West Coas t two ye a r s ago and l a t e r r e l e a s e d t o suppo r t t h e m s e l v e s , the second l a r g e s t number among a l l c i t i e s in the Un i t ed S t a t e s ,S e c r e t a r y Ickes d i s c l o s e d in Washington Thursday.

The r e l o c a t e d p o p u l a t i o n was more than t h r e e t imes as l a rge as D e n v e r ' s prewar *Japanese p o p u l a t i o n , and b rough t the t o t a l of per sons of J a pa ne se blood in the c i t y to a p p ro x i m a t e ly 1 ,400.The 1940 census l i s t e d 323 Japane se a s Denber r e s i d e n t s .

Ickes s a i d more than 21,000 of t he 112,000 people of J apanese a n s e s t r y removed f rom the West Coast t o r e l o c a t i o n c e n t e r s e a r l y in 1942 a r e now l i v i n g and s u p p o r t i n g themse lves o u t s i d e the c e n t e r s .

Colorado and Utah r e c e i v e d the l a r g e s t number among the7.000 who r e l o c a t e d in the Rocky Mountain s t a t e s , but the s t a t e t o t a l s were not i nc luded in p re s s d i s p a t c h e s . O the r s have sought homes in s t a t e s f a r t h e r e a s t , p a r t i c u l a r l y I l l i n o i s , Ohio and Michigan.

The r e p o r t s t a t e d Chicago , where more than 3 ,500 a re now l i v i n g , has been the most popu la r c i t y . A f t e r Chicago and Den­v e r , c i t i e s in which c o n s i d e r a b l e numbers have r e l o c a t e d a re C l e v e l a n d , 787; S a l t Lake C i t y , 740; D e t r o i t , 531; Minn ea po l i s ,464; New York C i t y , 406; and Washington, 150.

More than 19,000, t he S e c r e t a r y s a i d , have been g ran te d i n ­d e f i n i t e leave to e s t a b l i s h homes in communit ies s c a t t e r e d f rom the e a s t e r n boundary of the e x c l u s i o n a r e a t o the A t l a n t i c C o a s t .On s e a s o n a l leave mainly as f a rm workers a re between 2 ,000 and3 .000 o t h e r s , whi le an army b a t t a l i o n composed e n t i r e l y of Amer­i cans of gapanese d e s c e n t has a l r e a d y served in the I t a l i a n cam­pa ig n .

Ickes sa id t h a t of t he empoyabA& men g ran te d l e a v e s , more a r e engaged in a g r i c u l t u r e than in amy o t h e r o c c u p a t i o n .

'"A f a c t t h a t / ^ / s been widely o v e r l o o k e d , " Ickes s a i d , '"is t h a t t h e s e people a r e mainly American c i t i z e n s , e n t i t l e d to the r i g h t s s p e c i f i c a l l y gua ran teed to a l l American c i t i z e n s .F u l l y twor i th i rds of them were born in A m e r i c a , and 72 per cent of t h e s e n a t i v e - b o r n Americans have n ev e r seen ^ a p a n . '

Ickes emphasized t h a t b o t h the c i t i z e n s and the a l i e n s have been c a r e f u l l y sc reened and "only those who a r e l o y a l c i t i z e n s or l a w -a b id in g a l i e n s a r e r e c e i v i n g pe rm is s ion to r e l o c a t e .

" I t has never been the i n t e n t i o n of the government to hold th e s e *Japanese in r e l o c a t i o n c e n t e r s longer than was needed to s e g r e g a t e thos e whose sympa thies lay w i t h Japan f rom thos e whose sympa thies lay w i t h the Uni ted S t a t e s , and to make a rrangemen ts f o r t he r e s e t t l e m e n t of t ho s e e l i g i b l e f o r l e a v e , Ickes s a i o .

The f o l l o w i n g a r t i c l e s should be noted in the Poston Chro­

n i c l e of t oday :

MARCH 23 - - (4)

171 P a ss , 50 Re jec t e d Sunday (page 1)

1944 Rice A l l o c a t i o n s Announced (page 1)

Washington A na ly s t V i s i t o r ^e r e (page 1)

Horse Laugh (page 3)

An e i d t o r i a l , *Tragedy in S i c i l y ' ^ , which appeared in the

Los Angeles Examiner of March 21, i s r e c e i v i n g a c o n s i d e r a b l e i n ­

t e n t i o n of many r e s i d e n t s he re ---- the I s s e i and the N i s e i . The

se n t e n c e s which e s p e c i a l l y i n t e r e s t e d them a re reproduced h e r e .

*Eight months a f t e r the e v e n t , t he American people have l ea rn ed t h a t t h r ou gh a T rag ic E r r o r t w e n t y - t h r e e of our (MM t r a n s p o r t p lanes were sho t down by our own a n t i - a i r c r a f t f i r e w i t h the loss of f o u r hundred and t e n young American l i v e s . "

. . . what the people cannot a c c e p t w i th ou t censu re i s the i n d e f e n s i b l e and unpardonable SUPPRESSION of the f a c t s f o r overe i g h t m o n t h s ---- f a c t s which were a t l a s t r e v e a l e d a p p a r e n t l y ina c c i d e n t a l d i s c l o s u r e . '

'This i s not t he only i n s t a n c e of t he s u p p r e s s i o n of v i t a l i n f o r m a t i o n . "

*The d i s t u r b i n g th i n g i s t h a t t hey do not GET the news prompt ly in any e v e n t , and NOW ־THEY MUST SUSPECT AND EVEN CONCLUDE ^H$T THEY DO NOT GET SOME OF IT AT ALL.*

him to send him -t-he* l i s t of the Japanese nationals in

the center and 4rbe l i s t of those who had applied for Repatriation

through other agencies than the Spanish a u th o r i t ie s . According

to Okamoto, Burge mas reluctant to have anyone furnish the r e ­

quested Hats to the Consul. Burge showed Okamoto a le t te r

written by the Prtject Hreotwr t* the Cwnsul *n February 15

FEBRUARY 2S — (3)

on the foHonlng three points, which had been requested by the

Spanish Consul on his last v i s i t here in December:

1. A l i s t of deaths of the Japanese nationals in the center

was sent.

2. His request for a l i s t of evacuees in the center must

come through the State Department.

3. ^ ists of those who applied through the "*RA had been

sent to the Spanish Embassy from time to time, and the project

deemed unnecessary to compile a new l i s t .. o The Consul's l?״ e t te r read by Okamoto ?as dated-4-o-February

18, and the Councilmen thought these le t t e r s must have crossed

their ways. They, however, advised Okamoto to ?.!rite to the Con­

su l for confirmation.

Recent rumors heard from residents Regarding the conditions

^ i t i Ttle AjPke are as follows:

Lven the smaller children are talking about status quo*.

It has become a catch word with the re s id en ts .

Luring the disturbance the canteens were open for business

as usual. The volume of sa les did not decrease, /any people

in Tule Lake had become f in a n c ia l ly inconvinienced as the trouble

prolonged without any sign of sett lement. This fact alone

was strong enough to convince many residents to vote against

FEBRUARY 14 - - (6 )

the status auo. ־'Nowadays we can't laugh at fl6-a-mont.h wages,

because that is the only source of income. People can't be too

choosy, becuase they had to have th is income to l i v e . Many of

them lost the ir preevacnetion saving^ or decreased the ir savings

to such extent that they began to worry about money,* one Tule

La^e correspondent reported in his l e t t e r .

A Tule Lrke rumor has i t thrt a Japanese chef was found

by the FBI for hoarding food which had been distributed to hia

block. The chef had been placed in the stockade, but he !״as

beaten by other Japanese there as a conspirator who had worked

against the interest of the fellow Japanese.

On February 1 the Elementary School began to operate.

As of February 1, about 4,500 evacuees are working on the

project employment in Tule Lake.were

At present tlere^'47'־ Japanese confined in*"*the stockade.

To date 55 have been released .

JANUARY 19 - - (1)

A le t t e r from Tule lake to a Poaton resident is reproduced

here in parta:

" . . . In the near future th is oenter w i l l be se tt ledfin e by the oontroling of WRA as usual as before . Yesterday the notioe whloh is on the other paper was announced atevery apartment. Every resid en ts over 18 had taken a vote for supporting Status Quo or againat Statua Quo.Againat Status Ouo (genjo i j i ) won by 400 points in the whole camp. Every worker w i l l go back to th e ir works, and confine w i l l be disarmed soon. The ahcol w i l l be started aext week. I surely glad eváry th in g / turn in th is way . .

(The following mimeographed notice was enclosed in the l e t t e r . )

STATEMENT

The responsible men of the various d iv is io n s and se c t io n s , a f ter d iscussion and due de liberation at s e ­veral meetinga held, arrived at a oonculslon that -the״ the contunuatlon/%/5 the Dai-hyo Shaa' policy of *status quo* not only was and is unable to restore normality in th is oenter, but have fa i le d vainly in the ir attempt to re lease the * ju s t i f ia b le ' co lo n is ts detained. Being unable to disregard the lnconvlniences and sufferings of the residents of th is Project , we, hereby, have resowed to take the i n i t i a l step in order to rees ta b l ish normalcy in th i s oenter by requesting a l l those various sections and d iv is ion workers to resume th e ir respective jobs immedi­a te ly and at the same time try to expend our utmost e f fo r ts for the re lease of those * just i f iab le ' co lo n is ts detained.

Herewith, we, the responsible men of various d iv is ion and sec t io n s , make public our b e l i e f s on the supplementary report. We, hereby, submit to a l l those c o lo n is t s , 18 years of age or over, by secret b a l lo t for your approval or re jec t ion on the question of 'status quo'

(Cf: January 17, page 1, the thrid item)

Residents here have been complaining la te ly that the

Christmas packages they had sent to th e ir friends at Tule Lake

did not reach them. Inquiries from Poston revealed that they

have not received them. Many persons sent candles and cookies.

Some sent Mochi to Tule lake. The res idents are acousing the

M. P . ' s at Tule Lake of *confiscating* them for th e ir own use.

I f a i l to see what the M. P . ' s would do with the MOchl.

§

Masaki of Block 22, who had distributed the free calendars

of the Poston Chronicle, (Cf: January , page ) feprorted

to the councilman that he had been consulted by Oeneral Mana­

ger Kato of the Community Enterprises as to the d ispostion of

the ir calendars, which had been ordered by them to be d i s t r i ­

buted to the res idents free in accordance with the request of

the Local Council (Of: November 17, page 6 , the f i f t h paragraph).

The Poston Chronicle had distributed th e ir s already, as Masaki

put i t , and the Community Enterprises did not know what to do

with th e ir s . The Community enterprises had received a ship­

ment of 4,000 calendars, asaki reported. The councllmen ad­

vised ^aaki to d is tr ibute the calendars of the Community Enter­

prises in the maimer he saw f i t .

c *