Gasa Gasa Girl Goes to Camp: A Nisei Youth Behind A World War II Fence

by Lily Yuriko Nakai Havey, Cherstin Lyon (Foreword)

Lily Nakai and her family lived in southern California, where sometimes she and a friend dreamt of climbing the Hollywood sign that lit the night. At age ten, after believing that her family was simply going on a “camping trip,” she found herself living in a tar-papered barrack, nightly gazing out instead at a searchlight. She wondered if anything would ever be normal again.
     In this creative memoir, Lily Havey combines storytelling, watercolor, and personal photographs to recount her youth in two Japanese-American internment camps during World War II. In short vignettes snapshots of people, recreated scenes and events a ten-year-old girl develops into a teenager while confined. Vintage photographs reveal the historical, cultural, and familial contexts of that growth and of the Nakais’ dislocation. The paintings and her animated writing together pull us into a turbulent era when America disgracefully incarcerated, without due process, thousands of American citizens because of their race.
     These stories of love, loss, and discovery recall a girl balancing precariously between childhood and adolescence. In turn wrenching, funny, touching, and biting but consistently engrossing, they elucidate the daily challenges of life in the camp and the internees’ many adaptations. 

Winner of the Evans Biography Award. 
Selected by the American Library Association as one the Best of the Best from University Presses.
Finalist in the cover design category in the Southwest Book Design and Production Awards. 
 

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Japan

228 pages, Hardcover

First published June 14, 2014

Reviews

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

HARSH NOSTALGIA.

“Look at this place. I didn’t come to America to live in a place like this—stuffed like pigs in pens. What does the government think we are? Animals? … You and Sumiya are American citizens, for God’s sake, and you get pushed around, put into a prison camp. What kind of a life is this? Soldiers with rifles, stupid searchlights …?” (p. 124/125)

In her very creative memoir, Gasa Gasa Girl Goes to Camp: A Nisei Youth Behind A World War II Fence, octogenarian, watercolorist/author, Lily Yuriko Nakai Harvy looks back seventy years to share some sad and poignant reminiscences of her youth imprisoned at the Granada War Relocation Center at Amache Camp, Colorado. She presents an illuminating perspective of the camp experience; through the eyes of someone old enough to understand the experience, yet young enough not to be too permanently scarred by it.

She also shares memories of some of the interesting stories she heard of her mother’s childhood, growing up in Pre-WWII, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan.

A selection of photos of some of her water colors augment this edition. Very dark, yet somehow beautiful. Especially so on my iPad.

Recommendation: I’ve a soft spot for gasa gasa girls, always have had, so reading this one was a no-brainer for me. Once the price came down to within reason. This is a solid four star read—for the genuine first-person (oral history) perspective. The photos of the author’s water color painting are a big bonus.

“By the third year in Amache, it became hard to remember that life had ever been any different. Living in a single room in a barrack in a barren desert, eating meals in a noisy communal mess hall, attending school and church in yet another common barrack, interacting only with other Japanese, washing and bathing in a separate building, shopping for necessary commodities with government coupons at the canteen—all the while supervised and watched by Caucasians and some recruited Japanese police, those inu—this life began to feel normal…” (p. 147/148)

“How sad to end one’s life in a concentration camp!” (p. 153)

NOOKbook edition, 162 pages.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This chapter of American history has always bothered me. I've read about it in several fictional works like Snow Falling on Cedar and The Buddha in the Attic, but this is the first time I've read a nonfiction personal recounting. It's not just about the camps but about the Japanese culture at that time and how unvalued a woman was - no picnic to be a Japanese woman in that period. And then to have your life taken away and be imprisioned in an inhospitable environment. The author's narrative coupled by her emotional artwork will be appreciated by anyone interested in this era. Unjustly imprisioned, they were equally unjustly released with nothing, having had everything stripped away, and no home to return to. My husband and I visited Manzanar a couple years ago. It's unimaginable and a blight on our country's record.

If you're going to read this on an ereader, be sure it has color capability because the author is an artist and her paintings are scattered throughout the text.

Addendum: I just reread this in book form with the many watercolor paintings that are part of the text. It’s even more powerful with the maps and art woven throughout. The parallels to the situation at the American/Mexican Border Wall are inescapable.

[Marleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lily is an artist who accompanies her personal story of life at Amache Relocation Center the euphemistic name for the American concentration camp she and her family were sent to with her lovely art work. Lily describes the everyday life she and her family experienced. She was very frank about the struggles her father had with drinking and gambling. Her mother felt that as a woman, there was little she could do. She was a gifted seamstress and had dreams of of having her own business and teaching others the craft. She was very committed to helping her children gain a good education. This is the first hand account of one person's experiences during a dark time in American history. This should never have happened and was a gross violation of our civil rights but was reflective of the struggles the Japanese immigrants and their children had to face during a time when racism was condoned by socieiy. They were able to endure and eventually thrive. Their ability to move past this experience is a testament to the tenets, resilience and strength of the Japanese culture and religion.

[Peter Mayeux · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is well written and captures through words and personal artwork a young girl's cultural awakenings in a restrictive environment. I liked what one reviewer wrote about this interesting book: "It's not just about the camps but about the Japanese culture at that time and how unvalued a woman was - no picnic to be a Japanese woman in that period. And then to have your life taken away and be imprisioned in an inhospitable environment." The book is not very long. The beautiful and colorful modern artwork throughout the book adds another dimension to the girl's story. The words and images are provided on high quality, thick and slick white paper. The book should interest anyone born or raised during World War II. It provides an additional, personal insight into daily struggles in the WWII internment camps.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The memories of a 10 year old girl who was sent to the Amache Camp in Colorado during the Japanese American Relocation during WWII. She speaks of her parents in honest terms. She talks of her mothers' strength. She talks of the past history of her family. You get the feeling that you are listening to that family story teller that everyone wants to hear.

This is well written by Yuriko and the words seem to float off the pages. There are several pictures in the book. Some are from family or the Japanese American Museum. The pictures that are the best are the ones done by Yuriko. She is a talented artist.

[Rachel B · Rating 4 out of 5]

The reality that we interned people in the 20th century is just disappointing. Hearing the account from the memories of a woman who was there at 10 years old brings this reality to life. We get a glimpse at her life and the life of her family. We learn about their expectations being destroyed and how they survived and even thrived. The art and photos in this book are valuable and beautiful as well.

[Lukas Kilimann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book if you’re trying to understand the emotional tenor of life for the men and women put in the Japanese internment camps across the United States during WWII. Lily is a story teller and does a great job at crafting an accessible autobiography that shows the incredible abrupt life change she experienced and the tensions of living at Amache for THREE YEARS (aside, PEOPLE, we interned Japanese Americans for THREE YEARS). It’s a really easy read as well

[Josephine Gleeson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellant reading I would recommend this book to anyone especially someone like myself who was the same age but grew up on the east coast I heard about th

Cially haviny grown up on the east coast this book should be required reading in high school I don t think we realizes

[Andréa]

Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some editing shortfalls and inconsistencies are easily overlooked in this poignant memoir. The photos and provocative artwork enhance this important work.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those of us who were not born at the time of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese, and the Asian people as a whole in the US, were treated like anyone that looked Arab was treated after 9/11. Gasa Gasa Girl goes to Camp is the story of one girl’s experience [n the Japanese camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. When her family first departed for the camp, Yuriko thought her family would go camping in the woods in a tent, just as the all-white Girl Scouts got to do every summer. The reality of the ugly, black buildings upon their arrival was a shock to the young girl. She thought the camping trip would be the beginning of a new relationship with her father, instead, he turned into an “elusive shadow” that summer, a stranger to his family.
Her family went from living in “Hollywood, a poor section, to be sure, but Hollywood,” to living “in a barrack at a racetrack.” Her father retreated into a bottle. The rest of the family “internalized the principles of gaman and shikatanagonai…teaming not to verbalize fears, frustration and conflict,” and gambano, meaning “take whatever life brings.”


“Stoic and principled Japanese were supposed to handle unbearable situations in this matter.” Her parents both had terrible childhoods and now their daughter was experiencing, not at the hands of her parents, “but at the hands of the government that promised them freedom and a better life.” Yuriko was terrified of even using the bathroom at night for the fear of being shot by American guards.

Yuriko did not identify with the Japanese that bombed Pearl Harbor. “The Japanese - these other war mongering Japanese – had deprived me of those things. However, I sensed that somehow OUR American government, MY American government was also responsible. It had made the decision to rip thousands of people from their homes and place them in isolated camps.

Yuriko spent three years in the camp, growing and maturing in them. When it was time to leave, she couldn’t remember much about “real life.” She wasn’t sure if it would be better than the camp and was unsure about the unfamiliar and unknown.

Lately, I have been reading a lot about the Holocaust and individuals’ experiences in the concentration camps. So, when I saw this book on NetGalley, it peaked my interests. I had not read any accounts of individual experiences in the Japanese camps and didn’t really know much about them or about how life was for Asians in American during the time after the Pearl Harbor bombing. This book opened my eyes to the similarities between how people reacted after 9/11 towards anyone that looked Arab or Muslim.

I just finished a Multicultural Diversity class, and many of the themes in this book fit along with things we addressed in class. In fact, I am going to suggest this book to my teacher. It gives you great insight into the life of Asians during that time, and I think it is important for people to read things like this. When individuals do something bad, it does not mean that their entire race is bad. This is something that speaks to our society today just as much as it did during Yuriko’s story.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley from the publishers in exchange for an honest review.

[Salt Lake City Public Library]

In Gasa Gasa Girl Goes to Camp: A Nisei Youth Behind a World War II Fence , local author and artist Lily Havey chronicles her and her family’s lives, from her mother’s arrival in the United States as a Japanese picture bride through her family’s time spent at the Amache Internment Camp in Colorado. Havey chose to name this memoir Gasa Gasa Girl in reference to her childhood nickname. When she was young, she was referred to as a gasa gasa girl, which in Japanese means, “always on-the-go, always moving.”

Lily and her family were living in Hollywood, California when Pearl Harbor was bombed and World War II broke out. Then Executive Order 9066 was issued in early 1942, which stated that people of Japanese descent were to be “evacuated” and forcibly relocated from the West Coast. Lily and her family were uprooted, leaving behind many family treasures as they were forced to report to a Temporary Assembly Center at Santa Anita Race Track in Arcadia, California. Lily was only allowed to bring what she could carry in a small suitcase, and her family went from living in a private home to communal living, sharing a mess hall, bathrooms and living quarters. The racetrack was only a temporary stop; in the fall of 1942, Lily and her family were loaded onto a dark train, not knowing where they would end up. They finally arrived at the Amache Internment Camp in Southeastern Colorado.

Lily established a routine for daily life in the camp and had become used to this life by the end of the war. When it was over, she and her family, who had lost everything, had to figure out what to do and where to go next. Because an aunt happened to live in Salt Lake City, Lily and her family decided to move to the Wasatch Front.

Included in the book are photographs and personal paintings by Lily that illustrate her early life and her experiences at Amache. Lily is an accomplished artist and her paintings gracefully depict her feelings about her stay there. She describes her life in camp as hard at first, and remembers in vivid detail how she coped with school, her father’s issues, and daily life as a young girl growing up and identifying herself as both American and Japanese.

What I found interesting about this book were the small details she describes about growing up in California and about her time in Amache. It almost felt like I was standing right there with Lily, viewing it through her eyes. This book had a very personal connection for me because my parents, who are now both gone, had a similar experience with Japanese internment but never spoke about it. Gasa Gasa Girl Goes to Camp helped me understand my parents better and feel closer to them. In all, Gasa Gasa Girl Goes to Camp was a fun and educational read that I recommend to anyone who is interested in this crucial and sometimes overlooked segment of American history.

—LuAnne Nakamura is an Associate Librarian at the Chapman Branch.

[Lois R. Gross · Rating 5 out of 5]

The period of time during which America shamefully interred citizens of Japanese heritage in prison camps is explored in this accessible autobiography. Covering the period of the author's late childhood and early adolescence, author Yuriko Nakai talks about the bare and often uncomfortable conditions of living in Amache, a Southern Colorado camp, and attempting to continue on with life. The author does not sugar coat her existence in the camp, but she does convey that under dire circumstances, Japanese people created a network of schools, adult ed, and a social life under the watchful eye of American guards. More than other books on the subject, this account will be accessible too elementary and middle school students and it is never too early to explore the inhumanity and bigotry of wartime America despite the fact that a war was being fought against the genocide on other continents. Living in close proximity with her mother, Yuriko learns about her mother's early life in Japan, her "picture bride" marriage to a taciturn husband, and her unfulfilled aspirations. Yuriko's mother is a fully fleshed out character who actually seems to thrive while practicing the Buddhist philosophies of forbearance and kharma. Yuriko, a hyperactive "monkey girl," may strain at the limits of her life but also adapts in unexpected ways. It is Yuriko's father who does the most poorly, joining other Japanese men in an attempt to move inland where they could make more money for their families and also escape the restrictions of the camp. This is an important topic, especially if paired with other books about the period, because America was not innocent in its treatment of the Japanese. In response to their imprisonment, many Japanese men fought honorably on the European front, more than proving their loyalty to their adopted land. My only quibble with the book is that it is so personal an account that it does not set the story in relief against the events outside the camp. As an example, the author does not address the fact that the governor of Colorado was a portrait in courage, fighting the government on the internment of citizens and closing Amache at the earliest possible moment. However, this is an excellent introduction to the subject and perfectly suited for ages 10 and up.

[Nann · Rating 4 out of 5]

In March, 1942, 10-year-old Yuriko “Lily” Nakai, her older brother, and their Japanese-born parents were ordered to leave their Los Angeles home for a camp. Lily thought that meant a camping trip, with hiking and fishing. Instead the Nakais and thousands of other Japanese-Americans were relocated to internment camps. After six months in barracks set up at the Santa Anita Racetrack, the family was moved to the Amache Relocation Center in Granada, Colorado. Camp residents created community, with a newspaper, Buddhist and Christian religious services, social clubs, and a school. Havey had spent a third of her life in the camps by the time the war ended and the family moved to a new home in Salt Lake City. Havey interweaves her parents’ stories with the story of life in the camp from a young teenager’s perspective. The memoir is illustrated with Havey’s watercolor paintings and family photographs. Reading the book is like listening to Havey tell her story. It is highly recommended for middle school students to adults.

[Marilyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lily Yuriko Nakai Havey's creative memoir is a must-read, worthy of your time for a number of reasons. The artwork is amazing. The emotional honesty and straightforward matter-of-factness of the narrative reveal the world of a young American girl who finds herself in a setting she could never have imagined---a prison camp built for the sole purpose of incarcerating American citizens who just happened to be of Japanese descent, and their Japanese-born relatives (none of whom was ever convicted of acts that put the United States at risk). The passage in which Lily writes about walking to the communal toilet in the middle of the night, terrified that the soldier behind the searchlight is going to shoot her, is heart-breaking. When I think of 10-year-olds I have known suddenly being thrust into that position, I am surprised that Lily and the 120.000 other Japanese-Americans who were interned could ever be fully at ease in the United States of America again.

[Mary Etta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lily Havey's account of living her youth in an internment camp for Japanese during WWII was very interesting to me. We were contemporaries. I,too, was raised in Los Angeles about the same time, a first generation American of Scottish parents. My religion was a minority and I went to school in army barracks. However, I wasn't interred. My father's work opportunities improved with the war and subsequent times. I was respected and not discriminated against.

Discrimination is always a terrible shame.

Lilly's account of her life and times was interesting. Particularly engaging were her watercolor illustrations.

Well worth the read.

[Linda Cummings · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gem of an autobiography, eloquently written, about a Japanese girl who enters puberty while in Japanese internment camps during World War II. We visited the site of Amache a couple of weeks ago, which made raiding this book all the more powerful and present. The artwork is beautiful and powerful. The author deftly weaves memories of the camps with memories of her life before camp, and sometimes the early life of her mother.

[Pamela Deitsch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Signed copy with author's personal chop added in red ink
Guest author at Taryn Pearce Book Club, Nov. 2018
Lily's son attended the Book Club visit. He was talking about something but that it wasn't in the first edition of the book. I said I didn't have that in my copy. He looked at my book and was very excited that I indeed had a first edition; knowing for sure because it didn't have the seal on the cover.

[Julie Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An autobiography, about a Japanese girl who enters puberty while in Japanese internment camps during World War II. She lives in the camps with her father, mother and brother. grandparents and various aunts and uncles. The author includes her own artwork in the book, which chronicles her life in the camps. I enjoyed this book.

[Jodi Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's frightening to think this happened here. In America. But, it is amazing to see the power of the human spirit to create beauty in the worst of circumstances. I met the author this weekend and visited the Topaz Japanese internment camp in Delta, Utah. It was amazing.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

oh my gosh! incredible!

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great memoir and art book on a Japanese girl's experience at the internment camp in Ameche in Colorado during World War II. Her paintings bring the experience to life. I recommend it.

[Shylo Bundy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book

I enjoyed this bogpok very much. I wish there was a another book to see how she did going back to school and how she adjusted to life after the camp