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Strawberry Days: How Internment Destroyed a Japanese American Community
Strawberry Days tells the vivid and moving tale of the creation and destruction of a Japanese immigrant community. Before World War II, Bellevue, the now-booming "edge city" on the outskirts of Seattle, was a prosperous farm town renowned for its strawberries. Many of its farmers were recent Japanese immigrants who, despite being rejected by white society, were able to make a living cultivating the rich soil. Yet the lives they created for themselves through years of hard work vanished almost instantly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. David Neiwert combines compelling story-telling with first-hand interviews and newly uncovered documents to weave together the history of this community and the racist schemes that prevented the immigrants from reclaiming their land after the war. Ultimately, Strawberry Days represents more than one community's story, reminding us that bigotry's roots are deeply entwined in the very fiber of American society.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published June 4, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
July 22, 2025
At the beginning of the 20th century, Japanese farmers were responsible for clearing much of the farmland that Bellevue is on now. They became pivotal members of the Bellevue community and broader agricultural network of the Pacific Northwest. But Miller Freeman (of THAT Kemper Freeman/Bellevue Square family) was one of the loudest voices in the Seattle area calling for their exclusion, and eventually, their internment at the start of World War II. Today, much of downtown Bellevue and the housing developments around it are built on former Japanese-American farmland.
LOWKEY a must read if you're from Bellevue... I learned so much about local history and also Japanese internment more broadly -- and made me think a lot about the class and economic implications of internment wowwwwwww
LOWKEY a must read if you're from Bellevue... I learned so much about local history and also Japanese internment more broadly -- and made me think a lot about the class and economic implications of internment wowwwwwww
May 28, 2019
Excellent treatment on both the local effects of the internment of Japanese-Americans specifically in the greater Bellvue, Washington community, as well as macro-commentary on the policy overall. David Neiwert remains a deeply underappreciated author. This is the third book of his I've read (along with In God's Country about the "Patriot Movement" and Death on the Fourth of July about a hate-crime involving Asian-Americans as the target) and each is a gem.
Neiwert was a reporter at the Bellvue newspaper, where he initially conceived of the idea for the book and was in contact with many of the surviving internees. He moves methodoically through his paces, describing the initial conditions under which Japanese people settled in the area, how they made their living mostly by finding innovative crops to grow in underused agricultural land (especially strawberries, hence the title), and then how quickly it all unraveled in the torrent of prejudice that led to mass internment of Japanese Americans.
The internees who were forced off their land ended up losing nearly all of their possessions, since they were able to take so little with them and their neighbors ransacked their houses after they left. I guess it goes without saying the the policy was devastating both economically for internees as well as creating a sense of otherness that would prevent many of them from ever feeling truly integrated into U.S. society.
This is the first book-length treatment about internment I've read and it was thoroughly engrossing to me. Neiwert tells the story with appropriate passion but also great skill in interweaving political currents of the day and placing the entire episode into proper context. Though I always knew this was a colossal historical wrong perpetuated by our country, I had not really grasped the magnitude of the wrongdoing.
In the final section of the book, he also engages with Michelle Malkin's 2004 book In Defense of Internment, which was then on the best seller list but seems to have virtually disappeared from public memory (as has Malkin herself). His critique of Malkin and the connection between the treatment of Muslims after 9/11 and the treatment of Japanese after Pearl Harbor is a convincing rebuke.
Neiwert was a reporter at the Bellvue newspaper, where he initially conceived of the idea for the book and was in contact with many of the surviving internees. He moves methodoically through his paces, describing the initial conditions under which Japanese people settled in the area, how they made their living mostly by finding innovative crops to grow in underused agricultural land (especially strawberries, hence the title), and then how quickly it all unraveled in the torrent of prejudice that led to mass internment of Japanese Americans.
The internees who were forced off their land ended up losing nearly all of their possessions, since they were able to take so little with them and their neighbors ransacked their houses after they left. I guess it goes without saying the the policy was devastating both economically for internees as well as creating a sense of otherness that would prevent many of them from ever feeling truly integrated into U.S. society.
This is the first book-length treatment about internment I've read and it was thoroughly engrossing to me. Neiwert tells the story with appropriate passion but also great skill in interweaving political currents of the day and placing the entire episode into proper context. Though I always knew this was a colossal historical wrong perpetuated by our country, I had not really grasped the magnitude of the wrongdoing.
In the final section of the book, he also engages with Michelle Malkin's 2004 book In Defense of Internment, which was then on the best seller list but seems to have virtually disappeared from public memory (as has Malkin herself). His critique of Malkin and the connection between the treatment of Muslims after 9/11 and the treatment of Japanese after Pearl Harbor is a convincing rebuke.
April 22, 2020
Growing up in Bellevue, WA I have watched it grow from a sleepy Seattle suburb to a large city, but what was it before? This book follows the history of the region from the perspective of the Japanese farmers who turned the forests into rich farmlands, only to be ripped away from their homes and placed in concentration camps during WWII The book is very well researched and detailed regarding Japanese immigration despite rabid anti Asian sentiments of the early 20th century. It is sometimes painful to read the ignorant hatred that spewed from our local and national leaders. It also documents the internment, the noble service of Japanese Americans during WWII, and how the internment changed their lives.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 26, 2016
Most books about the internment are about the entire group of Japanese Americans or they focus on maybe one family or a couple of particular people. This book, on the other hand, examines an entire community to see what the effects of the internment had on the community itself.
Bellevue, Washington is the community in which there were a lot of persons of Japanese ancestry. There's material on the pre-war prejudice against the Chinese and the Japanese Americans and the various anti-Japanese organizations that formed.
One of the things that, to me, shows well the irrational degree of hatred are some of the newspaper headlines from that time such as:
The Yellow Peril-How Japanese Crowd Out the White Race
Japanese a Menace to American Women
and, my favorite of them all -
Brown Artisans Steal Brains of Whites
The Japanese living there did a lot farming and managed to take land that was considered too poor to grow crops and somewhat turn it into good farming land, selling their produce in the town. This was one of the major arguments the whites had against the Japanese Americans over how they could get poor land to produce good crops. The rational thing to do would have been to observe the farming habits of the Japanese and then copied those methods on to their own land. Instead, the white farmers were apparently not of the highest mentality and they preferred to drive out their competition rather than learn from them.
The book also examines what happened to a lot of specific people in the Japanese American community around and in Bellevue. Once they were moved out of Bellevue in the evacuation and internment it became evident that the strong coherence of their families was breaking apart. The Issei could not become American citizens by law. The children did not necessarily eat with their families and the discipline of the family fell apart.
Further, the families were encouraged to settle elsewhere and not many returned to Bellevue, basically destroying the once strong Japanese American community that had been there.
This is a good book on the subject since it examines the history leading up to how their community was broken up and what happened to them in the internment camps.
The Evacuated People
In the interest of both accuracy and fairness, it is important to distinguish sharply between the residents of relocation centers and the militarists of Imperial Japan. Two-thirds of the people in the centers are American citizens, born in this country and educated, for the most part, in American public schools. At all centers, the residents have bought thousands of dollars worth of war bonds and have made significant contributions to the American Red Cross. Many of them have sons, husbands, and brothers in the United States Army. Even the aliens among them have nearly all lived in the United States for two decades or longer. And it is important to remember that these particular aliens have been denied the privilege of gaining American citizenship under our laws.
It is also important to distinguish between the residents of relocation centers and civilian internees. Under our laws, aliens of enemy nationality who are found guilty of acts or intentions against the security of the Nation are being confined in internment camps which are administered not by the War Relocation Authority but by the Department of Justice. American citizens suspected of subversive activities are being handled through the ordinary courts. The residents of the relocation centers, however, have never been found guilty--either individually or collectively--of any such acts or intentions. They are merely a group of American residents who happen to have Japanese ancestors and who happened to be living in a potential combat zone shortly after the outbreak of war. All evidence available to the War Relocation Authority indicates that the great majority of them are completely loyal to the United States.
The Relocation Centers
The physical standards of life in the relocation centers have never been much above the bare subsistence level. For some few of the evacuees, these standards perhaps represent a slight improvement over those enjoyed before evacuation. But for the great majority of the evacuated people, the environment of the centers--despite all efforts to make them livable--remains subnormal and probably always will. In spite of the leave privileges, the movement of evacuees while they reside at the centers is necessarily somewhat restricted and a certain feeling of isolation and confinement is almost inevitable.
Housing is provided for the evacuee residents of the centers in tarpaper-covered barracks of simple frame construction without plumbing or cooking facilities of any kind. Most of these barracks are partitioned off so that a family of five or six, for example, will normally occupy a single room 25 by 20 feet. Bachelors and other unattached evacuees live mainly in unpartitioned barracks which have been established as dormitories. The only furnishings provided by the Government in the residence barracks are standard Army cots and blankets and small heating stoves. One bath, laundry, and toilet building is available for each block of barracks and is shared by upwards of 250 people.
Food is furnished by the Government for all evacuee residents. The meals are planned at an average cost of not more than 45 cents per person per day (the actual cost, as this is written, has averaged about 40 cents), are prepared by evacuee cooks, and are served generally cafeteria style in mess halls that accommodate between 250 and 300 persons. At all centers, Government-owned or Government-leased farmlands are being operated by evacuee agricultural crews to produce a considerable share of the vegetables needed in the mess halls. At nearly all centers, the farm program also includes production of poultry, eggs, and pork; and at a few, the evacuees are raising beef and dairy products. Every evacuee is subject to the same food rationing restrictions as all other residents of the United States.
Medical care is available to all evacuee residents of relocation centers without charge. Hospitals have been built at all the centers and are manned in large part by doctors, nurses, nurses' aides, and technicians from the evacuee population. Simple dental and optical services are also provided and special care is given to infants and nursing mothers. Evacuees requesting special medical services not available at the centers are required to pay for the cost of such services. At all centers, in view of the crowded and abnormal living conditions, special sanitary precautions are necessary to safeguard the community health and prevent the outbreak of epidemics.
Work opportunities of many kinds are made available to able-bodied evacuee residents at the relocation centers. The policy of WRA is to make the fullest possible use of evacuee skills and manpower in all jobs that are essential to community operations. Evacuees are employed in the mess halls, on the farms, in the hospitals, on the internal police force, in construction and road maintenance work, in clerical and stenographic jobs, and in many other lines of activity. Most of those who work are paid at the rate of $16 a month for a 44-hour week. Apprentices and others requiring close supervision receive $12 while those with professional skills, supervisory responsibilities, or unusually difficult duties are paid $19. In addition, each evacuee working at a relocation center receives a small monthly allowance for the purchase of work clothing for himself and personal clothing for his dependents. Opportunities for economic gain in the ordinary sense are almost completely lacking to the residents of the centers.
Education through the high-school level is provided by WRA for all school-age residents of the relocation centers. High schools are being built at most of the centers, but grade-school classes will continue to be held in barrack buildings which have been converted for classroom use. Courses of study have been planned and teachers have been selected in close collaboration with State departments of education and in conformity with prevailing State standards. Roughly one-half of the teachers in the schools have been recruited from the evacuee population. Japanese language schools of the type common on the west coast prior to evacuation are expressly forbidden at all relocation centers.
Vocational training is provided at relocation centers as a part of the regular school program for youngsters and in connection with the employment program for adults. The purpose of this training is twofold: (1) To equip the evacuee residents so that they will be able to play a more productive role in agriculture or industry outside the centers and (2) to provide potential replacements at the centers for those who go out on indefinite leave.
Internal security at each relocation center is maintained by a special police force composed largely of able-bodied evacuee residents and headed by a nonevacuee chief plus a few nonevacuee assistants. Misdemeanors and other similar offenses are ordinarily handled within the center either by the Project Director or by a judicial commission made up of evacuee residents. The maximum penalty for such offenses is imprisonment or suspension of work and compensation privileges for a period of 3 months. Major criminal cases are turned over to the outside courts having appropriate jurisdiction. At each center, the exterior boundaries are guarded by a company of military police who may be called into the center in cases of emergency. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is also called in from time to time as the need arises.
Consumer enterprises, such as stores, canteens, barber shops, and shoe-repair establishments, are maintained at the relocation centers in order that the residents may purchase goods and services which are not provided as part of the regular subsistence. These enterprises are all self-supporting and are managed by the evacuee residents mainly on a consumer cooperative basis. Each resident is eligible for membership in the relocation center cooperative association and all members are entitled to patronage dividends which are derived from the profits and based on the individual volume of purchases. As rapidly as possible, the cooperative associations are being incorporated under appropriate laws.
Evacuee government is practiced in one form or another at every relocation center. In some of the centers, formal charters have been drawn up and evacuee governments roughly paralleling those found in ordinary cities of similar size have been established. In others, evacuee participation in community government has been along more informal lines and has consisted largely of conferences held by small groups of key residents with the Project Director whenever important decisions affecting the population must be reached. The evacuee governmental set-up is not in any sense a substitute for the administration provided by the WRA Project Director and his staff, but residents are encouraged to assume responsibility for many phases of community management.
Religion is practiced at relocation centers with the same freedom that prevails throughout the United States. Nearly half of the evacuees are Christian church members. No church buildings have been provided by the Government but ordinary barracks are used for services by Protestants, Catholics, and Buddhists alike. Ministers and priests from the evacuee population are free to carry on their religious activities at the centers and may also hold other jobs in connection with the center administration. Such workers, however, are not paid by WRA for the performance of their religious duties.
Leisure-time activities at the centers are planned and organized largely by the evacuee residents. The WRA merely furnishes advice and guidance and makes certain areas and buildings available for recreational purposes. At each center, recreational activities of one sort or another have been organized for all groups of residents from the smallest children to the oldest men and women. Local branches of national organizations such as the Red Cross, the YMCA, the YWCA, and the Boy Scouts are definitely encouraged. At some of the centers, athletic contests are arranged periodically with teams from nearby towns.
Student Relocation
Although the War Relocation Authority is placing first emphasis on relocation of evacuees in private employment, student evacuees are also being permitted to leave the centers for the purpose of beginning or continuing a higher education. Applicants for student leave must meet the same requirements as all other applicants for indefinite leave and are permitted to enroll only at institutions where no objection to the attendance of evacuee students has been raised by either the War or Navy Department. The WRA provides no financial assistance to evacuees going out on student leave.
Conservation of Evacuee Property
When 110,000 people of Japanese descent were evacuated from the Pacific coast military area during the spring and summer of 1942, they left behind in their former locations an estimated total of approximately $200,000,000 worth of real, commercial, and personal property. These properties range from simple household appliances to extensive commercial and agricultural holdings.
At the time of evacuation, many of the evacuees disposed of their properties, especially their household goods, in quick sales that frequently involved heavy financial losses. The majority, however, placed their household furnishings in storage and retained their interest in other holdings even after they were personally transferred to relocation centers. Since these people are now in the position of absentee owners and since many of their properties are highly valuable in the war production effort, the War Relocation Authority is actively assisting them to keep their commercial and agricultural properties in productive use through lease or sale and is helping them in connection with a wide variety of other property problems.
To carry out this work, the Authority maintains an Evacuee Property Office in San Francisco with branches in Los Angeles and Seattle and employs an Evacuee Property Officer on the staff at each relocation center. Two principal types of service are rendered. In connection with personal properties, such as household furnishings, the Authority provides--at the option of the evacuee owners--either storage in a Government warehouse located within the evacuated area or transportation at Government expense to a point of residence outside. In connection with real estate, commercial holdings, farm machinery, and other similar properties, the Authority acts more in the role of intermediary or agent. At the request of evacuee property-holders, it attempts to find potential buyers or tenants, arranges for the rental or sale of both commercial and agricultural holdings, checks inventories of stored personal goods, audits accounts rendered to evacuees, and performs a variety of similar services. Any person who is interested in buying or leasing the property of evacuees should communicate with the nearest Evacuee Property Office in the West Coast evacuated area.
Wherever possible, these offices will try to put potential buyers or tenants in touch with potential sellers or lessors among the evacuee population. It should be emphasized, however, that the WRA has no authority to requisition the property of evacuees and cannot force any resident of a relocation center to sell or lease against his will. Final agreement on terms is solely a matter between the parties directly involved.
Bellevue, Washington is the community in which there were a lot of persons of Japanese ancestry. There's material on the pre-war prejudice against the Chinese and the Japanese Americans and the various anti-Japanese organizations that formed.
One of the things that, to me, shows well the irrational degree of hatred are some of the newspaper headlines from that time such as:
The Yellow Peril-How Japanese Crowd Out the White Race
Japanese a Menace to American Women
and, my favorite of them all -
Brown Artisans Steal Brains of Whites
The Japanese living there did a lot farming and managed to take land that was considered too poor to grow crops and somewhat turn it into good farming land, selling their produce in the town. This was one of the major arguments the whites had against the Japanese Americans over how they could get poor land to produce good crops. The rational thing to do would have been to observe the farming habits of the Japanese and then copied those methods on to their own land. Instead, the white farmers were apparently not of the highest mentality and they preferred to drive out their competition rather than learn from them.
The book also examines what happened to a lot of specific people in the Japanese American community around and in Bellevue. Once they were moved out of Bellevue in the evacuation and internment it became evident that the strong coherence of their families was breaking apart. The Issei could not become American citizens by law. The children did not necessarily eat with their families and the discipline of the family fell apart.
Further, the families were encouraged to settle elsewhere and not many returned to Bellevue, basically destroying the once strong Japanese American community that had been there.
This is a good book on the subject since it examines the history leading up to how their community was broken up and what happened to them in the internment camps.
The Evacuated People
In the interest of both accuracy and fairness, it is important to distinguish sharply between the residents of relocation centers and the militarists of Imperial Japan. Two-thirds of the people in the centers are American citizens, born in this country and educated, for the most part, in American public schools. At all centers, the residents have bought thousands of dollars worth of war bonds and have made significant contributions to the American Red Cross. Many of them have sons, husbands, and brothers in the United States Army. Even the aliens among them have nearly all lived in the United States for two decades or longer. And it is important to remember that these particular aliens have been denied the privilege of gaining American citizenship under our laws.
It is also important to distinguish between the residents of relocation centers and civilian internees. Under our laws, aliens of enemy nationality who are found guilty of acts or intentions against the security of the Nation are being confined in internment camps which are administered not by the War Relocation Authority but by the Department of Justice. American citizens suspected of subversive activities are being handled through the ordinary courts. The residents of the relocation centers, however, have never been found guilty--either individually or collectively--of any such acts or intentions. They are merely a group of American residents who happen to have Japanese ancestors and who happened to be living in a potential combat zone shortly after the outbreak of war. All evidence available to the War Relocation Authority indicates that the great majority of them are completely loyal to the United States.
The Relocation Centers
The physical standards of life in the relocation centers have never been much above the bare subsistence level. For some few of the evacuees, these standards perhaps represent a slight improvement over those enjoyed before evacuation. But for the great majority of the evacuated people, the environment of the centers--despite all efforts to make them livable--remains subnormal and probably always will. In spite of the leave privileges, the movement of evacuees while they reside at the centers is necessarily somewhat restricted and a certain feeling of isolation and confinement is almost inevitable.
Housing is provided for the evacuee residents of the centers in tarpaper-covered barracks of simple frame construction without plumbing or cooking facilities of any kind. Most of these barracks are partitioned off so that a family of five or six, for example, will normally occupy a single room 25 by 20 feet. Bachelors and other unattached evacuees live mainly in unpartitioned barracks which have been established as dormitories. The only furnishings provided by the Government in the residence barracks are standard Army cots and blankets and small heating stoves. One bath, laundry, and toilet building is available for each block of barracks and is shared by upwards of 250 people.
Food is furnished by the Government for all evacuee residents. The meals are planned at an average cost of not more than 45 cents per person per day (the actual cost, as this is written, has averaged about 40 cents), are prepared by evacuee cooks, and are served generally cafeteria style in mess halls that accommodate between 250 and 300 persons. At all centers, Government-owned or Government-leased farmlands are being operated by evacuee agricultural crews to produce a considerable share of the vegetables needed in the mess halls. At nearly all centers, the farm program also includes production of poultry, eggs, and pork; and at a few, the evacuees are raising beef and dairy products. Every evacuee is subject to the same food rationing restrictions as all other residents of the United States.
Medical care is available to all evacuee residents of relocation centers without charge. Hospitals have been built at all the centers and are manned in large part by doctors, nurses, nurses' aides, and technicians from the evacuee population. Simple dental and optical services are also provided and special care is given to infants and nursing mothers. Evacuees requesting special medical services not available at the centers are required to pay for the cost of such services. At all centers, in view of the crowded and abnormal living conditions, special sanitary precautions are necessary to safeguard the community health and prevent the outbreak of epidemics.
Work opportunities of many kinds are made available to able-bodied evacuee residents at the relocation centers. The policy of WRA is to make the fullest possible use of evacuee skills and manpower in all jobs that are essential to community operations. Evacuees are employed in the mess halls, on the farms, in the hospitals, on the internal police force, in construction and road maintenance work, in clerical and stenographic jobs, and in many other lines of activity. Most of those who work are paid at the rate of $16 a month for a 44-hour week. Apprentices and others requiring close supervision receive $12 while those with professional skills, supervisory responsibilities, or unusually difficult duties are paid $19. In addition, each evacuee working at a relocation center receives a small monthly allowance for the purchase of work clothing for himself and personal clothing for his dependents. Opportunities for economic gain in the ordinary sense are almost completely lacking to the residents of the centers.
Education through the high-school level is provided by WRA for all school-age residents of the relocation centers. High schools are being built at most of the centers, but grade-school classes will continue to be held in barrack buildings which have been converted for classroom use. Courses of study have been planned and teachers have been selected in close collaboration with State departments of education and in conformity with prevailing State standards. Roughly one-half of the teachers in the schools have been recruited from the evacuee population. Japanese language schools of the type common on the west coast prior to evacuation are expressly forbidden at all relocation centers.
Vocational training is provided at relocation centers as a part of the regular school program for youngsters and in connection with the employment program for adults. The purpose of this training is twofold: (1) To equip the evacuee residents so that they will be able to play a more productive role in agriculture or industry outside the centers and (2) to provide potential replacements at the centers for those who go out on indefinite leave.
Internal security at each relocation center is maintained by a special police force composed largely of able-bodied evacuee residents and headed by a nonevacuee chief plus a few nonevacuee assistants. Misdemeanors and other similar offenses are ordinarily handled within the center either by the Project Director or by a judicial commission made up of evacuee residents. The maximum penalty for such offenses is imprisonment or suspension of work and compensation privileges for a period of 3 months. Major criminal cases are turned over to the outside courts having appropriate jurisdiction. At each center, the exterior boundaries are guarded by a company of military police who may be called into the center in cases of emergency. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is also called in from time to time as the need arises.
Consumer enterprises, such as stores, canteens, barber shops, and shoe-repair establishments, are maintained at the relocation centers in order that the residents may purchase goods and services which are not provided as part of the regular subsistence. These enterprises are all self-supporting and are managed by the evacuee residents mainly on a consumer cooperative basis. Each resident is eligible for membership in the relocation center cooperative association and all members are entitled to patronage dividends which are derived from the profits and based on the individual volume of purchases. As rapidly as possible, the cooperative associations are being incorporated under appropriate laws.
Evacuee government is practiced in one form or another at every relocation center. In some of the centers, formal charters have been drawn up and evacuee governments roughly paralleling those found in ordinary cities of similar size have been established. In others, evacuee participation in community government has been along more informal lines and has consisted largely of conferences held by small groups of key residents with the Project Director whenever important decisions affecting the population must be reached. The evacuee governmental set-up is not in any sense a substitute for the administration provided by the WRA Project Director and his staff, but residents are encouraged to assume responsibility for many phases of community management.
Religion is practiced at relocation centers with the same freedom that prevails throughout the United States. Nearly half of the evacuees are Christian church members. No church buildings have been provided by the Government but ordinary barracks are used for services by Protestants, Catholics, and Buddhists alike. Ministers and priests from the evacuee population are free to carry on their religious activities at the centers and may also hold other jobs in connection with the center administration. Such workers, however, are not paid by WRA for the performance of their religious duties.
Leisure-time activities at the centers are planned and organized largely by the evacuee residents. The WRA merely furnishes advice and guidance and makes certain areas and buildings available for recreational purposes. At each center, recreational activities of one sort or another have been organized for all groups of residents from the smallest children to the oldest men and women. Local branches of national organizations such as the Red Cross, the YMCA, the YWCA, and the Boy Scouts are definitely encouraged. At some of the centers, athletic contests are arranged periodically with teams from nearby towns.
Student Relocation
Although the War Relocation Authority is placing first emphasis on relocation of evacuees in private employment, student evacuees are also being permitted to leave the centers for the purpose of beginning or continuing a higher education. Applicants for student leave must meet the same requirements as all other applicants for indefinite leave and are permitted to enroll only at institutions where no objection to the attendance of evacuee students has been raised by either the War or Navy Department. The WRA provides no financial assistance to evacuees going out on student leave.
Conservation of Evacuee Property
When 110,000 people of Japanese descent were evacuated from the Pacific coast military area during the spring and summer of 1942, they left behind in their former locations an estimated total of approximately $200,000,000 worth of real, commercial, and personal property. These properties range from simple household appliances to extensive commercial and agricultural holdings.
At the time of evacuation, many of the evacuees disposed of their properties, especially their household goods, in quick sales that frequently involved heavy financial losses. The majority, however, placed their household furnishings in storage and retained their interest in other holdings even after they were personally transferred to relocation centers. Since these people are now in the position of absentee owners and since many of their properties are highly valuable in the war production effort, the War Relocation Authority is actively assisting them to keep their commercial and agricultural properties in productive use through lease or sale and is helping them in connection with a wide variety of other property problems.
To carry out this work, the Authority maintains an Evacuee Property Office in San Francisco with branches in Los Angeles and Seattle and employs an Evacuee Property Officer on the staff at each relocation center. Two principal types of service are rendered. In connection with personal properties, such as household furnishings, the Authority provides--at the option of the evacuee owners--either storage in a Government warehouse located within the evacuated area or transportation at Government expense to a point of residence outside. In connection with real estate, commercial holdings, farm machinery, and other similar properties, the Authority acts more in the role of intermediary or agent. At the request of evacuee property-holders, it attempts to find potential buyers or tenants, arranges for the rental or sale of both commercial and agricultural holdings, checks inventories of stored personal goods, audits accounts rendered to evacuees, and performs a variety of similar services. Any person who is interested in buying or leasing the property of evacuees should communicate with the nearest Evacuee Property Office in the West Coast evacuated area.
Wherever possible, these offices will try to put potential buyers or tenants in touch with potential sellers or lessors among the evacuee population. It should be emphasized, however, that the WRA has no authority to requisition the property of evacuees and cannot force any resident of a relocation center to sell or lease against his will. Final agreement on terms is solely a matter between the parties directly involved.
May 12, 2022
Grazie a questo libro ho conosciuto e approfondito un avvenimento storico di cui si parla pochissimo, soprattutto in Italia, ovvero della deportazione dei giapponesi americani in campi di internamento durante la Seconda guerra mondiale. L'autore ripercorre le vicende e le cause che hanno portato il governo degli Stati Uniti a intraprendere questa terribile scelta, ma approfondisce anche la storia della cittadina di Bellevue e dei suoi abitanti giapponesi, che l'hanno resa famosa per la coltivazione delle fragole, aiutandola a svilupparsi nel sobborgo moderno che è oggi. Con questo parallelismo però il libro risulta spesso dispersivo e ripetitivo, saltando da un contesto all'altro (nazionale e di Bellevue). Inoltre ho trovato le testimonianze un po' deboli, il che non mi ha permesso di empatizzare con i personaggi di questa storia sconvolgente.
Un libro che consiglio a chi è appassionato di storia e di storie di vita passate. Un libro anche per non dimenticare e diffondere consapevolezza sulla vicenda.
Un libro che consiglio a chi è appassionato di storia e di storie di vita passate. Un libro anche per non dimenticare e diffondere consapevolezza sulla vicenda.
April 23, 2023
This is a must-read for anyone who lives in the Seattle area, and a good reminder that racial injustice isn't something that just goes on in the American South or in the distant past. I got so angry a few times reading this book that I had to put it down.
The book provides an overview of the events that lead to the internment of thousands of Americans citizens and their Japanese-born parents. Interspersed with the discussions of various pieces of anti-Asian legislation, anti-Japanese community groups, the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the details of Pacific Northwest agriculture and transportation are the personal stories of many individuals who started their lives in areas that are now in the City of Bellevue. Given the nature of development in neighborhoods like Hunts Point and Medina today, it's hard to believe that before 1942, these had been small farms growing crops like strawberries.
The book provides an overview of the events that lead to the internment of thousands of Americans citizens and their Japanese-born parents. Interspersed with the discussions of various pieces of anti-Asian legislation, anti-Japanese community groups, the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the details of Pacific Northwest agriculture and transportation are the personal stories of many individuals who started their lives in areas that are now in the City of Bellevue. Given the nature of development in neighborhoods like Hunts Point and Medina today, it's hard to believe that before 1942, these had been small farms growing crops like strawberries.
March 20, 2021
Took me a while to get my hands on a copy, and then another while to get to reading it, but it was worth the wait. Though written by a white historian, the book centers the voices and perspectives of Japanese-Americans through interviews and first hand accounts. It does a decent job discussing all of the events leading up to and surrounding Japanese incarceration during World War 2 and the immediate after affects, but does so through a very local lens of those who called Bellevue home. It’s rage inducing to read about the inaction of white citizens, and the virulent racism of the Freeman family who are the veritable benefactors of Japanese Incarceration on their route to being the kingpins of downtown Bellevue, and more needs to be done to center this history in Bellevue.
May 23, 2017
This book is a review which exposes the details and impact of the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. It is intended to make the reader aware of the dangers of persecution of a group of people based upon their ethnicity rather than upon their actions. The importance today is not only to remember this action as a violation of the Constitution but also to lift awareness of the post 9/11 attitudes toward Muslim Americans and the inherent dangers which have once again reared their ugly heads.
April 6, 2020
A deep dive into a shameful chapter in American history—the internment of Japanese, including U.S. citizens, during WWII. What is unique is the focus here on a whole community, Bellevue, Washington, and the number of first person accounts the author includes. As someone who lived in Bellevue in the early 60s and took a required course in “Washington State history” in high school, I can assure you that this was NOT part of the curriculum. Hopefully that has changed.
October 28, 2021
I was interested in this story as I personally know a family that experienced this. It covers a lot of meaningful conversations and detail but I found the writing style a bit dry. I do feel I got a bit more insight into this era in history and was impressed by the resilience of the Japanese people who experienced all this.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 3, 2025
Very Informative
Very eye opening about what was done to Japanese citizens during WW11. I see similar racial profiling today with the actions of ICE, detaining people without due process, some of whom are American citizens.
Very eye opening about what was done to Japanese citizens during WW11. I see similar racial profiling today with the actions of ICE, detaining people without due process, some of whom are American citizens.
November 7, 2007
This is a good book to read if you don’t know a lot about Asian American history, and specifically 20th century Japanese American history. It is a good book to read if you live in Seattle or near Bellevue Washington. It emerged from a series of articles called “Camps of Infamy” published by the former news editor for the Bellevue Journal American (now King County Journal). The author did a lot of reading, and the book provides a narrative history of much material in many current academic works. Ultimately, the book is not in conversation with other academic tracts. Its point is to tell a story to the public, and provide a remembrance of the relationship between Bellevue’s history and Japanese American history.
In talking both about Japanese American farmers and Japanese American loggers and forestry workers, the book really cut at areas of my own personal interest and research. I really enjoyed the details here that I wasn’t already familiar with. The traditional narrative is enriched by the specifics of life in Bellevue and the growth of the town alongside the changes in the Japanese American community.
At the heart of the story is Japanese American agriculture. Japanese American agricultural labor was key to the production of the Strawberry, which was key to the Strawberry festival which was at the heart of Bellevue’s identity as a town. Of course the Japanese Americans whose labor produced the strawberries were often too busy in strawberry season to truly participate in the festivities and they weren’t really included in any meaningful way anyhow. When they were interned, the Strawberry Festival died; it was reborn in 1970, but without local strawberries and without the Japanese Americans who labor made the original festival possible.
The epilogue speaks about how Nisei responded to 9/11, and the way for many it awakened nightmares of the camps. Moreover, “Most came out of the concentration-camp ordeal swearing to prevent such a fate ever befalling Americans again, and they now feel duty-bound to speak up.” He attacks and analyses conservative Filipino author Michelle Malkin’s In Defense of Internment, showing how it repeats the yellow peril myth for today.
Sources: The bulk of the material comes from a series of oral history completed by the author. This is backed up by impressive and extensive reading of the secondary sources.
In talking both about Japanese American farmers and Japanese American loggers and forestry workers, the book really cut at areas of my own personal interest and research. I really enjoyed the details here that I wasn’t already familiar with. The traditional narrative is enriched by the specifics of life in Bellevue and the growth of the town alongside the changes in the Japanese American community.
At the heart of the story is Japanese American agriculture. Japanese American agricultural labor was key to the production of the Strawberry, which was key to the Strawberry festival which was at the heart of Bellevue’s identity as a town. Of course the Japanese Americans whose labor produced the strawberries were often too busy in strawberry season to truly participate in the festivities and they weren’t really included in any meaningful way anyhow. When they were interned, the Strawberry Festival died; it was reborn in 1970, but without local strawberries and without the Japanese Americans who labor made the original festival possible.
The epilogue speaks about how Nisei responded to 9/11, and the way for many it awakened nightmares of the camps. Moreover, “Most came out of the concentration-camp ordeal swearing to prevent such a fate ever befalling Americans again, and they now feel duty-bound to speak up.” He attacks and analyses conservative Filipino author Michelle Malkin’s In Defense of Internment, showing how it repeats the yellow peril myth for today.
Sources: The bulk of the material comes from a series of oral history completed by the author. This is backed up by impressive and extensive reading of the secondary sources.
May 2, 2012
This was a fascinating book for me, but it's a history of Seattle's "East Side," where I've lived for almost 30 years. It's a story of the Japanese-American farmers who cleared the stumps from the the eastern shores of Lake Washington, and turned the area into fruitful truck farms that were ultimately swept away by the anti-Japanese hysteria that followed the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The book has an interesting mix of first-person stories gathered from extensive interviews, news from newspaper archives, and the history of World War II. It's interesting to see to what extent the racism of key figures like Miller Freeman (Bellevue business leader and developer of Bellevue Square) encouraged our government to brush the Constitution aside.
It's also pretty easy to draw comparisons between the anti-Japanese sentiment back in the day and the anti-Muslim sentiment today.
The book has an interesting mix of first-person stories gathered from extensive interviews, news from newspaper archives, and the history of World War II. It's interesting to see to what extent the racism of key figures like Miller Freeman (Bellevue business leader and developer of Bellevue Square) encouraged our government to brush the Constitution aside.
It's also pretty easy to draw comparisons between the anti-Japanese sentiment back in the day and the anti-Muslim sentiment today.
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