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Desert Exile: The Uprooting of a Japanese American Family
In the spring of 1942, shortly after the United States entered into war with Japan, the federal government initiated a policy whereby 110,000 persons of Japanese ancestry were rounded up and herded into camps. They were incarcerated without indictment, trial, or counsel - not because they had committed a crime, but simply because they resembled the enemy. There was never any evidence of disloyalty or sabotage among them, and the majority were American citizens. The government's explanation for this massive injustice was military necessity.
Desert Exile tells the story of one family who lived through these sad years. It is a moving personal account by a woman who grew up in Berkeley and was attending the University of California when the war began.
To better unerstand how such a gross violation of human rights could have occurred in America, and how the Japanese reacted to it, the author takes a backward look at her parents' early years in this country and her own experiences as a Nisei growing up in California. She evokes the strong anti-Asian climate of the years preceding the war, and provides an intimate glimpse of life in one Japanese American household.
With the attack on Pearl Harbor, everything changed in Yoshiko Uchida's life. She tells of her father's abrupt seizure by the FBI; one of the family's frantic efforts to vacate their home on ten days notice; of being forced to live in a horsestall, deprived of every human privacy; and of being sent on to a bleak camp in the Utah desert, ringed by barbed wire and armed guards and plagued by terrifying dust storms.
But this is not simply an account of the day-to-day life in the Tanforan and Topaz concentration camps where the author lived; it is also the story of the courage and strength displayed by the incarcerated Japense. In particular, it is about the Issei (first generation immigrants) who, having already endured so much in a hostile society, still retained a remarkable resiliency of spirit as they established a sense of community, saw to the education of their children, and tried to live productive lives even behind barbed wire.
This is a beautifully crafted book, written with clarity, conviction, and insight. It should be read by all Americans so they will know and never forget what once happened in this country, and through that knowledge will never allow such a travesty of justice to happen again.
Replaced by ISBN 9780295994758
Desert Exile tells the story of one family who lived through these sad years. It is a moving personal account by a woman who grew up in Berkeley and was attending the University of California when the war began.
To better unerstand how such a gross violation of human rights could have occurred in America, and how the Japanese reacted to it, the author takes a backward look at her parents' early years in this country and her own experiences as a Nisei growing up in California. She evokes the strong anti-Asian climate of the years preceding the war, and provides an intimate glimpse of life in one Japanese American household.
With the attack on Pearl Harbor, everything changed in Yoshiko Uchida's life. She tells of her father's abrupt seizure by the FBI; one of the family's frantic efforts to vacate their home on ten days notice; of being forced to live in a horsestall, deprived of every human privacy; and of being sent on to a bleak camp in the Utah desert, ringed by barbed wire and armed guards and plagued by terrifying dust storms.
But this is not simply an account of the day-to-day life in the Tanforan and Topaz concentration camps where the author lived; it is also the story of the courage and strength displayed by the incarcerated Japense. In particular, it is about the Issei (first generation immigrants) who, having already endured so much in a hostile society, still retained a remarkable resiliency of spirit as they established a sense of community, saw to the education of their children, and tried to live productive lives even behind barbed wire.
This is a beautifully crafted book, written with clarity, conviction, and insight. It should be read by all Americans so they will know and never forget what once happened in this country, and through that knowledge will never allow such a travesty of justice to happen again.
Replaced by ISBN 9780295994758
162 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1982
47 people are currently reading
1422 people want to read
About the author
Yoshiko Uchida
51 books96 followersYoshiko, born on November 24, 1921, was the second daughter of Japanese immigrant parents Takashi and Iku. Her father worked as a businessman for Mitsui and Company in San Francisco, and Iku wrote poetry, passing along her love of literature to her girls. Though the Great Depression raged, the Uchida family enjoyed comforts because of Takashi's well-paying job and their own frugality. Yoshiko loved to write, and her stories played out on pieces of brown wrapping paper. She also kept a journal to record her thoughts and events.
Enveloped in love and tradition at home, Yoshiko weathered the prejudice she sometimes faced. Many white students at University High School in Oakland didn't invite her to their parties and wouldn't socialize with her, deeming her a foreigner. Even while attending the University of California at Berkley, Yoshiko often faced the same dilemma of being ostracized. She found friendships with other Japanese American students and was preparing to graduate when Pearl Harbor was bombed, changing her life.
The United States government rounded up 120,000 people of Japanese descent and put them into camps. The Uchida family first resided in a horse stall at a racetrack in California, surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards. Though difficult to endure, the next move was worse. Almost 8,000 Japanese were sent to a relocation concentration camp called Topaz in the Utah desert. The detainees suffered from violent dust storms, scorpions, snakes, and exceedingly poor living conditions. Yoshiko taught second grade children there until she received a fellowship from Smith College to earn a master's degree in education.
Yoshiko and her sister both left the camp in May of 1943, with their parents gaining release later that year. Teaching for several years in a Quaker school outside of Philadelphia, Yoshiko decided to quit teaching and find work that allowed more time for writing. She moved to New York City and began as a secretary, penning stories in the evenings. Asked to contribute to a book about Japanese folk tales, Yoshiko discovered that though the book didn't come to be, with time she could create a full collection of folk tales. Writing a few pieces for adults, Yoshiko realized she was better suited for children's books.
A Ford Foundation fellowship sent her to Japan to research the culture and their stories. Spending two years, Yoshiko found her time to be healing as she learned about her own ancestry. The pain of the concentration camps lessened, and she began writing about the experiences in fictional books such as Journey to Topaz and Journey Home. Her career as an author soared as people regarded her as a pioneer in Japanese American children's literature. The author of almost forty works, including Japanese folk tales and stories of Japanese American children making their way in the world, Yoshiko traveled extensively, lectured, and wrote. After suffering from a stroke, Yoshiko passed away on June 25, 1992, in Berkeley, California.
Enveloped in love and tradition at home, Yoshiko weathered the prejudice she sometimes faced. Many white students at University High School in Oakland didn't invite her to their parties and wouldn't socialize with her, deeming her a foreigner. Even while attending the University of California at Berkley, Yoshiko often faced the same dilemma of being ostracized. She found friendships with other Japanese American students and was preparing to graduate when Pearl Harbor was bombed, changing her life.
The United States government rounded up 120,000 people of Japanese descent and put them into camps. The Uchida family first resided in a horse stall at a racetrack in California, surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards. Though difficult to endure, the next move was worse. Almost 8,000 Japanese were sent to a relocation concentration camp called Topaz in the Utah desert. The detainees suffered from violent dust storms, scorpions, snakes, and exceedingly poor living conditions. Yoshiko taught second grade children there until she received a fellowship from Smith College to earn a master's degree in education.
Yoshiko and her sister both left the camp in May of 1943, with their parents gaining release later that year. Teaching for several years in a Quaker school outside of Philadelphia, Yoshiko decided to quit teaching and find work that allowed more time for writing. She moved to New York City and began as a secretary, penning stories in the evenings. Asked to contribute to a book about Japanese folk tales, Yoshiko discovered that though the book didn't come to be, with time she could create a full collection of folk tales. Writing a few pieces for adults, Yoshiko realized she was better suited for children's books.
A Ford Foundation fellowship sent her to Japan to research the culture and their stories. Spending two years, Yoshiko found her time to be healing as she learned about her own ancestry. The pain of the concentration camps lessened, and she began writing about the experiences in fictional books such as Journey to Topaz and Journey Home. Her career as an author soared as people regarded her as a pioneer in Japanese American children's literature. The author of almost forty works, including Japanese folk tales and stories of Japanese American children making their way in the world, Yoshiko traveled extensively, lectured, and wrote. After suffering from a stroke, Yoshiko passed away on June 25, 1992, in Berkeley, California.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 94 reviews
May 22, 2025
ANHPI Heritage Month 2025 #13
November 18, 2018
OK, I'll be honest -- the amateurish cover design of this book at first made me doubt whether the contents would be worth the read. Fortunately, this book is one of the sterling examples of the wisdom inherent in the phrase "Don't judge a book by its cover." Uchida's first-person narrative of her family's internment during World War II begins well before the war, affectionately describing her often idyllic childhood in Berkeley, California and the way her Issei parents raised both her and her older sister with a blend of both Japanese and American cultures. This background information, told with loving details, makes the shock of Pearl Harbor, America's entry into the war and the almost immediate detention of Japanese people in the United States all the more brutal and poignant to readers.
Uchida mentions some of the widespread rumors -- that Japanese people in America had helped conduct espionage for the Japanese government, that they cut arrows into the sugarcane fields to guide the Pearl Harbor bombers, and other scurrilous stories that were later completely refuted -- that led American military commanders and American citizens alike to condone the suspension of Japanese American constitutional rights and the process of internment "for their own protection." Many people who came of age during this time, including my own grandfather, believed in such rumors to their dying day and never trusted people of Japanese ancestry again. Others, born long after the war ended, have never even heard of the American concentration camps where thousands of Japanese nationals and American citizens were warehoused and hidden away, and where some of them died. For these and other reasons, I wish this book were better known and more widely read. American citizens in particular need to know what their government did under the influence of a race-based panic, how horrific it was, and how careful we should be never to do it again. What was done to one group could easily be done to any group at all; what threatens the rights of one group thus threatens everyone's rights.
Uchida mentions some of the widespread rumors -- that Japanese people in America had helped conduct espionage for the Japanese government, that they cut arrows into the sugarcane fields to guide the Pearl Harbor bombers, and other scurrilous stories that were later completely refuted -- that led American military commanders and American citizens alike to condone the suspension of Japanese American constitutional rights and the process of internment "for their own protection." Many people who came of age during this time, including my own grandfather, believed in such rumors to their dying day and never trusted people of Japanese ancestry again. Others, born long after the war ended, have never even heard of the American concentration camps where thousands of Japanese nationals and American citizens were warehoused and hidden away, and where some of them died. For these and other reasons, I wish this book were better known and more widely read. American citizens in particular need to know what their government did under the influence of a race-based panic, how horrific it was, and how careful we should be never to do it again. What was done to one group could easily be done to any group at all; what threatens the rights of one group thus threatens everyone's rights.
January 24, 2016
Yoshiko Uchida, 1982
The author originally grew up in Berkeley, California. She starts off writing about her life there and gives some of her family history. She also has her own share of tragedies; one cousin died in Japan during the war; one died at Heart Mountain due to a heart condition, and an uncle became blind due to inadequate care while he was at one of the interment camps.
She continues with personal memories of her education in the U.S. and how she, as a Nisei, felt she wasn't really fully Japanese and wasn't really fully American, either. The day Pearl Harbor was attacked her father was taken by the FBI. There's a lot of very personal details of what was happening, including the fact that the parents of a friend of hers were shot and killed by an anti-Japanese fanatic.
She and the rest of her family were subject to evacuation and she tells the story of how they had to get rid of things, including even giving their pet collie away. They were shipped to the Tanforan Assembly Center. She describes the living conditions there, including the horse stalls they lived in, latrines with no privacy, etc. She also described the type of life her father had where he was being held, and these details are something few if any other books have.
She describes more details about life at Tanforan, including the activities, classes, the setting up of the post office, etc. As with the other evacuees she and her family were moved to a relocation center, in their case Topaz. They even had a sheet of instructions to follow on what words to use in Topaz (reminding me of an episode of The Prisoner with similar sayings), including to use the word Safety Council, instead of Internal Police, and Residents instead of Evacuees.
It's also obvious from what she writes that Topaz was not at all ready for use when the evacuees got there. Many buildings were not even finished being built, the laundry lacked water and lights didn't work. She writes about how elementary schools were supposed to start but nothing was there except an empty building. She also visited a white teacher at her staff lodgings and found out that the staff were in much, much more comfortable buildings than the internees.
Although the schools finally did get started they had to close in November due to the fact that they weren't actually finished and so terrible cold kept getting in to the schoolrooms. She also writes about the increasing tensions and bitterness in the camp and how this affected the way people behaved.
She finally did get to leave the camp and continue her education outside.
This is a very personal book and extremely good, giving a lot of good in-depth insight into what was actually happening at the assembly centers and internment camps. Definitely worth reading.
The author originally grew up in Berkeley, California. She starts off writing about her life there and gives some of her family history. She also has her own share of tragedies; one cousin died in Japan during the war; one died at Heart Mountain due to a heart condition, and an uncle became blind due to inadequate care while he was at one of the interment camps.
She continues with personal memories of her education in the U.S. and how she, as a Nisei, felt she wasn't really fully Japanese and wasn't really fully American, either. The day Pearl Harbor was attacked her father was taken by the FBI. There's a lot of very personal details of what was happening, including the fact that the parents of a friend of hers were shot and killed by an anti-Japanese fanatic.
She and the rest of her family were subject to evacuation and she tells the story of how they had to get rid of things, including even giving their pet collie away. They were shipped to the Tanforan Assembly Center. She describes the living conditions there, including the horse stalls they lived in, latrines with no privacy, etc. She also described the type of life her father had where he was being held, and these details are something few if any other books have.
She describes more details about life at Tanforan, including the activities, classes, the setting up of the post office, etc. As with the other evacuees she and her family were moved to a relocation center, in their case Topaz. They even had a sheet of instructions to follow on what words to use in Topaz (reminding me of an episode of The Prisoner with similar sayings), including to use the word Safety Council, instead of Internal Police, and Residents instead of Evacuees.
It's also obvious from what she writes that Topaz was not at all ready for use when the evacuees got there. Many buildings were not even finished being built, the laundry lacked water and lights didn't work. She writes about how elementary schools were supposed to start but nothing was there except an empty building. She also visited a white teacher at her staff lodgings and found out that the staff were in much, much more comfortable buildings than the internees.
Although the schools finally did get started they had to close in November due to the fact that they weren't actually finished and so terrible cold kept getting in to the schoolrooms. She also writes about the increasing tensions and bitterness in the camp and how this affected the way people behaved.
She finally did get to leave the camp and continue her education outside.
This is a very personal book and extremely good, giving a lot of good in-depth insight into what was actually happening at the assembly centers and internment camps. Definitely worth reading.
March 30, 2009
I liked this book quite a bit. I have studied the Japanese internment camp that was in Delta Utah for the past few semesters in different history classes, and this book finally made it real for me. I was outraged at the treatment of these US citizens, and awed by the fortitude and perserverence of Yo and her family. Everyone should read this book, so that this horrible and embarrassing event in American history is not repeated.
February 14, 2015
An eye-opening piece of American history we were never taught in school. Our own country imprisoned thousands of its own citizens and locked them away in camps, depriving them of their homes and livelihood during WWII. Japanese men, women and children were deemed a threat to national security and imprisoned in camps away from the West Coast. Some things should never be forgotten and never glossed over if we want to truly understand our history and the type of people we aspire to be.
July 13, 2020
This book told the personal story of Yoshiko Uchida & her family who were sent to an internment camp during WWII because they were Japanese Americans. It is heart-breaking to realize that American citizens (Nisei) were sent to camps, in violation of the Constitution and their civil rights. This story tells the personal perspective of this family from Berkeley, California that is sent to Talforan and then, Delta, Utah. I'm so impressed with the positive attitude of this family, despite their mistreatment. I was also impressed with Yo's father's consistent drive to improve and lead in each situation, no matter how terrible. This story tells much about the Japanese culture, and some customs, and the dedication to America of these people, despite the horrendous injustice. A good read for youth and adults.
January 6, 2022
This was a required text for me in my history class this past semester. It was my least favorite of the 3 books we read throughout the semester. The narrative follows a young Japanese-American family and their experience during America's involvement in WWII. It follows the family as they make sense of a new world where they experience a cultural shift of racism and prejudice towards them after Pearl Harbor. I felt that there were many spots where a lot of unnecessary information was given than needed to make the point which led to the text feeling very slow and boring at times. Regardless, this was a great short nonfiction read full of lessons for our culture and informative eye-opening information.
August 14, 2008
An account of the Japanese Internment. This is written very well. I absolutely love her attitude as her family suffers all sorts of atrocities due to their Japanese heritage. I think this is a very important story to read so we can understand what America truly is and what it means to us. Also, what can happen when we group and begin to judge people based on their ethnicity and/or their appearance. A real eye opener.
For me, this is a subject that was only briefly touched on in high school history class. Yet, it is something that greatly impacted many of our fellow Americans and will continue to impact them and their descendants.
For me, this is a subject that was only briefly touched on in high school history class. Yet, it is something that greatly impacted many of our fellow Americans and will continue to impact them and their descendants.
June 23, 2010
I'm not really sure why this is a separate book from Journey to Topaz, apart from the fact that they are written for different age groups. Both books tell the story of the author's internment during WWII, which is very interesting and well-written.
February 2, 2010
This book is similar to "Farewell to Manzanar" in that it chronicles the life of a Japanese American family in a concentration camp during World War II.
February 14, 2016
In the same setting as Citizen 13660
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February 17, 2022I loved this book. The narrative was open and honest, although often with a positive slant, which I felt reflected the author herself. I could relate to their family unit of a mother, father and two daughters and I felt like if I had lived in that neighborhood during that time as a child, She would have been a friend. This book really made me feel for this family as well as all the Japanese-Americans interned during WWII.
September 8, 2025
Beautifully written account of her incarceration experience, encapsulates the complicated feelings of longing and lament for her old life in Oakland, short read, intersticed with poems written by her mother
August 11, 2019
Easy and quick read. Great for a middle reader or high school freshmen.
June 17, 2019
Surprisingly optimistic viewpoint about an atrocious historical event. It is crazy that this happened 60 miles away from where I live.
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May 18, 2016Desert Exile- A wonderful story about how one family survived the hardships of living in a Japanese internment camp, the main character Yoshiko Uchida is a woman who lives in San Francisco California. The starts right after the Pearl Harbor attacks on the United states of America in Hawaii after the attack most Japanese Americans on the west coast were taken by force to internment camps in the middle of Utah and other remote states in central United States. The Author of this story is sharing her personal experience in the internment camp through which she had to live in for a time in her life. This personally I think that this is the best way to teach about an historic event with witnesses and victims and how they share their story. It gives different views on the event that took place, and could even give more facts or unknown information on the historic event, this overall makes the story better for the reader.
Furthermore the author tells a great story about living in an internment camp, but at some points of the story it gets very boring, but luckily the story gets picked up again by a frightful event happening, one of my favorites in the story was all the dust storms that the camp had to face which seemed horrific in the eyes of Yoshiko. This story leaves you feeling all different emotions at certain points of the book, the author was great at this.
Yoshiko also showed a dark period for the United States history re the government imprisoned their own citizens based on race. This was especially horrific, in my opinion, because they imprisoned women and children, young and old, and people who weren't involved with the war whatsoever. In my eyes this is a war crime, even though decades after the government paid money back to japanese prisoners(even though many were dead and the only one who received money were the children and babies, because they were the only currently alive).
Overall this book was very well thought out and showed the hardships of japanese americans during their imprisonment after pearl harbor, in a different way most history isn't read by. Instead of reading a historic informal book, this is a personal witness to the event. So now readers can see what the japanese were feeling.I recommend this book to readers interested in WW2 and that want to know the american side of the war. This book has been a favorite of mine and I recommend that you pick it up to.
Furthermore the author tells a great story about living in an internment camp, but at some points of the story it gets very boring, but luckily the story gets picked up again by a frightful event happening, one of my favorites in the story was all the dust storms that the camp had to face which seemed horrific in the eyes of Yoshiko. This story leaves you feeling all different emotions at certain points of the book, the author was great at this.
Yoshiko also showed a dark period for the United States history re the government imprisoned their own citizens based on race. This was especially horrific, in my opinion, because they imprisoned women and children, young and old, and people who weren't involved with the war whatsoever. In my eyes this is a war crime, even though decades after the government paid money back to japanese prisoners(even though many were dead and the only one who received money were the children and babies, because they were the only currently alive).
Overall this book was very well thought out and showed the hardships of japanese americans during their imprisonment after pearl harbor, in a different way most history isn't read by. Instead of reading a historic informal book, this is a personal witness to the event. So now readers can see what the japanese were feeling.I recommend this book to readers interested in WW2 and that want to know the american side of the war. This book has been a favorite of mine and I recommend that you pick it up to.
April 8, 2016
Desert Exile is a moving story about a Japanese-American family that is uprooted from their wonderful life in San Francisco and forced into a Japanese internment camp, following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Yoshiko Uchida begins the book with a summary of his early life before the camps and how his family sacrificed a life in Japan in the hope of a better future in the U.S. He writes beautifully about “How the those early Issei women must have had tremendous reserves of strength and courage,” as they came to America for the first time, using this as a comparison to how him and his family had “determination and endurance born of an uncommon spirit." (page 6) His writing makes comparisons most people can relate to, making the story that much more heartbreaking. His family is sent to harsh barracks where they wait in never ending lines for food, the restrooms and are forced to live in awful living conditions, causing a great deal of stress to be put on his family. He describes the animal like treatment when they first see how “Barrack 16 was not a barrack at all, but a long stable” and how it has degrading features like a “broad ramp the horses used to reach their stalls.” (page 70) These badly made “barracks” are a clear attack on the humanity of the people forced to live there, and a way Uchida makes the reader feel for their situation. Once again, the family is forced to move to a new facility, arguably worse than the first. The Central Utah Relocation Center is nothing but a desolate desert where “Each step we sank two to three inches deep” that sends sand “Up swirls of dust that crept into our eyes and mouths, noses and lungs.” (page 109) The family continues to face these hardships, but rely on each other to make it through each challenge they face. Desert Exile forces the reader to think about their own life and the privileges they take for granted, and shows you how something so ridiculous can change your life forever.
December 18, 2020
Published in 1982, this small book (150 pages) is a memoir written by Yoshiko Uchida who was young woman when she and her parents and grandparents were forced out of their home in Berkeley, CA.
Excerpt from the introduction: ...The context in which Uchida wrote "Desert Exile" was markedly different from that in which, for instance, Monica Sone wrote "Nisei Daughter" (1953), another well-known autobiographical account of a Nikkei family's forced removal and imprisonment during World War II. While the two texts share some similarities in terms of approach and narrative strategy, Uchida's text is more explicitly political and pointed in its purpose.
Both of these women wrote about their wartime experiences with sensitivity and warmth. While that tone might be mistaken for an acceptance of what happened to their families, the reader must be reminded of the horror. In 1942 American leadership failed to uphold the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. And the indifference of good people allowed this travesty to take place. This is the lesson we must learn. If it was so easy for one group of American citizens to be incarcerated, to be forced from homes and jobs - all in the name of national emergency - then it will be just as easy for this to happen again. Now that we're living in another national emergency, it shouldn't be hard for us to imagine our rights and our lives as American citizens, be demolished by careless political leaders and unethical social media. That is if we do not remain vigilant.
Excerpt from the introduction: ...The context in which Uchida wrote "Desert Exile" was markedly different from that in which, for instance, Monica Sone wrote "Nisei Daughter" (1953), another well-known autobiographical account of a Nikkei family's forced removal and imprisonment during World War II. While the two texts share some similarities in terms of approach and narrative strategy, Uchida's text is more explicitly political and pointed in its purpose.
Both of these women wrote about their wartime experiences with sensitivity and warmth. While that tone might be mistaken for an acceptance of what happened to their families, the reader must be reminded of the horror. In 1942 American leadership failed to uphold the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. And the indifference of good people allowed this travesty to take place. This is the lesson we must learn. If it was so easy for one group of American citizens to be incarcerated, to be forced from homes and jobs - all in the name of national emergency - then it will be just as easy for this to happen again. Now that we're living in another national emergency, it shouldn't be hard for us to imagine our rights and our lives as American citizens, be demolished by careless political leaders and unethical social media. That is if we do not remain vigilant.
July 30, 2015
Desert Exile is the story of the experiences the author and her family in concentration camps in the US during WWII. It's a very interesting story as a lot of people are not aware that such camps existed. I enjoyed the chapter about life before the war. It did a good job of giving what happens later context. It's hard to imagine there was so much racism against Asians on the West Coast as there seems to be such a high population of Asians in that area of the country. It goes to show us that racism is everywhere.
It is interesting all the ways the Japanese Americans tried to make their living quarters into a home and how creative they were in finding little luxuries to make life bearable. The family goes through losing everything, relocating, and trying to make a decent life under very difficult circumstances. Their perseverance is very inspiring and their reliance on each other shows the importance of family and community.
I would have liked for the book to share more about what happened after the war and the release from the camp.
Overall, the book is very enjoyable and informative.
It is interesting all the ways the Japanese Americans tried to make their living quarters into a home and how creative they were in finding little luxuries to make life bearable. The family goes through losing everything, relocating, and trying to make a decent life under very difficult circumstances. Their perseverance is very inspiring and their reliance on each other shows the importance of family and community.
I would have liked for the book to share more about what happened after the war and the release from the camp.
Overall, the book is very enjoyable and informative.
April 18, 2017
This book shows the journey of a Japanese American family, a mother, father and two daughters, through troubled times during the 30s and 40s. It shows their times in a couple of internment camps in the U.S. and how racism because of the war has affected them. The main character, Yoshiko Uchida, is the author as well. They live in California during the 30s and 40s, but move to internment camps during and after the war. They try to live life with a positive and loyal view of their country and other people, but it is hard when day after day they are unfairly treated by the government and other people. I liked how the author did a good of showing lots of details, while making the book understandable. I also liked how the author did not just complain about being treated unfairly, but showed facts and governmental issues as well. One thing I did not like, is that it did not give a lot of detail about their childhood, whether that was in Japan, or the United States. I would suggest this book to people who like nonfiction books, or people who are into historical fiction. I also would suggest this to people who are into politics and world issues.
April 22, 2018
Published in 1982, this is one of THE BEST BOOKS I have read in a long time-and off of a $2 table at B&N. This is the story of a Japanese family before Pearl Harbor living everyone's American dream of home, success and education. With December 7th., 1941 their father was in custody and their home gone along with belongings they could not pack. While I have known this to be a disgraceful period in American history, this book personalizes the historical and political. An innocent family housed in a stable stall at Tanforan racetrack, in a hastily converted facility patrolled by gun-carrying guards. After a two day trip to Utah in an antiquated, windows drawn railcar, conditions at the permanent settlement camp hardly improved. There were thirty degree temperature extreme days-and no heat in their quarters-with no sheetrock. Food was in short supply and initially what there was sickened-no kitchen refrigeration. There were eventually classrooms established in unheated, unfurnished rooms. Poignantly the young children sang America The Beautiful. This is a tragic time in history made real and empathetic. Indeed, leaving home they had to leave the family dog behind.
May 13, 2014
Yoshiko Uchida tells her story with grace, clarity, and composure. She does not take to flights of fancy in order to make her memoir more interesting or exciting; indeed, it doesn’t really need embellishment, as the simple truth of her family’s exile and internment at Tanforan and then Topaz is haunting enough. What I found most moving were the excerpts of poetry that her mother wrote, particularly this one:
Someone named it
Topaz. . . .
This land
Where neither grass
Nor trees
Nor wild flowers grow.
Banished to this
Desert land,
I cherish the
Blessing of the sky.
The fury of the
Dust storm spent,
I gaze through tears
At the sunset glow.
Grown old so soon
In a foreign land,
What do they think,
These people
Eating in lonely silence?
The story of how Japanese Americans were cruelly uprooted from their homes after the attack on Pearl Harbor and sent to concentration camps within their own country, a country for which many sacrificed their lives, is a story that needs to be remembered. I am glad that memoirs such as this exist.
Someone named it
Topaz. . . .
This land
Where neither grass
Nor trees
Nor wild flowers grow.
Banished to this
Desert land,
I cherish the
Blessing of the sky.
The fury of the
Dust storm spent,
I gaze through tears
At the sunset glow.
Grown old so soon
In a foreign land,
What do they think,
These people
Eating in lonely silence?
The story of how Japanese Americans were cruelly uprooted from their homes after the attack on Pearl Harbor and sent to concentration camps within their own country, a country for which many sacrificed their lives, is a story that needs to be remembered. I am glad that memoirs such as this exist.
December 21, 2015
The main characters are in California i believe and they are some type of Jappense or something. This was around the time Hitler was in power and so he killed a lot of ppl. I liked the book it teached me a lot about a different harritage. I liked how the main characters father stuck up for his family in about the beginning of the book. I liked how the author described how the family did things. I also liked that at about the end of the book the author told us wat kind of things were at this like concentration camp or something. I didn't like how the family got like treated unfairly like they had ppl try to kick them out of there house i didnt like tht because if they get kicked out for the way they looked thts dumb and bs.
June 28, 2016
I thought that this book was super captivating. As a young Japanese American, I am trying to understand what my family, as well as, other Japanese American families went through during WWII.
Also, as an educator, I want to find supplemental material for the novels that I teach and this would definitely be a piece of literature that I recommend for my students to read alongside Farewell to Manzanar . Even though they are interned at different camps, I think that this will provide more perspective on the treatment of the internees.
My only criticism is that her story jumps at times. It's almost as though you are hearing her think as she writes and sometimes she goes off on a tangent. But other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
Also, as an educator, I want to find supplemental material for the novels that I teach and this would definitely be a piece of literature that I recommend for my students to read alongside Farewell to Manzanar . Even though they are interned at different camps, I think that this will provide more perspective on the treatment of the internees.
My only criticism is that her story jumps at times. It's almost as though you are hearing her think as she writes and sometimes she goes off on a tangent. But other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 18, 2009
A history of a family taken brutally from their home by their own country, in direct violation of the US Constitution. Imprisoned by racism, greed and fear, and must importantly by their fellow citizens. But it not a story about bitterness and anger, its a story of hope and defiance. That the power of the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, and the belief that all men are created equal is just more powerful then petty and cruel policy makers. The Politicians that uses "Family Values" and "Patriotism" as a catch phases while they teach hate, intolerance, and injustice, should read this book and find what those two ideas really mean.
June 5, 2013
The Uchida family gave me a new perspective of life for issei and nisei from a more wealthy background. Mr Uchida was a businessman with Mitsui, a Japanese company, had connections to Doshisha Christian University, was educated, and had many links to both white and Japanese people with influence and connections. Their hardships were not any less than the other 110,000 JAs who were forced into American concentration camps, but their ability to make use of their education, knowledge, and social training was very interesting and informative. I really enjoyed reading about the Uchida family and seeing this story through some different lens. Very inspiring.
July 18, 2018
This is a very good book and I really felt I got a first-hand account of life as a Japanese American during the outbreak of WWII and life in an internment/concentration camp from both a young adult and mature adult/parent perspective. I have read accounts before, but I never cease to be amazed at the treatment these CITIZENS received and the lack of thought and/or planning that went into their incarceration. There were times while reading it that I felt more outrage and despair than the author or her family seemed to, but I am sure with the passing of 70+ years memories of those feelings tend to fade.
It is a short book and an easy read and I highly recommend it because we need reminding.
It is a short book and an easy read and I highly recommend it because we need reminding.
May 22, 2015
It is a moving personal account by a woman who grew up in Berkeley and was attending the University of California when the war began. The book takes on a more melancholy tone and tempo as the main narrative focuses on the injustices of the internment, rather than the positives. The poems written by Yoshiko’s mother show the real tone:
Someone named it
Topaz. . . .
This land
Where neither grass
Nor trees
Nor wild flowers grow.
Banished to this
Desert land,
I cherish the
Blessing of the sky.
The fury of the
Dust storm spent,
I gaze through tears
At the sunset glow.
Grown old so soon
In a foreign land,
What do they think,
These people
Eating in lonely silence?
Someone named it
Topaz. . . .
This land
Where neither grass
Nor trees
Nor wild flowers grow.
Banished to this
Desert land,
I cherish the
Blessing of the sky.
The fury of the
Dust storm spent,
I gaze through tears
At the sunset glow.
Grown old so soon
In a foreign land,
What do they think,
These people
Eating in lonely silence?
October 23, 2017
This was a beautiful read. I think as Americans we are ashamed enough of this chapter of our history that we are often tempted to sweep it under the rug, rather than air it out and talk about it. I'm so glad the author wrote this beautiful memoir; she is kind and forgiving, without trying to cover up the realities of the travesty acted upon her and her family, and I think her tone makes it easier to address such a sad and shameful topic. If it were up to me, this would become a "must-read" for all high school students. I found delving into Uchida's perspective very enlightening and uplifting, and I especially loved her inclusion of her mother's poetry at each chapter end.
March 2, 2017
While a memoir, this important book documenting the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII comes across more factual than as a personal narrative. The Tanforan racetrack and Topaz center were some of the most miserable, badly built "camps" which heightens the sense of outrage at the internment of innocent people. The story really highlights the "gaman," or patient fortitude, the JA people exhibited while their basic rights were trampled and their savings and livelihoods stolen. Photos add to the history, while a sprinkling of poems by the authors mother add a bittersweet personal touch.
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