Can you please direct me to some resources about life in the Japanese internment camps?

I have an old friend from high school. He and his family were interned in a camp in the Philippines. He described how he, aged 4, and his sister, aged 6, were forced to watch another
American being beheaded with a sword. He still has nightmares and he is now 75.

Would you like me to ask him how he feels about being interviewed?

This is a great book I read when I was in elementary school
Wait, are we talking about Japanese internment camps in California, or internment camps ran by the Japanese?

The Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles has tons of information inside it’s actual building, but I’m guessing that you can contact someone online that can direct you to the info you are looking for. Not sure where you are located, but if you are within 2 hours of driving, it might be worth your while to go there.

Here is an article from the San Diego History center that might be useful.

This site contains an abundance of resources.

This listing from the Utah Education Network might be helpful.

And this government site might be very useful in your conclusion.

@gailcalled: That is an interesting and horrible story. I don’t need to interview him I wouldn’t want to bring up bad memories. I don’t need a lot of detail since the story does not actually take place in a camp but there are references back to it. One of the characters dies in the camp and then comes back to life. It’s a fantasy story of sorts. From that little tidbit, it seems highly likely that this character could have been killed by a guard or in a fight with another prisoner.

@Michael_Huntington: I’m talking about the camps that the American government put Americans of Japanese descent in.

@Kardamom: Wow! What a wealth of resources! Thank you. I live in CT so I can’t feasibly go to California

You could look up Estelle Peck Ishigo, a Caucasian artist who married a Nisei and moved to a concentration camp with him. She made drawings and paintings of what she saw. A filmmaker made a documentary on her called “Days of Waiting,” which went on to win an Academy Award for short documentary.

Look at this @KatawaGrey and see it anything helps. Your story sounds interesting.

http://www.pe.com/multimedia/slideshow/2009/20090715_okubo/pages/04okubo4.html

http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=96315491

http://www.washington.edu/uwpress/search/books/UCHDEP.html

I would also suggest Mine Okubu’s Citizen 13660.

My dad fought side by side with a Japanese-American man during World War II whose family was in an internment camp in Hawaii. He’s told many stories of the young man and how he was allowed to visit his family in the camp. The stories are all precious.

@KatawaGrey Ah okay, that’s what I thought. “Farewell to Manazar” is a great memoir on the subject.

Here’s a site with teaching resources

Children of the Camps aired on PBS several years ago, and was quite good. You may be able to get a copy at the library.

The Internet Archives has some good resources including oral histories and some U.S. government films, propaganda films really, from the period. The internet archives has some great stuff. I searched on Japanese internment camps but some other searches, from looking at the tags, may bring up more stuff.

Is this about camps for Japanese-Americans, or about Japanese camps for Americans? There is a difference, and it’s usually shaped like having things driven underneath your fingernails.

Maybe you can do a compare/contrast of the two. Ought to be interesting.

There is some useful information in chapter 3 of this book

I suppose that you have read the novel “Snow Falling on Cedars”. It seems to be well-researched.

@hsrch: Yes, I have. :) It was an excellent book and I want to expand upon what I learned from it.