Japanese Americans - Evacuation and Relocation, 1942-1945

Audiovisual Materials: Videorecordings and DVDs

After America -- After Japan. Videorecording. Global Film Network, 1999. MV 22970. "Examine[s] the lives of a selected group of persons in both countries who continue to face the challenges to determine their new cultural identity." Japanese Americans - cultural assimilation and ethnic identity.

Beyond Barbed Wire. Videorecording. Mac and Ava Picture Productions, 1997. MV 22861. "Recounts the personal sacrifices and untold stories of heroism displayed by the Japanese American soldiers of the 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team and Military Intelligence Service who fought for America while their families were held in internment camps."

The Century : America's Time. 7, Homefront. Videorecording. Produced by ABC News in association with the History Channel. Films for the Humanities & Sciences, 1999. MV 22793. This program discusses the effects of World War II on the homefront, spotlighting the war's impact as a catalyst for economic, demographic and social change with Peter Jennings.

Children Of The Camps: A Documentary and Educational Project. Videorecording. National Asian American Telecommunications Association, 1999. MV 22840. In this documentary six Japanese Americans who were incarcerated as children in the camps reveal their experiences, cultural and familial issues during incarceration, the long internalized grief and shame they felt and how this early trauma manifested itself in their adult lives.

The Color of Honor. Videorecording. NAATA Distribution, 1996. MV 23478. "A vivid, collective portrayal of Japanese Americans during World War II. Three distinct stories are told: the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the most decorated military unit in U.S. history; M.I.S.(Military Intelligence Service), linguists who decoded Japanese military plans; and the thousands of draft resisters and army protesters who challenged the constitutionality of the internment camps."

Come See The Paradise. Videorecording. Twentieth Century-Fox Film. CBS/Fox Video, 1991. MV 22756. Set against the background of a controversial period in American history, the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, Come See The Paradise is the love story of an Irish-American man and a beautiful Japanese-American woman. Closed captioned.

Conscience and the Constitution. Videorecording. Resisters.com produced in association with the Independent Television Service. Transit Media, 2000. MV 23217. Heart Mountain: "The largest organized resistance to incarceration, leading to the largest trial for draft resistance in U.S. history." Closed captioned.

Days of Waiting: The Life and Art of Estelle Ishigo. Videorecording. Farallon Documentary Films, 1990. MV 23480. "Documentary about artist Estelle Peck Ishigo, a Caucasian woman interned during World War II with her Japanese American husband at Heart Mountain Relocation Center, Wyoming. Portrays through her words and drawings and through photographs, of the deprivations and humiliations of camp life, and the difficulties of readjustment at war's end. "

Dear Miss Breed. Videorecording. UCLA Asian American Studies Center : Japanese American National Museum, 2001. MV 23502. "The real life story of how San Diego children's librarian Clara Breed became an unlikely hero to Japanese American youth in one of America's concentration camps in Poston, Arizona. Set against sweeping visuals of camp life documented by rare home movies, excerpts from some of the 250 letters Miss Breed saved from wartime correspondences with the students present an ardent chronology of the young inmates' upheaval, incarceration and eventual resettlement through their own words." There is a Teacher's Guide with good print information included.

Dust Storm . Videorecording. Las Positas College, 2009. DVD PN1997 D878 F67 2009. Videorecording of a dramatization presented at Las Positas College. The dramatization portrays the story of a Japanese American teenage boy during the time of the internment and how his life intersects with the life and art of Japanese American artist Chiura Obata.

A Family Gathering. Videorecording. Lise Yasui and Ann Tegnell. PBS Video, 1989. MV 21130. Tells the dramatic story of the consequences of the U.S. internment and the Yasui family’s long battle to reclaim their place as Americans. Closed captioned.

Farewell to Manzanar. Videorecording. By Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston. Universal Studios, 2000. MV 23541. "A fact based drama ... focuses on the Wakatsukis, a Japanese-American family living in Santa Monica, California in the early 1940s. Thousands of American citizens of Japanese descent, along with the Wakatsukis are shipped to the internment camp of Manzanar in California."

Fifty Years of Silence: The Untold Story of Japanese American Soldiers in the Pacific Theater, 1941-1952. Videorecording. National Japanese American Historical Society, 1993. MV 23482. "Tells the story of the thousands of Japanese-American soldiers who served in world War II as linguists and language specialists for the Intelligence Service. These soldiers were responsible for interpreting the masses of information gathered from Japan, from radio signals to maps, books, and letters, and were of vital importance to the Allied intelligence effort in the Pacific."

From A Different Shore: An American Identity. Videorecording. Films for the Humanities, 1996. MV 22175. Examines the experience of Japanese immigrants in the United States, including internment of many during World War II.

Go for Broke. Videorecording. MGM/UA Home Video, 1991. MV 22893. "Fine WWII drama with Lt. Michael Grayson, a bigoted Texan, assigned to train and lead the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, composed mostly of Japanese-Americans." Originally released in 1951 as motion picture

Harsh Canvas: The Art and Life of Henry Sugimoto. Videorecording. Japanese American National Museum, 2001. MV 23504. "From Japan to California, on to Paris, then to concentration camps in Arkansas that transformed his art forever and finally to New York, Henry Sugimoto pursued what he called 'the path of an artist'."

The Heart Mountain Relocation Camp Story (computer file). Antonette Chambers Noble. Vision West Production, 1998. CDM 125. Note: The Pearl Harbor segment lacks audio track.

Heart Mountain: Three Years in a Relocation Center. Videorecording. National Asian American Telecommunications Association 1997. MV 22947. "Documentary of the World War II incarceration in Wyoming of more than 10,000 Pacific Coast Japanese and Japanese American's for 'military necessity.' The hastily-built barracks which housed them were surrounded by barbed wire while winter temperatures reached 28 below zero and summer brought dust storms. These interviews with those interned reveal additional ordeals such as questions about their loyalty to the U.S. and the imprisonment of 63 who resisted the draft after their military status was changed."

Honor Bound: A Personal Journey. Videorecording. The National Japanese American Historical Society, KPIX 5 Television, and Flower Village Films, 1995. MV 21443. The story, as told by Sgt. Howard Hanamura to his daughter, of the 100th/442 Regimental Combat Team, a segregated, Japanese American combat unit which fought in Europe during World War II. The ultimate mission of these soldiers was upholding the honor of their people.

Interactions. Videorecording. UCLA Asian American Studies Center and Japanese American National Museum, 2001. MV 23501 "Chronicles four high school students as they are given four days to tackle one mission: find out what life was like for teenagers in Japanese American concentration camps during World War II." There is a Teacher's Guide with good print information included.

Japanese Relocation. Videorecording. Office of War Information, Bureau of Motion Pictures, and Zenger Video, 1980. MV 22237. Presents the U.S. government’s 1943 official explanation for the removal of 110,000 persons of Japanese descent from the Pacific Coast and their relocation in Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Arkansas, Utah, Idaho, and the deserts of California.

Looking Like The Enemy. Videorecording. Japanese American National Museum, [199-]. MV 22948. "American soldiers of Asian descent who fought in World War II, the Korean and Vietnam Wars share their personal experiences with prejudice and discrimination in the military."

Mission in Manila: The Sakakida Story. Videorecording. National Japanese American Historical Society, 1994. MV 23485. "Richard Sakakida describes how, as a 20-year-old Japanese-American ROTC student, he was sent on an undercover intelligence mission to Manila in 1941. This began a five year odyssey that would result in his capture, torture and finally his escape. "

Moving Memories. Videorecording. Narrated by George Takei. Japanese American National Museum, [1990?]. MV 22978. Restored and edited home movies of Japanese American immigrants from the 1920s and 1930s.

The New Americans: Chrysanthemums and Salt. Videorecording. The National Asian American Telecommunications Association, 1994. MV 23550. Profiles the immigration experience and lives of Japanese Americans in San Mateo, California from 1942 to 1972, focusing on their contributions to the floral, farming, and salt industries.

Nisei Soldier: Standard Bearer for an Exiled People. Videorecording. Vox Productions, 1984. MV 23454 "Examines the moral and political contradictions experienced by a group of Americans of Japanese ancestry who, during World War II, proved their loyalty by heroic military service while their families were imprisoned by their own government. Includes archival material from World War II interwoven with present day interviews with survivors of the 442nd Japanese-American Regimental Combat Team."

Of Civil Wrongs & Rights: The Fred Korematsu Story. Videorecording. National Asian American Telecommunications Association, 2000. MV 23362. "Fred Korematsu was probably never more American than when he resisted, and then challenged in court, the forced internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Korematsu lost his landmark Supreme Court case in 1944, but never his indignation and resolve. This is the untold history of the 40-year legal fight to vindicate Korematsu -- one that finally turned a civil injustice into a civil rights victory."

Old Man River. Videorecording. Theatre West, 1999. MV 22737. " In a one-woman performance Cynthia Fujikawa memorializes her father, the actor Jerry Fujikawa. Beginning in 1948 Jerry Fujikawa played supporting roles in many television programs and motion pictures, but it was many years before his daughter learned about his previous family and experiences during World War II as a Japanese American living in California. It was only after he died that she found her half-sister."

Pearl Harbor: Two Hours That Changed the World. Videorecording. MPI Home Video, 1991. MV 21214 "ABC News and NHK, Japan's oldest and largest television network, combined their resources to produce this program about the attack on Pearl Harbor. Includes rare archival stills and footage as well as interviews with American and Japanese survivors and prominent persons."

A Personal Matter : Gordon Hirabayashi versus the United States. Videorecording. CrossCurrent Media, 1992. MV 23477 "Documents the 43-year stuggle to overturn the conviction of Gordon Hirabayashi which resulted when he defied internment in a Japanese-American concentration camp during World War II on the grounds that the order violated his Constitutional freedoms."

Rabbit in the Moon. Videorecording. Dir./Writer Emiko Omori. New Day Films, [2001?]. MV 23408. " ... a documentary/memoir about the lingering effects of the World War II internment of the Japanese American community ... Visually stunning and emotionally compelling ... examines issue[s] that ultimately created deep rifts within the community, reveals the racist subtext of the loyalty questionnaire and exposes the absurdity of the military draft within the camps. These testimonies are linked by the filmmakers' own experiences in the camps and placed in a larger historical context by the voice of the director ... "

Return to the Valley. DVD. Total Media Group, 2003. DVD D769.8.A6.R48 2003. "At the conclusion of World War II, 120,000 men, women and children of Japanese ancestry were released after three years of imprisonment in internment camps. Each was given just $25 and a train ticket home. For many, home was California -- the Santa Clara or Salinas Valley or the Central Coast. This poignant documentary tells their stories of struggle, hardship and triumph as they rebuilt their lives."

Something Strong Within: Home Movies from America's Concentration Camps. Videorecording. Japanese American National Museum, 1994. MV 22954. "... Created for the exhibition, "America's Concentration Camps: Remembering the Japanese American Experience," featuring never-before-seen home movies of the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II."

Starting Over: Japanese Americans After the War. Videorecording. San Mateo County Community College and KCSM-TV, 1996. MV 22841 Documents the struggle of Japanese Americans as they resettled throughout the U.S. following their incarceration in relocation camps during World War II. Originally produced for the PBS television program The New Americans.

Stories of Japanese American Internment During WWII. Las Positas College, 2008. DVD D769.8.A6.S76 2008. Videorecording. This videorecording includes dramatizations and first-hand accounts of three Japanese Americans and their relocation and evacuation experiences during World War II. This presentation was recorded at Las Positas College on September 10, 2008.

Stories of Japanese American Internment During WWII. Las Positas College, 2008. DVD D769.8.A6.S77 2008. Videorecording. This videorecording includes dramatizations and first-hand accounts of three Japanese Americans and their relocation and evacuation experiences during World War II. This presentation was recorded at Las Positas College on September 11, 2008.

Sugihara: Conspiracy of Kindness. DVD. WGBH Boston Video, 2005. DVD D804.66.S84.S85 2005. "This documentary tells the story of Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara, consul to Lithuania during World War II. Sugihara defied Tokyo authorities and wrote transit visas that allowed hundreds of Jewish families to flee Europe through Russia to Japan and other countries. Includes home movies, photographs, film footage, and interviews with Holocaust survivors who owe their lives to Chiune Sugihara."

Tanforan: Race Track to Assembly Center. Videorecording. CrossCurrent Media, 1995. MV 23479. "The Tanforan Race Track was the site of an assembly center, in 1942, where thousands of Japanese Americans lived for as long as six months, while the more permanent WWII concentration camps were being built inland. This is the first in-depth study of an assembly center and the beginnings of new cultural and social systems, which were developed and then transferred to the permanent camps. Includes examples of propaganda against Japanese-Americans in 1942."

Uncommon Courage: Patriotism and Civil Liberties. Videorecording. Bridge Media, Inc., 2001. MV 23503 "Tells the story of the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) during World War II and the Occupation of Japan. Thousands of MIS soldiers, primarily Japanese American, fought for the United States in the Pacific interrogating Japanese prisoners, translating documents, intercepting communications, and infiltrating enemy lines. Ironically, at the same time, many of their families back in America were locked in isolated imprisonment camps, stripped of their civil rights."

Unfinished Business: The Japanese American Internment Cases. Videorecording. Farallon Films, 1985. MV 23481. "Tells the stories of three Japanese-Americans, Fred Korematsu, Gordon Hirabayashi, and Minoru Yasui, who resisted the military orders to intern the Japanese-Americans and remove them from the West Coast after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Focuses on the three men's lives and the reasons behind their decisions to take their cases to the Supreme Court."

The View from Within: Japanese American Art from the Internment Camps, 1942-1945. Videorecording. UCLA Instructional Media, [199-]. MV 22945. An interview with Karin Higa.

We Came To Grow: Japanese Americans in the Central Valley, 1869-1941. Videorecording. KVIE, Inc., 1999. MV 22953. the historical details of the first Japanese to settle in California's Central Valley and their impact on the state's leading industry - agriculture. Covers the early 1900s and the attempts to limit immigration, citizenship and ownership of property.

Without Due Process: Japanese Americans and World War II. Videorecording. Gerald and Misha Griffith. New Dimension Media, 1992. MV 21734 pt. 1-2 "Describes the violation of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, which insists on due process of law. Tells of the race prejudice, war hysteria, and failure of political leadership which resulted in the evacuation of Japanese Americans, and their placement in internship camps in California, Utah, Arizona, Idaho, and Arkansas."

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