Through Japanese Eyes
High school student Masashi Kenmotsu depicts how life has been at the camp since she had arrived. She wrote letters to her old high school teacher Elizabeth Carden who taught at Stockton High school. Masashi was a student at Stockton High school until she was transferred from Stockton to one of the internment camps. She wrote letters to her Ms. Carden informing her of how school and life were going since she left Stockton.
The following letter depicts how Masashi Kenmotsu's life has drastically changed since arriving at the camps.
Dear Miss Carden,
I hope you forgive me for this delay in writing to you. I am also enclosing a copy of our school paper. This is our second copy. I do not know what happened to the first one. We here in camp are experiencing something unusual in the way of school. Our first school days were held in empty barracks. The Science classes started without equipment, physical education.
(page 2)
Classes without equipment, in fact, all the classes started without the necessary materials. The teachers were few and are lacking at the present. One thing that hurts us most is the need of many courses. This is caused by the absence of teachers and materials. Many classes went on without textbook for as much as two months. Despite all these hindrances, we have progressed splendidly. More teachers are coming. Equipment comes in every day. Clubs have been organized. Intramural sports have been started. Our school paper has come out. Within two months we have
(page 3)
Advanced tremendously. Both in spirit and intelligence. We all have learned what the term “corporation” means. We never could have progressed without a great amount of cooperation from everyone.
I think I should express some of the kindness shown to us during the holiday season. Every child under 15 years of age received a gift from some gracious person who knew that some child in camp will be missing their kinds of Christmas they had in California. It was good to see the faces of those
(page 4)
Little tots of about 6 to 7 years of age as they received their gift. They also played games and such in the various mess halls. Our Christmas was fun because it was a new and a unique one. The high school aged boys and girls had dances, talent shows, Christmas pageants, and private parties for entertainment.
Getting Back to the school life, our gymnasium will be finished by next December. Our summer vacation will start in August and will end in September. The end of the
(Page 5)
Fall semester will be somewhere in March. We will be going to school in those hot, humid day’s of June and July.
The Senior High School class of “44”? Will be about 40 strong. In this class, there are about 13 students from Stockton high school. We received reports cards after the Season holidays. I received S. in all my classes. The teachers gave us either S. or U. because of limited materials and time for study. Up to the beginning of the new year, we have lectures in every class.
(page 6)
Many times in rooms are cold. When it rains the room becomes muddy for there are not corridors outsides in classrooms. There are puddles of water everywhere. Once in a while, a student drops a book in the mud for we have no lockers. There are a few instances when a student falls in the mud.
To keep my spirits high (,) to keep my faith in God, I say that out of this will be built strong characters who will be able to stand many har(d)ships which some cannot bear.
(page 7)
Outside of school, we have movies. The admission is ten cents. We have such popular productions as: “Broadway” (1942), “Between Us Girls”, (“)Alias the Deacon”, and “Swing it, Soldier.”
There isn’t much more to say except that you will hear from me again.
Sincerely,
Masashi Kenmotsu
Created by Collin Craig, Mario Tosqui, Oscar Lopez, and Devin Ramstead