After Pearl Harbor

Barry Saiki

Oral history from Barry Saiki describing his experiences in the immediate days following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The full oral history is available on the Japanese Internment page of this exhibit and is broken into three parts.

This picture was taken by a Japanese pilot at the beginning of the bombing runs at Pearl Harbor.

Barry Saiki, a Nisei or 2^nd generation Japanese American attending the University of California, Berkeley in 1942 was one of the Japanese Americans whose life was completely changed by the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the events that occurred shortly after. In 1942, approximately 500 Nisei students were enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley with many of these students being from the San Francisco Bay Area located in the Delta region.[1] 

During finals week at the university, the bombing of Pearl Harbor occurred. Almost immediately, all the Japanese students found their bank accounts frozen and were unable to withdraw funds. Mr. Saiki finished his finals and returned home to Stockton, CA. Arriving home, he found that most of the Issei, or first generation Japanese-American, leaders in the community had been arrested or questioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigation under the pretense of national security.[2] Furthermore, all the Japanese businessmen found themselves in a hopeless situation with their accounts being frozen and there being no way for them to conduct business. This led to many of the businesses being forced to shut down and/or be sold. Soon Japanese-Americans also received the notifications of their relocation and had to report to one of the designated assembly centers and was eventually transferred to a relocation center. According to the roster from the Stockton Assembly Center, Barry Saiki, at the age of 22, and his six other family members were transferred to the Rohwer Relocation Center in Arkansas on October 5, 1942.[3]