Yoshiko and her sister both left the camp in May of 1943, with their parents gaining release later that year. Yoshiko taught second grade children there until she received a fellowship from Smith College to earn a master's degree in education. The detainees suffered from violent dust storms, scorpions, snakes, and exceedingly poor living conditions. Almost 8,000 Japanese were sent to a relocation concentration camp called Topaz in the Utah desert. Though difficult to endure, the next move was worse. The Uchida family first resided in a horse stall at a racetrack in California, surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards.

The United States government rounded up 120,000 people of Japanese descent and put them into camps. She found friendships with other Japanese American students and was preparing to graduate when Pearl Harbor was bombed, changing her life. Even while attending the University of California at Berkley, Yoshiko often faced the same dilemma of being ostracized. 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. She also kept a journal to record her thoughts and events.Įnveloped in love and tradition at home, Yoshiko weathered the prejudice she sometimes faced. Yoshiko loved to write, and her stories played out on pieces of brown wrapping paper. Though the Great Depression raged, the Uchida family enjoyed comforts because of Takashi's well-paying job and their own frugality. 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. Yoshiko, born on November 24, 1921, was the second daughter of Japanese immigrant parents Takashi and Iku.

Journey to topaz by yoshiko uchida