Museum Recalls Japanese-American Detention

L O S  A N G E L E S, Jan. 17, 2004 -- Archie Miyatake found out from his father that photography is more than just taking pictures — a lesson he learned 60 years ago when they were imprisoned by America during World War II.

"He said that as a photographer, he has a responsibility to record the camp life," Miyatake said.

The camp was the Manzanar War Relocation Center, east of California's Sierra Nevada range.

"It was a concentration camp," said Sue Kunitomi Embrey, a former detainee there.

"When you put someone before a camera, they're going to try to smile or at least look happy," she said. "They don't want you taking a picture of them crying."

‘It Just Didn’t Add Up’

At first, Miyatake wasn't even allowed to have a camera. He had to smuggle it in to chronicle the history of 10,000 people forced to live in a one-square mile camp.

Now, the National Parks Service is gathering what it can, reassembling various buildings, and recreating the camp, as a reminder of America at its less than best. The camp auditorium is undergoing a $5 million conversion into a visitor's center, and is scheduled to open later this year.

There will be old pictures on display. Some of them taken by famous, government-approved photographers like Ansel Adams. They show how normal life was — except, of course, it wasn't.

"They taught us the Constitution," Miyatake said. "But I thought, 'Gee.' We were thinking, 'It just doesn't add up — what they're teaching and what they're doing.'"

There is no single truth about life in the camp. There are many. For example, the day-to-day routine was not always intolerable.

"I think the older people tried to make things better for the younger ones, [to] keep them busy, [to] teach them how to dance," Embrey said."We started playing records in there and all the young people would dance there," Miyatake said. "Before we knew it, we were in the DJ business."

Still, it was imprisonment. The restored camp will make that clear.

History Repeating?

Some Japanese-Americans worry that another more recent group of immigrants could face a similar fate.

"A few days after Sept. 11 happened, I began to start worrying about what was going to happen to the Arab-Americans," Sue said. "I just get the feeling that we're doing this all over again."

Which is why, they say, it's important to rebuild Manzanar.

"Most of us want this to be remembered so that it won't happen again," Sue said. "Patriotism is not a matter of your ancestry, but it's a matter of your heart."