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Indybay Feature
San Jose’s 40th Annual Day of Remembrance: Recalling Life Under Executive Order 9066
Executive Order 9066 led to the World War II-era incarceration of more than 120,000 people of Japanese descent, two-thirds of whom were American citizens. Survivors shared recollections and re-enactors performed morale boosting era swing dance styles in Japantown on February 16th.
Please credit the photographers, Chris Cassell, Pro Bono Photo and Jack Owicki, Pro Bono Photo. Top photo by Jack Owicki.
Starting in the late 1970's, February 19th came to be known as a “day of remembrance” of the period during WWII when tens of thousands of Japanese of American ancestry were incarcerated.
Living behind barbed wire under constant guard and in impoverished conditions, internees did their best to make the situation bearable. Traditional Japanese paper crafts and the American national pastime of baseball first come to mind when descendants of camp survivors tell the story of their jailed ancestors, but less known is the hidden history of the music played in the camps.
Big band music and swing dance were sources of hope for Japanese Americans in the camps; both were re-enacted by San Jose Taiko with the Wesley Jazz Ensemble at the city's Buddhist Church Betsuin in Japantown Sunday night. This year’s theme was “No Camps, No Cages" drawing the stark parallel of the Japanese-American experience with today's migrant detention centers.
The evening began with a candlelight procession through historic San Jose Japantown.
Later this week the California State Assembly is expected to approve a formal message to all Americans of Japanese descent. Governor Newsom is expected to sign an official apology for the state’s role in policies that led to a racist mass incarceration.
Starting in the late 1970's, February 19th came to be known as a “day of remembrance” of the period during WWII when tens of thousands of Japanese of American ancestry were incarcerated.
Living behind barbed wire under constant guard and in impoverished conditions, internees did their best to make the situation bearable. Traditional Japanese paper crafts and the American national pastime of baseball first come to mind when descendants of camp survivors tell the story of their jailed ancestors, but less known is the hidden history of the music played in the camps.
Big band music and swing dance were sources of hope for Japanese Americans in the camps; both were re-enacted by San Jose Taiko with the Wesley Jazz Ensemble at the city's Buddhist Church Betsuin in Japantown Sunday night. This year’s theme was “No Camps, No Cages" drawing the stark parallel of the Japanese-American experience with today's migrant detention centers.
The evening began with a candlelight procession through historic San Jose Japantown.
Later this week the California State Assembly is expected to approve a formal message to all Americans of Japanese descent. Governor Newsom is expected to sign an official apology for the state’s role in policies that led to a racist mass incarceration.
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