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Description
A letter from Megumi Sasaki in Hiroshima, Japan to Seiichi and Tomeyo Okine. Megumi introduces himself as though he has never met them nor been in contact with them before. He is a son of Matsuyo Sasaki and a brother of Minoru Sasaki. He explains that he was drafted into the Japanese military in 1944 and finally returned to Hiroshima, Japan in 1947. When he returned he found that his wife and daughters had survived with some injuries, but that his home in Hiroshima has been destroyed by the atomic bomb. He then explains about the resulting hardships in post-war Japan, renting a room in a barrack, and lacking adequate food. The envelope is resealed with the tape, "OPENED BY MIL. CEN. CIVIL MAILS"and stamped with "C.C.D. J-2916" by the Civil Censorship Detachment. The arrival date of the letter, February 18, 1948, and replied date, March 1, are recorded on the backside of the envelope. The Okine Collection contains materials collected by Seiichi and Tomeyo Okine who were Issei flower growers in Whittier, California. It includes correspondence, photographs, financial documents, and a photo album. A large portion of the collection consists of family correspondence with Seiichi and Tomeyo Okine, including letters from their Nisei children, Masao and Makoto Okine, both soldiers overseas during World War II, to their Issei parents incarcerated in the Rohwer incarceration camp in McGehee, Arkansas. The correspondence also includes letters from their relatives and friends who are former incarcerees in the camps during the war and have “resettled” in Chicago, Illinois as well as letters from the Okines’ family members in Hiroshima, Japan during the Allied occupation of Japan. In addition, the collection includes a family photo album compiled by Dorothy Ai Aoki, a Nisei daughter to the Okines.
Identity and values--Family Japan--Military Japan--Post-World War II Military service--Postwar occupation of Japan World War II--Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Place
Hiroshima, Japan
Source
CSU Dominguez Hills Department of Archives and Special Collections
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