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Description
English translation of the annotations from "George Naohara photo album" (csudh_nao_0001), page 12: [Right] Japan declared a war, and Japanese Imperial Army attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. When the war broke out, Yuta Masukawa was visiting Little Tokyo, Los Angeles. He rode on a streetcar to get to Little Tokyo and bought a record, "Shina no yoru," for his sister, Mitsuko.
[Left] Alameda Street was a busy street and streetcars were running alongside the street. There was a Japanese school, which was called "Banguru," on the west side of the street. I visited the post office to check my incoming mails. There was nothing for me. I came here, following my uncle, Koichi Naohara, who had been already settled in the United States. Although I came to the U.S. all the way from Japan traveling by a big ship called "Kamakura-maru," there were no jobs available for me here because of the Great Depression. I had a decent job in Japan, working for a post office, which was a Japanese government job, near the Hiroshima Station. It was difficult for me to accept a job which paid me only 30 cents per hour in the U.S. While I was spending time alone and feeling lonely, I met the Masukawa family which had eight children. I was pleased to learn that Mrs. Masukawa was Shuzo Myoren's sister who was from Karuga Asa-gun, Hiroshima, where I was originally from. I met Mitzi, one of the Maskawa family's daughters. I fell in love with her the moment I saw her. The George and Mitzi Naohara Papers consists of photo albums and scrapbooks compiled by George and Mitzi Naohara, and other documents pertaining to the Naohara and Masukawa family. Contained are photographs, correspondence, documents, and memorabilia depicting their experiences during World War II. George Nobuo Naohara is a Kibei Nisei, and his experiences include his farm labor in Idaho and Utah, incarceration in the Manzanar, Jerome, and Tule Lake camps, and the U.S. Army language school training and Korean War. He also engaged in Buddhist activities for his whole life and there are moving images depicting Gardena Buddhist Church activities after the war. Mitzi Masukawa Naohara was a preschool teacher at the Poston camp, Arizona, and also a member of a young Nisei women's club, "Sigma Debs.” Her collected materials depict her life as a teacher and social events in the Poston camp during the war.
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