The Babylonian Exile and the Love of God
Rev. Hideo Hashimoto (1911-2003) was born in the United States, but received his primary school education in Japan. His extensive travel and experiences allowed him to understand both the Japanese…
Reweaving Our Lives
Rev. Royden T. Susu-Mago was the pastor of the Japanese Independent Church in Hollywood, California at the time of the evacuation order. He and his wife, Charlotte, cared for the…
The Tie That Binds
Rev. Donald K. Toriumi (1914-1980) was the English pastor of the Japanese Union Church in downtown Los Angeles. He had been installed as pastor scarcely one month before evacuation when…
A Stone Cried Out
Rev. Shigeo Shimada (1906-1984) was born in Japan and began to follow Christ through his sister’s influence. After his father disowned him for believing a “foreign” religion, Shimada immigrated to…
Facing Evacuation
On the Sunday before their forced removal, Lester Suzuki had preached a sermon to the Nisei congregation of the Japanese Methodist Church in Los Angeles: “Brethren, we are facing the…
A Voice in the Wilderness
What might a Christian minister say to his congregation to prepare them for unjust suffering? What hope could he offer in the face of the uncertain future? Sermons and testimonies…
A People Displaced
Evacuation Orders Throughout the spring of 1942, notices posted on telephone poles and public buildings informed Japanese Americans of the impending evacuation: “ALL PERSONS OF JAPANESE ANCESTRY, BOTH ALIEN AND…
The Church’s Response
The Nikkei church did its best to remain calm amidst the storm. For instance, the morning after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Rev. Daisuke Kitagawa offered his services as an…
Executive Order 9066
Ten weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, on February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized Executive Order 9066,[1] resulting in the forced relocation and incarceration of almost 120,000…
A Date That Will Live In Infamy
On December 7, 1941, Imperial Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii as a preemptive strike against “the sleeping giant,” the United States of America. Many Nikkei Christians were attending church…