Preparing for Relocation
Ministry in the assembly centers was often challenging due to squalid conditions and the uncertain future. The Christian church, however, established a sense of normalcy for evacuees by continuing recognizable ministries such as preaching, singing, Bible study, and soul care. Residents chose to make the best of their situation instead of remaining in despair or constant anxiety. The AFSC depicted how such courage was displayed in the outward beautification of the camps:
During their sojourn in the various Assembly Centers, in spite of the terrible mental suffering, which far out-weighed the physical, the evacuees have applied themselves arduously to the creating of a “homey” atmosphere. Flower and vegetable gardens, vines and shrubs, fish ponds and wee parks somehow grew almost miraculously out of the wilderness of sand and dust and discouragement— symbols of their courage and the determination to carry on in the face of all odds. Inside the crowded barracks, curtains, pictures, books and home-made furniture still further emphasized this same high courage.[1]
Adapting their ministries in the assembly centers prepared the church to be even more effective as they proceeded toward relocation. Christian leaders demonstrated unity in Christ by partnering together across denominational lines. The Nikkei church, (especially the younger generation, also found themselves learning to trust their non-Japanese friends outside the camps. This necessary dependence on fellow brothers and sisters in Christ would serve them well in the future. Countless Nikkei would come to Christ in the camps and grow in their faith. In addition, many young people were pushed into positions of service and ministry, developing new leaders in the Japanese American church.
Into the Wilderness
By the fall of 1942, Japanese American internees were transported by train from the various assembly centers to ten different relocation centers in the country’s interior. Most of these multi-day trips, on what one Nisei wit dubbed “the Orient express,”[2] departed in the dead of night. They were instructed to sit on strait-backed seats with windows closed and curtains drawn “for their own safety.” Miné Okubo recounted her experience,
The trip was a nightmare that lasted two nights and a day. The train creaked with age. It was covered with dust, and as the gaslights failed to function properly we traveled in complete darkness most of the night, reminding me of the blackout trains in Europe. All shades were drawn and we were not allowed to look out of the windows. . . . Many became train sick and vomited. The children cried from restlessness. At one point on the way, a brick was thrown into one of the cars.[3]
Following this uncomfortable journey, arriving Nikkei were further shocked by the stark barrenness of the relocation centers. According to one scholar, “All ten sites can only be called godforsaken. They were in places where nobody had lived before and no one has lived since. . . . These areas were still vacant land in 1942, land that the ever-voracious pioneers and developers had either passed by or abandoned.”[4] Such living conditions were less than ideal.
Each of the ten sites was relatively isolated. The six western projects were wind and dust swept. Tule Lake, Minidoka, and Heart Mountain were subject to severe winters. Poston and Gila, both in the Arizona desert, had temperatures well above 100 degrees for lengthy periods, and Rohwer and Jerome experienced the excessive humidity and mosquito infestations of swampy delta land.[5]
The camps were divided into blocks, consisting of 10 to 14 barracks each. Most barracks were 20 feet by 120 feet and divided into six apartments of three different sizes. Once again, internees were forced to make their homes out of makeshift materials.
[1] Japanese American Relations Committee, Pasadena AFSC Information Bulletin 7 (15 September 1942).
[2] Motomu Akashi, Betrayed Trust: The Story of a Deported Issei and His American-Born Family during World War II (Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2004), 58.
[3] Okubo, Citizen 13660, 117.
[4] Roger Daniels, Concentration Camps: North America: Japanese in the United States and Canada During World War II (Malabar, FL: Krieger Publishing, 1981), 96.
[5] Dorothy Swaine Thomas and Richard S. Nishimoto, The Spoilage: Japanese American Evacuation and Resettlement (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1946), 28.
