Despite an uncertain future, Japanese American Christians faced their evacuation with a faith defined by the author of Hebrews: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). As one young woman testified, “The last service at Gardena Japanese Baptist Church before the evacuation was tearful and heart-rending. Knowing that we would be dispersed to unknown places, we took comfort in the words of the hymn ‘He Leadeth Me,’ knowing that though we were saying farewell, we would some day meet again.”[1] Dave Tatsuno also recollected, “Just before we were to be evacuated, the board of the San Francisco YMCA invited the members of the board of the Japanese YMCA to a farewell luncheon. At the close of our luncheon, we all stood up, joined hands, and, with tears in our eyes, sang . . . ‘Blest be the tie that binds.’”[2]
In those trying times, Nikkei Christians leaned heavily on fellow believers (Ecclesiastes 4:12b). Take and Setsuzo Uchida, for example, were picked up by the FBI early on the morning of December 8, 1941 for the crime of being Japanese-language teachers. Setsuzo also served as the secretary of the Japanese Association, an organization which helped Issei interpret business and legal matters. Take recalled her joy in Christian fellowship even in the turmoil of their arrest:
We were not given a chance to store our belongings or furniture—just enough time to finish breakfast. . . . We lost almost all of our material possessions when we were so suddenly uprooted and shipped out of Idaho. Because we are Christians, we were not bitter about being singled out and discriminated against during the war years. I felt it was my duty to help and love all the frustrated, displaced people and especially to help the children and youths who couldn’t understand why they were in camp. Since there were no Christian ministers with us in Seagoville or Crystal City while I was there, many believers gathered on Sundays and sang hymns, read the scriptures, and prayed together. . . . I am very grateful to God for all the rich blessings and for allowing me to live this long. My motto has always been: “To serve my fellowmen to the best of my ability” by the help and grace of God.[3]
Soul care leading up to the evacuation assumed two primary forms: word and deed (Romans 15:18). First, were the voices of protest who defended the rights of the poor and needy (Proverbs 31:8-9). Since those of Japanese descent had little say in the evacuation, the voices of protest came mainly from non-Japanese Christians. Soul care also took place through tangible acts of kindness toward those being unjustly treated (Micah 6:8). Once the evacuation became inevitable, Christians comforted the evacuees by courageously demonstrating compassion in their time of need.[4] The following stories will depict this Christ-like ministry of soul care in word and deed.
[1] Midori Watanabe Kamei, “He Leadeth Me,” in Triumphs, 60. The first stanza and the chorus of this hymn by Joseph H. Gilmore (1862) are as follows:
He leadeth me: O blessed thought!
O words with heavenly comfort fraught!
Whate’er I do, where’er I be,
still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me.
He leadeth me, he leadeth me;
by his own hand he leadeth me:
his faithful follower I would be,
for by his hand he leadeth me.
[2] Dave M. Tatsuno, “The Star Still Shines,” in Triumphs, 135.
[3] Take Uchida, “An Issei Internee’s Experiences,” in Japanese Americans: From Relocation to Redress, ed. by Roger Daniels, Sandra C. Taylor, and Harry H. L. Kitano (Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 1991), 31-32.
[4] In Seattle, for example, “whites, as church members and individuals, heeded the call for distinguishing between the enemy without and the neighbor within. In Seattle, whites called on Japanese American homes to affirm their belief in the patriotism of the interned man and his family, they tracked the whereabouts of the internees to reassure their families, and they assisted issei (first-generation Japanese Americans) with frozen bank accounts and disrupted businesses. Race hatred had not trickled from the top down to all of America’s people” (Gary Y., Okihiro, ed. Encyclopedia of Japanese American Internment [Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2013], xxi).
