Oh! Poston, Why Don't you Cry For Me?

About the Book

The internment of Japanese-Americans during the Second World War was a landmark in American jurisprudence. One hundred twenty thousand Japanese, the majority of whom were American citizens, were forcibly removed from the west coast of the United States because of their race. I was one of the 120,000 internees, but was only seven years of age when interned and ten when I returned to California. I was too young to fully appreciate the historic scope of the incarceration of American citizens simply because of their national origin. This awakening came later. My parents were able to keep me from fully realizing my situation, and protected me from the feeling of helplessness that would have come with a better understanding of what had happened to us.

About the Author

Paul Okimoto’s story of world travels is inextricably linked to the rebellion of his father, Tameichi, who refused to follow in the footstep of his uncle, a high ranking general in the Japanese Army. Tameichi’s determination to study despite extreme poverty nearly led to his death from tuberculosis. A Christian missionary nursed him back to health and persuaded him to enter the ministry. He accepted a church post in San Diego, California shortly before the outbreak of world war two - the seminal decision of his life. The irony of the decision to emigrate to the USA: his family of four children and wife was sent to an internment center at the outbreak of WWII, an event that Tameichi never learned to accept as just. Tameichi’s four children reacted to the internment in different ways. Ruth, the only daughter, reacted strongly against the incarceration in Poston, while Joe and Dan, the youngest siblings, have no memories of their internment. But Paul, the eldest, resisted the urging of his father to pursue a high profile career and chose to pursue interests that afforded him the chance to see as much of the world as possible in the post war era. His eleven years of higher education did not bring him a prestigious career, but did afford him a wealth of experience that he shares in this book.