Journey to Topaz: A Story of the Japanese-American Evacuation

“Seeing the troubled expression on Ken's face, Yuki began to feel apprehensive. If this meant that the United States and Japan were at war, what was going to happen to them? Mother and father were Issei (first-generation Japanese). They were as law abiding and loyal as any American Yuki knew, but they had never been able to become citizens because of a law that wouldn't permit them to.”

Yuki looks up to Ken, so she gauges her reaction to the changing political situation in the United States on how he interprets the news. This is Yuki’s first recognition of the unfairness of US law toward individuals of Japanese descent. The Immigration Act of 1924 barred further immigration from Japan and prevented Issei such as Mr. And Mrs. Sakane from ever becoming citizens, despite their substantial contributions to American society.

“Miss Holt had stopped writing on the blackboard and had stated then and there to the entire class that the Japanese born in America, the Nisei, were just as American as anyone else in the school.

‘They must never be confused with the Japanese militarists who attacked Pearl Harbor,’ she explained. ‘The Nisei are good and loyal citizens,’ she added emphatically, ‘just as you and I.’”

The racist slur that Yuki’s classmate aims at her is the protagonist’s first direct exposure to racism. The members of the Japanese community—even the Nisei, who are American citizens— are being increasingly targeted by white Americans during this early period of unrest. Fortunately, the white people in Yuki’s life (Miss Holt, the Nelson family, and Mrs. Jamieson) are deeply sympathetic to the plight of Yuki’s community.

“Ken took Mother's arm and held it until they had reached the car. He helped Mother in and even gave Yuki a hand as she climbed in. Instead of making her feel better, however, Ken’s gentleness only made Yuki sadder. Father was gone and Ken was trying hard to take this place, but they all knew he never could. And when would they ever see Father again?”

The news that Mr. Sakane will be imprisoned in a concentration camp in Montana—along with the rest of the Issei men in the community—comes as a sudden shock to the Sakane family. Denied the usual legal due process, Mr. Sakane has no idea when he will see his family again. Because of his absence, Ken must step up and become the male head of his household, relinquishing his educational ambitions to do so. The simple syntax and urgent tone of this quote emphasize Yuki’s youth, inexperience, and vulnerability in the face of these injustices.

“It was strange, Yuki thought, that the United States should be at war with Italy and Germany too, but that it was only the Japanese who were considered so dangerous to the country.”

Yuki’s observation stands as Uchida’s pointed criticism of the so-called “evacuation” of the Japanese living on the West Coast. While some German and Italian nationals (and American citizens of German and Italian descent) were sent to war relocation centers, the vast majority of people incarcerated were of Japanese descent. Yuki’s sense of the injustice committed against her community only grows as her family is transferred to Tanforan and Topaz.

“The evacuation hung over their heads now like the blade of the guillotine. No one knew just when it would take place, but everyone knew it was only a matter of time period one of these days the army would say, ‘Now,’ and they would have to be ready.”

Uchida’s simile of the guillotine blade emphasizes the dread and doom that Yuki and her community feel in the days leading up to their forced removal from their homes. Just as a guillotine severs its victim’s head from their body, so too will the “evacuation” sever them from their comfortable lives. The future is now completely uncertain, and they cannot rely on Mr. Sakane to help them through the struggles to come.

“In the midst of their frantic packing Yuki sometimes found Mother looking out the window and scribbling a poem on a scrap of paper. Yuki wished she could write poetry too. She was filled with indescribable feelings these days, but she couldn't find the right words to put them down on paper. It was like having an egg deep down inside, but not being able to tell anyone just where it was. Mother seldom spoke of her aches or sadness and rarely let anyone see her shed a tear, but she could make people understand how she felt by putting the right words in the fragile shell of poetry.”

Throughout the novel, Yuki has difficulty expressing the complex emotions that she feels about her situation. She envies her mother’s ability to capture these feelings in poetry, which is her mother’s main emotional outlet. Yuki frequently reflects on using poetry as a means of expression, but she never actually attempts to write. These reflections on the act of writing take on a metafictional quality, given that Uchida herself survived the injustice of the camps and went on to write about her own experiences there.

“The buses, like giant vacuum cleaners, were sweeping up all the Japanese from the streets of the city. As Yuki waited to get into one, she noticed large groups of people gathering across the street to watch. She wondered what they were thinking. Were they relieved to see the Japanese go? Were they glad to be rid of them? Some of them chatted gaily, some looked grim, and some simply stared blankly.”

Uchida’s comparison of the buses to vacuum cleaners evokes America’s attitude toward its Japanese population following Pearl Harbor; the members of the Japanese community were treated as undesirable and second-class—a population to be “cleaned up” and hidden away. In this passage, Uchida uses the varied expressions of the onlookers to show the complex reactions of the general populace. Some supported the forced relocation, while others, like the Nelsons, opposed it. Many were afflicted with ambivalence toward the situation.

“The stall was narrow and dark, with two small windows high up on either side of the door. And measured about 10 by 20 feet and was empty except for three army cots that lay folded on the floor. There were no mattresses or bedding of any kind. Dust and dirt and wood shavings still littered the linoleum that had been hastily laid over the manure-covered floor, and Ken sniffed at the lingering odor left by the former occupants.”

The Sakanes’ new living conditions at Tanforan emphasize the dehumanizing conditions of Japanese incarceration. Forced to live in a former horse stall at a racetrack converted into a makeshift prison camp, the Sakanes have little shelter and no privacy. The detention program was so hastily planned that the horses’ manure had not even been properly removed before Yuki and her family move in.

“‘Perhaps Japan will win,’ the bald-headed man said. ‘Look what they did to Pearl Harbor.’

Yuki was shocked to hear such talk. None of her parents’ friends had such silly notions. ‘She is not going to win,’ Yuki said hotly. ‘America will win because we're fighting for what's right.’

The old man glanced up from the Go board and blinked as he looked at her. ‘Ha, you are young and do not know very much.’

Yuki was ready to explode when Mr. Toda came to her defense. ‘I do not agree with you, old man,’ he said firmly. ‘I believe she is right.’”

This passage illustrates the fact that members of the Issei generation have good reason to become bitter. Excluded from citizenship and imprisoned for no crime but their ethnicity, many Issei, such as the bald man and Mr. Kurihara, begin to feel anti-American sentiments even if they did not feel this way before their incarceration. The bald man’s offhand comment that the young and idealistic Yuki “[does] not know very much” emphasizes The Generational Struggle between the Issei and the Nisei.

“‘Well, it's a beginning anyway,’ Ken said. ‘Maybe someday the Issei will be permitted to become citizens and be able to vote on the outside too.’

Mr. Kurihara shrugged. ‘When this war ends, I may just go back to Japan,’ he murmured. ‘At least I won't be an enemy alien there.’”

Mr. Kurihara and Ken’s conversation also emphasizes The Generational Struggle between the Issei and the Nisei. Growing up as an American citizen, Ken has stronger ties to the US than Mr. Kurihara does, for the older man is embittered by the irony of finally being able to vote once he is unjustly imprisoned by a country that otherwise denied him the right.

“Mr. Toda listened thoughtfully, nodding and rubbing his chin. ‘Ah yes,’ he said slowly. ‘It is too bad life must be filled with such difficult choices. Why must we choose between Japan and America? I love them both. I belong to both.’ He spoke as though he were still arguing with the bald-headed man and seemed almost to be talking to himself. ‘It is too bad Ken must choose between his responsibility to you and finishing school,’ he added. ‘It is a hard choice.’”

Mr. Toda has internalized the debate that Yuki witnessed between him and the bald-headed man. Caught in the crossfire between two countries he loves, Mr. Toda recognizes the difficult choice of the young Nisei men who are put in the difficult position of outperforming white American men in order to prove their loyalty and patriotism.

“One of the worst things about being in camp was that there was no place to go to be alone. Wherever she went, people pressed close—in her own stall, at the mess hall, at school, on the track, even in the latrines and washroom there was nowhere one could go to be all alone.”

The unavoidable proximity to others is a continual problem in Tanforan, and this enduring lack of privacy is never more apparent to Yuki than when she cannot find a private space in which to mourn the loss of Pepper. This lack of privacy carries over into Topaz, emphasizing the dehumanizing effects of internment.

“It sounded impressive, but Yuki thought she had never seen a more dreary place in all her life. There wasn't a single tree or a blade of grass to break the monotony of the sun-bleached desert. It was like the carcass of a chicken stripped clean of any meat and left all dry, brittle bone. The newly constructed road was still soft with churned up dust and they sank into it with each step as though they were plowing through a snow bank.”

The Utah desert in which Topaz is located is a harsh, unforgiving environment that is not fit for human habitation. The simile comparing the camp to a stripped-down chicken carcass emphasizes the fact that Topaz is unsuitable for life, as well as the fact that the camp, like Tanforan, has not been fully outfitted for habitation. All of these factors further dehumanize the prisoners.

“‘I’ve got something to tell you, Yuki. You mustn’t visit Emi Chan anymore until they know for sure what’s wrong with her.’

‘But why?’ Yuki asked, puzzled.

‘They think she may have tuberculosis.’”

Emi’s sudden illness comes as a great shock to Yuki and the Kuriharas, though the girl’s frailty has been foreshadowed since her introduction. Her hospitalization reveals just how much their friendship means to Yuki. Yuki cares deeply for Emi and writes to her as often as she can because she is barred from visiting her in the tuberculosis ward. Their ongoing connection illustrates the importance of community support in Overcoming Bitterness in the Face of Injustice.

“Yuki missed the old cheerful, gentle Ken of Berkeley. Somehow he seemed to be growing more and more distant and inward and never had much to say to either Mother or Yuki anymore. Whenever Mother asked if he wasn't going to do something about going to college, he just shrugged and said, ‘My mind’s gone into deep freeze. I don't think I could study anymore even if I tried.’”

Ken is an intelligent and independent young man, and consequently, incarceration has a tremendously negative impact on his spirit, gradually embittering him and making him more sarcastic and apathetic. Yuki mourns this change in his character, feeling as though the older brother she has always respected and looked up to is now all but gone.

“Mr. Kurihara didn't try to argue with her. […] [H]e was busy polishing his arrowheads and perhaps hadn't even heard.

Yuki wished later that she had gone over to admire his collection and to say something nice to him, for as things turned out, that was the last time she ever had a chance to talk to him.”

This passage foreshadows Mr. Kurihara’s impending death and emphasizes the fact that Yuki has finally seen through his gruff exterior and has realized that he is a kindly old man at heart. During this section of the novel, he becomes almost a surrogate grandfather for her. The passage therefore juxtaposes positive details with a foreboding tone to imply that this hard-earned connection between the two characters will soon be cruelly cut short by their circumstances.

“The two old men had been walking along the southern fringe of camp, close to the barbed wire fence that ringed the barracks. Their heads were down as they searched the ground. Suddenly there had been a shot and Mr. Kurihara had crumpled to the ground just as he was reaching for an interesting stone. The guard said he had shouted from the watchtower to halt.”

Mr. Kurihara’s death was foreshadowed at the end of the previous chapter. While Mr. Kurihara is a fictional character, Uchida was inspired by the real-life death of James Wakasa, who was killed by a guard at Topaz. Within the context of the novel, the guard’s killing of the harmless Mr. Kurihara is a symptom of the level of distrust and paranoia that led the United States to incarcerate its Japanese population in the first place.

“Christmas in camp was a far cry from Christmas at home, but still, it wasn't too terrible. The mess halls were decorated by the kitchen crews with red and green crepe paper […], and it was fun singing carols in the school chorus. Now if only Father could be back by Christmas, Yuki thought, everything would be almost perfect.”

While both Christmases depicted in the novel are a far cry from the one that Yuki anticipates in Chapter 1, this year is a marked improvement from last year in Tanforan, especially with the news of Mr. Sakane’s impending transfer to Topaz. Uchida uses the event to illustrate that the prisoners have formed a greater sense of community in the past year, and the administration allows them a more opulent celebration despite the harsh circumstances of their imprisonment.

“Father didn't stop talking from the moment he got back. There was so much to tell about the Prisoner of War Camp where he had been interned. He told about the thirty-below Montana winter with giant icicles around from the roof to the ground. He told of the loneliness, even though there were thirty men in each barrack, and he told how they had kept busy with work duty and by forming all sorts of classes. He told them, too, how their mail was censored and how they could receive nothing wrapped in paper for fear that secret messages would be smuggled in.”

Despite being a man of impeccable character and morals, Mr. Sakane is treated with the same suspicion as a common criminal. During his time in Montana, his leadership skills and industrious nature prevented him from becoming embittered by the conditions he faced, and he endeavored to serve his community despite the cold and loneliness. This character trait also serves him well when he is transferred to Topaz.

“It was as though he knew something that she didn't, and Yuki felt a tinge of sadness come over her happiness. She didn't ever want her family to be separated again. She wanted somehow to hold on to everybody who sat around her at this table this minute, so they would always be close and nearer and a part of her life. But in that circle of warmth and laughter, Ken seemed strangely silent and apart. It was almost as though he were slipping away from her already.”

Despite the festive atmosphere, Ken’s demeanor suggests his inner turmoil. Yuki is not yet mature enough to understand the conflict that her brother feels, and his internal struggle foreshadows the news of the creation of the all-Japanese army regiment. As these events unfold, Yuki must realize that part of growing up involves letting go of the people she loves and accepting the fact that change is an inherent part of life.

“Father was silent for a while, and then he spoke slowly. ‘Each man must decide for himself, Toda San,’ he said. ‘It is a difficult decision to make. But if I were young and a citizen of this country, I think I would do as my country asked. I think I would volunteer.’

‘Even though your country put you behind barbed wire and treated you as an enemy prisoner first?’ Mr. Toda pressed.

Father nodded. ‘Even so,’ he said. ‘It is true this country has made a terrible mistake, in turning its citizens without even a fair trial. But now it is asking for help and there isn't time to waste.’”

Mr. Toda has evidently lost his ongoing argument with the bald man, as evidenced by his bitter response to the army assembly. However, his attitude is tempered by Mr. Sakane’s level head. Mr. Sakane echoes his wife’s previous assertion that they should not let America’s mistake turn them against the country. He is thinking of Ken when he considers the position in which the Nisei men find themselves.

“Yuki looked admiringly at her older brother. He seemed strong and brave and, somehow, suddenly grown up. The bitterness inside of him appeared to have burned away, and it was as though he had finally found himself again.”

Ken’s decision to join the army shows that he has truly matured and has found a way to reconcile his inner conflict and frustration. By internalizing his parents’ words of wisdom, he has finally relinquished the bitterness in his heart. Yuki may not realize it, but watching Ken wrestle with this complex decision has helped her to mature as well.

“Yuki decided that for the time being, she would just have to stop thinking about going out, and Father continued to work in the business office with the Caucasian administrators. He was also a Deacon at the church, he worked on the hospital committee, and he helped their block manager iron out the problems that arose from having people living too close to one another period father was a great peacemaker and could often smooth out difficulties between two quarreling families when no one else could. Mr. Toda Sometimes said that if Father wasn't such a good businessman, he would have made a wonderful minister, and Yuki thought he was right.”

Mr. Sakane’s interpersonal skills and leadership prove invaluable to life in the camp, both to the prisoners and to the administration; he does not wish to leave Topaz as long as he is needed there. However, his willingness to work with the white administration puts him at odds with a growing group of fascist agitators in the camp who see him as collaborating with the enemy, and this development eventually forces the Sakanes to leave Topaz for their own safety.