From the Director: Tom Ikeda

The adoption of digital content is accelerating as technology improves. When Densho was founded 17 years ago, computer technology was expensive and limited when it came to video. For example, in 1996, it would have cost millions of dollars of equipment to stream our hundreds of interviews in high definition video to hundreds of thousands of people, something we can do today with a $20,000 annual equipment budget. Another big change is that users don't need $5,000 multimedia computers (circa 1996) to see our materials, but can simply use their smartphones to check facts or view a videoclip on our online encyclopedia.

Changes are happening faster and faster, making this an exciting time to invent new ways to connect and make relevant to today's world, the injustice of the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans. Send me a message at tom.ikeda@densho.org and tell me how you think Densho will be using technology to share stories in 2030. Although it is 17 years away, it is time to start planning now!

Archive Spotlight

Peggie Nishimura Bain: Shell Collecting in Camp

During World War II, Peggie Nishimura Bain and her children were incarcerated in the Tule Lake concentration camp, California. In this clip, she describes how she and others quickly discovered that they could dig for shells in camp, which was a former lake bed. Peggie Nishimura Bain's full interview is available in the Densho Digital Archive.

>> View the interview excerpt
>> Register for the free Densho Digital Archive
>> Read the Densho Encyclopedia article on Tule Lake

Densho News

Nominate Someone with an Oregon Story

Densho is partnering with the Oregon Nikkei Endowment (ONE) to conduct 30 new oral history interviews with Japanese Americans about their World War II experience in Oregon during the prewar, wartime, and resettlement period. The interviews will be video-recorded, transcribed, and made available from the Densho Digital Archive where 700 interviews are currently available. The majority of Densho's interviews are with Japanese Americans who were born or lived in California and Washington. We are excited for the opportunity with ONE to examine more closely the Oregon story. If you want to nominate a person to be interviewed, please fill out our nomination form.

>> Download the nomination form

Densho Teacher Training Update

Densho just finished a successful teacher workshop in Bloomington, Illinois, with 50 in-service and pre-service teachers. This was our first workshop in the Midwest and we found that many of the participants lacked detailed knowledge of the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans. Thank you Professor Sumer Seiki for inviting us! Our next scheduled teacher training workshop is on March 24th on the campus of Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. This workshop is already filled with over 60 teachers registered. Funding for these workshops is provided in part by the Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program, administered by the National Park Service. Contact tom.ikeda@densho.org for more information on organizing a teacher workshop in your city.

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Looking for Interviewees for Poston Film

For the Sake of the Children is a 20 minute film examining the impact of how Japanese American mothers at Poston raised their children during their incarceration and after. The creators are would like to speak to the following individuals for this project:

1. Nisei women who gave birth to children while at camp or who raised children up to the age of 12
2. Sansei women and men who were born while at camp or who were children up to the age of 12 while at camp
3. Yonsei women and men whose grandmothers were incarcerated
4. Gosei women and men whose great grandmothers were incarcerated

Please contact Marlene Shigekawa at postonalliance1@gmail.com for more information.