Tanforan's Little Tokyo!: How the interned Japanese react to strange test

How the Interned

Japanese React

To Strange Test

In the words of the race track's pet

joke, there's just one race at Tanforan

today-the Japanese race. How the

Nipponese gathered at the Tanforan

assembly center live their daily lives,

how they react to their lot, is re-

counted in a series of articles of which|'

this is the first-The Editor.

BY KAY WAHL

Girls with glamor bobs, laughing

in front of the grandstand; bar-

racks in the infield, a boy in the

`clubhouse wearing a blue and gold

rooter's cap-

Two-room apartments where the

stables used to be, zinnias and let-

tuce growing in front of them,|:

school children with their books

coming down the stairs that say

"Thoroughbred and Clubhouse Pa-

trons Only-"

Boys playing tennis on the race-

track, high school kids in flats and|:

corduroys eating Eskimo Pies, sail-

boats on the lake behind the tote] ;

board that still says "First Race-"

This is Tanforan. From _ the

moment you go inside the ornamen-

tal iron gate, and see the sign under

the grandstand roof, still advertis-

ing races for October, 1941, your

mind is open and eager for impres-

sions. But it is a long time before

you can sort them out and appre-

ciate the situation at Tanforan As-

sembly Center.

Sociology Experiment

For there is only one race there

today, to use a witticism old since

last March, and you know that, in

itself, is a significant part of the

situation. You know that in front of

you, with all of its machinery in

motion, is an involuntary sociolo-

gical experiment that is unparalleled

in our history.

For although Tanforan is not

typical of the others, it is one of

several centers, which are part of

the evacuation program for all of

the Coast's Japanese, pending perm-

anent relocation centers far from

military areas.

But the significant psychological

and national aspects are not what

you see first. You see first the sur-

face things, the physical things.

And most of the surface things are

pleasing, for the residents, except

for the basic fact of control.

They Seem Hapy

You see the people. At Tanforan

(and you are told that at some other

centers this is not always the case)

they are smiling, they seem happy.

You look at them and talk to them,

`and you try to do it without think-

ing that others of their race are our

enemies. For you know that even the

Army, most greatly concerned with

the possibility of their attachment

to those enemies, says that many of

them are loyal American citizens.

Earlier an Army spqkesman ex-

plained, "There wasn't time-there

literally wasn't time-to segregate

the loyal from the disloyal.

"Common prudence dictated their

removal from these vital areas," he

pointed to a map stippled with

gray, deepening to black at points

next to military or industrial areas.

--

"T asked a Japanese whom I

know well," he said, "how many

Kibei (American born, Japan-edu-

cated) he thought were loyal-he

said, `Not more than 5 per cent. Of

the Nisei (American born and edu-

cated) he estimated 75 per cent.' "

A City of 7800

So here at Tanforan is a city of

7800 people, built and populated in

a few weeks.

The WPA was asked by the Army

early in March to take over the oper-

ation of the camps, and Frank L.

Davis, assistant state director of the

WPA was named manager of Tan-

of five divisions, work and maint-

enance, feeding and housing, service,

finance and supply.

The first group of Japanese was

moved in on April 28, and on com-

pletion of evacuation of Military

Area No. 1 on June 7 there were

7759 residents living on the 118

acre racetrack.

In addition to converted buildings

already on the grounds there are

135 barracks; each 20x100 feet, 19

mess halls, 18 shower buildings, 16

toilet buildings, three laundry build-

ings, and five infirmary buildings.

Converted Stables {

The phrase "converted buildings

already on the grounds," refers to

what used to be stables, and what

was at first a great cause of com-

plaints by friends of the Japanese.

The stables were converted into two-

room apartments, finished inside

with plywood. But, said the com-

plaints, "they smell!"

Now, however, the residents who

live in the converted stables say

Director of Tanforan's assembly center for

Japanese is FRANK DAVIS.

foran. Under him he has directors,

they are fond of them, that there is

no smell, and that they do not want

to move from them into the newer

barracks.

Japanese help is used throughout

the center, and the residents who

work receive pay in the form of

Scrip, negotiable at the center's

canteen. They cannot use money-

those who brought it into the center

with them still have it, in money

belts or hidden in their quarters.

All receive an allowance for cloth-

ing and spending money.

Japs Prepare Food

Japanese cooks prepare all the

food, from the central commissary to

the individual mess halls, under di-

rection of Caucasians. Chief steward

is John E. Fogarty, who is a man

with a sense of humor.

When -he first went to Tanforan,

in the chaotic days of its organiza-

tion, he couldn't remember the

Japanese names of his volunteer

assistants.

That is the reason that today, if

you visit the commissary department

at a time when Mr. Fogarty has oc-

casion to call for one of his resident

staff, you will see a Japanese come

running when he calls:

"Hey, Gallagher!"-or Murphy; or

Kelly, or Ryan.

Because after a few days of con-

fusion he gave them all Irish names.

Now, according to the rest of the

staff, those residents so dis-

tinguished call each other by their

new names even when off duty.

_ Wholesale Consumption

Some 23,300 meals are served daily,

with food consumption averaging

6480 pounds of bread, 1160 pounds of

butter, 2720 dozens of eggs, 6410

gallons of milk, in addition to a quart

furnished each child, 2880 pounds of

meat, and 2520 pounds of vegetables.

According to good-natured Albin

Griffis, in charge of the meat de-

partment of the commissary, and one

of the favorites of residents and

staff alike at Tanforan, the Japanese

like some Chinese dishes better than

their own.

He is proud of his meat cutting

staff, everyone of them, he says, "as

good as any one outside."

"I had to teach them everything,"

he said. "They never did it before.

I've got farmers, fishermen, stock-

brokers, printers-even a medical

student. He's good! He's our private

doctor if some one cuts a finger in-

stead of a steak."

16,000 Doughnuts

In the first days of the center,

he said, "we all worked like horses."

The big kitchen under the grand-

stand was used to feed all the

residents. Now half of it is a cooks'

school and bakery shop-where 16,-

000 doughnuts are cooked at a time!

All, residents and administrative

staff alike, agree the first days of

the center were hard.

Said Mr. Davis, the manager, "the

co-operation of the residents has

been good, particularly in the early

part of the program when we were

getting the center into operation.

There were thousands of things to

be done in two or three weeks time.

Everybody pitched in and got it

rolling."

Said Mr. Cooper, director of feed-

ing and housing, "I lost 11 pounds

in six weeks-and then went to bed.

Lunch in mess hall No. 2. The commissary department at Tanforan is directed by the ad-

ministration, but cooks and mess hall staff are Japanese,

We were in a tough spot. We had

a camp, a lot of people in it, but

not the organization to take care

of it. It's surprising. how fast we

got it rolling.

"It's run as nearly as possible the

way we'd run an Army camp. We

rhold Saturday morning inspection of

kitchens, and all camp messhalls

and barracks. The Japanese are

very keen on that -they're very

competitive."

Like Army Camp

The whole center is planned and

run like an Army camp, so that its

least favorable aspects are at least

as good as those surrounding an

American soldier. But there are re-

finements that have had to be added

because of the presence of women

and children-the full recreational

program which will be explained in

a later article, for instance, a pri-

vate shower and toilet rooms for

women.

You can go into this routine of

life-if the Army will let you, for as

the Army man said, "We are very

careful whom we allow in; these

people are entitled to their privacy"

and talk to the Japanese.

They will answer your questions

in detail, and with courtesy. Even

personal ones, about their reactions

to their confinement, they will

answer with every appearance of

frankness, in your own idiom, and

from the point of view you imagine

you would have if you were there.

But that is the trouble with any

appraisal of their answers- you

cannot help putting yourself in their

place.

(Next: The People Who Are There)