History
By
Courtney Goto
"Shoyu, otsukemono, umeboshi, teriyaki, shioyaki, dashi, miso soup..."
These are the salty flavors of my life, what I was weaned on, what my mother was raised on, and her mother before her. When I eat otsukemono with rice, I hear the stairs creaking, as Grandma goes down into the basement to find a jar of homemade otsukemono, the brown kind. Years ago, her mother used go down to her basement to get otsukemono, which she kept in a bucket of kasu. She'd pull it out of the salty mud each time she needed to slice some.
They were salty women, my grandma and great-grandma, raising families in a poor farming town in California. They were like many other nisei and issei women, who endured with their families a time when this country betrayed and imprisoned them. Deep within, they had the spirit to survive, a kind of saltiness that enables a person to suffer with dignity, to have patience, or to fight for justice.
The stories of women of the camps have been rarely told. Volumes have been written about the internment of Japanese Americans, but almost exclusively from the perspective of men - military men determining military necessity, men being detained by FBI, men volunteering for the MIS/442/100th Battalion. What happened to the other half of the people who experienced the camp years? Why aren't the stories of women remembered, recorded, and retold? Who are the women of the camps?
Issei women came to America, first at the turn of the century, then in larger numbers from 1915 to 1920. Most were picture brides, strangers to their husbands and strangers to this country, but full of hopes for a new life. The majority were disappointed. Most ended up sacrificing their own aspirations and labored to give everything to their children. From dawn to dusk, they worked the land, washed clothes, sold vegetables, and raised children, eking out a living. Over time, the issei women became as salty as their sweat and tears.
Some say that issei women survived by clinging to the ways of the old country, accepting the Japanese understanding of women's lot in life. For instance, many lived by the belief, Shi Kata Ganai (it cannot be helped). Such values may have helped issei women cope with the rampant racism against Japanese in this country before World War II. Though their marriages weren' t what they dreamed they would be, the unions did satisfy the issei woman's understanding of her role in society. And what they did not and could not achieve, they hoped their daughters would.
Nisei women were born with salt in their blood - born an American citizen entitled to this country's rights and opportunities, yet faced with hatred and humiliation because of her race, something that confronted her at school, at play, and at work. In addition, she inherited the sexism of two cultures, deeply entrenched in both traditional Japanese society and in America. She would expect more of her spouse than her mother. She would also expect a good education and a good job.
Nisei women were bridges between the traditional culture and the new. They understood both languages and the underlying assumptions of both cultures. They would pass on some valuable features of Japanese culture to their children, while struggling themselves to become fully Americanized.
When they and their families were imprisoned in concentration camps, issei and nisei women were torn from homes, schools, and loved ones. Husbands and fathers being taken away for questioning. Sons and brothers being sent oversees to fight for their country, many of whom would not return. Sometimes, it was the women who held their families and the community together, struggling to make life in camp as normal as possible. Some women volunteered for the armed services.
Years later, many women of the camps would overcome numerous obstacles of racism and sexism, becoming successful professionals, mothers, and leaders in the community. Some led the fight for Redress and other struggles for justice. Many women came forward and gave powerful testimony during the Redress hearings. Now in their 60s, 70s and 80s, many continue to educate students and community groups about the internment of Japanese Americans.
Women of the camps are the salt of the earth, unassuming yet as essential to us air and water. Many have gone, but those who are living have merely become saltier with age. It is strength and wisdom earned by hardship, that only they as women of the camps endured.