Exhaustive Review of the Japanese American Incarceration and Bellevue History Notes
Introduction and Opening Remarks
Bella, an officer for the Japanese Culture Exchange Club, introduces guest speaker David Neiwert.
David Neiwert is an award-winning journalist, researcher, and author specializing in civil rights, American history, and the effects of intolerance and exclusion in American society.
The lecture focuses on the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II and its impact on families and the local community in the Bellevue area.
Speaker David Neiwert mentions he is years old and suffers from sciatica, requiring him to sit during the presentation.
Neiwert visited the Bainbridge Island Evacuation Memorial recently and noted ongoing renovations.
The theme of the talk is inspired by the Japanese saying "Nidoto Naiyoni," which translates to "Let it never happen again."
Republication of Strawberry Days
Neiwert’s book, Strawberry Days, was originally published in and has been out of print since approximately .
Due to high demand—including a "jam-packed" event at the Bellevue Library featuring Neiwert and Alice Ito—the rights were reclaimed from Palgrave Macmillan.
The book is being republished through Barnes and Noble books as a paperback for a cost of .
The new edition features a cover with art by Michelle Kumata and includes a new introduction and afterward addressing modern relevance.
Neiwert emphasizes the importance of practicing and remembering history to counter what he terms a "war on history" and efforts to make the public forget past tragedies.
Pre-World War II Bellevue Geography and Economy
Prior to , Bellevue was the most remote location on Lake Washington relative to Seattle.
Travel to Bellevue required driving around through Renton or up through Kenmore or taking a ferry to Wilburton or Meydenbauer Bay.
The region was originally an old-growth forest, but timber mills clear-cut the area between and .
By , timber operations moved to Issaquah, leaving behind "stump lands" that were considered marginal and difficult to use.
Japanese immigrants, many of whom were recruited from farming prefectures like Kyushu and Southern Japan for railroad work, stayed to farm the land because they had no place to return to as "second sons."
The Japanese Farming Experience in Bellevue
Japanese immigrants were hired to clear old-growth stumps using horses, mattocks, and dynamite—a dangerous process that resulted in several fatalities.
Farmers typically worked on tracts of approximately to acres.
Leases were often structured so that farmers could use the land for to years in exchange for clearing the stumps.
They developed "truck farms," growing fresh produce such as peas and lettuce for the Pike Place Market in Seattle.
Strawberries were the primary cash crop, leading to Bellevue hosting an annual Strawberry Festival with parades and a "Strawberry Princess" competition (though candidates were historically white).
Notable farming areas included Medina (the Muromoto farm) and the site of the current Safeway distribution center at Overlake.
Community Leaders and Cultural Life
Tom Takeo Matsuoka was a prominent leader of the pre-war Nisei community. Born in in Spreckelsville, Maui, he lived in Japan until age before returning to the US to work at a lumber mill in Barniston.
The Japanese Schoolhouse, dedicated in north of current-day Bellevue Square, served as a community center.
Issei parents sent Nisei children to the schoolhouse on Saturdays and Sundays to learn Japanese language and arts (like tea arrangement) because the children primarily spoke English and the parents were often only literate in Japanese.
Nisei youth were active in the local community, such as Mitsue "Mitzi" Shiraishi (Class of Salutatorian) and Kazuko "Kaz" Hirataka (Class Valedictorian and later wife of Tom Matsuoka), who played on a basketball team coached by Kazuko.
The "Yellow Peril" and Systemic Exclusion
The "Yellow Peril" theory suggested Japanese immigrants were secret "foot soldiers" for the Japanese Emperor, preparing for an invasion of the US West Coast.
Miller Freeman, a wealthy publisher of trade magazines like Pacific Fisherman and commander of the naval reserve training force, was a leading proponent of this conspiracy theory and an adamant eugenicist.
Freeman formed the Anti-Japanese League of Washington in .
The Alien Land Law prohibited "persons ineligible for citizenship" (Japanese immigrants) from owning property, forcing them into lease agreements.
Freeman and others promoted the book Valor of Ignorance by Homer Lea, which illustrated hypothetical Japanese invasions through places like Grays Harbor County and Ocean Shores.
The anti-Japanese campaign in the Seattle Star blamed immigrants for veteran unemployment and called for deportation.
The Immigration Act, written by Albert Johnson (a protege of Freeman), established racial quotas, created the concept of "illegal aliens," and halted Japanese immigration, including "Picture Brides" (women in arranged marriages who met their husbands upon arrival at the docks).
World War II and the Incarceration Process
The Mercer Island Floating Bridge opened in or , just before the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Following Pearl Harbor, Miller Freeman held a meeting at the Japanese clubhouse to warn residents to prepare for harsh treatment.
Propaganda stoked fear, such as a report claiming a farmer burning slash on the Olympic Peninsula was creating "arrows of fire" to guide Japanese planes.
The Tollin Committee (Tollin Committee) hearings in Seattle determined the fate of Japanese Americans.
Bainbridge Island was the first community rounded up by the army, acting as a "test community" because of its proximity to the Bremerton Shipyard. They were sent to Manzanar in California.
In May, Bellevue families were rounded up and sent to the Pinedale Assembly Center near Fresno, California before being moved to the Tule Lake concentration camp.
Life in the Camps and Military Service
Many Bellevue residents eventually moved from Tule Lake to Minidoka in Southern Idaho to be with the larger Seattle Nikkei community.
Tule Lake was known for unrest and riots stemming from the government's demand for a "loyalty pledge."
Tom Matsuoka managed to get a group out of the camps to perform farm labor on a sugar beet farm in Chinook, Montana.
Many Nisei joined the Regimental Combat Team to prove their loyalty. The unit became the most decorated in World War II history.
Bellevue veterans included Ken Morimoto (owner of Bellevue Nursery), Kiyo Yabuki (a mailman), and Rai Tenino. Masao "Mas" Natsu was the only Bellevue member of the to die in combat in Europe.
Post-War Return and Hostility
Even as the camps closed in and due to court rulings, there were active campaigns to prevent Japanese Americans from returning to the West Coast.
The Mayor of Kent and organizers in Bellevue held meetings to oppose their return, even offering free busts of General MacArthur to those who signed anti-Japanese pledges.
In Bellevue, a meeting of roughly people saw half the audience heckle the anti-Japanese organizers until they were chased out of town.
Some families, like the Matsuokas, returned to find their homes burned down; Tom Matsuoka remained in Chinook, Montana, for years following the war.
Questions & Discussion
Host (Bella): Welcomed the audience and David Neiwert, requesting that questions be held for the Q&A session at the end and inviting everyone to stay for food.
David Neiwert: Shared a story about his interview subjects, noting that most of the to people he interviewed were Nisei who wanted their stories told specifically so that such events would never happen again. He also discussed how he, as a "white guy from Idaho," was able to gain the trust of the elderly Nisei population through good timing and their graciousness.