Telling the Untold JA Stories
The JA Living Legacy organization strives to go where no other oral historians have gone before in recording the stories of the JA community.
There may not be a sign on their door yet and asking for them by name on the Cal State Fullerton campus probably won't do you much good. But the closet full of tapes, transcripts, and photos in Susan Uyemura's office belie the treasure trove of historical information that is the Japanese American Living Legacy organization.
Within the more than 100 audiotapes and thousands of pages of transcripts lie the untold stories of the JA community: a female Military Intelligence Service (MIS) officer who made her mark during World War II; the unique friendship of two former POWs who were imprisoned together - Italian American Joseph Annello and Medal of Honor winner Hershey Miyamura; and a Japanese Argentinean family's immigration to the United States.
Through these often-unheard voices, those behind the JA Living Legacy organization - all volunteers - hope to tell and keep on retelling these unique stories from the JA community.
"We do [interviews with] Sansei, Yonsei, brothers, sisters ... we don't limit our scope at all," said Susan, 42, the group's founder, CEO and oral historian.
Susan was a graduate student studying oral history at Cal State University, Fullerton (CSUF) when a chance encounter led her to fellow CSUF oral historian Natalia Yamashiro. Soon their shared interest in recording the oral stories of the JA community led them to found JA Living Legacy.
"We became interested in JAs being JAs. We became virtually hooked," said Susan.
"Family, immigration, World War II - history has been a part of my family and now I'm very much interested," said Natalia, 29, JA Living Legacy president and oral historian. "We're so passionate about it."
With just a little over a year of existence now under their belt, JA Living Legacy is now officially a 501(c)3 non-profit and many of the group's oral histories are available for teachers, researchers, and community members at CSUF's Center for Oral and Public History.
Identity in an Audiotape
Susan, a Sansei, grew up in Placentia, Calif., a small suburb in Orange County where the only JA families she ran into were related to her. Although her parents had grown up in Hawaii and two of her uncles had been a part of the heroic JA veterans of World War II, she candidly admits to being oblivious about her own community.
"I knew nothing. NiseiWeek was something I had heard about," she said with a chuckle. "I had no connections to my people ... now it has become a real passion."
Susan has interviewed and recorded the stories of most members of her family, including her parents, and her dad continues to recruit his friends in Hawaii whenever she visits the Islands to do more interviews.
Now their stories stand amongst the dozens of rare oral histories that make up JA Living Legacy, stories like those of the JA veterans of the Korean War and Vietnam War, groups that have often taken a backseat to the heroic WWII JA vets.
The organization has also placed a special emphasis on women interviewees including those who served during WWII and those JA women who were left behind in the internment camps as their husbands, fathers, and brothers went off to fight in the War.
"[These women] did a lot of great things for our country and we wanted to get them involved," said Natalia, who emphasized the uniqueness of each story. In documenting each person's life history the length of each interview can range from as short as 45 minutes or can take up to more than eight audiotapes.
For Natalia, documenting the stories of the JA community has taken her to many other parts of the world including South America. Her own family's history began in Bolivia and she herself was born in Argentina.
Fluent in Japanese, Spanish, and English she is using her trilingual skills to ensure the history of the Japanese Latin American community is part of the JA community's documented history.
"I'm part of the community now," said Natalia who immigrated to the U.S. in 1989. "And I need to learn about my community."
Volunteer Spirit
JA Living Legacy has grown exponentially since its humble beginnings and now boasts a board of directors and four staff members. Yet, even today all are volunteers and most expenses are still out of pocket.
And the bills are starting to add up. Although Susan's office at her day job (she's a research technician at CSUF's Institute of Gerontology) doubles as the project's storage facility, expenses for travel, audiotapes, and transcribing are all paid for by the board and staff themselves. Interviews and research are conducted in the evenings and on weekends.
"It's been tough but my husband is extremely supportive," said Susan who also has two kids to look after.
"When I first approached people I told them everything was volunteer and to bring their checkbooks," she added. "We told them we have nothing to offer you in terms of money at this time. And no one has complained. It's been painful but we can keep going for a while longer."
But realistically both Susan and Natalia know that some type of funding, whether it be grants or donations, needs to be sought in the future as JA Living Legacy continues to grow. Their hope is that they can expand without losing a close connection with the community.
"Our fear is that growing too big too fast you sometimes lose touch with the community," said Susan. "We want to grow but keep that bond with the community."
Innovative Projects
In a little over a year's time JA Living Legacy has taken on a number of projects in addition to the oral histories. In conjunction with the Americans of Japanese Ancestry WWII Memorial Alliance they developed an accessible database of those who were killed in action (KIAs). The group is also working on a book project in which all of the stories will be written by JA Korean war vets.
And they continue to take on unique projects.
One of the project's oral historians - Takamichi Go - will soon be heading to Japan to interview some of the MIS soldiers who repatriated to Japan after WWII. The group is also looking at an e-exhibit project for JA Vietnam war vets so they can develop their own online network.
"[JA Living Legacy] is very comprehensive in terms of JA history and culture. It doesn't have one particular focus," said Art Hansen, CSUF professor emeritus and a JA Living Legacy advisor. "Its democratic nature, its comprehensive nature are quite unique."
With a small staff and an even smaller budget, Susan and Natalia use the power of networking to help spread the word about JA Living Legacy, attending several community events and continually meeting with community members.
"It's by word of mouth," said Susan. "We try to go to as many community events as possible. We hand out our business cards and ask, 'Would you like to be interviewed?'"
Natalia also hopes that the younger generations will see what they're doing and get inspired to help document their community's history.
"We want to create awareness. Our hope is that the younger generations will see what we're doing and get involved," she said.
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