Washington, Idaho, and Illinois: 1933–1959. Approximately forty-eight items: eight pieces of correspondence, twelve internment-related documents, thirteen education-related documents, and fifteen pieces of other ephemera. Overall excellent. Item #List3429

Tommy Tsugio Mukai (1913–2010) was born to Japanese immigrant parents who worked as farmers in Kingston, Washington. After high school and some trade school, Mukai moved to Juneau, Alaska. In Juneau, he bought the Star Cab Company and ran it until Roosevelt’s internment order, which brought him first to Camp Harmony in Puyallup and then to Minidoka in Idaho. After his release in 1943, Mukai married Shigeko Asai in Idaho and the couple moved to Spokane, where he worked as a mail handler for the Great Northern Railway and subsequently the Burlington Northern Railroad.

Offered here is a collection of Mukai’s materials dating from his high school graduation in 1933 to his employment with the Great Northern in 1959 and covering his time in Puyallup and Minidoka. The pre-internment material includes his high school diploma and materials from the Hemphill Diesel School in Seattle and Utilities Engineering Institute in Chicago, and a 1941 agreement between Mukai and Don Lozzie for Mukai to buy half of Lozzie’s Star Cab Company. Much of the correspondence also dates to before his internment, if only shortly, and mainly consists of updates from family and friends and requests to write more.

Internment interrupted Mukai’s business plans with Lozzie; in 1942 he writes from Puyallup to a third party in Juneau:

“I understand Don Lozzie sold the cars. If you don’t mind can you give me the details of this transaction as to How many sold; what agreement with remaining cars; between Don + I if any; What was the full sales price or terms of sale; What + where is my share of the sales + etc. Besides all this Don Lozzie promised to send me $42 + some odd cent which he owed me at ½ share of merchandise but have as yet not received it so please collect this amount from him and send it to me. What has Don done to the Archway rooms which is also one half my share?” (July 31, 1942)

According to the nonprofit educational organization Densho, the economic losses of Japanese internment total somewhere between one and three billion dollars—not adjusted for inflation.[1] The Japanese-American Claims Act was passed in 1948, authorizing the settlement of property loss claims related to internment; many found the Act unsatisfactory. In 1955, Mukai received a bilingual mailer from the Committee on Japanese American Evacuation Claims (COJAEC) explaining the lobbying goals of the group—which was spearheaded by Mike Masoka of the Japanese American Citizens League—and requesting donations to assist in the effort.

While at Camp Harmony, Mukai and his brother Yoshio Joe Mukai (1918–2008) wrote to camp manager J.J. McGovern, asking for release to join their family who, with another Japanese family, had been offered employment on a farm at Moses Lake, Washington. In the petition packet (June 3, 1942), the brothers describe their backgrounds and affiliations with other Japanese Americans; Tommy writes that he:

“Had very little association with Japanese people as a whole cause I was raised on the farm in a small community where only nine Japanese families lived.”

Similarly, Yoshio writes:

“There were only six or eight Japanese families in the north end of Kitsap County. They were scattered among American people of White Race. There were only about ten or twelve students of Japanese parentage in our grammar school, of about hundred twenty-five students. My social and business life has been exclusively the American people of White Race ever since I left home in 1938. [...] I have been the only American citizen of Japanese ancestry to be in the Labor Union Local #249 in Bremerton, Wash.”

Despite their efforts, and farmer Orville Linville’s insistence that “We are badly in need of help here on the farm and will certainly appreciate it if you can secure a release for these people”, the brothers were not allowed leave. The collection also contains a September 1942 offer of employment from the Amalgamated Sugar Company for Tommy and Yoshio Mukai and two others to farm in Jerome, Idaho. In August of 1942 Mukai filled out an official form to speak to John Hostetter at Camp Harmony about once again applying to rejoin his family. None of these efforts was successful.

Also from Mukai’s time at Camp Harmony is the Western Defense Command and Fourth Army Wartime Civil Control Administration’s book of Center Regulations, a harsh code of conduct for internees. The book describes rules for activities like using the restroom after curfew, use of bicycles (only at the manager’s discretion), and possession of perishable foods (also only at the manager’s discretion). The rules prohibit meetings to discuss “the war or any international problem”; speaking to any military personnel except when spoken to; Japanese-language publications “of any kind”; and the use of Japanese during religious services “except where the use of English prevents the congregation from comprehending the services”, and even then only at the manager’s discretion. The booklet was reproduced in the 1970s; we find two copies of the original on OCLC.

Mukai was transferred to Minidoka in August of 1942; the collection contains forms from the War Relocation Authority first allowing him to travel (January 11, 1943) and later granting him indefinite leave (February 27). Items in the collection following his release include the COJAEC mailer, Mukai and Asai’s marriage certificate, and the Great Northern Railroad’s seniority roster from 1959, listing Mukai as a mail handler at Spokane Pass, among a number of other Japanese names.

Of interest to historians of Japanese internment, particularly the Puyallup Assembly Center and Camp Harmony, and of life for Japanese Americans in the periods before and after internment.

[1] Natasha Varner, “Sold, Damaged, Stolen, Gone: Japanese American Property Loss During WWII,” Densho Catalyst, April 4, 2017.

Price: $6,500.00

Status: On Hold