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Fujimoto family diaries
MS 096
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Title: Fujimoto family diaries
Date (inclusive): 1913-1968
Date (bulk): 1942-1948
Collection Number: MS 096
Creator:
Fujimoto, George, Jr.
Creator:
Fujimoto, Toranosuke (George)
Extent:
4.65 linear feet
(4 boxes)
Repository:
Rivera Library. Special Collections Department.
Riverside, CA 92517-5900
Abstract: This collection consists of the diaries of Japanese Americans Toranosuke (George) Fujimoto from 1913-1968, and George Fujimoto
Jr.from 1942-1948. The diaries notably cover their experiences during World War II, when the family was forcibly removed from
their Riverside, California home to an incarceration camp in Poston, Arizona.
Languages: The diaries kept by Toranosuke Fujimoto are in Japanese, while the diaries kept by George Fujimoto are in English.
This collection is open for research.
Copyright of these records has been assigned to the University of California, Riverside Libraries, Special Collections & University
Archives. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of
Distinctive Collections.
[identification of item], [date if possible]. Fujimoto family diaries (MS 096). Special Collections & University Archives,
University of California, Riverside.
Provenance unknown.
Processed by Reajinae Jenkins, Student Processing Assistant, 2016.
Processing of the Fujimoto family diaries was completed by undergraduate students from the University of California, Riverside
as part of the Special Collections & University Archives Backlog Processing Project started in 2015. This project was funded
by the UCR Library and administered by Jessica Geiser, Collections Management Librarian.
Toranosuke Fujimoto was born July 11, 1882, and grew up in Kokawa, a town in the Wakayama Prefecture in Japan. In 1902 he
emigrated to the United States, where he lived in Washington and Orange County, California before settling in Riverside, California.
He also adopted the name "George," as Americans had difficulty pronouncing his first name. In 1911, Fujimoto married his wife
Suna and the couple became farmers in Riverside, raising chickens and growing strawberries and walnuts, along with their six
children. George Fujimoto, sometimes referred to as George Fujimoto Jr., was born on January 2, 1921, and was the couple's
first son and fourth child out of six.
During World War II, on March 11, 1942, Toranosuke was arrested by the FBI, along with many other Japanese American men in
Riverside, and incarcerated until July 7th of 1942. On May 23rd, a few months after Toranosuke was arrested, George, his
mother, and his siblings were all forcibly removed to the "Poston Relocation Center," an incarceration camp located in Poston,
Arizona. Toranosuke joined the family after he was released from incarceration, and he spent the following four years at Poston,
becoming a block manager. He left the camp in June of 1946, as one of the last detainees to do so, and returned to his Riverside
farm with his wife.
George remained at Poston until 1943, when he was granted permission to leave the camp along with his sister and her husband.
They relocated to Des Moines, Iowa, where George worked at a photography shop for eight months before being drafted in the
U.S. Military. He was assigned to the Military Intelligence Service Language School where he took intensive Japanese before
serving as a translator in occupied Japan from November of 1945 until May of 1946. George eventually inherited the family
farm, which he ran until the mid 1960's with his wife Masako and their children. After his retirement George and Masako moved
to Ferndale, Washington, where he still resides.
This collection consists of the diaries of Japanese-Americans Toranosuke (George) Fujimoto from 1913-1968, and George Fujimoto
Jr.from 1942-1948. The diaries notably cover their experiences during World War II, when the family was forcibly removed from
their Riverside, California home to an incarceration camp in Poston, Arizona. The collection also includes programs from the
United Church of Christ in Riverside from the 1960s, which were used to wrap Toranosuke's diaries.
This series is arranged into two series as follows:
- Series 1. Toranosuke Fujimoto, 1913-1968
- Series 2. George Fujimoto, 1942-1948
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library's online public access catalog.
Poston Relocation Center (Ariz.)
Japanese Americans
Japanese Americans -- Exclusion and incarceration, 1942-1945
Riverside (Calif.)
World War, 1939-1945
World War, 1939-1945 -- Japanese Americans
Diaries