Guide to the Kenzo Robert Koike Papers
Finding aid prepared by Phoebe Huth, CCEPS Fellow, Fall 2014
Special Collections, Honnold/Mudd Library
800 North Dartmouth Ave
Claremont, CA, 91711
Phone: (909) 607-3977
Email: spcoll@cuc.claremont.edu
URL: http://libraries.claremont.edu/sc/default.html
© 2015
Claremont University Consortium. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Kenzo Robert Koike Papers
Dates: 1921-1967 and undated
Bulk Dates: 1921-1948
Collection number: H.Mss.1048
Creator:
Koike, Kenzo Robert
Extent:
2 linear feet
(4 document box + 1 clamshell box)
Repository:
Claremont Colleges. Library. Special Collections, Honnold/Mudd Library. Claremont, CA 91711.
Abstract: Kenzo R. Koike was a Japanese American, born in 1920 in Seattle, Washington. At the age of 12, his family moved to Los Angeles,
where he attended middle school, high school, and college. In 1942, the Koike family was removed from their Los Angeles home
and sent to Heart Mountain Relocation center in Wyoming. By 1943, Kenzo Koike was drafted into the United States Army, where
he served as a translator in Japan from 1945 to 1946. This collection includes documents and photographs from Koike’s youth
in Seattle and Los Angeles, including diplomas, year books, and registration cards. It also contains military documents and
photographs from Koike’s time in Japan, depicting bombings after World War II, traditional Japanese dress, and Koike’s relatives.
In addition, a garrison hat and an aviator hat from the war are located in this collection. Postcards of barracks in Fort
Sheridan and correspondence with Koike’s peers in Seattle are also in this collection.
Physical location: Please consult repository.
Language of materials: Materials are primarily in English, some materials in Japanese.
Administrative Information
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
All requests for permission to reproduce or to publish must be submitted in writing to Special Collections.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Kenzo Robert Koike Papers (H.Mss. 1048). Special Collections, Honnold/Mudd Library, Claremont University
Consortium.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased, 2013.
Accruals
No additions to the collection are anticipated.
Processing Information
Processed by Phoebe Huth in 2014 in the Claremont Center for Engagement with Primary Sources (CCEPS), with assistance from
Lisa Crane. In order to process this collection, photographs were taken out of their frames and placed in mylar sleeves. The
frames were discarded. All loose photographs were also placed in mylar sleeves. Rolled photographs were flattened and folded
correspondence was unfolded in order to preserve and store the materials. A newspaper clipping was photocopied onto acid free
paper and the original disposed.
Biographical/Historical note
Kenzo Robert Koike was born in Seattle, Washington in 1920 to Japanese immigrants. At the age of 12, his family moved to Los
Angeles, California, where he attended junior high school, high school, and Los Angeles City College, where he participated
in many sports, including wrestling, basketball, and swimming. A year after graduating college, Koike and his family were
relocated to Heart Mountain Relocation Center in Wyoming and forced into internment, where he worked for Keeshin Motor Express
Co., Inc. He was then drafted by the United States Army in 1943 and eventually became a rifleman and worked for military intelligence.
By the end of 1945, Koike was sent to Japan as a translator and interpreter. From the end of 1945 to the beginning of 1946,
while working in Japan for the United States Army, he was able to get time off to visit relatives in Japan. Koike was able
to go back to Japan in 1947 and 1948. After arriving back in the United States, Koike became a school teacher. Kenzo Koike
passed away on February 2, 2010 in Granada Hills, California at the age of 89. He is survived by his wife and daughter.
Scope and Content note
This collection focuses on the early life of Kenzo Koike with the bulk of materials from 1921 to 1948. There are materials
from Koike’s early life in schools and military documents, which includes correspondence from Koike’s elementary school peers.
Most of the collection is photographs from his time in the army in Japan after World War II, including pictures of the rubble
caused by multiple bombings. These materials portray the life of a Japanese American before, during, and after World War II,
including artifacts, such as hats worn during his time in the Army. Through this collection, one can see the discrimination
of a Nisei Japanese American during the mid- 20th century.
Arrangement note
This collection has been arranged in the following series:
Series 1: Personal records, 1932-1967 and undated
Series 2: Photographs, 1921-1948 and undated
Subseries 2.1: Albums, 1921-1946 and undated
Subseries 2.2: Portraits, 1921-1943 and undated
Subseries 2.3: Japan, 1945-1948 and undated
Series 3: Postal materials, 1918, 1932 and undated
Series 4: Realia, undated
These materials have been arranged alphabetically by folder title within each series and subseries.
Related Material
Related materials providing information on Japanese American Internment may be found in the following collections in the Honnold/
Mudd Library Special Collections:
•H.Mss.0926, War Relocation Authority Records
•H.Mss.1047, Kruska Japanese Internment Collection
•H.Mss.1049, Yamano Japanese Internment Collection
•H.Mss.1052, Ken Tamura Papers
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library’s online public access catalog.
Subject Terms
Japanese Americans
Japanese Americans -- Archives
Japanese Americans -- Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945
World War, 1939-1945--Japanese Americans
Genre and Form of Materials
Artifacts
Photograph albums
Photographs
Series 1:
Personal records,
1932-1967 and undated
Arrangement note
Alphabetical order by folder title.
Scope and Content note
This series contains military records of Kenzo Koike, such as orders sending him to Japan as a translator. It also contains
documents and commencement materials from Koike’s elementary, middle, high school, and college years, such as year books and
diplomas. In addition, this series has identification cards for Kenzo Koike as a Japanese American and his status as a worker
during World War II.
Box 1, Folder 1
California teaching certificate,
1940 June 28-1942 March 10
Box 1, Folder 2
Henry Koike materials,
1932 January 29-1939 February 2
Box 1, Folder 3
Identification cards,
1941 June 9-1942 September 1 and undated
Note
This file contains 5 items.
Box 1, Folder 4
John H. Francis Polytechnic High School materials,
1937-1938 June 28 and undated
Box 1, Folder 5
Lafayette Junior High School materials,
1933 Feburary-1935 21 and undated
Note
This file includes a photograph from 1935 of students at Lafayette Junior High School.
Box 1, Folder 6
Lafayette Junior High School yearbook,
1938 June
Note
Owned by Hideo Koike.
Box 1, Folder 7
Lauren Koike certificate,
1967 January 27
Box 1, Folder 8
Los Angeles City College materials,
1938 June 23-1941 January 30
Box 1, Folder 9
Military documents,
1944 June 27-1947 and undated
Box 1, Folder 10
Newspaper clipping,
Which was a greater menace to our country and our values?
Drawer 1, Folder 1
Oversized photographs,
1941-1945 January
Note
This file contains 2 items: an oversized photograph of Company A, the 34th Battalion in Fort McClellan, Alabama on January,
1945 and an oversized photograph of Kenzo Koike's graduating class in 1941.
Box 1, Folder 11
Perfect attendance certificate
Box 1, Folder 12
UCLA Japanese Business Student Club stationary
Series 2:
Photographs,
1921-1948 and undated
Arrangement note
Alphabetical order by folder title
Scope and Content note
This series contains a wide variety of photographs from Kenzo Koike before, during, and after World War II. The photographs
depict life for a Japanese American before the war, showing time at summer camps and his house in Seattle, Washington. Some
photographs show Heart Mountain Internment Center in Wyoming and the life created during the time of Japanese American internment.
In addition, many photographs demonstrate Koike’s time in Japan as a member of the United States Army after World War II.
Photographs depict post-bombing locations, people in traditional Japanese dress, relatives of Kenzo Koike, and everyday life
in Japan after World War II.
Subseries 2.1:
Albums,
1921-1946 and undated
Arrangement note
Alphabetical order by folder title.
Scope and Content note
This subseries contains photograph albums, which includes pictures from Kenzo Koike’s early life in Seattle, Washington and
Los Angeles, California, his time in a Japanese American internment camp, and his involvement in the U.S. Army in Japan after
the war.
Box 2, Folder 1
Childhood and youth of Kenzo Koike,
1921 September-1941 February and undated
Box 2, Folder 2
Kenzo Koike graduation, Japanese Internment, and Japan in United States Army,
1939 February 2-1947 July and undated
Box 2, Folder 3
Kenzo Koike in Japan while in United States Army,
1945 October-1946 March and undated
Subseries 2.2:
Portraits,
1921-1943 and undated
Arrangement note
Alphabetical order by folder title.
Scope and Content note
This subseries contains a variety of portraits, ranging from early Koike family portraits to portraits of people in traditional
Japanese clothing. In addition, it also contains portraits from Kenzo Koike in the U.S. Army and small signed portraits.
Box 3, Folder 2
Kenzo R. Koike military portraits
Box 3, Folder 3
Kenzo R. Koike photographs and portraits,
1921, 1941 and undated
Note
This file contains 10 photographs of Kenzo Koike at various stages in life. Included are two photographs of Kenzo as an infant
in 1921 that were originally framed, Kenzo as an early teen, Kenzo on the University of California, Los Angeles campus and
several portraits (including multiple copies) that were taken in 1941.
Box 3, Folder 4
Signed portraits
Note
This file contains 4 items.
Box 3, Folder 5
Unidentified portraits,
1928 February-1943 August and undated
Subseries 2.3:
Japan,
1945-1948 and undated
Arrangement note
Alphabetical order by folder title.
Scope and Contents note
This subseries is an extensive collection of photographs and negatives from Kenzo Koike’s time in Japan. Photographs range
from visiting his relatives in Japan, to standing amidst rubble after bombings from World War II, to depicting everyday life
in Japan during this time period. This subseries also contains photographs of Ambassador Edwin W. Pauley during his visit
to Japan to negotiate reparations after the end of World War II.
Box 4, Folder 1
Asahi, Machi, Japan
Note
This file contains 1 photograph.
Box 4, Folder 2
Eileen Koike
Note
This file contains 3 photographs of Eileen Koike as an infant.
Box 4, Folder 3
Fishing
Note
This file contains 3 items. Two of the items are photographs of people fishing in Yugawara, Japan. The final item is a photograph
of people digging clams near Chiba City, Japan.
Box 4, Folder 4
Identified photographs of people, Japan,
1945 December-1947 December 25 and undated
Note
This file conatins 22 photographs, taken in Japan, of Kenzo Koike relatives, friends and neighbors, including Shinto musicians.
Box 4, Folder 5
Kayabashi, Japan
Note
This file contains 3 items, including two photographs of people in Kayabashi, Japan, and one of a destroyed building.
Box 4, Folder 6
Kenzo R. Koike photographs,
1945 December and undated
Note
This file contains 14 photographs including Kenzo Koike in his military uniform, his travels around Japan, and other unidentified
people and places.
Box 4, Folder 7
Komi-Suwa, Japan,
1945 November-1945 December and undated
Note
This file contains 44 photographs from 1945 of Kenzo Koike's visit to Komi-Suwi, Nogano, Japan to visit his relatives. It
includes photographs of his relatives, neighbors, and the houses and landscapes in which they lived.
Box 4, Folder 8
Nihonbashi Festival in Tokyo, Japan
Note
This file contains 4 items.
Box 4, Folder 9
Nikko, Japan,
1945 November and undated
Note
This file contains 23 photographs from Nikko, Japan. Depicted in many of these photographs is Ambassador Edwin W. Pauley,
who was appointed by President Harry S. Truman to negotiate reparations with Japan after World War II. Some of these photographs
are blurry.
Box 4, Folder 10
Japan,
1948 May
Note
This file contains 4 items depicting cherry blossoms, the Meiji Shrine, Chiba City fishing boats, and a small village.
Box 4, Folder 11
May Day Parade on palace grounds in Tokyo, Japan,
May 1
Note
This file contains 6 items.
Box 4, Folder 12
Meiji Shrine, Tokyo, Japan,
1947 May and undated
Note
This file contains 5 items.
Box 4, Folder 13
Military photographs,
1945 November and undated
Note
This file contains 23 items including photographs of Kenzo Koike, his friends, and others in their military uniforms during
Koike's time in the United States Army. There is also a portrait of the Nisei regiment of which Koike was a part.
Box 4, Folder 14
Post-war aftermath
Note
This file contains 4 items depicting the aftermath from World War II including destroyed landscapes and one photograph captioned,
"10,000 Japs Killed on the 1st Island Invaded by McArthur."
Box 4, Folder 15
Tokyo, Japan,
1945 November-1946 March and undated
Note
This file contains 15 items depicting buildings and landscapes around Tokyo, Japan.
Box 4, Folder 16
Unidentified landscape photographs
Note
This file contains 17 items.
Box 4, Folder 17
Unidentified negatives
Note
This file contains 13 negatives depicting Kenzo Koike, his family and friends, various moments throughout his education, and
people playing musical instruments.
Box 4, Folder 18
Unidentified photographs of people
Note
This file contains 28 photographs of people who are unidentified. A few of the photographs are cut into shapes, like a heart.
Box 4, Folder 19
Yasukini Shrine
Note
This file contains 7 photographs of the Yasukini Shrine in Tokyo, Japan.
Box 4, Folder 20
Yokohama, Japan,
1945 November
Note
This file contains 4 blurry photographs depicting various landscapes.
Series 3:
Postal materials,
1918, 1932 and undated
Arrangement note
Alphabetical order by folder title.
Scope and Content note
This series contains a few postcards from Fort Sheridan in Illinois and correspondence to Kenzo Koike in 1932 after moving
from Seattle, Washington to Los Angeles.
Box 1, Folder 13
Card to mother,
1918 November 11
Note
This card was originally framed, but the frame was discrarded and the card was placed in a mylar sleeve.
Box 1, Folder 14
Correspondence with elementary school,
1932 June 6-1932 June 17
Box 1, Folder 15
Fort Sheridan postcards
Note
This file contains 3 items.
Series 4:
Realia,
undated
Arrangement note
Alphabetical order by folder title.
Scope and Content note
This series contains a variety of items, including a small wooden box with Japanese characters, a stationary pad, a garrison
hat, and an aviator hat from Koike’s time in the United States Army.
Box 1, Folder 16
Fort Snelling stationary book