The letters in this collection were written by members of the Yasukochi family between 1942 and 1944. The contents are mostly addressed to Taisuke Yasukochi, the head of the Yasukochi household, while he was at the Lordsburg and Santa Fe, New Mexico Department of Justice camps.

Taisuke Yasukochi (1900-1971) was born in 1900 in Fukuoka, Japan and immigrated to the United States around 1915. He became very involved in the Kasuya prefecture group and his local Buddhist temple after arriving in the US. Taisuke and his wife, Kane, had eight children and farmed strawberries and chili peppers in Oceanside, California before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Taisuke was arrested by the FBI and sent to San Diego Jail after his initial arrest and then to Lordsburg, New Mexico. Taisuke and his father, Kiso Yasukochi, were held in Santa Fe, New Mexico while the rest of Yasukochi family members were incarcerated at Poston in Arizona. Taisuke and his father were reunited with their family at Poston and they eventually returned to Oceanside where Taisuke continued to farm after the war.

.4 linear feet (1 box)

All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from materials in this collection must be submitted to the Collections Management and Access Unit at the Japanese American National Museum (collections@janm.org).

By appointment only. Please contact the Collections Management and Access Unit (collections@janm.org). Advanced notice is required.