Japanese Americans

Shuko Yoshikami, who's now 86, was just four years old when he, his parents and three siblings were sent by train from southern California to Heart Mountain. They spent about three years there.

Amache, a former Japanese incarceration camp in Colorado, is now officially part of the National Park system. Many survivors and descendants are excited about the news.

The Heart Mountain Interpretive Center released English translations of a literary magazine written by the incarcerated.Among the some 14,000 Japanese Americans that were incarcerated in Wyoming during World War II were a lot of people from the artistic and literary scene in Los Angeles.That community came together and started producing art, poetry and essays, but all in Japanese. The Japanese-language magazine was called Bungei, which roughly translates to “arts and literature.”

The Heart Mountain Interpretive Center has a new exhibit focusing on the parallels between the Japanese-American incarceration in the United States and the Holocaust.Titled “Parallel Barbed Wire”, the exhibit tells the story of two men – Heart Mountain incarceree Clarence Matsumura and Holocaust survivor Solly Ganor.

The internment of Japanese Americans during World War II is something many don’t know about. The descendants of those imprisoned at Amache are sharing their family stories and helping to shed light on this dark period in history.

The U.S. Customs and Immigration Service is proposing to boost fees to process and copy immigration files from the end of the 19th century through the beginning of the 20th century. That could affect family research on people held at Japanese-American internment camps in the Mountain West during World War II.

The Heart Mountain Interpretive Center finally has the green light to start working on its new building. Organizers are hoping the Mineta-Simpson Institute will be more than just a building.

Out of the nearly 14,000 Japanese-Americans who were incarcerated at Heart Mountain during World War II nearly a third were children.Heart Mountain's Communications and Marketing Manager Krist Jessup said the festival is based on a traditional Japanese Holiday that celebrates children. Children's Day, or Kodomo no Hi, is a traditional Japanese holiday and has been celebrated in Japan in some form since the 7th century. The holiday celebrates the growth, happiness, and personalities of children.

The Minidoka National Historic Site is one of the 11 most endangered historic places in the country, according to an annual list released by the National Trust for Historic Preservation Wednesday.

This Saturday marks the 80th anniversary of the executive order that allowed all Japanese-Americans living on the West coast to be removed and incarcerated in camps like Heart Mountain between Powell and Cody.