Japanese Internment in the USA
Ballet
Internal Field of Reference
Hover over me!
Excerpt : “That was the only time we really exchanged words, and some weeks later, I understood she had organized a dancing class from among the younger girls in the Block.” (page 110)
In the narrative, Miss Sasagawara was a dance instructor to the young girls in the block who later performed a ballet dance at the Block Christmas Party.
External Field of Reference
Hover over me!
Excerpt: "Many excellent musicians contributed their talents to the classroom. From these classes there emerged orchestras of symphonic size for rendition of the classics and ensembles to delight with dance and informal musical programs." (page 209)
Dance programs were popular among the young Japanese evacuees in the assembly centers and dance, generally, was enjoyed as a leisure activity.
Hula Dance
Internal Field of Reference
Hover over me!
Excerpt : “...a little girl in a grass skirt and superfluous brassiere did a hula...” (page 110)
In ‘The Legend of Miss Sasagawara’, during the Block Christmas Party, a hula dance was performed by a young girl.
External Field of Reference
Hover over me!
Excerpt : "Dancing was popular, from formal, dressy, date affairs to hops in dungarees." (page 210)
Dances such as hula, ballet and such were enjoyed as leisure activities or performed during talent shows by the Japanese evacuees.
This is one of many dance and concert orchestras organized at the Assembly Centers.
Dancing was an almost nightly diversion for the younger evacuees at the Centers.
This is one of many dance and concert orchestras organized at the Assembly Centers.
Music
Violins, Spanish Guitar and Portable Phonograph
Internal Field of Reference
Hover over me!
- Violins
Excerpt : “I giggled and explained. Elsie and I, after hearing Menuhin on the radio, had, in a fit of madness, sent to Sears and Roebuck for beginners' violins that cost five dollars each. We had received free instruction booklets, too, but, unable to make heads or tails from them, we contented ourselves with occasionally taking the violins out of their paper bags and sawing every whichway away.” (pg 109)
- Spanish guitar
Excerpt : “I sent for a Spanish guitar. I studied it about a year once, but that was so long ago I don't remember the first thing and I'm having to start all over again. We'd make a fine orchestra.” (pg 110)
- Portable phonograph
Excerpt : "...she set up a portable phonograph on the floor and vigorously turned the crank." (page 110)
In ‘The Legend of Miss Sasagawara, Miss Sasagawara owns her own portable phonograph and records, which she uses during the ballet performance of her students during the Block Christmas Party. Moreover, Miss Sasagawara, Elsie and Kiku have their own musical instruments which shows their interest in music.
External Field of Reference
Hover over me!
Excerpt : "Pianos, bass viols, cellos and cymbals, violins and piccolos moved magically into the Centers, with snare drums, accordions, harmonicas, clarinets and saxophones. Phonographs and records added to the inventory, and only the shortwave radio was prohibited. Much of this equipment was the property of the evacuees and, when not too bulky, was carried by them into the Centers." (page 210)
Music was enjoyed by the Japanese evacuees in the assembly centers and thus some owned their own music instruments.
Singing classes were organized and conducted at all the Centers by experienced Japanese teachers. A teacher leading a singing class at Portland (Oregon) Assembly Center.
A teen-age orchestra tuning up under the leadership of a Japanese woman instructor at Salinas (California) Assembly Center. Orchestras were organized among all age groups at different centers.
Singing classes were organized and conducted at all the Centers by experienced Japanese teachers. A teacher leading a singing class at Portland (Oregon) Assembly Center.
Songs
Internal Field of Reference
Hover over me!
Internal Field of Reference:
Excerpt 1: " I giggled and explained. Elsie and I, after hearing Menuhin on the radio, had, in a fit of madness, sent to Sears and Roebuck for beginners' violins that cost five dollars each."
Excerpt 2: "...one of the young boys wore a bow-tie and whispered a popular song while the girls shrieked and pretended to be growing faint, my mother sang an old Japanese song, four of the girls wore similar blue dresses and harmonized on a sweet tune..." (page 110)
In the Legend of Miss Sasagawara, many of the characters enjoyed songs. Some listened to it being played on the radio while some even sung songs during the Block Christmas Party.
External Field of Reference
Hover over me!
External Field of Reference:
Excerpt: "...only the shortwave radio was prohibited." (page 210)
Menuhin is a famous violinist whose songs are played on records and radios. However based on the final report on the Japanese Evacuation from the West Coast 1942, radios are prohibited in the camps. In the Legend of Miss Sasagawara, a song from Menuhin was played on the radio.
Reading
Books and magazines
Four young evacuees from Sacramento, California, read comic books at the newsstand in the Tule Lake Relocation Center, in Newell, California, on July 1, 1942.
Four young evacuees from Sacramento, California, read comic books at the newsstand in the Tule Lake Relocation Center, in Newell, California, on July 1, 1942.
INTERNAL FIELD OF REFERENCE
Excerpt 1: "...and that Miss Sasagawara had just lots and lots of books to read." (page 110)
Excerpt 2: "Joe had standing by his bed an apple crate for a shelf, and he was in the habit of reading his sports and western magazines in bed and throwing them on top of the crate before he went to sleep."
In 'The Legend of Miss Sasagawara', it can be seen that some of the characters such as Miss Sasagawara, Michi and Joe enjoyed reading.
EXTERNAL FIELD OF REFERENCE
Excerpt 1: "Subjects taught consisted of (first to sixth grade) arithmetic, reading, spelling..."
Excerpt 2: "So also were the popular national weekly and monthly magazines."
Reading books and magazines was an activity that was enjoyed by the Japanese evacuees in the Centres.
Poetry
Internal Field of Reference:
Excerpt 1: "I happened one day to be looking through the last issue of a small poetry magazine that had suspended publication midway through the war." (page 115)
Excerpt 2: "I felt a thrill of recognition at the name, Mari Sasagawara, signed to a long poem, introduced as ". . . the first published poem of a Japanese American woman who is, at present, an evacuee from the West Coast making her home in a War Relocation center in Arizona." (page 115)
In 'The Legend of Miss sasagawara, Miss Sasagawara had written a poem which had been published in a poetry magazine.
External Field of Reference:
Excerpt: "Poetry and literary tid-bits flowed from the esthetes. The whole community life, indeed, was mirrored in the Center paper." (page 213)
Poetry was something that the evacuees in the Centres enjoyed reading and writing as a leisure activity.
Poem titled "The Upward Trail" by Japanese relocation center student Janet Matsuda.
Yukiko Abo is one of the Senryu poets who lives on Oyster Bay, Totten Inlet, Washington State. She was born on nearby Mud Bay. She and her family are participants in the Mountain of Shell project. This project seeks to document the lives and work of Japanese and Japanese Americans in the oyster industry on Oyster Bay.