Chiyo Matsutani is a young college student in San Francisco and Hiro Fujimoto has nearly paid off the loan on his Sacramento farm. Both are American citizens when they’re rounded up in 1942 and sent to an incarceration camp where they meet, fall in love, and marry.
But when they’re released three years later, Hiro’s farm - like the property of so many Japanese Americans - has been seized. They take the only jobs available to them, as housekeeper and gardener for a wealthy family in Oakland where they face casual racism, harassment, and an unending future of dreary servitude.
Based on a true story, this tale of love and resistance is a look behind the curtain at the resilience, humor, and community it took to survive at a time when ”American” didn’t apply to all citizens.
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Chiyo Matsutani is a young college student in San Francisco and Hiro Fujimoto has nearly paid off the loan on his Sacramento farm. Both are American citizens when they’re rounded up in 1942 and sent to an incarceration camp where they meet, fall in love, and marry.
But when they’re released three years later, Hiro’s farm - like the property of so many Japanese Americans - has been seized. They take the only jobs available to them, as housekeeper and gardener for a wealthy family in Oakland where they face casual racism, harassment, and an unending future of dreary servitude.
Based on a true story, this tale of love and resistance is a look behind the curtain at the resilience, humor, and community it took to survive at a time when ”American” didn’t apply to all citizens.
We've stitched all five episodes together, for those of you who'd rather listen all at once.
*Trigger Warning: There is a brief, non-graphic portrayal of sexual assault at the 34:00 mark.
In April of 1942, no one could have predicted that Japanese-Americans would be away from their lives, homes and businesses for three years of war. Unfortunately, the world to which they returned still saw them as the enemy.
Welcome to Chiyo and Hiro Fujimoto's 50th wedding anniversary, an evening to look back and remember their first meeting, at the Tule Lake Incarceration Center in 1942.
Chiyo Matsutani is a young college student in San Francisco and Hiro Fujimoto has nearly paid off the loan on his Sacramento farm. Both are American citizens when they’re rounded up in 1942 and sent to an incarceration camp where they meet, fall in love, and marry.
But when they’re released three years later, Hiro’s farm - like the property of so many Japanese Americans - has been seized. They take the only jobs available to them, as housekeeper and gardener for a wealthy family in Oakland where they face casual racism, harassment, and an unending future of dreary servitude.
Based on a true story, this tale of love and resistance is a look behind the curtain at the resilience, humor, and community it took to survive at a time when ”American” didn’t apply to all citizens.
