Bunro Sakaino Concentration Camp Diary

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There was a fairly wide river going through the town. I asked a black waiter where we were, but he just gave me a very simple “I don’t know” answer. There is no way employees working for a railroad company do not know the cities, towns and villages along the line. A strict “no answer” order must have been issued.

A lot of people got food poisoned with dinner, and bathrooms were alway crowded. Everyone was furious and Rock Island R.R. was the target of our criticism. It was such a riot. It would have been almost like bombing an unarmed area and slaughtering civilians if someone had died from the food poisoning.

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It was pretty idyllic despite the wartime. It was 8 a.m. After the train stopped, our names were called in alphabetical order, and we got off the train as called and formed five lines. Armed soldiers were lined up on both sides, and the heavy guard is no different from when we left.

We straightened the lines and started to walk, and tens of tents on the right with a watchtower surrounded by wood poles and barbed wire came into sight. We passed them and kept walking, turned left and saw our tents in the dead end in front of us.

After we were put into the wired area, the guards just disappeared to somewhere like birds were released and flew away. Japanese people from Panama who arrived here earlier showed us around.

The tents are extremely poor-looking. One tent accommodates five people. As a result of various negotiations with groups from other regions, everyone from Oregon and Wapato are to occupy one section, and each one from California is to pick friends and a spot that they like. To be practical, we decided to assign ourselves to a tent in alphabetical order. I got the seventh tent to share with Kameichi Ono, Takafumi [1] Okazaki, Toshijiro Okamoto and Masaichi Sakimura.

We were sent to our tents, but there was nothing, not even beds or bedding. Each of us hauled them from the supply facility and finally set it up, but the beds are extremely poorly made folding ones for soldiers.

[1] Could be a different name

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We have a pillow, two blankets and a comforter, but pillow cases or bedsheets are not provided. Our mattresses are covered, but that does not substitute for sheets. The pillow provided to me even has ugly sweat stains, but it seems to be at least disinfected.

What troubles everyone is that the bathrooms and latrines are far away. What would elders do when it is cold and rainy? We are facing a sudden change in our life, and each of us cannot help feeling like screaming for help.

We are chased away again, two thousand miles away in our dream, to Oklahoma

We all feel depressed and anxious, and exhausted after the trip for three days and nights. It was around 9 p.m. when we went to sleep with our new fate to dream about.

We were told telegrams are definitely not permitted. and everyone is sending express letters to the family by airmail. We all have a hard time understanding why it is not allowed, and a lot of people are complaining.