Group Media & Photos

Internees from Kauai. Santa Fe Internment Camp, taken between June 1943 and March 1944. Bottom Row (L-R): Setsugo Togioka (2nd), Koshi Tatsuhara (3rd), Isamu Ueoka (4th), Osuke Shigemoto (5th), Torao Iseri (8th), Rev. Ichiro Uyeda (9th). 2nd Row: Rev. Kakichi Okamoto (1st), Rev. Takao Ama (2nd), Kyoichi Uyeda (3rd), Zenkichi Morita (5th), Ikuzo Kuniyuki (6th), Kenichi Hataishi (8th), Kazuto Taketa (9th). 3rd Row: Sunao Fujii (1st), Mankichi Miura (2nd), Kazuto Yokota (3rd), Takeo Seike (4th), Masaji Toyofuku (5th), Shinjiro Matayoshi (6th), Shizuma Tanji (7th), Rev. Kakuho Asaoka (8th), Yonezo Kanja (9th), Zenzo Kisada (10th), Ishimatsu Shintani (11th). Top Row: Junzo Mashita (3rd), Jukichi Inouye (5th), Kenji Yoshiura (6th), Kazumi Matsumoto (9th), Gengo Honda (10th). JCCH/Sunao Fujii Archival Collection.

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Internees from Kauai. Santa Fe Camp Internment Camp, taken between June 1943 and March 1944. Bottom row, kneeling and seated (L-R): Shinjiro Matayoshi (1st), Kenji Yoshiura (2nd), Ryozo Izutsu (3rd), Kaetsu Furuya (4th), Yukiyasu Sodetani (5th), Koshi Tatsuhara (6th), Tsuruzo Hasegawa (7th), Rev. Hironori Nishii (9th, on chair). 2nd Row, seated: Mankichi Miura (2nd, without tie), Takeo Seike (3rd), Kameo Tahara, Rev. Kakichi Okamoto (5th), Rev. Hiseki Miyasaki (6th), Rev. Ichiro Uyeda (7th), Yozaemon Yamamoto (8th), Zenzo Kisada (9th), Masaji Toyofuku (10th/4th fr R), Chiyomatsu Hamamura (11th/3rd fr R), Kazuto Yokota (13th/1st fr R). 3rd Row: Zenkichi Morita (1st), Sukenoshin Nakano (2nd), Kazuto Taketa (3rd), Rev. Shoyu Kitajima (4th), Rev. Gijo Ozawa (5th), Rev. Chiko Odate (6th), Rev. Kakuho Asaoka (7th, wearing hat), Isuke Horikawa (8th/3rd fr R), Enichi Saiki (9th/2nd fr R), Kyoichi Uyeda (10th/1st fr R). Top Row: Kyushichi Hayashi (2nd), Kenichi Hataishi (4th), Rev. Kyojo Naitoh (5th), Kokichi Tsuji (6th), Katsutaro Yamasaki (7th), Meijiro Hayashi (8th/3rd fr R), Sunao Fujii (9th/2nd fr R), Isamu Ueoka (10th/1st fr R). JCCH/Sunao Fujii Archival Collection.

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Santa Fe Internment Camp. Row 1 (L-R): Shinjiro Matayoshi (2nd), Rev. Zenkai Tatsuguchi (5th), Rev. Zenko Saigusa (6th). Row 2: Kazuyuki Kawano (2nd), Takeo Seike (3rd), Rev. Kakichi Okamoto (4th), Mankichi Miura (5th), Matsujiro Otani (7th), Rev. Kenjyo Ohara (8th), Rev. Daishin Ikejiri (9th). Row 3: Rev. Doro Kanda (2nd, with tie), Hirouemon Yamamoto (4th), Tsuruichi Sarae (6th), Rev. Tenran Mori (7th), Sukenoshin Nakano (1st fr R). Row 4: Riuichi Ipponsugi (2nd). JCCH/Riuichi Ipponsugi Archival Collection.

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Internment Locations

Arrested: February 1942

Wailua County Jail, Lihue, Kauai Island

Sand Island Internment Camp, Honolulu, Oahu Island

Fourth Transfer Group: June 1942

This internee was among 39 men (mostly Issei) who were sent on the fourth transfer ship for internment in U.S. Army and Justice Department camps on the Mainland. These men were sent together from camp to camp, with some paroled to War Relocation Authority camps to reunite with family or transferred for repatriation to Japan. 

Also sent on the same ship were six Issei women internees: Kiku Horibe, Miyuki Kawasaki, Yoshie Miyao, Yuki Miyao, Haru Tanaka, and Tsuta Yamane. The women were kept apart from the men and had a different internment sequence from them.

Angel Island Detention Facility, California

June 1942 - July 1942

Lordsburg Internment Camp, New Mexico

July 1942 - June 1943

Santa Fe Internment Camp, New Mexico

June 1943 - October 1945

Returned to Hawaii: November 1945

Arrived in Honolulu with 450 other internees aboard the military troopship the Yarmouth.

In March 1943, Shinjiro Matayoshi's eldest son, Shinyei "Rocky" Matayoshi, volunteered for the U.S. Army in the hope, he would later say, that his service would free his father. As a technical sergeant with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, Shinyei Matayoshi received many awards for valor, including two Silver Stars, two Bronze Stars, a Purple Heart and, some 50 years later, the Distinguished Service Cross, America's second highest combat medal.