Group Media & Photos

Yakichi Watanabe (left), cane field foreman or luna. Hawaii Island, early 1900s. JCCH/Sadako Alison Yamanaka Collection.

Yakichi Watanabe and family. Hilo, Hawaii Island, June 1911. Front row (L-R): Wife Fumiko (holding youngest child), mother of Yakichi, father of Yakichi, brother of Yakichi. 2nd Row: Yakichi, holding child. JCCH/Sadako Alison Yamanaka Collection.

Yakichi Watanabe Family in front of family home. Hilo, Hawaii Island, January 1918. Yakichi (holding son), wife Fumiko, and parents. JCCH/Sadako Alison Yamanaka Collection.

Yakichi and Fumiko Watanabe and family upon move from Hilo to Maui Island, ca. 1920. JCCH/Sadako Alison Yamanaka Collection.

Yakichi Watanabe Family, 1924. (L-R): Brown, Walter, Yakichi, nanny (standing), Winifred, Fumiko holding Sue, Allison. JCCH/Sadako Alison Yamanaka Collection.

Yakichi Watanabe Family, 1938. Front row: Sueko, Hideko. 2nd Row: Sadako, Fumiko, Hiroko. 3rd Row: Brown, Yakichi, Walter. JCCH/Sadako Alison Yamanaka Collection.

Graduating class of Waikapu Japanese School, 1940. Yakichi Watanabe, principal, and his wife, Fumiko, front row, center. JCCH/Sadako Alison Yamanaka Collection.
Internment Locations
Maui County Jail, Wailuku, Maui Island
Sand Island Internment Camp, Honolulu, Oahu Island
This internee was among forty-nine men (mostly Issei) who were sent in the fifth transfer group for internment in U.S. Army and Justice Department camps on the Mainland. The internees 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.
Angel Island Detention Facility, California
August 1942
Lordsburg Internment Camp, New Mexico
August 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.
Yakichi Watanabe's two sons, Brown Mitsugi and Walter Hitoshi, served in the U.S. armed forces during World War II. Brown Mitsugi Watanabe was an Army staff sergeant. Walter Hitoshi Watanabe volunteered in 1943 and was a member of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. He was the recipient of two Purple Hearts.