Walter Imahara was born in February 1937 in Florin, California, a farming community just outside of Sacramento. His family had a 60 acre grape farm and his father was the head of the grape co-op. The co-op would loan money to farmers. The farmers then got into growing strawberries. His father ran that co-op as well. Their crops were always sent to big cities. In the late 1930s Imahara's father decided to get into the chicken business. He would take the chickens to the free market in Sacramento. On Saturdays his father made as much as 250 dollars. He did well by catering to the Caucasian population. Just before the war, Imahara's father decided that if he had a machine that could kill, process, and refrigerate the chickens they could sell even more of them. When the war started, their business went under because they were forced to leave the farm. One individual Imahara spoke to looked back at their house as they were leaving to go to the camp [Annotator's Note: an internment camp] and saw their neighbors already inside taking out all of their furniture.

Walter Imahara was four years old when he went into the camp. They were first sent to an assembly center in Fresno which was set up at a horse stable. The people were very angry. Imahara's father was mad at the American Government because he had lost everything. He was 37 at the time and had eight children. Still, he understood why they had to go into the camps. After they got out of the camps, his father became a strong American. Imahara has no recollection of learning of the attack on Pearl Harbor. They were sent to the Fresno assembly center three or four months after Pealr Harbor was attacked. At the time his mother was pregnant with her eighth child. The child was born at the relocation center and was the first baby born in a camp. It took a while for the family to obtain a birth certificate since the authorities did not know how to list the child's citizenship. Both of Imahara's parents were born in the United States and were American citizens so the child's citizenship was eventually listed as American. The Imaharas spent about four months at the relocation center. The internees were fed and an education system was set up. Sports activities were also started.

They [Annotator's Note: Walter Imahara and many of the other Japanese-Americans held at the Fresno Assembly Center] eventually learned that they were going to be sent to a camp in Arkansas. The train ride to the new camp took four days, during which they were not allowed to touch the window shades. The first camp Imahara arrived at was Jerome [Annotator's Note: Jerome War Relocation Center]. It was a concentration camp with barbed wire surrounding it. There were also towers with machine guns in them. The camp was next to the Mississippi River and was on land that no one wanted. The internees lived in tarpaper shacks. The internees did not throw anything away. They used whatever they could to seal the holes in the floors and walls of their shacks. There were schools in the camp staffed by Caucasian teachers. The State of Arkansas was mad because the teachers in the camps were making more money than those teaching outside of them. Many of the internees were well educated and taught the children subjects like art and music. The kids also played sports, especially baseball. The children were not badly affected by the internment but their parents were. The family units were being broken up. When they first arrived at the camp the toilet facilities were very primative. There were also no partitions between the showers so his sisters were very uncomfortable. There was no privacy. Every so often they would get ice cream which was very nice.

When they [Annotator's Note: Walter Imahara and many of the other Japanese-Americans interned at the Jerome War Relocation Center in Arkansas] got to Rohwer, a camp about 25 miles away, it was a new camp. The 10,000 or so internees from Jerome were sent to Rohwer and Jerome was converted into a prisoner of war camp housing German prisoners. The land at Rohwer was just as bad but the facilities were better. Most of the inmates in the camp were farmers and were able to grow their own vegetables which were used to supplement the food provided. Imahara's father functioned as a block manager for which he was paid 19 dollars per month. The block captains worked together as a kind of committee. One thing they did was approach the camp administration and requested that the inmates be given rice instead of potatoes. After the Imaharas were in Rohwer for about a year the camp closed. The internees were allowed to leave. They could go where ever they wanted to except the West Coast if they could find a place that would take them. A lot of the Japanese families went to New Jersey to work on a farm that mass produced vegetables and flash froze them for the armed forces. The Imaharas went there after they got out of the camp. By the time the people started leaving the camp was falling into disrepair. Early on they would watch the soldiers guarding the camp as they practiced marching. Imahara's mother felt sorry for the soldiers because many of them were carrying broom handles instead of rifles. After the guards left the kids would play on the guard towers. Imahara climbed up the guard tower one day. He fell out of it and broke his arm. Imahara's parents told him about meetings that were held at the camp by representatives of the Army who were there recruiting for the 442nd [Annotator's Note: 442nd Regimental Combat Team]. His parents also told him about a questionaire that all of the adults were given. Those who answered questions incorrectly were considered agitators and sent to Camp Tule Lake in California. Those that stated on the form that they would fight for American asked for their rights back first.

Walter Imahara had an uncle who farmed with his father in Florin outside of Sacramento. His uncle had a lot of children. When his uncle filled out the questionnaire [Annotator's Note: see Imahara, Walter segment titled Rohwer War Relocation Center], he stated that if he got a chance he wanted to go to Japan. About 4,700 people from Tule Lake were sent to Japan after the war, including his uncle. In Japan they worked as translators for the American military. The native Japanese did not like the Japanese-Americans. After several years Imahara's uncle returned to the United States. Many of the younger Japanese-Americans joined the American military. After getting out they used the GI Bill, got educations, and got on their feet. The returning Japanese-Americans faced a lot of prejudice in California. It was worse in Louisiana.

Walter Imahara explains the meaning of the Japanese term shikata ga nai. He heard the word some in the camp because his parents spoke Japanese. Imahara and his siblings could not speak Japanese. The term means that it cannot be helped. All of the Japanese in the camps used the term. There was some misunderstanding in the camps but not much. Imahara's father told him to always live by the rules. Imahara was in the second grade when he got out of the camp. He later finished school and went into the military. He had three brothers who all served in the military. Even though his parents experienced hardships they were loyal Americans and loved this country. Shikata ga nai also referred to them not living in the past. Imahara still lives by the word today. Due to interracial marriages, the population of pure Japanese in American is dwindling. After the war the Imaharas did well because they worked hard. He watches every State of the Union given by American presidents. He is an American and believes in the president. Imahara was asked to speak at an anniversary for the Japanese-American Museum for Jerome and Rohwer [Annotator's Note: the Jerome and Rohwer War Relocation Centers]. He started his talk by telling the audience that he is an American.

Walter Imahara's father cried when he got an apology for what had happened to him. [Annotator's Note: Imahara gets emotional when talking about this]. At the time he received his check for 20,000 dollars he was almost 90 years old. He took the money and went to live with Imahara's sister in California. Imahara jokes with his friends and tells them that he used the check he got to pay his income taxes. As children they knew nothing about war.

Walter Imahara thinks that future generations can learn from the internment of Japanese-Americans. There is a lot of turmoil in this country now. Imahara recalls Senator Daniel Inouye speaking at the Democratoc National Convention in Chicago while riots were taking place outside. Multiple times throughout the speech Inouye said that we are all Americans. After the war, Imahara's father would frequently speak about life in the camp. His mother shared stories of it as well. His mother was happy just to have her family with her. The Imaharas supported each other. He has no regrets. He and his siblings have purchased cars, televisions, and other items for his parents.

Walter Imahara was into sports and attended the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. He learned that some of the politicians broached the idea of putting some black Americans in internment camps after seeing some of the athletes giving the black power sign during the games. The first people to fight this idea was the JACL, Japanese-American Citizens League. They stood up against the politicians and reminded them that no laws had been broken. Following 9-11 [Annotator's Note: the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001] the JACL again stood up against rounding up people of a certain religious groups. Imahara's parents used to talk about the Italians and Germans. Many Japanese-Americans wanted to know why they were not in camps. The answer was Pearl Harbor. There were approximately 150,000 Japanese living in Hawaii during the war. There were about 140,000 living on the mainland. Many of the Japanese Americans formed groups to help the war effort. There was no indication that the Japanese would do anything against the United States. The Japanese living on the West Coast were rounded up because of anti-Japanese sentiment and for political and economic reasons.

[Annotator's Note: This segment begins with the interviewer asking Walter Imahara to describe what is hanging on the wall behind him.] Imahara asked his father to retire when he was 75. They had several garden centers that Imahara and his siblings were prepared to run. His father told them that when he retired he was going to do haiku, a 17 syllable Japanese poem written in kanji. His father started doing haiku on cypress boards at the age of 75. Imahara now has 150 haikus on boards hanging in his home. According to the Smithsonian, Imahara has the only display of haikus on boards in America. Some of the haikus took Imahara's father over a month to complete. He also has a few that were never interpreted. Imahara remembers the past but he does not live in it. He always tries to keep a positive attitude toward life.