Commemorating WWII Japanese American Incarceration & Highline History
On this Day of Remembrance 2025, we honor the resilience of Japanese and Japanese American people who were uprooted from their homes, schools and communities after President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942.
More than 100,000 people on the West Coast — including many from the Highline area — were relocated to Minidoka in Idaho or other internment camps, simply because of their ancestry.
This is an opportunity to learn about the history of Japanese Americans in the Highline and greater Seattle area, and to hear personal stories from two current Highline principals.
Principal Chad Kodama from Sylvester Middle School and Principal Kevin Takisaki from Innovation Heights Academy share their reflections, learning resources, and the personal impact of internment on their families.
The Highline High School History Wall captures part of the story on the Social Impacts panel: “Japanese American students disappeared from yearbooks between 1943 and 1945.”
Some students and alumni, like Toll Seike, were drafted while their families remained incarcerated. Others, like Minoru Tamesa, a member of HHS's first graduating class in 1926 (see photo), resisted the draft on principle due to his internment, was convicted, and later pardoned. Families lost homes, farms, and businesses with little time to prepare.
The Seike family, who endured the internment, later created the Seike Japanese garden, now located at the Highline SeaTac Botanical Gardens, in honor of their son Toll, who died serving in World War II.
While most of those incarcerated were U.S. citizens, about one-third were Japanese nationals who had lived in the U.S. for years but were barred from naturalization by discriminatory laws.
We invite you to explore this history through historical articles, and the personal stories and book recommendations from two Highline principals whose families were directly impacted. Their reflections help us remember and ensure this shared history is not forgotten.
Chad Kodama, Principal, Sylvester Middle School
“The Japanese American experience during World War II wasn’t something that was talked about openly in my family. It wasn’t until I learned about it in school that I started asking questions and hearing stories from different family members.
My family had a few days to sell all belongings or risk losing them. They were able to store some stuff at Seattle Buddhist Church, but nothing was waiting for them when they returned.
My grandma tried to sell her nice dish sets but was offered extremely disrespectful prices by people who knew she needed to sell them, so instead she stood at the top of her stairs outside her house and piece by piece threw them and watched them shatter.
Some Japanese families were able to store belongings at the Panama Hotel in the international district. The Panama hotel is featured in the book, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. If you go to the hotel today, in the coffee shop, you can look through a window in the floor at Japanese American’s belongings still there in the basement untouched.
My family was then shipped off to Camp Minidoka in Idaho where they would spend over three years living in barracks surrounded by barbed wire fences. When they did return home, they returned to nothing.
My grandpa tried to enlist in the military when the war first started and was told he wasn’t eligible because he was Japanese.
Later on, while at camp, the U.S. government attempted to force Japanese American men to enlist and he then refused, claiming, “You wouldn’t let me fight for my country, you have put my family in an internment camp, and now you want me to fight, and I won’t do it.”
He was incarcerated for over two years and known as a No-No Boy, like the character depicted in a book by John Okada called No-No Boy. My grandpa never talked about his time in prison, and we never asked him about it. All No-No Boys were later pardoned and their criminal record wiped clean.
When I was working in elementary schools, I would talk with classes and share a read-a-loud of The Minidoka Story, by Sat Ichikawa, which is a book that offers a clear picture of what happened in kid-friendly language.
Then I spent time answering many questions from students as they usually had a hard time believing that this happened to people who are still alive today.
Growing up not understanding the gravity of this event, I remember asking my dad why his family didn’t just change their last name and say they weren’t Japanese. He responded, “Japanese people are proud people, don’t ever forget that.”’
Kevin Takisaki, Principal, Innovation Heights Academy
“When World War II began, my Great Grandfather Tamotsu Takisaki was arrested in the middle of the night because he was recognized as a leader in the Japanese community. He was taken to a military prison in North Dakota, despite never being charged with any crime.
This left my grandfather and his family of five siblings parentless and facing internment. My great grandmother was already deceased. The siblings decided that they would try to sell the house, car, and three stores that the family owned. They sold everything that they owned for $200, leaving the family impoverished. Soon afterwards, my grandfather’s siblings were taken to temporary detention camps, which are now the Puyallup fairgrounds, before being transferred to the Minidoka Internment Camp.
This profoundly impacted the values passed down through the generations in my family. Around the dinner table, my grandfather would consistently stress the importance of education. He said repeatedly, “They can’t take your education away from you.” We all knew that when he said “they,” he meant the government that had thrown his family into prison.
I highly recommend the book, Facing the Mountain, by Daniel James Brown (author of The Boys in the Boat). It highlights the strength, determination, and selflessness of the Japanese American people, while giving a historically accurate depiction of what was endured for the benefit of the community.
Perseverance is what I am most proud of when it comes to my family history, culture, and this Day of Remembrance. There was every reason for my grandfather, family, and the Japanese Americans who were affected by this order to respond to their circumstances with spite and malice. Instead, they chose to care for one another and work to ensure a strong future for their families. I have no doubt, without their sacrifices and hardships, my family and children would not have the privilege and opportunities that they have today.
I am hopeful that the lessons learned from this executive order of 1942 will be remembered. With current federal actions, it reminds me of the importance of protecting and serving our communities, especially those who may face unjust executive actions against them despite their strong culture, backgrounds, beliefs, and positive contributions to our communities. We are stronger when we value and care for each other.
The Day of Remembrance is a day for our family and community to remember and recognize the injustices that Japanese Americans faced when incarcerated for their ethnicity.
Even more than the injustice, it is a day to recognize the challenges through which our elders and family members persevered to ensure that we would have a stronger community with opportunities they were not afforded.
I want to give thanks to my grandparents Jiro, Marion, Nobuko, and Louis for everything they persevered through for our family and future generations.”