27/05/2026
It’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, honoring the history, cultures, achievements, and contributions of Americans with roots in Asia and the Pacific Islands. I’m reposting this photograph of my Dad, Susumu Yamash*ta, and accompanying story by my brother Ken Yamash*ta, along with a few photographs taken by Ansel Adams and Dorothea Lange of life inside the camps:
“My father, Susumu Yamash*ta, was a junior executive at the San Francisco branch of Mitsubishi Trading Company before the December 7, 1941, Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. On April 30, 1942, he was involved in the mass forced removal of the Japanese American community from Berkeley to Tanforan detention center, a former race track in San Bruno, with my mother, Kiyoko Yamash*ta, and my 18-month-old sister Kimiko. My family was housed in a horse-stall “apartment” from May to September. When my family was transported to the Topaz, Utah incarceration camp in September 1942, my father was assigned to be the liaison to the Issei (first-generation) residents due to his Japanese-language proficiency, which was gained from his 11 years of education in Tokyo between 1911–1922. This is why he was labeled as a “Kibei,” American-born but educated in Japan. After working 14 months in Community Welfare, providing the camp’s social services, my father was ready for a change. My Cal Berkeley/Harvard Business School-alumnus, ex-businessman father asked to be transferred to the agricultural division to work as a ranch hand. He achieved personal satisfaction from working outdoors as a Kibei cowboy, tanned and healthy, herding cattle astride his favorite horse, Red. At age 39, he was undoubtedly one of the oldest “cowboys” amongst the riders at the Topaz cattle ranch. In 1951, he rejoined Mitsubishi and was charged with establishing its New York headquarters as the new Mitsubishi International Corporation. After Topaz, my father never rode a horse again.
The author, Ken Yamash*ta, was born in Topaz in 1945. He is now a historian working on archiving the memories of camp survivors.
