Internment as Art

On stage at the Firehall theatre, I was intrigued by this half hour panel ranging in experience and perspective, moderated by Sally Ito, a scholar, poet and translator with whom I'd done a reading. I'd seen Matt Miwa interview his elders about their experiences at Hastings Park and Tashme. Afterward, I saw Yoshie Bancroft perform in The Japanese Problem, a theatrical interpretation she created about being incarcerated in Hastings Park. Jay Rubin translated Haruki Murakami, but here he spoke of his novel about Japanese Americans during the War. I'd read Joy Kogawa's Obasan and her most recent Gently to Nagasaki.