|
I grew up in Southern California in a very Japanese-American area. Most of my friends parents had been "relocated" during WWII; many had lost the property they owned prior to the War when it was confiscated after their "relocation." It always amazed me how little was taught in school about this horrible injustice, and how the people who suffered were reluctant to talk about it. Most were American citizens, many spoke absolutely no Japanese.
My ex-father-in-law, American born of Japanese immigrant parents, escaped relocation only because he served in the U.S. Army as did his brother. The rest of their family was sent to Manzanar. I was introduced to the beauty of koi in the 1960's because of these fine people - in those days all the gardeners in SoCal were of Japanese descent and many of them kept koi in backyard ponds. I have no idea where they got them as I don't recall any koi dealers until the early 1970's or so. There was a beautiful theme park in those days called Japanese Village and Deer Park, which had a lovely koi pond. There was a restaurant there which cantalievered over the pond - I recall spending many hours eating udon while watching the koi swim.
__________________
Lynda
|