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separation: a new loneliness
Although most Japanese-American families were relocated to interment camps intact, it was not uncommon for them to be separated. Such was the case for the Iwata family of Thermal, California. Shigezo Iwata, Issei, was arrested and detained by the F.B.I. in New Mexico shortly after Executive Order 9066 was issued. His wife, Sonoko, and their children--all Nisei--were not interned until several months later. The family was reunited at the Colorado River Relocation Center near Poston, Arizona in 1943.
During their time apart, Shigezo and Sonoko Iwata communicated with one another frequently. Initially after his arrest, Shigezo was not able to write to Sonoko. Therefore, the earliest portion of their correspondence at the Balch Institute consists of Sonoko's letters to her husband. In them, she expresses her deep concern over Shigezo's welfare--then unknown to her--and relates local and family news to him. |
