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Yoshiko UchidaYoshiko Uchida
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Desert Exile: The Uprooting of a Japanese American Family (Classics of Asian American Literature) Kindle Edition
by Yoshiko Uchida (Author), Traise Yamamoto (Introduction) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars (192)
3.9 on Goodreads
838 ratings
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, everything changed for Yoshiko Uchida. Desert Exile is her autobiographical account of life before and during World War II. The book does more than relate the day-to-day experience of living in stalls at the Tanforan Racetrack, the assembly center just south of San Francisco, and in the Topaz, Utah, internment camp. It tells the story of the courage and strength displayed by those who were interned.
From the United States
- One person found this helpful
- Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2002While everyone has heard of the Holocaust and of the horrors inflicted upon the Jewish peoples during World War II, fewer people seem aware of the shameful treatment of the Japanese and Japanese-Americans in the United States following Pearl Harbor. While the American 'internment camps' did not play the same role as the concentration camps of Germany, and while the Issei and Nisei were not exterminated en masse as the Jews were, the actions taken by the American government with regard to "enemy alien" Japanese was nonetheless deploreable, and should not be forgotten, lest such a thing happen again.
Yoshiko Uchida had been living a fairly normal life with her Nisei sister and Issei family in Berkeley, California. Though she was aware of her Japanese heritage (sometimes moreso than others), Yoshiko never considered herself to be anything but an American. So when the American government tells her and her family that they have 10 days to report for relocation, Yoshiko suddenly finds her entire identity thrown into turmoil. If she isn't American, and she isn't Japanese, then who is she?
Much of this story was familiar to me, because I have read The Invisible Thread, another book by Uchida covering the same topic, but written for children. In each book, she speaks with anger, with sadness, and with fondness. She speaks of the confusion felt by the Nisei at being treated as criminals - actually, with less rights than criminals - by their own country. She speaks of the horrific living conditions at Tanforan and Topaz. She speaks of the fortitude of the Issei and Nisei, who meet the challenges present to them with typical Japanese aplomb.
There are any number of books out there by survivors of the Japanese internment during World War II. Uchida's is particularly well told, and should be read by anyone who think that "things like that couldn't happen in America." This is particularly pertinent now, when we seem to be in danger of following the same slippery slope. - Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2024...a book from the heart...and heart breaking
- Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2015This is good one, but if you know the basics about the Japanese internment camps its kind of a waste. Its one woman's story about her families internment, and its an uneventful one. There are no plot twists. Its just a very average story from that time, and the end she just wants us to be aware this atrocity of justice had happened. If you want to read a story of this time, read something with a family that is a little less well off at the time, or took a stance against the American government. This lady was well off from the get go, and she just took it. It would a better story at least.
- Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2016An excellent, heart touching personal account of the injustices and hardships Yoshiko Uchida and her family struggled to overcome after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Desert Exile carries the reader along with the Uchida family as they and thousands of Japanese Americans are removed from their homes and incarcerated in internment camps along the west coast. It's a piece of America's history that is relevant even today. An informative and eye opening read.
- Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2011I know I say this often but I think books about Japanese-Americans during WW11 should be required reading in our schools and for others too. We need to know what can happen, what did happen and never allow it to happen again. We need to recognize prejudice and never allow it to cloud our judgments. I feel, I, myself, have learned a lot. We can all learn.
- Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2017okay
- Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2015A subject we don't see discussed much anymore. Well written without bitterness. It was amazing to see what this group of mistreated people could accomplish to improve a pathetic existence during their exile. Some of our welfare recipients should read it to see just what can be accomplished with determination and pride.
- Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2013This story was always one that held interest for me but yet one that I wasn't sure I really wanted to own as a proud American. Two things I carry with me now, one being where the school kids still stood and recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the US of A flag after interned. The other that many families felt like they were doing their part for the war in peacefully following the orders of being imprisoned..at least at first.
Overall an interesting and heart warming true story with some humor and heart. - Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2013Concerning a subject that is often overlooked, the Japanese Americans interred during WWII is a very interesting subject. This is a great representation of the topic as it humanizes the poor people who faced such horrible conditions. We need more insight from these people as some of them are still alive. This is a very good book, with lots of insight and stories of happiness and hardship. This in my opinion would make an excellent movie!
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Journey to Topaz
Yoshiko Uchida
,
Donald Carrick
(Illustrator)
3.88
1,651 ratings233 reviews
Like any 11-year-old, Yuki Sakane is looking forward to Christmas when her peaceful world is suddenly shattered by the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Uprooted from her home and shipped with thousands of West Coast Japanese Americans to a desert concentration camp called Topaz, Yuki and her family face new hardships daily.
Genres
Historical Fiction
Middle Grade
Young Adult
Fiction
World War II
War
American History
...more
168 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
Literary awards
Vermont Golden Dome Book Award Nominee (1973)
Original title
Journey To Topaz: A Story Of The Japanese-American Evacuation
Setting
Topaz Relocation Camp, Utah (United States, 1941), Utah (United States)
This edition
Format
168 pages, Paperback
Published
October 1, 2015 by Heyday
ISBN
9781890771911 (ISBN10: 1890771910)
ASIN
1890771910
Language
English
More editions
Journey to Topaz Book Cover
Kindle Edition
Heyday
2022
Journey to Topaz: A Story of the Japanese-American Evacuation Book Cover
Paperback
Creative Arts Book Co
1988
Journey to Topaz Book Cover
Hardcover
Encore Editions
1971
Journey to Topaz;: A story of the Japanese-American evacuation Book Cover
Hardcover
Scribners
1971
Journey to Topaz Book Cover
Library Binding
Turtleback Books
2004
Journey to Topaz : A Story of the Japanese-American Evacuation Book Cover
Library Binding
Bt Bound
1986
Journey to Topaz Book Cover
Paperback
Heyday
2022
Journey to Topaz Book Cover
Paperback
Creative Arts Book
1985
Journey to Topaz by Yoshiko Uchida Book Cover
Paperback
Creative Arts Book Company
Journey to Topaz Book Cover
Paperback
Demco Media
1986
Journey to Topaz Book Cover
Unknown Binding
Yamaguchi Shoten
1984
Journey to Topaz: A Story of the Japanese-American Evacuation Book Cover
Paperback
D C Heath & Co
Journey to Topaz: A Story of the Japanese-American Evacuation Book Cover
Unknown Binding
HEYDAY BOOKS
2005
JOURNEY TO TOPAZ: A STORY OF THE JAPANESE-AMERICAN EVACUATION Book Cover
Unknown Binding
Creative Arts Book Company, Berkeley
Journey to Topaz: A Story of the Japanese - American Evacuation by Yoshiko Uchida Book Cover
Hardcover
Encore Editions
Journey to Topaz: A Story of the Japanese - American Evacuation by Yoshiko Uchida Book Cover
Hardcover
Encore Editions
Journey to Topaz Library Binding 1985 Book Cover
Library Binding
Journey To Topaz: A Story Of The Japanese-American Evacuation by Yoshiko Uchida Book Cover
Paperback
Heyday
1781
Journey To Topaz: A Story Of The Japanese-American Evacuation Book Cover
Paperback
Heyday
2004
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About the author
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Yoshiko Uchida
51 books94 followers
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Yoshiko, born on November 24, 1921, was the second daughter of Japanese immigrant parents Takashi and Iku. Her father worked as a businessman for Mitsui and Company in San Francisco, and Iku wrote poetry, passing along her love of literature to her girls. Though the Great Depression raged, the Uchida family enjoyed comforts because of Takashi's well-paying job and their own frugality. Yoshiko loved to write, and her stories played out on pieces of brown wrapping paper. She also kept a journal to record her thoughts and events.
Enveloped in love and tradition at home, Yoshiko weathered the prejudice she sometimes faced. Many white students at University High School in Oakland didn't invite her to their parties and wouldn't socialize with her, deeming her a foreigner. Even while attending the University of California at Berkley, Yoshiko often faced the same dilemma of being ostracized. She found friendships with other Japanese American students and was preparing to graduate when Pearl Harbor was bombed, changing her life.
The United States government rounded up 120,000 people of Japanese descent and put them into camps. The Uchida family first resided in a horse stall at a racetrack in California, surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards. Though difficult to endure, the next move was worse. Almost 8,000 Japanese were sent to a relocation concentration camp called Topaz in the Utah desert. The detainees suffered from violent dust storms, scorpions, snakes, and exceedingly poor living conditions. Yoshiko taught second grade children there until she received a fellowship from Smith College to earn a master's degree in education.
Yoshiko and her sister both left the camp in May of 1943, with their parents gaining release later that year. Teaching for several years in a Quaker school outside of Philadelphia, Yoshiko decided to quit teaching and find work that allowed more time for writing. She moved to New York City and began as a secretary, penning stories in the evenings. Asked to contribute to a book about Japanese folk tales, Yoshiko discovered that though the book didn't come to be, with time she could create a full collection of folk tales. Writing a few pieces for adults, Yoshiko realized she was better suited for children's books.
A Ford Foundation fellowship sent her to Japan to research the culture and their stories. Spending two years, Yoshiko found her time to be healing as she learned about her own ancestry. The pain of the concentration camps lessened, and she began writing about the experiences in fictional books such as Journey to Topaz and Journey Home. Her career as an author soared as people regarded her as a pioneer in Japanese American children's literature. The author of almost forty works, including Japanese folk tales and stories of Japanese American children making their way in the world, Yoshiko traveled extensively, lectured, and wrote. After suffering from a stroke, Yoshiko passed away on June 25, 1992, in Berkeley, California.
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3.88
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 233 reviews
Profile Image for Julie G.
Julie G
1,005 reviews
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January 8, 2021
“There is so little here to comfort the eye or the heart, and people grow quarrelsome and sullen when they are unhappy.”
In the spring of 1942, following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Government mandated the evacuation of some 120,000 Japanese Americans from the West coast of the country.
Families lost their homes and businesses and were swept away to live in these military camps anywhere from months to years, depending upon the circumstances of their internment.
I knew very little about this chapter in American history until my daughters and I set out to have more Asian-American reads under our belts. Much of this was happenstance, to be honest.
This particular selection is a story centered around a family called the Sakanes who are evacuated from their lovely home in Berkeley, California and taken to the internment camp in Topaz, Utah. Journey to Topaz was published in 1971 by Japanese-American author, Yoshiko Uchida and Ms. Uchida writes in her Prologue:
Although the characters are fictional, the events are based on actual fact, and most of what happened to the Sakane family also happened to my own.
The narrative here is excellent, and Ms. Uchida did an effective job of teaching both the young readers at my house and their mother what daily life was like at this camp. (As far as we could tell, worse than how life was at the Manzanar internment camp in California, according to Paper Wishes, and better than life for the evacuated Aleuts, according to Aleutian Sparrow).
My girls and I cringed at some of the cultural differences in this patriarchal-based Asian-American family in the early 1940s. Little sister Yuki puckers her lips in the mirror and wonders if her older brother will ever want to date her, instead of the girl he likes at school, and when the father is ushered away by the authorities, he asks his son to be a “substitute” for him, with his wife.
My daughters, who have a much older brother like Yuki, got a little green during the “mirror scene” and my 12-year-old grimaced in disgust and said, “Eww. You don't date your brother, dude!” (Damn straight, daughter, unless you're a character in a John Irving novel).
This weird quirk aside, we all found this to be an interesting and occasionally upsetting read, but nothing a preteen can't handle.
It was good for us to be reminded, especially right now, that the human spirit is resilient, and “When you do what you know is right, you find a dignity in yourself that makes you a happy person.”
70-from-the-1970s
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Shannon
43 reviews
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June 14, 2013
My son was reading this as an assignment in his 5th grade class. The description caught my attention since I know very little about Japanese-Americans being sent to internment camps, and I wanted to be more informed so I could discuss the book with my son. We both enjoyed the book and had some great discussions about it. We felt connected to the characters and felt compassion and sympathy for what they were experiencing. There were sad parts, but they were not too overwhelming or intense for my son (who will not sleep if anything is too scary or worrisome). An excellent book!
young-adult
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Lora
421 reviews
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April 19, 2017
I wish there were more books about this disaster of American policy. Yuki and her family and friends were brave and kind. I wondered what happened next...
3 likes
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Alison S
15 reviews
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March 23, 2018
This book is amazing. A must read!
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Christopher Green
112 reviews
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September 19, 2017
I read this book looking for books presenting a variety of perspectives on World War II to pitch to my students who will be reading The Book Thief. To my knowledge, there aren't a lot of books that deal with the evacuation of Japanese Americans from the West Coast, so I was excited to see what Journey to Topaz had to offer.
This book does a pretty good job of laying out basic factual information about what the average Japanese American living in California might have experienced at the outbreak of WWII. If nothing else, readers will go away knowing the basic facts. This book does not do a great job of giving the reader much to invest in beyond whatever curiosity drove him or her to pick the book up in the first place. There's not much character depth and even the most compelling or unjust events aren't conveyed in a way that arouses much emotion. Presenting the story through the eyes of a girl was a step up from a dry recitation of the facts, but only a small step.
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Nyah Prince
121 reviews
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June 9, 2021
I heard that we were going to be reading this book for learning about the Japanese Internment Camps, part of our WWll study. And I thought that this just might be a boring book with history included but when I read this book. It was more than I thought. It was so good and I wish there was a Journey To Topaz 2. I was truly an awesome and amazing book. And I learned a great deal of knowledge delivered in such a great way.
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Hannah
796 reviews
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March 19, 2024
Great read aloud for our American history! Introduced hard topics in an approachable way for elementary/middle kids that is uncomfortable but not overly depressing or agenda full. Recommend!
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Sue
2,322 reviews
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December 16, 2023
This is a fictional account of a family evacuated from Berkeley to Tanforan, then Topaz in Utah. It's based on the author's life & is told in a touching manner that puts the reader in the steps of the young girl, Yuki, who is experiencing these frightening & unexplainable events. As she is torn from her home & faced with leaving her home, plus having her father interned in an enemy alien camp in Montana, she looks for hope & tiny bits of happiness. It's a heartbreaking story & yet the author manages to make it life-affirming. I loved it.
wwii
young-adult
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Lauren Stoolfire
4,737 reviews
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May 22, 2018
I haven't read all that much fiction where the relocation and internment of Japanese Americans during WWII takes center stage, but this children's/ middle grade title is a good place to start as it is the fictionalized account of a woman who experienced it first hand when she was young. If this isn't required reading for 5th or 6th graders it really should be.
childrens
historical-fiction
middle-grade
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Maddox W.
3 reviews
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November 23, 2019
This book is all about a chines family living in the US in during WWI. They were living a normal day and the FBI comes to their door and takes their father away right after the attack of Perl Harbor. They send them all to camps down in the east. They live in hoarded conditions and little space. They meet wonderful classmates and people but unfortunately they have to move camps after reviving a letter from father saying he was OK they got their hopes up and now you will have to read to see what happens next. Hope this was helpful and it's a wonderful story for all ages.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 233 reviews
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