Interview with Ronald Takahata
| dc.contributor.interviewee | Takahata, Ronald | |
| dc.contributor.interviewer | Nishimoto, Warren | |
| dc.contributor.interviewer | Kodama-Nishimoto, Michi | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2014-06-13T21:40:56Z | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2015-03-25T23:43:50Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2014-06-13T21:40:56Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2015-03-25T23:43:50Z | |
| dc.date.created | 2013 | |
| dc.date.issued | 2014 | |
| dc.description | Ronald Takahata was born in Kealakekua, Kona, Hawai‘i in 1925 to Moyo and Yoshio Takahata, immigrants from Japan. About five years later, Moyo Takahata passed away. Yoshio Takahata, originally from Kumamoto-ken, Japan, was a storekeeper. Over a number of years, he owned general merchandise stores in Kealakekua, Näpo‘opo‘o, and Hönaunau, Kona, Hawai‘i. His family, like many others in Kona, tended coffee lands. Yoshio Takahata, a leader in the local Japanese community, served as liaison between residents and the Japanese consulate. He also greeted visiting Japanese navy ships. By 1941, his family included Haruko (second wife) and six children. In early 1942, Yoshio Takahata was removed from his home and incarcerated at Kïlauea Military Camp. Later, he was moved to the Sand Island Detention Center and various facilities on the U.S. Mainland, including ones in New Mexico and Texas. The Takahata family, too, in 1943, was removed from Kona and incarcerated at Jerome War Relocation Center in Arkansas. Just before the Jerome War Relocation Center was closed in 1944, Yoshio Takahata rejoined his family. The Takahatas were then moved to Heart Mountain War Relocation Center in Wyoming. After a few months at Heart Mountain, Ronald Takahata gained release and went to Chicago, where he found employment and married a Jerome internee, Asako Kawamura. At war’s end, Yoshio Takahata and family returned to the islands. He operated a store in Hilo for a while, but business declined. Unable to find other employment, he became a dishwasher. Returning to the islands with an infant in 1946, Ronald and Asako Takahata settled on O‘ahu. Ronald Takahata worked for various painting contractors and Princess Ka‘iulani Hotel; Asako Takahata retired as a University of Hawai‘i secretary. | |
| dc.format.extent | 51 pages | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10125/33187 | |
| dc.language.iso | en-US | |
| dc.publisher | Center for Oral History, Social Science Research Institute, University of Hawaii at Manoa | |
| dc.relation.ispartofseries | Unspoken Memories: Oral Histories of Hawaii Internees at Jerome, Arkansas | |
| dc.rights | Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States | |
| dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/ | |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Oral history | |
| dc.title | Interview with Ronald Takahata | |
| dc.type | Book Chapter | |
| dc.type.dcmi | Text |