Our Product

One of the main products of this program is the transcription and translation of the stories of camp survivors. Preserving oral history is a very important part of spreading knowledge as often these stories are our only source of information into the lives of people in these camps.

Our efforts will help keep the story of survivors like Hisae Obana (the focus of our translation work) alive and ready for people from America and Japan to listen to and learn from.

The Motive

Translation is a method of information sharing, of bringing others into our conversations and thoughts. As such, we aim to expand history past borders and languages. We wish to bring others into the conversation so that we all may learn, reflect, and grow.

History has a tendency to repeat itself. To help prevent a recurrence of the devastating and unjust events of World War II, we must target ignorance and misconception; we must share the experiences of others and discuss openly with each other.

The Video

Below is the video that was transcribed and translated. It is a portion of an interview that was edited and spoken.

Our Work

Below is the result of our translation efforts. This went through many iterations and checks and we as a group are glad to share it with the public.

Where it is headed

Our work with the Manzanar National Historic Site is centered around a number of interviews posted to YouTube under the account “Manzanar NPS.” Much like Genie Hisae Obana, the story of whom is embedded into this website, these interviews were conducted in English. Further, the only available captions are also in English.

As a translation group, we are working to expand the reach and impact of the Manzanar National Historic Site and the story of Japanese Americans by creating Japanese captions for interviews such as Genie’s.