The Gate of Memory

Group reading of The Gate of Memory JANM 2025

Soul Scars

The Gate of Memory is a new Nikkei focused anthology edited by Brynn Saito and Brandon Shimoda. Published by Haymarket Press, it is approximately 293 pages in length. It also contains a foreword by Mitsuye Yamada. In her foreword, she notes that she is now considered an “ancestor to these descendants.” As a collection of poetry, there are new names and familiar names like Garrett Hongo, David Mura and the late Amy Uyematsu. In a similar manner as dIS•Orient Journalzine was edited in the past, having this mix of old and new does expose more people to new writers. It is divided into 5 Chapters: 1. Bow at the Graves, 2. This is not the Whole Story, 3. Each Leaf/Remembers, 4. I Can Hold My Breath for Years, 5. Be Strong Now. Additionally, they had included Annie Yukie Watanabe’s poem “instructions to, 1942” as a sort of preface to these chapters. Each chapter focuses on a particular sentiment as noted in the chapter titles. Most of the poetry is free verse as well as some Japanese poems with English translations. Having worked on an annual journal, finding the structure of sequencing is a challenge, and this collection has managed to be formed into a coherent sequence by Saito and Shimoda.

Manzanar holds a particular place in Nikkei literature as the shadow of Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, James D. Houston book, Farewell to Manzanar remains very strong. Additionally, with Manzanar being a National Park, it has further solidified its place as focal point, but there were several other camps like Heart Mountain, Gila River, Tule Lake and of course Poston. Additionally, Japanese Americans were not the only population kidnapped from their enclaves. There were camps in Canada, Hawaii and the USA. Saito and Shimoda noted "Japanese Americans, Okinawan American, Okinawan Canadian, Japanese Canadian, Alaska Native/Tlingit, Japanese and mixed race Nikkei together with those who also identify as Anglo, Cantonese, Chinese, Filipino, Jewish, Korean, Latinx, Taiwanese” were included in the anthology from the age of 20 to 70 years of age. To include more material based on the other camps was in fact more engaging. We must remember that there were 10 total concentration camps.

In Chapter 1, Sharon Hashimoto has a poem called “Reparations: My Mother and Heart Mountain.” It tries to imagine her mother in Heart Mountain at the age of thirteen. Structurally it uses couplets, but also there is the use of italics to emphasize a conversation with the mother who discusses how her mother was trying to cope with shabby housing, and guard tower lights. The chapter closes with a long poem by Claire Kageyama-Ramakrishnan called “Shadow Mountain.” Since I am a long poem writer, I found the structure to be interesting using numbered subheadings, which allowed for the sequences to have their own structural integrity.

Chapter 2 has a number of notable poets like David Mura, Garrett Hongo, Amy Uyematsu and George Uba, who taught at CSU Northridge. David Mura’s “Letters from Poston Relocation Camp (1942-1945)” was of particular interest. The shadow of the internal deportations from places like Little Tokyo to concentration camps has left a definite scar on the psyche of most Nikkei. This poem in particular was gripping in that my father’s family was deported to Poston. The poem is structured like letters, and they encapsulate the psychological effects of incarceration. Amy Uyematsu’s “36 Views of Manzanar” is a sequence of short stanzas that outlines her family going to Manzanar instead of Heart Mountain. In particular she noted how Dr Seuss described the Japanese as a horde. Of course there is a reference to baseball, as currently as of the time of this writing, a baseball field was being restored at Manzanar by Dan Kwong and crew. Many of the other poems in this collection seem to echo this sentiment.

Chapter 3 has a number of poems that focus on the concept of memory. Some have some interesting philosophical questions. Susan Kiyo Ito’s poem, “She was Incarcerated/I Exist,” has a key existential question. Had her mother not been interned, she would not exist as a biracial child. Because of the Internment, her mother was relocated into a predominately White town. She ends with:

If she hadn’t been in that camp / I wouldn’t exist. 

There are of course other poems like Brian Komei Dempster’s “A Conversation with My Mother, Renko, About the Journey to and from Topaz Prison Camp in a Dream.”  It begins with a sequence in italics. A lotus is a lotus/A train is a Train. As you move through the poem, the italics sections have a conversation with the standard fonts. The significance of lotus and train alters in the poem.

Chapter 4 begins with traci kato-kiriyama’s “fire near fire.” It discusses the internal tensions that grew in the camps. Historically it was known that such tensions would eventually lead to open breaks as the Loyalty Questionnaire of 1943 would rip through the Camps. In concise stanzas, it fully describes the toxic nature of incarceration. Miwa Irataki’s poem, “Gambare,” outlines her observations after the 1981 President’s Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians hearings. Structurally it is an interesting use of ALL CAPS. If it was an email, it would be considered to be yelling out loud, which seems to meet that purpose.

Chapter 5 seems to have a common theme about ancestors. Some specifically focus on the mothers. Mia Ayumi Malhotra’s “To My Many Mothers, Issei and Nisei” is a tribute to the mothers at the Rohwer camp. The issue of internal deportations shows up when San Francisco is described and then the shift to Arkansas sends the poem with notes of the Sakai parents to a different location.

Clearly the Camps had long term effects that have been inherited by the descendants of these Nikkei. I had coined the term, soul scars. Past tragic historical events often leave scars on souls yet to be born. Overall, this is a substantial collection of poems from a wide age range. The anthology has an organization that seems logical and the sequences of poems work well. There are new voices that I have never heard about before, but I believe this was the purpose of the anthology. As published, I recommend the book based upon the diversity of viewpoints from the other Camps. As my father’s family was incarcerated at Poston, it was pleasant to see poems about Poston, as well as Heart Mountain, Topaz and others. The Camps have left a scar that has stretched for generations now. The evidence is clear in this anthology. The Gate of Memory is a gate of sadness but also hope. 

June 2025

Reviews will start

We are at an interesing moment in the realm of AAPI arts and literature. We are seeing a record number of works being completed by various artists, writers, poets and playwrights. Additionally, we are seeing musicians emerging on the landscape like Olivia Rodrigo, who is a Filipina. Films like Everything Everywhere All At Once, has won Oscars, and we are seeing more and more AAPI texts hitting the best seller lists.

Chris Rock was interviewed for HBO’s The Black List. He summarized when he thought baseball was integrated. It was when they started to sign bad baseball players. Prior to that, you had exceptional players like Jackie Robinson. His evaluation of making it? The freedom to suck.

Most of these reviews are going to be written by myself, and perhaps a few friends who would like to contribute to this revamped version of dIS•Orient.

I plan to run reviews of books, plays and art. Maybe we might have a few film reviews, as it seems that there are more and more films featuring AAPIs in the lead roles.