New Perspective Revisiting Manzanar

I had a lot of fun at Manzanar interacting with the Sophia students and learning more about my history. I have been to Manzanar multiple times and didn't think I'd learn anything new, but was pleasantly surprised.

I enjoyed the walk that we took to the gardens and thought those were really pretty. Bennett's explanation was very insightful, and I thought their resilience in such a touch time was really admirable. It really hit me that we were in the middle of nowhere after such a long walk, and knowing they made that from their surroundings still kind of boggles my mind. I don't know where they got the resources to do so, but thought it was really cool.

LMU, Claremont College, and Sophia Scholars in front of the Memorial.

Another thing I learned from Dr. Rooks' speech was that Buddhist dharma school is only a thing because Japanese Americans were tryoing to conform to be more American, and one way to d o that was with Sunday school. It was just something I thought was cool that studck with me that I never really knew, and having grown up going to dharma school, I never realized that wasn't always a thing. However, in a way, I do think it's been beneficial in some ways. In my own experience, the services, chanting, and main dharma talks were very hard to understand as they were more catered for the the elder population. Chanting words I don't know also didn't really help me connect with my religion. The dharma classes focused on a smaller rule of Buddhism and made it easier to digest and understand for someone so young. I think that laid the foundation for me to later grow in my knowledge and interest that wouldn't have been there with just services alone.

Another thing that initially surprised me was the fact that many of the Sophia University students had never heard of the incarceration camps or much about the Japanese American experience. After reflecting though, it makes sense they never learned about the experience as it is an issue within the U.S, impacting U.S citizens, despite the ethnic connection. As much as it is related to them, there is only so much they can learn, and I feel like the same could be applied to us. We mainly learn about WWII and other world events through the lens of Americans.

They all took everything to heart and reflected on the experience, which they talked about later during their presentation, and I thought it was very admirable. I think the biggest thing that kind of scared me or thought might shock them was knowing they learned about WWII from the eyes of Japan, but were coming here to learn from the lens of the U.S. I didn't really ask them how they felt, but wondered what they might have felt learning a new perspective.