TISP Manzanar Trip

On March 15, 2025, the Loyola Marymount University, Sophia University and Pomona-Pitzer College’s TOMODACHI Inouye Scholars cohorts took a group trip to the Japanese incarceration camp at Manzanar. This camp served as a living space for thousands of Japanese citizens who were unjustly incarcerated and forced into this camp with barely suitable living conditions. However, the Japanese incarcerates made the most of this terrible and dark moment in United States history by trying to make the best of their living conditions.

Remnants of a Pond

During our exploration of the camp as a group, we got to see where they had hospitals, gardens, basketball courts, baseball fields, cemeteries and so much more to make life for the Japanese people here as normal and as best as they could under the special and

unescapable situation they were in. Although they tried to make the most of it, somethings, like the tower guards with their guns facing in, the dream of having freedom to leave the camp and the poor medical care prevented them from having a complete sense of normalcy.

Being in the same space, walking on the same dirt grounds they did you could really feel the life that was lived there, the deaths that were mourned and all the in between. You can feel the sense of sadness and emptiness, especially with the desert surrounding the camp. However it also served as a sense of beauty that these people who were incarcerated turned such a bad situation into something almost normal with the skills and knowledge

they had, not to mention most of all resilience.

Offerings Left Behind At The Grave Of An Infant

It was also interesting to go with the Sophia student from Japan, which gave me almost a sense of shame as an American citizen that this is our history.

Inside the museum I was interested to find that people leave gifts or

offerings at the Manzanar camps for those who lost their lives at the camp and how they are never forgotten. Even things as small and childish as toys and toothbrushes were heartwarming to find, especially when thinking of all the children that may

have died in the camp.

Memorial at Manzanar