“My father came from Japan in 1905. He was fifteen when he immigrated from Japan. He worked until he was able to buy—to actually build a store.”
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Let me tell you a story in the form of a dream
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I don't know why I have to tell it but I know what it means
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Close your eyes and just picture the scene / as I paint it for you
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It was World War II when this man named Kenji woke up
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Ken was not a soldier / he was just a man with a family
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Who owned a store
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In LA / that day
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He crawled out of bed like he always did
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Bacon and eggs with wife and kids / he lived on the
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Second floor of a little store he ran
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He moved to LA from Japan
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They called him immigrant / in Japanese
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He'd say he was called iisei / that meant
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First generation in the United States when
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Everybody was afraid of the Germans / afraid of the “Japs”
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But most of all afraid of a homeland attack
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And that morning when Ken went out on the doormat
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His world went black ’cause
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Right there / front page news
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Three weeks before 1942
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Pearl Harbor's been bombed and “The Japs Are Coming”
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Pictures of soldiers dying and running
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Ken knew what it would lead to
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And just like he guessed / the president said
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The “evil Japanese” in our home country would be locked away
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They gave Ken a couple of days
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To get his whole life packed into two bags
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Just two bags
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He couldn't even pack his clothes
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And some folks didn't even have a suitcase
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To pack anything in
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So two trash bags is all they gave them
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And when the kids asked mom / where are we going
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Nobody even knew what to say to them
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Ken didn't want to lie
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He said the US is looking for spies
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So we have to live in a place called Manzanar
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Where a lot of Japanese people are
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Stop it / don't look at the gunmen
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You don't wanna get the soldiers wondering
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If you're gonna run or not ’cause if you run then you might get shot
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Other than that / try to not think about it
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Try not to worry ’bout it being so crowded
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Cause someday we'll get out / someday / someday
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“Yeah, soon as war broke out, the F.B.I. came and…they just come to the house and, you have to come. All the Japanese have to go. They took Mr. Ni, the people couldn’t understand, why did they have to take him because he’s just an innocent laborer…”
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So now they're in a town with soldiers surrounding them
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Every day every night / looked down at them
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From watchtowers up on the wall
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Ken couldn't really hate them at all
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They were just doing their job and
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He wasn't gonna make any problems
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He had a little garden / vegetables and fruits that he gave to the troops
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In a basket his wife made
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But in the back of his mind he wanted his family's life saved
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Prisoners of war in their own damn country
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What for?
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And time passed in the prison town / he wondered
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If he'd live it down if and when they were free
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The only way out was joining the army / and supposedly
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Some men went out for the army / signed on
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And ended up flying to Japan with a bomb
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That 15 kiloton blast put an end to the war pretty fast
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Two cities were blown to bits
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The end of the war came quick
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And Ken got out
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Big hopes of a normal life with his kids and his wife / but
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Then they got back to their home / and
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What they saw made him feel so alone
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These people had trashed every room
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Smashed in the windows and bashed in the doors
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Written on the walls and the floor:
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“Japs not welcome anymore”
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And Kenji dropped both his bags at his sides and just stood outside
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He looked at his wife without words to say
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And she looked back at him wiping tears away
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And said someday we'll be okay / someday
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Now the names have been changed but the story's true
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My family was locked up back in ’42
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My family was there
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Where it was dark and damp
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And they called it an “internment camp.”
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“When we first got back from camp, it was pretty bad.”
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“I remember my husband said, ‘Oh, We’re going to stay ’til last.’
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Then my husband died before they closed the camp.”
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Artist’s Note: I used the word “Jap” in the song KENJI for historical accuracy. As we all know, this word is not acceptable today. Do not mistake its presence here for an indicator that I think it is cool. It is not
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Kenji
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| Fort Minor |
