An American History: The Resettlement of Japanese Americans in Cleveland – Feature Documentary

In 2003, MDI with the grand from Japanese American Citizens League Cleveland Chapter, we produced a feature documentary: An American History: The Resettlement of Japanese Americans in Cleveland.

The film project An American History: The Resettlement of Japanese Americans in Cleveland will tell the story of those Japanese Americans interned during World War II who chose to resettle in the Northeast Ohio area. An American History will not be a simple recounting of internment experiences, but it will go further and examine the life choices these individuals have made that have taken them to the North Coast.

This hour-length film will be presented roughly in a chronological sequence. Through the use of filmed interviews with internment camp survivors conducted by the youth chair of the Cleveland Japanese American Citizens League, Steve Yano, An American History will recount the actual life experiences of several Japanese-Americans. The film will explore their internment experiences, their decision to reside in the Cleveland area, the obstacles they and their families encountered, and their struggles to succeed. The film will also make use of historical footage, photographs, and other artifacts to supplement on-camera interviews.

For more information, please visit the Official Page.

Trouble view the video below, please click here.

This was a project I did in 2000 with a small $3000 grant from Japanese American Citizens League’s National Endowment Fund. The project is an oral history of several internment camps survivors and how they choose to move to Cleveland, featuring the late Masumi Hiyashi and Steve Yano.