英米　１年
Since I was born abroad, the history that I learned when I went to school is totally different from what I heard from today’s talk. I barely knew about what Japanese suffered many years ago. I couldn’t believe my ears when the speaker said 120,000 Japanese-Americans left home and were forced to live in prison camps. Almost all Japanese were also discriminated against and criticized despite having done nothing wrong. Although many decades have passed, you would still feel that such historical occurrences are not totally forgotten by mostly elderly Japanese people. However, despite all of what happened, I respect and salute Japan for becoming such a prestigious country.

英米　２年
I have never experienced war during my lifetime, and whenever I hear lectures or whenever my class has discussion about WWⅡ, I always feel very blessed. Dr. Kobayashi’s lecture opened my eyes to a lot of different things. We often hear about the Japanese side of the story. The pictures and illustrations that she shared with us had a lot of impact. The quote “It reminded me that somebody from the outside” touched my heart. It was very interesting for me to be able to listen to a history lesson from a different point of view.

英米　１年
I have watched a TV drama which tells us about a group of Japanese Americans during WWⅡ, and I learned more about their lives today. I can imagine that a stranger’s kindness meant a lot to Shizuko, but I think they could put up with the situation because they knew they were American. The Japanese part of them helped to identify themselves as a group, but they were American after all, so they obeyed the order to help their country. That was all they could at that time, I guess.

フランス　１年
I learnt so many things today about how people had a hard time during the war. I can imagine how hard their lives were in the camps. I think the lack of privacy was the major problem for them. As Dr. Kobayashi explained, people were using the sheets, boards and blankets to create privacy and they managed their lives there. I liked the quote “It’s the blankets that help us heal and to have hope for the future”. I think this is exactly right. I’m so happy that I could learn new things from her today.

中国　２年
When I heard the question “What would you take in the case of a disaster?”, I thought today’s topic must be how to survive from natural disasters. Soon my expectation was altered, but I got used to today’s topic easily because I have been interested in the history of Japanese-Americans and I have read about it. However, this is the first time I got to know how they had managed such a severe life in the camps. I thought that they had difficulty to go through it and then then go back to a normal life. My grandfather spent four years in a prison camp after WWⅡ. I must tell this to the next generation. Today I felt so so strongly.

情報　１年
In the university classes, I’ve heard a lot of books about the war. However, I7d never heard about Japanese immigrants to the USA, so it was a new lecture for me. In this lecture, I found that the materials can tell the history of not only happy but also sad, serious lives. The WWⅡ left a big problem for us.
I thought I should learn about “my story”. To know about my history, I have to think what war is again.

’m going to visit my host family, so it will be a good opportunity to study about the war and Oregon history.

情報　１年
Today Dr. Kobayashi talked about the history of Japanese-Americans through the story of Shizuko Ina and Satsuki and World War2. I felt the topic was quite hard, so that I couldn’t get all she wanted to tell us, but I understand the importance enough to realize the history. She said that if we don’t know about an object, we see it as just old stuff, but if we know the history and the background, it would be something very special to us. I agree with her thinking, and I don’t think this lesson is just for this story, it could be for everything around us. Thanks for the lecture.

情報　１年
When I was in junior high school, I had chance to read “Farewell to Manzanar” which is a story of a Japanese-American girl who experienced those prison camps during WW2. I felt very sad when I read that story because although the girl had American citizenship, she had to go to those camps. From today’s talk, I felt that we, the younger generation, should try learning all we can about the war. This way, we can “experience” what the war was like and understand more about the importance of keeping peace.

フランス　２年
I enjoyed today’s presentation a lot. Although there were many political and historical issues that I didn’t actually understand. However, I believe that the most important thing about the story was the meaning and the origin of Mrs. Shizuko’s quilt. People usually tend not to appreciate old things, we are taught to throw away things we don’t need anymore. Nevertheless, everything holds more or less important meaning in itself, like the aforementioned quilt. I guess we should pay more attention to our family’s history and relics.

英米３年
Actually, in the other classes, I have learned about the history of the camps and have read some books about them. I had some knowledge in advance, but I did not about Shizuko Ina. he story of her and her quilt was so pitiful and told me the cruelty of the war. Still I cannot imagine that thousands of Japanese people, including second generation, Japanese-Americans were forced to leave their houses and placed in the prison-like camps. I think this is not a story from the past, this could happen again in the world which is now facing the problems of refugees and immigrants.