teach a man to fish, and he'll sneak out of an internment camp to do it

Photo by Toyo Miyatake

Via angry asian man, a fantastic story on the Manzanar internment camp, where up to 150 Japanese American internees escaped... and then went fishing. From the San Diego Union Tribune:

For 65 years, a photo taken of [legendary fisherman Heihachi] Ishikawa by fellow Manzanar internee Toyo Miyatake was the only photographic evidence that more than 150 of the Manzanar internees “escaped” camp to go fishing. Manzanar was the first of 10 internment camps that housed an estimated 120,000 Japanese-Americans who were forcibly removed from their homes on the West Coast at the start of World War II. From March 31, 1942 to Nov. 21, 1945, Manzanar would hold more than 11,000 internees.

Ishikawa's incredible story of living off the land in the hard Sierra mountain range for a couple of weeks at a time is one of many incredible stories of survival that make up Cory Shiozaki's work in progress. Shiozaki's partially completed documentary, “From Barbed Wire to Barbed Hooks,” will preserve the stories of how Japanese-Americans used their ingenuity and called on their bravery to fish Sierra streams and lakes.

“The most important message I got after getting all the oral histories and experiences of the internees is how they were able to endure,” said Shiozaki, 59, a film maker from Gardena. “The fabric of their character was like bamboo. They bent, but they bounced back and rebounded. There is an expression in Japanese, 'shigataganai,' which loosely translated means, 'it can't be helped.' They embraced that and found a way to live through it. That, more than anything, has inspired me to continue this project and has made me proud of my Japanese-American heritage.”

Shiozaki will display photos, fishing equipment made in the camp and other items from Manzanar at next week's Fred Hall Fishing Tackle and Boat Show which runs Wednesday through Sunday at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. He said he has exhausted a $30,000 grant from the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program that enabled him to begin the project. Now he seeks funding so he can finish it.

More at Cory Shiozaki's website: Manzanar: "From Barbed Wire to Barbed Hooks"...fishing stories from Manzanar.