Mr. Mochizuki was an undergraduate student at California State University Dominguez Hills during the late 1970's. Mr. Mochizuki's research focus pertained to the Japanese-Peruvian internment during World War II. The collection was left in the care of Dr. Donald Hata, Professor of History at California State University Dominguez Hills. Dr. Hata graciously turned the collection over to the University Archives in May of 1998. The collection was processed during the Summer of 1998 and is open to research without restrictions. On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. This order led to the removal of 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry from the west coast of the United States. The War Relocation Authority set up ten internment camps to house the Japanese-Americans. However, the United States also had internment camps for Axis nationals from South America. As early as 1938 many South American governments were working with the United States to intern or repatriate all Axis nationals. This included people of Japanese, German, and Italian ancestry in South America. It was the hope of the participating governments that these nationals could be used in POW trades. Thirteen countries from South America participated in this plan. However, eighty percent of the internees from South America were sent by Peru. The first group of Japanese-Peruvians left Peru aboard the Etolin on April 5, 1942. Many others followed soon after.The Japanese-Peruvians were housed in three different camps in Texas: Kenedy, Seagoville, and Crystal City. They lived in these camps for the duration of the war. After being released from the camps at the end of the war, the Japanese-Peruvian internees were not allow to return to Peru, regardless of their citizenship. Lawsuits were filed on behalf of some of the Japanese-Peruvians to allow them to stay in the United States because they had no other place to go. The U.S. Department of Immigration tried to deport the internees because they entered the country illegally. Some were still living in the old internment camps as late as 1948 because of the legal difficulties. Eventually some of the internees went to Japan and a very few were allowed back into Peru. The majority remained in the United States. In 1988, the Japanese-American internees were offered a formal apology along with $20,000 from the United States government. Since that time, a group of Japanese-Peruvians have been lobbying for the same consideration. In June of 1998, President Clinton formally apologized to the survivors of the Japanese-Peruvian internment and each survivor living in the United States received $5000. As of this date, no apology has been forthcoming from Peru.
From the description of Mochizuki (Yukio) Collection, 1942-1998 (California State University, Dominguez Hills). WorldCat record id: 681383129
