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<\/a>Bob Watanabe, a Seattle resident, said the morning worship brought back the nostalgia of his time in Camp Harmony in Puyallup, Wash. While he\u00a0spent about six months in Camp Harmony, Watanabe was then sent to the\u00a0permanent Minidoka camp in Idaho.<\/p>\n
“It brought back memories,” he said, of when there was a swing band in Camp Harmony, which “tried to copy Glenn Miller a lot and well-known bands every\u00a0Saturday\u00a0night.”<\/p>\n
“What an amazing service,” says Alice Uchida, a Whitney Memorial UMC member. “The service was well put together tying in the education\u00a0around Camp Harmony and the importance of covenant. I was moved by the service. And the Minidoka Band — that swing music brought back so many memories for me.”<\/p>\n
Many still do not know much about this part of U.S. history.\u00a0On Feb. 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive\u00a0Order 9066, which ordered a forced removal of all Japanese-Americans\u00a0living west of the Cascade mountains and all along the West Coast.<\/p>\n
People were given a week\u2019s notice and were forced to live in internment camps\u00a0at various American locations during WWII, including Camp Harmony in\u00a0Puyallup.<\/p>\n In light of this history, the opening worship\u00a0for this year’s Annual Conference on June 20 — held at the Washington\u00a0State Fairgrounds in Puyallup — recognized those who were\u00a0incarcerated. Some were able to share their stories.<\/p>\n We heard from two people who were personally incarcerated in Camp Harmony and later went to Minidoka. Suma Yagi read\u00a0aloud her original poem about solitude and lack of privacy in the camp during the service. Choichi Shimizu from Blaine Memorial UMC (Seattle) read a chapter out of his newly penned book, \u201cCho\u2019s Story.”<\/p>\n Cho read a chapter out of his\u00a0book about his personal experience at Camp Harmony. \u201cOur home was in\u00a0Area D which, today, is the Blue Parking Lot at the fairgrounds,\u201d says\u00a0Shimizu.<\/p>\n The Blue Lot happens to be the same lot that Conference\u00a0attendees are parking their cars and entering in and out of the gates.<\/p>\n Bishop Grant Hagiya compared this story with the journey of The United Methodist Church as a play having three acts \u2013 mirroring the theme of Annual Conference — and how we must examine where we have been, where we are now, and where we are going as a church.<\/p>\n The Rev. Derek Nakano of Blaine Memorial bought this narrative together during communion when he talked about the incarceration of the past. Nakano referred to Blaine’s story, and how when the Japanese were forcibly removed out of their homes they had to give up their property, which they entrusted to Edward Blaine. He kept that land for them. Nakano connected this story with how we are all in covenant together, in our anger, struggles and joys.<\/p>\n There are 3,000 colored cranes adorn that are hanging from the altar\u00a0space. They were made by the three churches that are known\u00a0congregations of people of Japanese-American ancestry. These churches\u00a0are Blaine Memorial UMC (Seattle), Highland Park (Spokane), Whitney\u00a0Memorial UMC (Puyallup). The crane is a symbol of long life as an old\u00a0Japanese folklore believes that the crane lives for 1,000 years. The\u00a0crane is also a symbol of happiness, good luck and peace.<\/p>\n All of the communion servers were Japanese-Americans who were interned in one of the 10 oncentration camps. A number of others interned were present during opening worship.<\/p>\n Watanabe’s daughter, Linda Watanabe, was impressed by the opening worship and presentation.<\/p>\n “It was inspirational and entertaining, and made you want to stay awake,” she said. “The bishop is a dynamic speaker.”<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>