Gene Jinye Wakabayashi Papers

Gene Jinye Wakabayashi was born in Seattle, Washington on July 28, 1920 to Kisa Ono (b. ca.1900) and Jinyemon Wakabayashi (b.1882), both originally from Shiga-ken, Japan. Gene, along with his two siblings, spent his childhood in Washington where he attended a mainstream school and supplemental Japanese classes. His father, Jinyemon, passed away suddenly when Gene was 16 years old.
Upon graduating from high school, Gene went to the University of Washington where he majored in electrical engineering. He was a junior when Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941. In 1942, the Wakabayashi family was evacuated to Pinedale Assembly Center near Fresno, California. From Pinedale, the family was sent to Tule Lake Relocation Center in Newell, California where Gene lived for approximately 8 or 9 months. He left Tule Lake to attend Washington State College, located in Pullman, Washington. At the time, eastern Washington was located outside the “Military Area,” or “Exclusion Zone.”
During Gene’s absence, his family was moved to Heart Mountain Relocation Center near Cody, Wyoming. Gene left Washington State College shortly thereafter to join his family at their new location. In time, he earned his degree by taking home study courses through the University of Colorado. He also went to the University of Minnesota for a brief period of time but did not receive a degree from that institution.
Throughout his life, Gene compiled journals and scrapbooks to document his personal interests and his time in the internment camps. He was also an avid collector of material and magazines that represented the Japanese American experience. After his internment, Gene moved to Chicago and was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1946 where he was stationed at the Coles Signal Laboratory. He was released after one and half years of service.
In 1963, Gene visited Japan. When he returned United States he met his future wife, Kazue Izumi, while showing slide photographs of his visit to Japan to a large group of people. The couple married in 1964 and, at the behest of his wife, Gene began to practice the Presbyterian faith although it took six years before he experienced a true religious conversion. He had two children, Allen and Carol, and two grandsons, Alexis and Kevin. Gene J. Wakabayashi died on September 5, 2004.

Source: Wakabayashi, Gene J.