The Manzanar Pilgrimage

(Photos by Mario G. Reyes/RAFU SHIMPO)

Every year on the last Saturday in April, hundreds of Japanese Americans wake up before the sun rises and board a bus. The bus takes them from downtown Los Angeles, one of the biggest metropolitan hubs in the country, to the middle of the Owens Valley, to Inyo County, CA where there is nothing but dead plants and desert (and the snow-capped Sierra Nevada Mountains.)

Why do they do this?

They are partaking in the Manzanar Pilgrimage, an annual event that brings hundreds of people to the site of one of the largest Japanese American internment camps during World War II when Executive Order 9066 (approved and signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942) ordered them to leave their homes, families and friends and move to some of the most barren locations in America. Manzanar was one of those places.

More than 10,000 people called Manzanar home from March 1942 to the end of the war. It was the largest "city" from Reno to Los Angeles at its peak.

The pilgrimage is a recognition of this violation of civil rights. But it is also a celebration of a culture that has flourished since. The program includes a memorial service for those who died in the camps and dancing for those who survived it. Speakers implore those in the audience to do everything in their power to prevent something like this from happening again. They also tell stories and jokes, sing, even banter with the pilgrims as well.

And this journey is not just for Japanese Americans. The pilgrimage, now in its 39th year, is getting bigger by the year. Organizers said this years' was the biggest turnout in its history, mostly on the strength of non-JA pilgrims. There were high school students, college students, professors on sabbatical, seminary graduates, retirees from the East Coast, people of all races, creeds and colors at this year's pilgrimage.

I participated in my first pilgrimage this year, covering it for the bilingual newspaper where I work while going to school, The Rafu Shimpo . The following is a collection of stories, videos, photos and thoughts that I gathered during my trip. Enjoy!

If you need a brush-up on your World War II relocation camp history (or if you have never heard of a Japanese American internment camp before) the information is too rich and dense to condense here. The Wikipedia article on the internment era is a great place to start though.