Desert Exile

Yoshiko’s father, Dwight Takashi Uchida arrived in California on a small cargo ship in 1906 after teaching Japanese for three years in Hawaii. He manages a store in Portland and by the time his daughters are born, he is manager of the major Japanese San Francisco import-export company Mitsui and Company. The son of a samurai and a first-generation Japanese immigrant, his mother had worked for Christian missionaries who taught at Doshisha University in Kyoto, where he worked his way through school with small jobs like morning milk delivery. Uchida becomes an integral leader of the Japanese Independent Congregational Church of Oakland. Leader of the household, Uchida’s unflagging spirit is an inspiration while the family is interred. He sets up organizations inside, and maintains contacts with businesspeople and officials on the outside. 

Mrs. Uchida sailed across the Pacific in 1916 to meet her husband, whom she had never met. At Doshisha, Mrs. Uchida worked for her room and board. In Berkeley, she transforms the Uchida family home, planting a wonderful garden, teaching her daughters Japanese folk tales and customs, and knitting them elaborate dresses. She is president of the church’s Women’s Society, and drives local kids to Sunday School. As an internee, Mrs. Uchida writes tanka, traditional poetry, which is included at the end of some chapters in the book. She is a strong Issei woman, capable of transforming a horse stall into a home with handmade curtains.