Journey to Topaz: A Story of the Japanese-American Evacuation

The transfer from the cool, green climate of the Bay Area to the high desert climate of central Utah brings Yuki new challenges in Coming of Age under Extraordinary Circumstances. Historically, Topaz War Relocation Center was one of the smaller concentration camps, housing around 8,000 prisoners, and within the context of the novel, the Sakanes are among the first to arrive. This allows Uchida to outline the evolution of the conditions, which are even worse than the ones at Tanforan despite the existence of barracks designed for humans rather than horses. Everything from the desolate landscape to the dismal barracks is bleak and uninviting, and the environment is largely hostile to human life. Their guide hints at even greater dangers posed by the elements, and the warning about the dust storms foreshadows Yuki’s close call during such a storm. To Yuki, the dust storm seems “like the end of the world—at least the end of Yuki’s world” (107).

Amid these treacherous new surroundings, the Sakane family continues to find solace in the support of those around them. The Kuriharas are now almost like family to Yuki, and Emi is her best friend in camp. Yuki and Emi do everything together, and because of this close bond, Emi’s sudden collapse is a huge blow to Yuki’s morale—or her “mental climate,” as the camp administration euphemistically calls it). Amid her struggles, she finds Mrs. Kurihara’s optimism over Emi’s condition incongruous, for Mrs. Kurihara’s outlook is founded in her faith in traditional folk remedies. Like many Issei, Mrs. Kurihara maintains a connection to her home culture, and in her case, this takes the form of cooking and folk medicine. Though Yuki likes Mrs. Kurihara, she is deeply skeptical of her folk remedies, such as earthworm tea and essence of egg yolk, the latter of which is a black liquid that Mrs. Kurihara claims will cure Emi even if Western medicine fails. Emi’s skepticism and Mrs. Kurihara’s unusual remedies are prime examples of The Generational Struggle between the Issei and the Nisei.

Despite these generational differences, Yuki becomes closer with Mr. and Mrs. Kurihara in Emi’s absence and grows to understand Mr. Kurihara better. While he complains and has a gruff exterior, Yuki realizes that he is a kindly man at heart, like Mr. Toda. Like other Issei, Mr. Kurihara has considerable difficulty in Overcoming Bitterness in the Face of Injustice and holds bitterness toward the US government due to the prejudice and unfair treatment that he and others have received from an institution that is supposedly meant to serve the interests of all US citizens. The generational gap is once again apparent as the young Yuki fails to recognize how much the Issei have lost, but she comes to realize that Mr. Kurihara’s tragic death at the hands of a guard is the tragic outcome of the ongoing racism in American society, and this lesson is brought home quite harshly when there is ultimately no justice for Mr. Kurihara or his family. Faced with no other recourse, Mrs. Sakane tries to make sense of a senseless killing by rationalizing the event in her attempts to console Mrs. Kurihara, asserting that Mr. Kurihara is a victim of the war, just like the American and Japanese soldiers who are fighting and dying overseas.

The hardships involved in Coming of Age under Extraordinary Circumstances are particularly challenging for Ken. As the year wears on with little improvement or hope of release, Ken’s growing restlessness and bitterness throws the enormity of his lost opportunities into sharp relief. As a strongly independent young man, he finds coming of age in captivity even more restricting than Yuki does, for she at least still has school to keep her occupied. Ken’s choice to take a job at the hospital is designed to further reflect the loss of his old dream of becoming a doctor, and his sense of hopelessness is evident in the fact that he has even given up on continuing his education. As Ken states, “My mind has gone into deep freeze. I don’t think I could study anymore even if I tried” (113).

Thus, the broader circumstances have deep effects on the Sakane family dynamics. While Mrs. Sakane understands the drastic changes in her son, Ken’s behavior is harder for Yuki to accept. When she complains to Mrs. Sakane about it, her mother replies, “You mustn’t judge him too harshly. […] There is so little here to comfort the eye or the heart, and people grow quarrelsome and sullen when they [are] unhappy” (113). Mrs. Sakane’s defense of Ken extends to the residents of the camp in general, who find themselves oppressed by the punishing environment and “the frustration of living behind barbed wire with whole families crowded into one small room” (114). Although Uchida’s narrative focuses on Yuki’s individual experiences more intensely than on the wider issues in camp life, this broader instability ultimately causes the Sakane family to leave Topaz in the final chapter of the novel.