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Uchida, Yoshiko (1922–1992)
Yoshiko Uchida was born in Alameda, California,
and raised in San Francisco. Her father, Dwight Ta-
kashi Uchida, was a businessman and her mother,
Iku, was a homemaker. At the age of 10, Yoshiko
explored her creativity by drawing and writing
stories. She and her family traveled often during
the summers and, at the age of 12, she traveled to
Japan for the first time. Besides speaking English,
she became fluent in Japanese and also in French.
While living in Japan, she realized that she was
not as comfortable in the Japanese atmosphere as
she had hoped, nor was she completely comfort-
able living the American life. Her writing often
reflects this theme of bicultural dilemma as she
presents characters with a dual identity, struggling
to find their place in society just as she did. Yoshiko
was a constant witness to racism both in America
and abroad. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese
armed forces attacked a U.S. naval base at Pearl
Harbor in Hawaii, sending a wave of radical rac-
ism throughout the United States. Yoshiko, along
with tens of thousands of Japanese Americans, was
relocated to an internment camp. She received her
bachelor’s degree in English, philosophy, and his-
tory from the University of California, Berkeley,
but her diploma had to be sent by mail to her at
the internment camp at the Tanforan Race Track.
Her family was eventually moved to the Topaz
internment camp in Utah, where they waited for
their release. Her family and others that occupied
the area lost homes, businesses, prized possessions,
and family heirlooms, which were not returned to
them even after they were freed.
Yoshiko spent her time teaching a second-grade
class at the camp in Topaz. The conditions in the
camp were terrible. She found comfort with her
fellow internees who were also trying to divert
their attention away from the poorly constructed
shelters. In the camp she had the opportunity to
observe and talk with other Japanese Americans
about their views and opinions of the war and
the disregard the United States had for American
citizens of Japanese ancestry. These themes can be
found throughout Yoshiko’s stories, written with
passion and concern for the people suffering in a
country where they had hoped to find a home and
a future.
Upon release in 1943 from Topaz, Yoshiko went
to Northampton, Massachusetts, to study at Smith
College for a master’s degree in education. After
graduating, she spent 1944 and 1945 teaching at the
Frankford Friends’ School in Philadelphia, Penn-
sylvania. Over the next two years, Yoshiko worked
in various offices as a secretary to make ends meet.
In 1949 she published her first book, The Dancing
Kettle and Other Japanese Folk Tales. In 1951 she
published her second book, New Friends for Susan,
which was her only book that did not focus on the
turmoil of Japanese-American citizens. During her