Journey to Topaz

Journey to Topaz Summary | Plot Summary

Eleven-year-old Yuki Sakane and her family are Japanese Americans living in Berkeley in 1941. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese Empire attacks Pearl Harbor, drawing the United States into World War II. On the evening of December 7, 1941, Mr. Sakane, along with thousands of other Japanese men, is arrested by the FBI, leaving Yuki and her family confused and frightened. After six days have passed, the family receives a postcard from Mr. Sakane informing them that he is physically well and incarcerated in San Francisco. The family is allowed to visit Mr. Sakane only once before he is deported to a Prisoner of War Camp in Montana.

On May 1, 1942, Yuki and her family, along with thousands of other Japanese families, are evacuated to the Tanforan Camp, where they are housed in horse stables that have been hastily converted to barracks. The camp is surrounded by barbed wire and patrolled by armed guards. Over the next several months, Yuki and her family endure the hardships and privation of living as prisoners inside of a guarded compound with very limited facilities.

In September 1942, after several months at Tanforan, Yuki and her family are relocated to the Topaz Internment Camp, in Utah's Sevier Desert. The camp is a hastily constructed compound surrounded by wire fences and guard towers. Yuki and her family live in a small room and subsist on poor rations and meager supplies. After several weeks Mr. Sakane is cleared of any wrongdoing and relocated from Montana to Topaz, where he rejoins his family. Yuki and her family meet other interned Japanese and form new friendships. Yuki's older brother, Ken, along with hundreds of other young men interned at Topaz, enlist in the United States Armed Forces to demonstrate patriotism. One of Yuki's friends, the elderly Mr. Kurihara, is shot and killed by a guard. Yuki is caught in a terrible dust storm, and the internees endure many additional hardships.

Finally in the middle of 1943, after many months of imprisonment, Yuki's father secures permission to relocate to Salt Lake City, Utah, and seek employment. Yuki once again must leave behind dear friends and the life she knows to face an unknown future, but she is of course happy to leave behind the dusty monotony of imprisonment.