We just came back from a whirlwind trip to Texas. It was so nice to get to meet the museum's enthusiastic members and supporters in three different cities. Talking to these folks about their interesting and varied experiences during WWII and beyond made it even more clear how different the non-West Coast Japanese American experience was and continues to be.

To this first installment of blog entries related to the Texas trip (San Antonio leg), I am attaching two photos:

1. A photo of the newly renovated Japanese Tea Garden in San Antonio. It was pretty hot that afternoon, but the garden was lovely and filled with water features and flowers. For more info about the garden, please see my previous blog entry. Thanks to Mary Grace K for showing us around.

2. A group photo of team of great folks that we're working with at UTSA's Institute of Texan Cultures.

Speaking of the Institute of Texan Cultures, we visited their amazing photo archive. Many of their photos related to Japanese Americans are on-line! The bulk of these photos feature the WWII detention centers within Texas, including Crystal City. Meanwhile, the photos documenting the pre-WWII Japanese Americans, especially from the Lower Rio Grande Valley provide a great pictoral overview on the Japanese Texan experience.

So did this whet your appetite and do you want to learn more?

If so, here is an overview and timeline about the Japanese Texans written by Thomas Walls, who will also be presenting on a panel at the national conference.

You can also visit the Institute of Texan Culture's photo archive and type in "Japanese" as the key word for your search. You will get about 172 hits. An especially neat one is entitled, "Children's Rhythm Band at Crystal City Internment Camp."

That's all for now, but there are more Texas-related postings to come!