History for the Reckoning

History for the Reckoning

A podcast that dives deep into uncomfortable history; the kinds of stories we need to learn so they’re never repeated. Each season we'll dig into a history that we've misremembered, tried not to think hard about, or even tried to erase. Through interviews with historians, scholars, artists, and people who lived the history firsthand, we'll learn with the depth each topic deserves. Season 1: “American Concentration Camps: The Story of WWII Japanese Incarceration”, launches February 19th. Sponsored by the JACL Mt Olympus Chapter, the Takahashi Family Foundation, and the JA Community Foundation.

Episodes

April 30, 2026 17 mins

This week we take a breather, step back, and let our friends at History Daily describe the Incarceration in its entirety in under twenty minutes. They do an amazing job, and I hope the zoomed out perspective will help us keep in mind the beginning from the end before we dive into more of the in-depth work we've been doing.

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As Claudia Katayanagi shared in her interview, thousands of Japanese Latinos were plucked from their homes and countries to be shipped to the United States during WWII, where they remained in concentration camps often until several years after the war had ended. In this addenda, we'll hear one of those who survived the experience tell her story.

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Filmmaker and activist Claudia Katayanagi tells us about the other camps where Japanese and Japanese Americans were incarcerated during WWII, run by the DOJ, which were much more secretive and also held the Japanese Latinos America bought from our southern neighbors.

Follow us @HistoryForTheReckoning on Instagram and Substack to find our show notes (plus behind-the-scenes) and to reach out to us with questions or comments.

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The JACL, or Japanese American Citizens League, was probably the most prominent and influential JA organization during WWII, who had a policy of cooperation with the government's acts against Japanese and Japanese Americans. In this addenda, we go through the history of the JACL (especially in regards to the War) and talk through exactly what the evidence shows they did: how close were they to the government, how far did their...

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Activist and filmmaker Chizu Omori (speaking for personal experience as someone who was incarcerated in Arizona during the War) talks about life in the WRA concentration camps where most Japanese Americans spent WWII.

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Thank you to Emily Inouye Huey for walking us through the Japanese American experience between Pearl Harbor and Forced Removal to the camps.

In this addenda episode, we give an overview of the concentration camps: where they were, and what made each of them unique.


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Author Emily Inouye Huey takes us from the shock of Americans nationwide heard about Pearl Harbor to the heartbreak of tens of thousands of Japanese Americans being forced from their homes and into concentration camps.

Follow us @HistoryForTheReckoning on Instagram and Substack to find our show notes (plus behind-the-scenes) and to reach out to us with questions or comments.

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Huge thanks to Susan Kamei for her interview explaining the Japanese and Japanese experience Pre-WWII.

In this addenda episode, we go over some of the terms (Japanese and English) you'll hear throughout this season that you're probably unfamiliar with.

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Susan Kamei -lawyer, author and professor- shares the context of the Incarceration of Japanese and Japanese Americans in WWII by sharing the Japanese experience in the mainland US before Pearl Harbor: the successes they had, the racism they faced, and the government policies that backed up that racism, long before the war began.

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Addenda episodes are released between our main interviews, where we'll answer questions and share bonus content cut for time. 

Follow us @HistoryForTheReckoning on Instagram and Substack to find our show notes and to reach out to us with questions or comments.

This episode, we share two stories cut for time from the interview with George Takei.

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Famed actor, author, speaker, and activist George Takei takes us through his family's story of being incarcerated during WWII, simply for being Japanese.

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Season 1: “American Concentration Camps: The Story of WWII Japanese Incarceration” launches February 19th.

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