Vashon: Then & Now, the Voice of Vashon produced documentary series, is pleased to announce “The Japanese American Presence on Vashon – Part 1”.

This is the first episode of Vashon Then and Now’s second season.  The show traces the evolution of Japanese Americans on the island from early farm laborers in 1900, through their integration into the larger Vashon society, and concludes with the shameful 1942   exclusion, known euphemistically as “The Evacuation”, when 115 Japanese Americans (two-thirds of them American citizens) living on Vashon were forced off the island by gun toting Army troops. The show utilizes historical footage and records, video interviews, audio recordings, and touching essays on what it was like to be a Japanese American on Vashon Island from 1900 to 1942.

The show runs approximately 40 minutes and had it’s first screening at the Vashon Theatre on Tuesday, November 20, 2018.

Co-Hosts:  Bruce Haulman and Meredith Yasui
Director: Michael Monteleone
Producer: Susan McCabe for Voice of Vashon
Writers: Michael Monteleone, Dennis Lambert  and Bruce Haulman
Special Guests: Joe Okimoto, Sam Sakamoto, Mary Matsuda-Gruenwald, Barbara Steen
Newsreader: Jeff Hoyt
Mostly True Historian: Chris Austin
Original musical compositions: Larry Lawson
Thanks: Densho, Otsuka Family, Milton Mukai, Chris Hedgepath, Lisa Hasselman
Additional funding provided by Bernie O’Malley

Produced for Voice of Vashon by Susan McCabe

“Vashon: Then & Now” is made possible by a grant from King County’s 4 Culture.