The Tuna Canyon Detention Station Coalition will present a one-day exhibition on Sunday, Dec. 14, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden, 270 Arlington Dr., Pasadena.
The garden was designed by Japanese American landscape architect Kinzuchi Fujii and was completed in 1940. During World War II and prior to the more widely known mass incarceration of Japanese Americans from the West Coast, Fujii was part of a large group of immigrants who were targeted, arrested, and detained as a result of the U.S. government’s Alien Enemies Act, which authorized Presidential Proclamations 2525, 2526 and 2527.
Considered a community leader, Fujii was among those deemed to be “enemy aliens” and ordered to be detained at the Tuna Canyon Detention Station, located in Tujunga, only a few miles from the garden. Due to capacity limits at Tuna Canyon, Fujii was ultimately held for one day at a Tuna Canyon substation at the Griffith Park Internment Camp. His name is included on an honor roll of detainees of Tuna Canyon.
From 1941 to 1943, the Tuna Canyon Detention Station held over 2,000 prisoners — mostly Japanese, but also Germans, Italians, and others. Today, only the old oak trees remain, and few people know of its history.
In 2013, the Tuna Canyon Detention Station Coalition was founded to illuminate this tragic event so that such injustice is never again experienced by any group (https://www.tunacanyon.org/). The TCDSC shares the history of Tuna Canyon and stories of its prisoners through a booklet, “Tuna Canyon Detention Station,” and an exhibition, “Only the Oaks Remain.”
In honor of Fujii and the many others unjustly held at these lesser known confinement sites, the Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden will host “Only the Oaks Remain.” The exhibition is free with garden admission.
A program at 1 p.m. will include remarks from members of the Tuna Canyon Detention Station Coalition, including President Kyoko Nancy Oda, storyteller and Tuna Canyon descendant Donna Sugimoto, and renowned Japanese garden historian Dr. Kendall H. Brown.
The remarks will be followed by light refreshments and a performance at 2 p.m. on the teahouse veranda by Rachel Rudich, a seasoned shakuhachi player who has performed internationally and locally, including at REDCAT at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Admission to the garden is $12 per person, free for children 12 and under. For more information, visit japanesegardenpasadena.com.
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