My father came from Japan in 1905
He was 15 when he immigrated from Japan
He worked until he was able to buy respect and build a store

Yumi looked through the old books in her mom's bookshop. In the attic of the shop was a few old books. Her dad had a blog that he used to keep off limits, but now he left it in the attic for Yumi to look through. Back in her family tree, her grandfather immigrated from Japan to American in 1905.

"Wow." Yumi told herself as she looked through the old blog.

Let me tell you the story in the form of a dream,
I don't know why I have to tell it but I know what it means,
Close your eyes, just picture the scene,
As I paint it for you, it was World War II,
When this man named Kenji woke up,
Ken was not a soldier

Yumi looked through the books to see if her grandfathers diary with in the old trunk. She dusted off an old book that had: Kenji Ishiyama on it. She looked through the old book. It was pretty normal for the first few pages. The book started when he first came to America.

He was just a man with a family who owned a store in LA,
That day, he crawled out of bed like he always did,
Bacon and eggs with wife and kids,
He lived on the second floor of a little store he ran,
He moved to LA from Japan,

Yumi looked through the old book and flipping through the pages. Each page dated and neatly writen in Japanese.

"YUMI your going to be late for school! Hurry up!" Mrs. Ishiyama called from the first floor of the bookshop.

"Coming!" Yumi called as she put the book in her backpack. She ran down the stairs and out the door toward Kadic. As she reached homeroom, she reopened the book before class started.

They called him 'Immigrant,'
In Japanese, he'd say he was called "Issei,"
That meant 'First Generation In The United States,'
When everyone was afraid of the Germans, afraid of the Japs,
But most of all afraid of a homeland attack,
And that morning when Ken went out on the doormat,
His world went black 'cause,
Right there; front page news,
Three weeks before 1942,
"Pearl Harbour's Been Bombed And The Japs Are Comin',"
Pictures of soldiers dyin' and runnin',
Ken knew what it would lead to,
Just like he guessed, the President said,
"The evil Japanese in our home country will be locked away,"

Yumi looked through the book to see an old news paper dated three weeks before 1942. When Pearl Harbor was attacked. The old smered pictures showed the soldiers.

Gradfather even wrote about his times in the camp. Yumi told herself. The paper was smeered and she couldn't read much of it, but she knew it was from the Pearl Harbor attack.

They gave Ken, a couple of days,
To get his whole life packed in two bags,
Just two bags, couldn't even pack his clothes,
Some folks didn't even have a suitcase, to pack anything in,
So two trash bags is all they gave them,
When the kids asked mom "Where are we goin'?"
Nobody even knew what to say to them,
Ken didn't wanna lie, he said "The US is lookin' for spies,
So we have to live in a place called Manzanar,
Where a lot of Japanese people are,"
Stop it don't look at the gunmen,
You don't wanna get the soldiers wonderin',
If you gonna run or not,
'Cause if you run then you might get shot,
Other than that try not to think about it,
Try not to worry 'bout it; bein' so crowded,
Someday we'll get out, someday, someday.

Yumi continued to read through the pages.

Strange how the Japanese where treated like the Jews in the same war. Yumi thought as the teacher smacked a ruler on her desk.

"Ishiyama! Put the book away and listen to the class." The teacher yelled.

I never thought I'd here a teacher tell someone to put DOWN a book. Yumi thought as she put the book in her back pack and waited for the class to end. She planned to take it back out during lunch, and read it then. Hopefully no one would bother her then.

As soon as war broke out
The F.B.I. came and they just come to the house and
"You have to come"
"All the Japanese have to go"
They took Mr. Ni
People didn't understand
Why did they have to take him?
Because he's an innocent laborer

Yumi couldn't wait for lunch, she slowly took the book out and opened it to the page she was at and started reading:

I didn't understand why they took peaple like Mr. Ni, he was an innocent person who couldn't do much damage. Why did they take him, he was so kind to many people, he would never betray anyone, no one I knew would.

The Japanese writing said. The teacher walked over and smacked the desk with a heavy book. Yumi looked up.

"Yumi, put non-school related books away during my class, or I'll send you to the principal's office." The teacher said as Yumi put the book back and looked ahead at the black board until the bell rang.

So now they're in a town with soldiers surroundin' them,
Every day, every night look down at them,
From watch towers up on the wall,
Ken couldn't really hate them at all;
They were just doin' their job and,
He wasn't gonna make any problems,
He had a little garden with vegetables and fruits that,
He gave to the troops in a basket his wife made,
But in the back of his mind, he wanted his families life saved,
Prisoners of war in their own damn country,
What for?
Time passed in the prison town,
He wanted them to live it down when they were free,
The only way out was joinin' the army,
And supposedly, some men went out for the army, signed on,
And ended up flyin' to Japan with a bomb,

Yumi sat in the lunch room with her nose burried in the book. Her grandfather cursed a bit about the war. It was, in her point of view, interesting to read about a war from someone who was a part of it.

"Yumi, are you going to finish your lunch?" Odd asked.

"No go ahead." Yumi said turning the page.

"We never saw you so into a book." Aelita said. "And you've read alot of the time."

"Well, put the book down and talk." Ulrich said.

"With who?" Yumi asked sarcasticlly.

"Very funny." Ulrich said. "What are your reading anyway?"

"My Grandfather's Diary." Yumi said. Aelita looked over to a group of people outside.

"What's going on?" Aelita asked.

"I don't know." Yumi said.

"Lets go see." Ulrich said as the group looked over at the wall.

That 15 kilotonne blast, put an end to the war pretty fast,
Two cities were blown to bits; the end of the war came quick,
Ken got out, big hopes of a normal life, with his kids and his wife,
But, when they got back to their home,
What they saw made them feel so alone,
These people had trashed every room,
Smashed in the windows and bashed in the doors,
Written on the walls and the floor,
"Japs not welcome anymore."
And Kenji dropped both of his bags at his sides and just stood outside,
He, looked at his wife without words to say,
She looked back at him wiping tears away,
And, said "Someday we'll be okay, someday,"

In red and White spray paint, the words:

"JAPS NOT WELCOME ANYMORE!" In bold capital print. Yumi dropped the book when she read it. Just like back in WWII, those words where writen on the walls.

"Why would anyone write that?" Aelita asked. Yumi wanted to shake it off and pay no attendion. Her grandfather did, so she would walk it off and not care about the coment.

Now the names have been changed, but the story's true,
My family was locked up back in '42,
My family was there it was dark and damp,
And they called it an internment camp

"Yumi, you OK?" Ulrich asked.

"Yeah fine." Yumi said as she picked back up the book. My family dealed with being locked up in '42, and I can shake off a coment like that. Yumi told herself.