Yosh Kuromiya Yosh Kuromiya was born in April, 1923 in Sierra Madre, California. He was studying for his art major at Pasadena Junior College and dreamed of becoming a graphic illustrator at the time of expulsion. Kuromiya kept busy in camp drawing posters for dances, fire safety, rubber-saving drives and other wartime projects, as part of the self-proclaimed "Poster Shop Gang." He also sketched Heart Mountain and several barracks in the camp. He was 21 years old when he resisted the draft inside camp. After prison, Kuromiya like many Japanese American men of the time supported his family by working as a gardener. But in 1957 he went back to school at California Polytechnic College get his state license as a landscape architect. He joined a nationally-recognized firm and worked on many large-scale public projects and recreational areas before starting his own practice in 1968 designing private residential gardens. He retired in 1995 and lives with his wife Irene in Alhambra, California, speaking wherever he can about his wartime resistance.

"Drawing The Line" We asked Yosh to bring his original sketchbook back to Heart Mountain for some location shooting that was not used in the final cut of our show. While witnessing the shoot, the program's narrator, Lawson Fusao Inada, was inspired to compose the above poem which became the title work for his next book.

Characters Menu			overview
Jim Akutsu Frank Emi Sam Horino Tak Hoshizaki Dave Kawamoto Mits Koshiyama		Gloria Kubota Guntaro Kubota Ben Kuroki Yosh Kuromiya Mike Masaoka Paul Nakadate		Kiyoshi Okamoto James Omura Min Tamesa Ben Wakaye

The Story | Compliance | Resistance | Who Writes History?
The Film | Talkback | Resources | Home

Copyright 2000 Frank Abe and ITVS. All Rights Reserved. MKM