Kazuji Oshima was born on September 1, 1918 in San Pedro, California. His father, Tetsuyiro? Oshima, was a commercial fisherman. Tetsuyiro was 42 years old (per birth certificate) when Kazuji was born. Kazuji's mother, Hona Genda, was a 34 year-old housewife at the time Kazuji was born.

Kazuji had one sister who was a couple of years older than Kazuji. Her name was Kiyoe

Kazuji's family lived on Terminal Island, in the Los Angeles harbor, off the coast of San Pedro. Terminal Island was primarily a Japanese fishing community when Kazuji was young. Things would change dramatically during WW II. Terminal Island today is one of the two or three major West Coast shipping container ports.

Kazuji attended high school at San Pedro High School (SPHS), which was a ferryboat ride across the bay from Terminal Island. Per the entries in his yearbooks, Mike appeared to be a good student (especially art), active in sports (especially track), and popular (numerous "best wishes" entries). He apparently also took one or more "wood working" classes during high school.

The SPHS facilities were undergoing changes while Kazuji was enrolled (1934-1938). In 1933, the Long Beach Earthquake had extensively damaged SPHS. One student had been killed while at a track meet at the Wilson High School gym when the earthquake hit. Because of the extensive damage ($400,000) the people of San Pedro urged the building of a new high school. Construction of the high school campus began on September 19, 1935. The first buildings built were the Administration, Home Economics and Shop buildings. With a staff of gardeners, the terraced campus was a beautiful area. Completion of the buildings occurred in October 1936. The new high school was occupied in January 1937.

San Pedro graduated students at the end of the first semester (winter) and at the end of the second semester (summer). Kazuji graduated during the winter of 1938. The commencement exercises were held on February 3, 1938.

Kazuji's sister, Kiyoe apparently graduated from SPHS during the summer of 1935. She was probably attending SPHS, when the earthquake damaged the school in 1933.

Exactly how Kazuji came up with his "American" name is not known. One family legend had Boys Town's Father Flanagan involved in the naming. Several entries in Kazuji's high school yearbooks, however, indicate that "Mike" may have picked up this name during his high school years (i.e., the Summer '35 and Summer '36 yearbooks had no entries addressed to "Mike," while the Winter '36 and the Summer '37 yearbooks had several entries addressed to "Mike"). Kazuji was also referred to as "General" in some of the yearbook notes.

As noted previously, Mike's father was a commercial fisherman. I am not sure what Mike's long term career objectives were during his high school years. He apparently had some interest in art and carpentry, in addition to fishing. In any case, he joined his father in the commercial fishing industry. An entry in his high school yearbook ("success to you this summer on your fishing trips") implied that he worked on the fishing boat before his senior year of high school.

Per Boys Town records, "after graduation, he was a fisherman during the fishing season of 1938-1941. During this period, he also worked as a sign painter for the Japanese American Fishermen's Club of the Pacific and as an apprentice at ship carpentry for one year at the San Pedro Boat Building Company doing special repair work in the cabins."

Mike told me that the fishing boats would sometimes travel thousands of miles from port (e.g., along the Central American coast) looking for fish. While it was a hard life and by some accounts the most dangerous of all professions, Mike seemed to enjoy the work -- although he did note that the oceans off the coast of Panama could get so rough it would scare him.

As noted above, Mike was employed in the commercial fishing industry on December 7, 1941, when the Japanese navy attacked Pearl Harbor. Mike and thousands of other "Japanese Americans" living along the coast would soon find themselves under attack -- by their own government. They had several things going against them.

• First of all, they looked different. They looked like the Japanese peoples being pictured in the papers and newsreels.

• Secondly, they sounded different. The Japanese language was the dominant language spoken on Terminal Island.

• Thirdly, and probably most importantly -- as it turned out, they were living along the coast of California. There was nothing but water between Japan and a fearful California.

Within days, life on Terminal Island changed. The FBI arrived and many of the Japanese men were taken. On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which allowed military commanders to designate areas "from which any or all persons may be excluded." Executive Order 9066 allowed the government to move all Japanese and Americans of Japanese ancestry from the Western coastal regions to guarded camps in the interior of the United States.

Within literally weeks life changed some more -- the fishing boats, homes and belongings of a lifetime were gone. Families and friends were separated and Mike was in the custody of the US government. Most of the Japanese Americans on Terminal Island were first relocated to the Santa Anita Assembly Center and then to the Manzanar Relocation Center.

The Japanese Americans literally had days to dispose or otherwise secure their accumulated property (e.g., boats, homes, automobiles). Needless to say -- it was a buyer's market. The US government, many years later, sent Kazuji a "reparations" check -- something like $20,000 -- to make up for what is generally considered an injustice today.

Mike did not talk often about his days in Manzanar. He may have worked as a carpenter in the camp? He apparently did a little fishing at a location in or near the camp. When looking at some pictures of Manzanar on the Internet one day, he recognized a picture of the camouflage assembly building and noted that one of his acquaintances worked in this building. He was apparently at Manzanar until September, 1944.

At some point in time, the US government developed a program, whereby Japanese Americans could leave the camps if they somehow found jobs and or sponsors in the interior reaches of the United States. This program ultimately led Mike to Boys Town, Nebraska.

In a September 13, 1944 letter to Boys Town, Mr. Ralph Merritt, of the War Relocation Authority - Manzanar Relocation Project, wrote, "Mr. Oshima is a pleasant, poised young man who is well liked by the faculty and students. One of his greatest assets is his friendly manner which enables him to make friends easily. Mr. Oshima has heard of the wonderful work that has been done in Boys Town and would like to work there."

Ten days later Mike began a new job at Boys Town.

Mike began to work for the Boys Town Maintenance Department in September of 1944. He was single at the time.

In 1948, Mike left Boys Town for a brief time. He probably returned to California at that time.

It was about this time (1949) that Kazuji's family was looking for a wife for him (as was customary in the Japanese society). Somehow a lady (the "matchmaker") heard of Mutsuko Hamashita and the wheels were set in motion. The matchmaker somehow arranged for Mutsuko to marry Kazuji.

The wedding was conducted in the Los Angeles area on September 24, 1950. Kazuji had just turned 29 when he married his 26 years old bride.

In March 1950 (six months before his wedding) Mike had returned to Boys Town and his maintenance organization job. He apparently took some time off in September of that year to get married.

After the wedding (and honeymoon?) Mike returned to Boys Town with his young bride. Their first home was actually in the Happy Hollow area of Omaha. They lived in an attic apartment at the time. They were there (year or less) before they moved to Boys Town -- living first in an apartment over the gardeners garage -- and then moving to the farmhouse located north of West Dodge Road, near present day 138^th Street.

While living at Boys Town, the following children were born:

Terry Teruko -- July 23, 1951

Roger -- February 10, 1956

Roy -- July 15, 1961, and

Grace Ayako -- August 15, 1963.

In the 1990's, when the state of Nebraska bought their Boys Town house to expand West Dodge Road (US 6), the Oshimas moved to a house in the Stonehenge subdivision north of Boys Town (near Roger's and Terry's homes).

Over the years, Mike was a carpenter, foreman of the Carpenter Shop and (beginning in November 1981) the Boys Town locksmith. During that time he played an ongoing part in keeping the homes and offices in tip-top shape.

For some years during those fifty or so years, Mike was also an active member of the Boys Town Volunteer Fire Department and a member of the Boys Town Village Board.

He was one of a very few who could say that he worked with all four of the Boys Town Directors (Father's Flanagan, Wegner, Hupp and Peter)!

Over the years Mike was involved in some interesting carpentry projects, including Father Flanagan's desk and at lest one church alter.

One assignment that Mike seemed to enjoy in particular were his annual trips to the Boys Town property on Lake Okoboji in northwest Iowa -- to get the facilities opened (spring) and closed (fall).

Mike also seemed to enjoy his interaction with the Boys Town boys that, from time to time, worked on carpentry projects. Amongst the family pictures are notes and cards from some of the youth that Mike worked with.

On January 31, 2004, some 250 people gathered at Girls and Boys Town's Dowd Memorial Chapel for a 30-minute memorial Mass for Retired Navy Cmdr. Loyd "Pete" Bucher, 76, who had died earlier that week in Poway, California. Bucher, who had graduated from Boys Town in the Class of 1947, was in charge of the USS Pueblo in January 1968 when North Korean gunboats seized it. Mike was pictured in the February 1, 2004, Omaha World Herald article on the ceremony (Boys Town salutes hero from its ranks). Mike was quoted in the article as saying, "I knew Pete Bucher at Boys Town, he grew up to be a great man."

Mike could apparently be a little cantankerous at times. One day after Mike retired, I took him up to the north lake at Boys Town to do a little fishing. A couple of his former co-workers spotted him fishing and they stopped to say hello. They had a number of "Mike stories." One of them involved a telephone call from a house parent concerned about an open work order (door or lock problem). Mike apparently assured the person on the phone that he would make sure that the issue was resolved. After completing the call, Mike moved the work order to the bottom of the open-orders tray.

Mike was a fisherman all of his life. As noted previously, his father was a commercial fisherman in California when he was born. As such, he was around fish and fishermen while growing up on Terminal Island. From 1938 to 1941, Mike joined his father on the fishing boat.

After Manzanar, Mike brought his love for fishing to Nebraska. Nebraska fishing (e.g., perch, bluegills, bass, carp) must certainly have been a let down in comparison to fishing the Pacific Ocean -- but fishing is fishing.

He spent much of his life in Nebraska fishing and working in his shop making and/or repairing a variety of fishing rods, lures and flies. He had a number of clients throughout the city and worked through Canfields (then downtown) for awhile.

Editors note: Mike was modest to the extent that I did not know until his funeral that he had bowled at least one perfect "300" game. It is somewhat ironic that one of his last excursions from Parsons House before he died was to "go bowling."

Life was not overly kind to Mike during his latter years. He began to have health issues (e.g., congestive heart failure, loss of hearing) about the time that he retired in 1998, which forced him to give up his keys and sell his car. He was under hospice care for a few months around this time before he got his "medicines" adjusted.

Between 2000 and his death, vascular dementia, related to his heart problems also became more noticeable. His mind would often return (at first) to his Boys Town days and (later) his Terminal Island days. Towards the end, even these memories and conversations were lost. The dementia-related affects developed to a point that he was moved to an assisted living facility during 2003.

It was during this time that his wife, Mitzi was having her own health problems. Mutsuko died on Tuesday, July 20^th, 2004 in Omaha, Nebraska (age 80) after a 20 month struggle with lung cancer.

As is often the case, Mike's health started to deteriorate even faster after Mitzi's death. Mike died in his sleep in the early morning hours of Thursday, March 10, 2005. He was 86 years old when he died. Mike's funeral was held on Monday, March 14^th and he was laid to rest later that day at Westlawn-Hillcrest Memorial Park in Omaha.

Mike was not the most "religious" person that ever lived. The religion of his youth was Buddhism. His parents were Buddhists. There were three Buddhist temples at the Manzanar Relocation Camp. Kazuji and Mutsuko were married in a Buddhist ceremony. Fate took him to Boys Town -- a Catholic institution -- in a Christian community. While you would seldom find Mike at church on Sunday morning, he did demonstrate his spirituality in different ways at different times.

• His children all became committed and active Christians -- a fact that must, to some extent, reflect on Mike's life -- a claim that many Christian men cannot make.

• He helped his son, Roy, raise the funds to go on several trips throughout the USA and overseas with the Continental Singers and Orchestra (a Christian outreach).

• Terry noted that when her grandmother (Mike's mother) died when Terry was a little girl, Mike read Psalm 23 to console her.

• After Mitzi died, Mike commented to me (8-17-04), "There is no catch -- God is the only one!"

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Changes and additions:

On March 12, 2005 this document was changed to correct Mike's birth date (was previously shown as September 1, 1921).

On March 21, 2005, the information regarding Mike's funeral was added, along with the associated links (e.g., Father Peter letter). The editor's note above regarding Mike's perfect "300" bowling game was also added at that time.