Seattle Channel recently premiered a program, I Put Down My Pen: The Wartime Reflections of an Issei Artist, which tells the inspirational story of Kamekichi Tokita, a first-generation Japanese immigrant. Tokita was an artist who left behind oil paintings of early Seattle cityscapes and a diary detailing the months before Japanese Americans living on the West Coast were forced into internment camps.
Tokita’s reflections leave a rare history that captures his experience of wartime Seattle as the United States entered World War II.
The segment is part of Seattle Channel’s Community Stories series about the inspirational people, the relevant issues, and the cultural traditions and rich histories that make up Seattle’s communities.
