Record 9/17 |
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Description
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| John Tanaka and the Empty Chair When he and his family were removed from Juneau and relocated to Minidoka, John Tanaka (1924-1978) was a senior in the class of 1942 at Juneau High School and class valedictorian. Knowing he would not be able to attend the May commencement, the school organized a special ceremony on April 15th at which John received his diploma. At the official graduation that May, John's classmates left an empty chair in honor of him and as a symbol of the community void caused by the removal of the Japanese families. Classmates remember the chair was a simple wooden folding chair painted black for the occasion. While at Minidoka, John volunteered for the U.S. Army. He served with the 442nd Infantry Regiment in Europe. After the war, John first came back to Juneau to assist his family. He then attended the University of Washington and was a member of SYNKOA, a Japanese-American student organization. He continued his education by attending medical school in Saint Louis, Illinois. John married Jeanne Aoyama in 1956. They lived in Saint Louis while John was in school and later returned to Washington State living in both Spokane and Seattle. John and Jeanne had five children and as of 2014, seventeen grandchildren. During World War II, Juneau stood together as a community. They left John's chair empty at the 1942 Juneau High School Graduation. They provided affidavits of loyalty on behalf of Shonosuke Tanaka. When the Japanese families returned, the community helped the families restart their lives and businesses in Juneau. The Empty Chair Committee, named for John's graduation chair, was established in 2012 to create a memorial recognizing the Japanese and Japanese-Americans forcefully removed from Juneau during World War II. The memorial sculpture is a larger than life bronze chair set on boards reminiscent of a gym floor. The names of the locally interned are etched on the floor boards. This work was created by Peter Reiquam, a Seattle artist, and dedicated on July 12, 2014 at the Capital School Park in Juneau. The Empty Chair Memorial is the first of its kind in Alaska. Image Captions: John Tanaka receiving JHS diploma from Russell Hermann and A.B. Phillips at special assembly, April 1942. Image courtesy of the Tanaka family. John Tanaka's Senior Photograph and Caption,1942. Image from 1942 Totem Yearbook (page 14). JDCM Reference 3251. Planning Illustration by Peter Reiquam of Empty Chair Memorial, image courtesy of the Empty Chair Committee. Mary Tanaka Abo meeting with artist Peter Reiquam, July 2012, photograph by Joe Abo, image courtesy of the Empty Chair Committee. Front cover of 1942 Totem Yearbook, designed by John Tanaka. JDCM Reference 3251. |
John Tanaka and the Empty Chair Panel
-The Empty Chair: The Forced Removal and Relocation of Juneau's Japanese, 1941-1951
-Permission to use this image may be obtained by contacting museum staff.
All images are the property of the Juneau-Douglas City Museum. No image may be copied, downloaded or reproduced without the express permission of the Juneau-Douglas City Museum.
All images are the property of the Juneau-Douglas City Museum. No image may be copied, downloaded or reproduced without the express permission of the Juneau-Douglas City Museum.