Min’s Decision

Contributed by Ann Tamaki Dion

My father, Min Tamaki, was in his last year of Pharmacy School at the University of California when Executive Order 9066 was issued, forcing him to leave school before taking his final exams. He and his family were imprisoned in Tanforan in May 1942. 

That summer, when informed that he and five other pharmacy students would be permitted to leave Tanforan in order to take the exam, Min thought, “Leave Tanforan? Hell, yes!!” and told the camp administrator, “Yes! I’ll take the examination.” He figured he had nothing to lose, and the chance to be free again for three days was too good to pass up.

The other five students worried they wouldn’t pass the exam and each replied, “No, I’m not prepared.” So when the taxi arrived on the first of three days to take the students into San Francisco for the three-hour exam period, only Min rode out of camp. 

When the taxi arrived at the exam site, Min told the cabbie, “Wait for me. Don’t leave. I’ll only be an hour.” True to his word, Min left the exam after one hour. 

“Take me to Chinatown,” he told the cabbie. Min got out of the taxi and went inside a restaurant to buy chow mein to bring back to his family. 

On the second day, he again told the driver to wait, promising to emerge in one hour. This time he asked to be taken to Roos Atkins, a classy downtown department store, where he bought a pair of argyle socks and some things for his friends. 

On the third day, Min did the same thing, leaving the exam after only an hour and using his two extra hours to shop and enjoy the City. 

To his surprise, he passed the exam. Later, when he was informed that the University officials had decided to award him his degree despite missing his finals, a canister with his rolled-up diploma was delivered to him at Tanforan before he was removed to Topaz. 

“Unbelievable!” he remarked “They found me at my horse-stall address.”

Min’s diploma, delivered to a Tanforan horse stall

Ann Tamaki Dion lives in Piedmont, CA. Ann’s parents, Min Tamaki and Iyo Yamashita, were married in Topaz in 1943. Ann was born in 1948 in Massachusetts. After the War, the family returned to California. Ann grew up in Oakland and received a BA and teaching credential from UC Berkeley. She taught in the Oakland Public Schools until retirement and is a founding member of the Friends of Topaz.