Missions

Mission 1 – Takayo

(3D modeling: Ben Loggins)

Takayo, a young Nisei girl, secretly leaves her family’s barracks to sneak out of the Rohwer Relocation Center.
-in broad daylight, Takayo must search the camp’s barbed-wire perimeter to find a place where she can crawl under the fence without drawing the attention of the Military Police with machine guns stationed in the camp’s guard towers
-if Takayo is successful, she comes upon a shack no bigger than her family outhouse back home on their California farm—the shack is actually an African American family’s grocery store, with even worse conditions than her family’s barrack at Rohwer
-without any money, Takayo must convince the African American shop owners to give her a piece of candy

Mission 2 – Kenji

(Concept drawing: Sohhee Han)

Kenji is a U.S. soldier from Hawaii, serving in the all-Nisei 442nd Regimental Combat Team that trains at a nearby military base, Camp Shelby. Like the other Japanese American soldiers, he is barred from attending the United Service Organization (USO) dance being held tonight at the base. Instead, the Nisei soldiers are told to go to the Jerome Relocation Center for some “R&R” at the internment camp’s USO show.
-in order to get from Camp Shelby to Jerome, Kenji must ride a segregated bus—he must decide whether he will sit at the front of the bus with the white passengers, or at the back with the African American passengers
-if Kenji sits in front, he must exit the bus with the white passengers at every stop to allow black passengers to disembark, but if he sits in back, the white bus driver might reprimand him for not properly following Jim Crow laws, and might even kick him off the bus—despite the fact that he is a U.S. soldier in military uniform
-if Kenji is successful and arrives at the Jerome USO show early enough, he will meet up with his buddy Danny and the rest of their band, the popular “Shelby Hawaiians” in time to play the show. This gets Kenji the chance to perform for a large crowd, dance with Nisei girls between sets, and maybe even walk an impressed date back to the her family’s barracks

Mission 3 – Willie

(Concept drawing: Sohhee Han)

Willie, an African American drummer in the band “Helena Blues,” picks cotton on a farm just outside the Jerome Relocation Center. His band plans to play an unofficial after-hours set at the Jerome internment camp once the USO show finishes.
-in order to get into the internment camp to play with his band, Willie must convince the gate guard that he is employed at the camp as a laborer
-if Willie is successful, he will encounter his friend and bandmate John, who works as a laborer at the Jerome camp
-John will lead Willie to the USO barracks, where the Shelby Hawaiians have just finished their show. The Helena Blues will play their set, and then pass the hat for tips from the enthusiastic and appreciative audience

Mission 4 – Michiko

(3D modeling: Ben Loggins)

Michiko, a teenage Nisei girl, is starring tonight in the girls’ Kabuki performance of the famous Japanese play “The 47 Rōnin” being performed at the Rohwer internment camp. However, Michiko leaves the mess hall—where she’s been eating dinner and gossiping with her friends—too late, and must run to the Rohwer auditorium to get into her costume and makeup for the play.
-the day’s rain has turned the camp’s grounds into mud, and pieces of Rohwer’s wooden sidewalks have been submerged in the deep, sticky sludge. Michiko must make her way through these obstacles to get to the theatre in time
-if Michiko gets too muddy, she will not be able to go onstage—and her understudy, eagerly awaiting her own star turn, will go on in the lead role instead
-if Michiko is successful and makes it to the auditorium clean and in time, she can change into her costume (the Kampei “skin”) to take the stage as the disgraced retainer Kampei. After the performance ends, she will be able to collect an envelope containing tips from her delighted fans