Internment Camp Survivor Shares Hope With Missouri Teens

A snow globe changed how Mike Hosokawa remembers one of America's darkest chapters. The simple gift, sent by volunteers to a Wyoming internment camp in 1942, reminded him that compassion existed even when his family was imprisoned for looking like the enemy.

This week, the Columbia resident shared his story with students at Hickman High School. Now in his 80s after 50 years in Missouri and a career at the University of Missouri, Hosokawa has found his ikigai, a Japanese concept meaning life purpose, in these presentations.

He opened his talk from the perspective of his 3-year-old self hearing about Executive Order 9066. "We have to go somewhere, but we don't know where," he told the quiet auditorium. "The government says we can't be trusted."

Hosokawa's family was among more than 120,000 Japanese Americans forced into camps during World War II. They spent years at Heart Mountain in Wyoming, living in cramped quarters surrounded by barbed wire.

But his presentation didn't dwell on bitterness. Instead, he wove stories of human goodness throughout the heavy history.

He shared how volunteer groups across America sent Christmas presents to every person in the camps. His snow globe, which he still keeps decades later, symbolized that people outside the fences hadn't forgotten them.

Why This Inspires

When students asked how long it took to stop feeling like an "other," Hosokawa gave an honest answer. "I'm still other," he said, explaining how even official forms still categorize him that way.

Yet his response carried no anger. Instead, he challenged the students to find their own ikigai and make concrete plans to advocate for change.

"I'm too old to make a change, but hopefully the hope is in groups like this," he told them. His message was simple but powerful: "We just need to get to know people from the inside out, rather than the outside in."

Social studies teacher Zach Rodeman said hearing from an elder who lived through one of America's uncomfortable truths, yet remains optimistic and hopeful, created a special opportunity. Students connected history from their textbooks to a living person in their community.

Hosokawa views his speaking tours as essential work. For years, he's been visiting schools to ensure this history isn't forgotten and that young people learn the power of seeing beyond appearances.

The students left the presentation with more than a history lesson. They received a challenge from someone who had every reason to be bitter but chose hope instead.