Lisa Doi
Elizabeth “Lisa” Doi was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1991 to a Japanese-American mother and a white-American father. As a Yonsei (fourth-generation), mixed-race Japanese-American, she grew up feeling strongly connected to her heritage. Ever since she was a young child, she remembers her mother taking her to events organized by the Japanese-American community in Chicago. When she was about three years old, she participated in an exhibit celebrating the history of Japanese-American women in the United States. She considers this to be the event that set the foundation for her strong identification with the Japanese-American community.
Although she grew up influenced by her mother’s activism, her personal interest in Japanese-American internment did not begin until she participated in the Kansha Project, run by the “Japanese American Citizens League” (JACL), in which college-aged Japanese-Americans from the midwest were invited to visit Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo neighborhood and Manzanar, a former incarceration site. She would later go on to lead the project as one of its alumni and eventually become the president of JACL’s Chicago chapter. Her work in her local JACL chapter then led her to become a co-chair of “Tsuru for Solidarity”, an organization of formerly incarcerated Japanese-Americans and their descendants dedicated to closing immigrant detention centers.
Lisa’s maternal great-grandparents immigrated to the U.S. from Fukushima and Hiroshima between 1905-1920 and all her maternal grandparents were born in the U.S. Her maternal grandparents, great-grandparents, and their siblings were all incarcerated in Japanese-American internment camps from 1941-1944. Her family members were held in Rohwer, Crystal City, Santa Anita, and Tanforan during the war. Sano Ansei, her great-grandmother, was diagnosed with stomach cancer before incarceration and would later die of the disease before seeing release in August of 1943. The experience of her great-grandmother has influenced her current interests in making space for Issei (first-generation immigrant) voices as well that of those who did not survive confinement in present-day war remembrances.
Identity in the U.S:
Relatives Who Experienced the Asia-Pacific War:
Impact of the War on Identity and Worldview:
Reflections on War Memory:
An undated photograph of Sano Ansai, Lisa’s maternal great-grandmother, likely taken shortly before her death at age 54 in the Rohwer internment camp.
The leave-clearance card of Mary Ansai, Lisa’s maternal grandmother, that allowed her to leave Rohwer and resettle in Chicago.
A listing from the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC) showing that Lisa’s maternal grandfather Alfred Kazuyuki Doi transferred to Washington University in St. Louis where he was able to finish college. He is the first name on the list. His “address” from the Stockton Assembly Center is listed to the right of his name.