Ep #1 Almost Home

Hear in the Gorge

JAPANESE HISTORY IN THE HOOD RIVER VALLEY In 2015, Min Yasui was the first Oregonian to ever receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom - our nation's highest civilian honor. Min was first generation Japanese American, born right here in Hood River. His father, Masuo, had immigrated from Japan and become a respected leader in the small community. But this is far from a simple success story. It includes FBI spying, unexpected death, the largest mass incarceration in U.S. history, and a small town in Oregon struggling with newfound notoriety. This is an immigrant story turned national narrative, one still relevant more than a century later. music: Blue Dot Sessions, Kai Engel, and Poddington Bear. archival audio from: Minoru Yasui, Oct. 23, 1983, Steven Okazaki Collection, DDR_densho_1012_3_13, Densho