Citizen 13660

Born on June 27, 1912, Okubo was a writer and artist who was best known for Citizen 13660, her compilation of 189 illustrations and text describing her experience with Japanese American internment at Tanforan Assembly Center and Topaz War Relocation Center during World War II.

Okubo began the sketches for Citizen 13660 in 1942 upon first entering Tanforan Assembly Center, although the graphic novel opens with the start of World War II when she was traveling through Europe. According to the graphic novel, Okubo first began sketching the daily scenes of internment life after her first day at Tanforan Assembly Center. In an accompanying image of her drawing her surroundings, Okubo writes, “The camp was a mess” (48). While Okubo’s drawings and textual account prominently feature the difficulties of camp life, she also depicts moments of joy and respite as well. Her drawings and text depict not only the deplorable conditions of the camps but also the various ways in which she and the other internees tried to retain their sense of normalcy during internment.

Citizen 13660 became an essential resource documenting internment life. Because cameras were banned from the camps, Okubo’s drawings became one of the few viable ways to visually document what had transpired during internment. In a preface to the 1983 edition of Citizen 13660, Okubo discusses the significance of this documentation effort: “I had the opportunity to study the human race from the cradle to the grave, and to see what happens to people when reduced to one status and condition” (XXVI). Okubo’s perspective offers a unique view of internment life, one that captured the trajectory from the start of World War II to the end of internment. This is especially important due to the lack of personal accounts from internees who could trace the growing anti-Japanese sentiment during the early days of World War II to the circumstances leading to their eventual release.