b'incarcerated in the camps varies from between forty thousand to sixty thousand individuals, almost all of whom spent the entirety of the war behind barbed wire. Because many adults at Minidoka (approximately 1,250) engaged in work outside the camps as part of the work release program, or voluntarily relocated for education or work, after 1943 the camps were populated primarily by the very young and the very old. 15One long-lasting effect of Makuuchis childhood incarceration was in his formal schooling. Two elementary schools opened at Minidoka in October 1942 with no furniture or supplies, and only minimal books. 16There was frequent turnover in the teaching staff, and the crude facilities and lack of discipline encouraged misbehavior. 17These crucial years in his primary education may partially account for Makuuchis consistently poor academic record. Although this may seem a minor point, his scholastic underperformance significantly impacted his access to future opportunities.FIGURE \x05 Mary, Harriet, and Howard Takahashi with the familys new delivery truck, 1941Howards only recorded artistic endeavors at Minidoka included a wall mural, mentioned in his poem On the Laundry Hall Wall, and boyish drawings ofCoast. The Takahashi family was unusual for the length of time they stayed in tanks and soldiers. 18There were several known professional artists at Minidoka,the Twin Falls labor camp; while some families lived there briefly after the war, including the painters Ed Tsutakawa and Takuichi Fujii. Although art was offeredmany relocated to other parts of the country to be closer to extended family among the community activities, and there were art exhibitions held at Puyallupmembers or for better work opportunities. 22and Minidoka, there was no formal art school as there was at other camps, such as Topaz in Utah. 19 One of the signal features of the Takahashi familys postwar life in Twin Falls was their involvement with the Lutheran Church. There is no information on their The Takahashi family remained in Idaho after Minidoka closed in 1945, movingreligious activities in Seattle, although according to Makuuchis poetry Kikue that June to the labor camp in nearby Twin Falls, where John had lived while onTakahashi was a practicing Buddhist. In his Autobio/graphics Makuuchi relates temporary release for farm work. Both John and Mary lived in the Twin Falls laborattending Sunday School trips of different denominations while in Minidoka, camp until their deaths, in 1970 and 1988 respectively. Makuuchi remembersseeking the one true light. 23After settling in Twin Falls after the war, there are this decision as being borne out of his fathers defiancethe desire not to returndocumented strong ties with the Immanuel Lutheran Church. Both children were to the city that had expelled him and his family. 20While this might have been abaptized in December 1946, and all four family members were later confirmed factor, there was also little in Seattle for the family to return to: the businesses(fig. 10). 24Howard and Harriet attended school at Memorial Lutheran School, were gone, and in the intervening years the neighborhood known as Nihonmachi,a secondary school associated with the church and housed in a new building which had been the center of Japanese life, had been resettled by other groups,opened in 1946. Howard graduated from the eighth grade (the highest grade including those who flocked to the city to work in wartime industries. 21 taught) in 1949, and at the time he expressed a desire to train for the ministry. 25Right before the war, the Takahashi family had purchased a new truck to expandIt was probably through their relationship with the Ehlers family, an extended their grocery deliveries to more clients (fig. 9). According to Makuuchi, they wereclan with strong roots in the Twin Falls Lutheran community, that Howard was given two weeks to sell the truck and businesses. Since many of their neighborssent to Concordia, a private Lutheran high school in Portland, Oregon. Members were forced to do the same, there was little chance of receiving a fair price, andof the Ehlers family are named as godparents for Howard and Harriet and thus they had no capital to reconstitute the business after the war. There wassponsors for John and Mary, and Ronald Ehlers was in Howards graduating class also the sense that Japanese families would not be welcomed back to the Westand also attended Concordia. Makuuchis recollection of this time was one of 20 21'