Issei (first generation Japanese American) “picture bride” Toku Shimomura began a diary in 1912, the year of her immigration to the United States, and continued writing until her death in 1963.

Her poignant observations, which chart her and her family’s experiences during the World War II incarceration in Puyallup, Washington and Minidoka, Idaho have inspired this series of paintings and prints created by her grandson Roger Shimomura, painter and University of Kansas professor.