Manzanar: Latrine

Block 14 Latrine Exhibit

NPS

Quick Facts

Amenities

3 listed

Accessible Rooms, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Wheelchair Accessible

Enduring Humiliation

“Japanese are very modest, and we were so ashamed.”
— Sechiko Marie Shiroyama

Cherry Yamada Uyeda never forgot her first impression of Manzanar: “It was devastating . . . the worst thing [was] what they call the latrine . . . this separate little shack, building, the toilets lined up, and you’d wonder, ‘What is this? Is this for us?’”

In each block, two latrines—one for women and one for men—served about 300 people. Women’s latrines had ten toilets, men’s had eight and a urinal. Francis Kikuchi recalled, “The pots were sitting right next to each other . . . if you're going, you're sitting there rubbing elbows."

Although the women’s latrines (and some of the men’s) did get partitions between the toilets, many people never forgot the humiliation of those early months using a latrine.

Manzanar showers also lacked privacy. “We all had to take a shower together, you know, that one big room,” Aiko Alice Inouye remembered. “So I went at midnight. And everybody else, all the other women had the same idea.”

To hear Grace K. Seto talk about her memories of the latrines, click here.
To hear Rose E. Honda talk about her memories of the latrines, click here.