Kaneji Domoto: UC Berkeley Student

Biography:

Born in Oakland in 1912, Kaneji Domoto was an architect. He attended UC Berkeley studying landscape architecture, even studying under Frank Lloyd Wright, one of the most accomplished architects of their time. His career as an architect involved his participation in more than 700 projects consisting of residential, commercial, and educational projects. He was interned with his wife, Sally Fujii, at Camp Amache, Colorado and died on January 27, 2002. After being released from the internment camps, he and Sally moved to New Rochelle, New York and went on to continue his work as an architect for another four decades. 

Time in Internment (Literacy):

Throughout his time in internment, Kaneji utilized literacy as a way to communicate to his Sally, his wife, family, and a man named Frank Lloyd Wright as well as advocating for his release from internment. Wright was someone who Kaneji studied with prior to his time in internment at Taliesin Foundation. In an arrangement to have Kaneji come back to work for him at his company, the Taliesin Foundation, Wright and the other members of the foundation made efforts to try and help Kaneji and his family gain permission to leave the internment camp by attempting to request an appeal for a travel permit from the National Student Relocation center. However, these efforts were to no avail as the request was denied.