It started with a shell collection. When she was a child, Sharon Fujimoto-Johnson inherited a set of old matchboxes. Inside were dozens of shells that her grandfather collected during World War II.
He had been incarcerated at Sand Island and Honouliuli internment camps, and family members say he never fully recovered from the traumatic experience.
Some 2,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated in Hawaiʻi during the war.
Fujimoto-Johnson is the author and illustrator of “Shell Song,” the first children's book about the incarceration camps in Hawaiʻi.
HPR spoke with Fujimoto-Johnson about telling her family’s story in a children's book.
She has a book reading and shell activities at Bishop Museum on Friday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. To learn more, click here.
This story aired on The Conversation on Sept. 25, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m.
