Mary Matsuda Gruenewald was 17 when her life fell to pieces, shattered by the U.S. policy of interning Japanese-Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941.
Now age 81, she is visiting her ancestral homeland for the first time ever, accompanied by her daughter Martha and sister-in-law Miyoko. It is, she says, a time of reflection and soul-searching. "I need to find a place for Japan in the remaining years of my life that is fruitful and consistent with both the eternal and my own values."
As well as touching base with family roots, Mary is promoting her book, "Looking Like the Enemy: My Story of Imprisonment in Japanese-American Internment Camps." Published last year by NewSage Press in Oregon, it describes how because of their ancestry, the Matsuda family (along with 120,000 other mainland Japanese-Americans) faced years of fear, hardship and discrimination.