We Are Not Free

Frankie Fujita is a teenager from the Japantown part of San Francisco who is known for having a lot of energy and sometimes becoming violent. He joins the army to escape the oppressive nature of the camps, and he visits Twitchy shortly before Twitchy dies.

Aiko Harano is Tommy’s younger sister. She feels that the other characters sometimes look down on her because she’s only 13 at the start of the novel, and so she appreciates how Mas treats her as an equal. She also often argues with her father, Mr. Harano.

Mrs. Ito is the mother of Mas, Shig, and Minnow. Her husband, Mr. Ito, is dead, but she keeps her family together and remains dedicated to building a community in San Francisco.

Mr. Ito is the father of Mas, Shig, and Minnow; he died before the novel starts. He was a caring father who was invested in building the San Francisco Japantown community. His death is a challenge for his sons, but his memory motivates them to be strong.

Mr. Uyeda is a man who gets shot and killed at Topaz while playing fetch with his dog. His murder causes unrest at the camp and leads the guards to start cracking down and imposing harsher rules.

Mr. Harano is the father of Tommy and Aiko. He often argues with Aiko, although they begin to reach an understanding one evening when she convinces him not to leave the house and do something violent with a baseball bat.

Fred is Yum-yum’s younger brother. With their father, Mr. Oishi, being detained at another camp, Fred starts to act up, and Yum-yum has to decide whether to be strict with him or let him go.

Mr. Katsumoto is the father of Stan and Mary. He loses the family store in San Francisco when he and his family are forced to go the internment camp.

Mrs. Oishi is Yum-yum and Fred’s mother. She is very sickly, forcing Yum-yum to take on more responsibilities around the house at an early age.

Bill Hayami is a friend of Twitchy’s in the army. They have near-death adventures together until one day when Bill dies to save Twitchy’s life, causing Twitchy to reflect on the purpose of the war.

Mrs. Katsumoto is the mother of Stan and Mary. She puts down Yes-Yes on the loyalty questionnaire in spite of the fact that her family’s shop used to suffer racist attacks even before Pearl Harbor.

Miss Jenkins is Yuki’s White softball coach. Yuki likes her at first but has complicated feelings after a racist clerk yells at Yuki, and Yuki must comfort Miss Jenkins instead of receiving comfort from an adult authority figure.

Gail is a blond girl at Topaz who Bette admires until she catches Gail kissing Joe instead of her.

Mr. Fujita is Frankie’s strict father who fought for the U.S. army during World War I.

Yas is Frankie’s uncle. He warns Frankie that he needs to leave the confines of the camp or else he’ll go stir crazy.

Mrs. Hashimoto is Twitchy’s mother. She receives the telegram announcing Twitchy’s death in the war.

Jim and Shuji Kitano are brothers that Shig and Frankie beat up in Japantown because Frankie claims Jim owes him money.

Paul is the youngest brother of Mary and Stan. He likes to read comics.

Mrs. Tani is the mother of Kiyoshi who left her old camp to escape her abusive husband, Kiyoshi’s stepfather.

Kiyoshi’s stepfather is an abusive man who never appears in the novel, but whose memory causes Kiyoshi to freeze up in times of crisis.

Kaz is a friend of Twitchy’s in the army who gets hit in the face with a mine and survives. He returns home after this.

Lieutenant Swinson is the White warden at the stockade at the Tule Lake detention center. He puts prisoners he doesn’t like in a special area called the bullpen.

Kimi is Kiyoshi’s sister.