Dash

Mrs. Bowker is a static character. She begins the story as an ally of Mitsi, and she ends the story on Mitsi’s side, bringing her dog to Camp Minidoka. Mrs. Bowker is dependable and something of a hero. Not only does she save Mitsi from the boy bullies in Chapter 1, but she also takes great care of Dash after Mom and Pop can’t find anyone to look after him. Furthering her integrity and dedication to Mitsi, Mrs. Bowker sends Mitsi a stream of letters in the voice of Dash. Though Mitsi knows the letters aren’t from Dash, they cheer her and change how she counters the harsh concentration camps. Through Dash, Mrs. Bowker becomes a mentor—her letters as Dash give Mitsi a fresh perspective. Without Mrs. Bowker, Dash doesn’t have a voice, so she’s a critical character.

Like Mitsi, Mrs. Bowker isn’t perfect. She has flaws and reveals them when she tells Mitsi how she didn’t stick up for a German couple during World War I. As Mrs. Bowker defends Mitsi, it’s as if helping Mitsi is a way to make up for her past actions. As with Mitsi, Mrs. Bowker’s flaws circle back to her positive traits. She takes accountability for her past actions, telling Mitsi, “It’s easy to blame the war. All the talk, getting people riled up. But that is no excuse. No excuse at all. God gave us brains to think for ourselves” (44). Mrs. Bowker is independent and doesn’t perpetuate anti-Japanese racism. She also has a nice son, Alan, and a deceased husband. About her dead husband, Mrs. Bowker says, “My husband was the gardener in our family. Sometimes, I miss him so much” (32). Though Mrs. Bowker doesn’t detail her marriage, her dialogue indicates it was a loving union.

Debbie Miyake is Mitsi’s sidekick, and though Mitsi doesn’t use the term “best friend”—she uses it for Dash and to describe her pre-Pearl Harbor relationship with Judy and Mags—Debbie is Mitsi’s closest or “best” friend in the concentration camps. After Mitsi meets Debbie in Chapter 10, the girls are almost inseparable. Together, they counter the dehumanizing concentration camps. On the bleak train to Camp Minidoka, they have a sleepover and play I Spy.

Debbie is a reader and a ballerina. She’s also silly and a bit precocious—that is, her diction indicates that she has a mind that people don’t normally associate with children. As Mitsi tells Dash, “[Debbie said] we were in the ‘doldrums’ and needed to find an antidote. We made a scavenger hunt on the train, looking for one. Nobody seemed to know what we were talking about” (156). The word “doldrums” stands out, and, as a pair, so do Debbie and Mitsi. Together, they make a buoyant world that resists the heartless concentration camps.

Debbie wears glasses, and she has a mom and a dad but no other siblings. Her dad, James, was the president of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce, so before Pearl Harbor, it’s reasonable to assume Debbie had a pleasant life. Due to her dad’s visible position, the FBI apprehended him and sent him to Fort Missoula. Debbie and her mom work to get her dad with them, and the ordeal makes Debbie complex. She is more than a quirky preteen: She’s a person experiencing a painful loss. As Debbie helps Mitsi adjust to the concentration camp, Mitsi helps Debbie by giving her the locket. Debbie’s dad comes to Camp Minidoka, so, all things considered, Debbie gets a happy ending.

Ted Kashino is Mitsi’s older brother, and the siblings have a playfully antagonistic relationship. He likes magic, and after he shows Mitsi a magic trick but refuses to divulge how he did it, Mitsi quips, “If you’re such a good magician, why don’t you make yourself disappear?” (26). On her birthday, Ted sings, “You look like a monkey, and you smell like one, too!” (136).

Ted is a dynamic character, and in the concentration camps, he changes for the worse. While Mitsi refuses to adjust, Ted adapts and makes new friends. The central figure in his friend group is Lefty. Hanging around with Lefty compromises Ted’s integrity and turns him into a shady thief. Mitsi tells him, “I wish I was a good magician. Like you. So I could turn you back into my real brother” (193). Though Ted does suspicious things, he never becomes irrevocably bad. When Lefty bullies his sister, he sticks up for her. In Chapter 9, Lefty bullies younger boys playing marbles. In Chapter 10, Ted makes amends by giving those boys marbles from his pocket. Maintaining his grasp on integrity, he presumably gets Lefty to admit to the thefts. Ted remains a likable and redeemable character. He also has a romantic interest in Karen Suda.

Mags and Judy were Mitsi’s best friends, and the trio had been best friends since first grade. The narrator confirms their status when, about lunch seating, she states, “No matter what was on the menu, the three of them always had a Mitsi sandwich for lunch, with Mitsi right between her two best friends” (12). The narrator reinforces their deep bond with a slew of memories. They got chicken pox together, made it to the All-City Spelling Bee in third grade, and so on. They also liked engaging with Japanese culture, indicating that they’re not racist but mindlessly following racist attitudes.

Though Mags and Judy are timid, Mags is less timid. When Patty takes her seat at lunch, Mags says, “Uh, that’s where Mitsi sits” (12). Judy doesn’t say anything. In her letter to Mitsi, Mags reveals, “[Patty] and Judy are now thick as thieves” (183). While Mags comes across as redeemable, Judy’s ongoing friendship with Patty makes her character toxic. Patty is an antagonist, and she racistly bullies Mitsi. She makes “slanty eyes,” pushes her away from Mags and Judy, and snickers at how Obaachan pronounces “lovely.” Like Lefty, Patty is a bad influence.

Mom and Pop are Mitsi’s mother and father, Obaachan is Mitsi’s grandma (Mom’s mother), and all three are rather static and flat characters. They don’t change much, and they don’t have much complexity. Before the concentration camp, Pop worked at an electric company, and Mom was a stay-at-home mother. They give Mitsi and Ted chores, but they don’t appear overly strict or harsh. At the concentration camps, Mitsi and Ted have a lot of freedom, which might be a reason Ted gets into trouble. As Mitsi and Ted keep their integrity, the reader gets the sense that Mom and Pop know what they’re doing, and they try to maintain Mitsi’s spirit. Her mom tells her, “The time here won’t seem so bad if you try to make the best of it” (89). Her dad makes her things out of wood.

Obaachan was born on March 9, 1859, in Okayama, Japan. Through Obaachan, Larson shows how the American authorities mistreated Japanese people before the concentration camps. Mitsi has to accompany Obaachan as she goes through a cruel registration process. She remains a kind grandma and spends her time at the concentration camps knitting with other older women. She also tells Mitsi about her grandpa. He was a famous painter in Japan, connecting the grandpa to the granddaughter.