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The ghost-like figure known as the Kappa haunts an animated day in the life of a Japanese-American boy in an internment camp during World War II. Computer images by Miles Inada The internment camps are seen through the eyes of Lawson Inada, a Southern Oregon University professor and poet who wrote "Legends from Camp." Nightmare takes on video form Inada's childhood provides lessons By PAUL FATTIG ASHLAND -- Its stinger poised overhead, a scorpion scuttles across a torn sheet of windblown paper addressed to "ALL PERSONS OF JAPANESE ANCESTRY." There is a barren barracks surrounded by guard towers and barbed wire that would cut to the bone. And there is the frightened face of a young Japanese-American boy staring into a dark world that would imprison his family simply because of its ancestry. Although the 16-minute video of a day in the life of a young boy in a Japanese-American internment camp during World War II is all computer animated, it is meant to evoke real feelings of that period, observed co-creator Miles Inada, 32, a visiting artist who teaches at Southern Oregon University. "In some ways, it's a metaphor for this boy's attempt to understand what is going on in his life," he explained. "But the imagery is not literal re-creations of the camp. Basically, it's a nightmare seen by a child and his attempts to come to grips with that." That small child grew to become Southern Oregon University writing professor Lawson Inada, 60, a nationally recognized poet whose words from "Legends from Camp" will be used in the video. The longtime Rogue Valley resident is also Miles Inada's father and co-creator of the video. The video, a work in progress expected to be completed early next year, was funded by a $25,000 grant from the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund, part of a $10 million fund set aside by the government to redress conditions suffered by Japanese-Americans interned during the war. The senior Inada knows about internment camps, having done time with his parents and relatives in three camps during the war. He was born a Sansei, or third-generation Japanese-American, in 1938 in Fresno, Calif., where his grandparents founded the Fresno Fish Market in 1912. In May of 1942 his family was herded with 110,000 other Japanese-Americans into camps where they would be confined for the duration of the war. Many would lose their homes and businesses. He was first incarcerated in a camp at the Fresno County Fairgrounds, then moved to one in Arkansas. The family was interned in a camp in Colorado when the war ended. Lawson wrote most recently about his experiences in his book of poetry, "Legends from Camp," and his son began working on the project in 1996. "The exciting thing about this is that you can take history and you can portray it in another way that teaches and entertains, that draws you in," he said. "It conveys more of a feeling of history." During their research, the Inadas visited several internment camps. "It still bothers you to go to these places, to see the remnants, to realize what actually happened there," Lawson said. "It makes you realize that history doesn't just go away. "There is a human element there that says something to all people, whether it was last year, 50 years ago or a thousand years ago," he added. As evidence, he suggests one look in movie theaters where "The Prince of Egypt" is now playing, depicting the life of Moses in animated form. Other historical films this year include "Saving Private Ryan" and "The Thin, Red Line," both movies about World War II. Based on photographs taken of camps, Miles built sets in his computer, using the same technology used in such films as "A Bug's Life" and "Toy Story." Everything is "films" in the computer, he noted. Miles, who was reared in the Rogue Valley, got involved in computer animation while attending graduate school at the University of Cincinnati. He has a master's degree in fine art. While the project allows him to explore his heritage, it also provides him an opportunity to look at race in America, he said. Throughout the animation flits Kappa, a troubled specter with hairy underarms. "He's a Japanese ghost creature," Miles said. "The sense I get from reading my dad's poems is the sense of these ghosts of history that are haunting us today. "This is the ghost of racism in the United States -- the slavery, the Native American massacres and relocations," he added. "That's the relevance of it for people now." Assisting in the project is Oregon Shakespeare Festival composer Todd Barton and computer animator Evan Carroll, formerly of the University of Cincinnati. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA