Kentaro Ikeda was born in Kanazawa, Japan, and came to the United States in 1938 to attend the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey. After graduation in 1940, he entered Princeton University. When Pearl Harbor was bombed in December 1941, and the U.S. entered World War II, Ikeda—Princeton’s only Japanese student at that time—found his life irrevocably changed.

Though not living in a designated military “zone,” and therefore outside the typical internment camps established under Executive Order 9066, Ikeda was subjected to a kind of “solitary internment” on Princeton’s campus. Following the outbreak of war, he was classified as an “enemy alien,” lived under what amounted to house arrest, and faced multiple restrictions. He had to report weekly to his sponsor, could not leave town without permission, could not drive or own a car, could not access funds (many of which were frozen), and was barred from communicating with anyone in Japan—even his own family.

Despite these constraints, Ikeda pressed on with his education. He participated in an accelerated degree program that Princeton made available during wartime. In 1943 he married Mariko Shimizu, an American citizen—the University had to waive certain usual rules in light of his inability to communicate with his parents due to wartime restrictions. Ikeda’s later years as a student and early career included teaching Japanese to American soldiers at Yale under similar limitations.

After the war, Ikeda continued to face legal and immigration obstacles. The United States’ immigration laws (especially the Immigration Act of 1924) meant he had no automatic right to remain in the country after his student status ended—even though he was married to a U.S. citizen and had a U.S.-born child. With support from friends and former administrators, he was able to extend his visa, and following legislative reform (notably the McCarran–Walter Act of 1952), he gained the ability to immigrate legally.

Ikeda made his home in the U.S. for the rest of his life, forging a successful career in his family business as a tea importer, and maintaining ties to Princeton and New Haven. Despite the pain of isolation, legal limbo, and discrimination, those who knew him speak of Ikeda’s gratitude for acts of kindness—by individuals and by Princeton itself—that protected him from internment and deportation.

In recognition of Ikeda’s story and his resiliency under adverse circumstances, Princeton University’s Board of Trustees in October 2022 formally named the archway in Lockhart Hall the Ikeda Arch, effective October 4. Lockhart was the dormitory in which he lived as a student. The naming serves both to memorialize Ikeda and to ensure that his experiences—both of exclusion and courage—remain part of the University’s history.

References

Princeton University Archives. “Solitary Internment: Kentaro Ikeda ’44.” Mudd Manuscript Library Blog. December 7, 2017. https://universityarchives.princeton.edu/2017/12/solitary-internment-kentaro-ikeda-44/.

Princeton University. “Princeton Will Name Campus Arch for Kentaro Ikeda ’44, University’s Sole Japanese Student during World War II.” Princeton University News. October 4, 2022. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2022/10/04/princeton-will-name-campus-arch-kentaro-ikeda-44-universitys-sole-japanese-student.