Confined behind barbed wire in their own country, nearly 120,000 Japanese were forced to adopt new ways of living to survive incarceration during World War II. One way they found solace was through building traditional Japanese gardens within the harsh concentration camp environment.

Host and producer Sarah Shimazaki, a person of Japanese ancestry, narrates her experience revisiting Manzanar for the 50th annual pilgrimage. She digs deep to learn how inmates asserted and emphasized their Japanese identity in the gardens, precisely when they were being confined for that very identity.