From 1942 to 1946, home for most Japanese Americans was one of 10 WRA camps, all patterned on military facilities. Hastily built, with tarpaper walls and no amenities, the barracks were hot in summer and cold in winter. Most did not meet minimal standards for military housing. A visiting judge noted that prisoners in federal penitentiaries were better housed.

"This was my first impression of Manzanar. Oh, it's really so hot, you see, and the wind blows. There's no shade at all. It's miserable, really. But one year after, it's quite a change. A year after they built the camp and put water there, the green grows up. And mentally everyone is better. That's one year after." — Kango Takamura, Beyond Words: Images from America's Concentration Camps

"During the winter, our wet hair became frozen, and our fingers would stick to the metal door knob because we had to walk outdoors back to our barracks." —Shigeru Yabu, Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation

"There was a lack of privacy everywhere. The incomplete partitions in the [latrine] stalls and the barracks made a single symphony of yours and your neighbors' loves, hates, and joys. One had to get used to snores, baby-crying, family troubles... The sewage system was poor, [and] the stench from the stagnant sewage was terrible." —Mine Okubo, Citizen 13660