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Joseph Kumao Sano was a Japanese American veteran and lawyer whose family was forcibly removed to illegal detention centers during World War II. While incarcerated, Sano was recruited by the Army to serve as a Japanese language instructor for the Army Intensive Japanese Language School. Sano's military work extended beyond language instruction; he participated in the Strategic Bombing Survey in 1945 and served as a bilingual arbiter for the International War Tribunal for the Far East from 1946 until 1948. His papers consist of materials related to Japanese American incarceration; pedagogical notes for the Army Intensive Japanese Language School; and Sano's arbitration work. It also includes Sano's personal files, scrapbooks, and concentration camp ID cards.

The Joseph Kumao Sano papers are divided into three series: Personal Papers; War-time Imprisonment and Military Service; and Scrapbooks and Artifacts. His personal papers primarily consist of biographical material; identification and permits; and documentation from Sano's work with the California Bank. It also includes correspondence between Sano and his family.

Materials in the War-time Imprisonment and Military Service series document the forced removal of the Sano family from California to the Santa Anita detention center and the Jerome concentration camp; and Sano's work for the Army Intensive Japanese Language School, the Strategic Bomb Survey, and his service during the International War Tribunal for the Far East. It also includes his work post-war with the Bank of Japan.

The Scrapbooks and Artifacts series contains scrapbooks and albums documenting Sano's life until the forced removal of Japanese Americans in 1941, his work for the International War Tribunal for the Far East, certificates, Bank of Japan photographs, and personal photos of the Sano family. Also included are a number of objects collected by Sano during the war in the United States, and from Post-war Japan.

Researchers should note that this collection documents the forced imprisonment of Japanese Americans at the Santa Anita detention center and the Jerome concentration camp. For more information regarding language and the arrangement of this collection, please see the processing note.