To combat the boredom of their forced leisure, many inmates learned new skills through classes taught by fellow prisoners.
Sadao Oka joined a bird-carving class while at the Poston camp and created this box to display pins and hold tools. Supplies were scarce, so he used the ends of wooden egg crates and surplus wire mesh from window screens to create the pins. He purchased Audubon books and cards to get realistic images to copy. Some pins took two weeks to paint to get the color and intricate feather patterns just right.
