For the people that returned home, their homes and businesses were most often taken over by the white communities. Those that trusted their neighbors and verbally allowed them to run their business when they were away in the internment camps came home to find their neighbors refusing to give back their business. In most cases the neighbors deceived and changed the ownership of the business when the families were away. They came home to find no home, as the landlords had evicted them and allowed another family to live in their homes. Those who were fortunate to come home to a home found their houses vandalized with hate messages on their walls. Farms were in shambles from neglect over the years and most Japanese-Americans had to start life over.

A decade later in the 1950s, found the Japanese-Americans struggling to get jobs and homes because of discrimination. Most often they had to share housing with their friends or other family members. The rest of this decade resulted in Nisei trying to find work in any way possible by becoming migrant workers like people from the Great Depression. In spite of all the hardships, most Japanese-Americans slowly rebuilt their lives. The Nisei raised their families, took care of their aging elders, and finally became active in schools and community activities (Ibid).