A record player is a time machine.

The vintage Califone record player allows sound artist Paul Kikuchi to access and share songs that he inherited from his great-grandfather and other 78rpm records that were left behind by Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II.

Paul Kikuchi got to know his great grandfather, Zenkichi Kikuchi, through the records he'd left behind: 78s of Japanese music from the 30s and 40s. Zenkichi immigrated here in 1900, around the time 78rpm records were invented.

When Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II under Executive Order 9066, they could take only what they could carry. Many of their music collections were lost, but Paul is helping to preserve some of the musical artifacts that survived.