Japanese Containment in WWII

Introduction

The Holocaust exists in the minds of Americans as one of the most memorable events of World War II, if not the most memorable event. Here, millions of Jews and other minorities suffered and died at the hands of the German Nazis. This sad event struck such a blow to the American conscious that the US Holocaust Museum was constructed in 1993 as a testament to the tragedies abroad: "the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum inspires citizens and leaders worldwide to confront hatred, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity" (USHMM).

However, many Americans today remain ignorant of a similar tragedy that occurred on our own shores. The United States had Japanese labor camps on our Western shores that held similarities to the German holocaust's infamous work camps. Our government called this event a simple "relocation" in order to appear benevolent and kind to the Japanese. However, the reality is that we had our own concentration camps for the Japanese in the US, and these Japanese were treated as criminals in their own homeland.

http://static.thesocietypages.org/socimages/files/2011/03/tumblr_lfcuwp52ri1qfu6z3.jpg A legal notice requiring west coast Japanese Americans to relocate to internment camps History

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Here is a public service announcement for the U.S. Government Explanation of Japanese Relocation 1942. Please take note that this video is blatant propaganda. This is clearly displayed in the dialogue and rhetoric used by the narrator in that he presents the Japanese prisoners as "cheerful and cooperative."

Basic World War II Information

On September 1st, 1939, Germany attacked Poland. This act of German aggression began the second World War. Upon receiving word of the attack, Britain and France retaliated against Germany. Despite the involvement of these great powers, the US remained staunchly absent from the war due to an isolationist foreign policy. However, on December 7th, 1941, the Japanese attacked Hawaii and catalyzed the US into joining the war. This led to the creation of two theaters of war - the Pacific and the Atlantic. The war continued until 1945, when the atomic bombing of Japan heralded the end of the war with unprecedented levels of destruction to the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Roark et al. 676-677).

Pearl Harbor

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was a complete surprise to the US: "Although the likelihood of war with Germany preoccupied Roosevelt... the Japanese high command planned to attack the United States if necessary to pursue their aspirations to rule an Asian empire they termed the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" (656). Japan's motivations were reinforced in turn because of the US' embargo and containment of the axis powers - Japan's "manifest destiny"-esque dispositions had been thwarted by the US' actions. Eventually Japan lashed out, and in the winter of 1941, Japan acted on these imperialistic notions by bombing the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

In the text The American Promise: A Compact History - Volume II: From 1865 James Roark et al. recount the bombing. Various statistics here are stated, saying that during the bombing "183 attack aircraft lifted off six Japanese carriers that had secretly steamed within striking range... At about o'clock, the Japanese planes streaked from the sky... destroying hundreds of aircraft parked in neat rows on the runways of Hickam Field. The devastating surprise attack sank or disabled 18 ships, including all of the fleet's battleships, killed more than 2,400 Americans, and wounded over 1,000, almost crippling U.S. war-making capacity in the Pacific" (656).

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A day later, the US responded to the attacks. Here is FDR's famous "Day of Infamy" speech in which he responds to the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Relocation Statistics

Executive Order 9066 states that over 100,000 Japanese were imprisoned and sent away from their homes. Before being sent off to the camps, the Japanese barely had time to assemble their belongings and pack. In all, "Japanese Americans lost homes and businesses worth about $400 million..." (Roark et al. 659). Adjusting for inflation and differences in the value of the dollar, this figure amounts to $6,448,000,000 in today's dollars (Dollar Times).

The Japanese internment camps were mostly located in the Eastern half of the country; however, there were two major camps in Arkansas and other assembly centers in the mid-west. Below is a map of the relocation centers from the National Park Service:

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Here, the figure displays that many different facilities existed for purposes other than housing Japanese prisoners, such as assembly centers and isolation centers. Most of these centers were in arid, desert climates that added to the levels of stress and pain experienced by the Japanese.

US Involvement

Legislation
Transcript of Executive Order 9066: Resulting in the Relocation of Japanese (1942)

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The first page of Executive Order 9066

John L. DeWitt, military commander, filed a report that accused Japanese Americans of engaging in espionage and disloyal conduct after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942. This order demanded the evacuation of all people considered a threat to national security in the West Coast to relocation centers further inland. Around 120,000 men, women, and children from California, Oregon, and Washington of Japanese ancestry were moved to centers and then evacuated to internment camps. The Internment camps were located in Utah, California, Arizona, Wyoming, and Arkansas (JARL). Additional relocation centers and temporary assembly centers were scattered along the east coast and in the mid-west as well.

FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover disputed the reports made by General DeWitt. Hoover said, "Every complaint in this regard has been investigated, but in no case has any information been obtained which would substantiate the allegation." The Justice Department withheld documents that proved there was no evidence to support the government's case, leading to the Supreme Court's approval to incarcerate them. Lawyers that challenged the evacuation and internment argued, "that the mass evacuation of all persons of Japanese ancestry amounted to a racial classification that violated the constitutional guarantee of equal protection of the laws." The most important part of the government's legal brief was the War Department's claim of disloyalty and espionage (JARL).

No Japanese American was ever charged with espionage or treason. However, the judicial system failed to uphold the constitutional guarantees of due process, equal protection, and the individual right of life, liberty, or property. On December 17, 1944 the Western Defense Command repealed the exclusion and detention orders. Japanese Americans could return home January 1945. Japanese Americans were faced with violence and hostile groups wanting to keep them out permanently. The last mass internment camp closed October 1946 and the last "special security risk" internment camp closed in 1952 (JARL).

In 1988 the Civil Liberties Act was signed by President Reagan. After holding hearings, The Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians issued a report that declared that Executive Order 9066 resulted from "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership." It recommended a public apology and monetary restitution of 20,000. About half of the 120,000 internees had passed away by that time (JARDA).

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Presidential Apology Letter 1993

 Daily Life in Japanese Internment Camps in America During World War II General Info Life in Japanese Internment Camps had things both in common with everyday American life as well as things that differed. Conditions varied from camp to camp, as not every camp had the same facilities. Here, the National Parks Service has constructed a summary of the various remaining structures. The diagram shows the differences between each camp based on their features. Similarly, we can tell what condition these features originally were in by the current structural integrity/amount of remains - more structurally sound buildings last longer than shanty houses and buildings with poor materials.

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While no camp was exactly alike, all of the camps were fenced in and usually were surrounded by guards. Some reports indicated that towards the end of the war the guards went away (Komoto). Camps were arranged in block style with blocks containing living quarters, a mess hall, and a recreation center. Meals were sometimes meager and were served cafeteria style. Families slept in one room with sheets as partition walls and therefore privacy was an issue (JARDA). Occupations Many adults at the camps worked in the fields or had administrative jobs such as nurses, secretaries, etc. Gardens were planted and livestock were raised at the camps in order to feed the population. Some of the products from the harvest were sold for profit. Adults who were employed were not paid very well and their previous salaries and occupations did not carry weight in the internment camps (Komoto). http://static.thesocietypages.org/socimages/files/2011/03/tumblr_lgmsxsvAmj1qfu6z31.jpg Camp beauty salon Schooling When the internment camps first opened, schools were not yet in place for the children. Gradually, desks and chairs began to arrive along with textbooks and materials. Kids attended school and played sports in their spare time (JARDA). The school teachers’ certification to instruct was sometimes questionable (Komoto). Over half of the Japanese Americans in internment camps were children (PBS). http://static.thesocietypages.org/socimages/files/2011/03/tumblr_lfyymr4DLq1qfu6z3.jpg Walking to school Death These internment camps were dissimilar to Nazi concentration camps because they did not exterminate. Occasionally a person was shot for resisting order or trying to escape. Additionally, if someone got too close to the fence they were in danger of getting shot (JARDA). A few people in the camps died because of inadequate medical attention and emotional distress. The conditions of living in some camps were deplorable and therefore illness was prevalent (Komoto). First Hand Accounts

It is important for us to examine first hand accounts of people who experienced life in these Japanese Internment Camp. We do not learn very much information about this topic in school and what we do learn is glossed over. Take for example the Japanese Relocation video at the beginning of the page that the United States produced and compare it to these honest accounts of those who lived internment. There is a very clear difference between the two - the PSA from the Government shows a cheerful depiction of life in internment camps, while others dictate that life in these camps was very gruesome.

Norman Mineta Many of these firsthand accounts in writing today are from children who lived in the Japanese Internment Camps in America during World War II. One story that is particularly interesting is written by a Japanese American Boy named Norman Mineta who was sent to an internment camp in Wyoming. The thing that is most striking about his story is the fact that his baseball bat gets taken away from him when he goes to the camp because it is considered a weapon. After life in the internment camp, Mineta goes on to become a Congressman (Mineta). This is an excerpt from Norman Mineta's "The Camps at Home" explaining what happened before he and his family were sent to the internment camp. "We lost our homes, we lost our businesses, we lost our farms, but worst of all, we lost our most basic human rights. Our own government had branded us with the unwarranted stigma of disloyalty. We were put under a curfew, from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. There was a lot of panic. People who came to our house to see my dad were crying and wondering what was going to happen." (Mineta) Reiko Oshima Komoto In another account, a boy named Reiko Oshima Komoto writes about his experiences being in two different internment camps, one in California and one in Utah. He says that his sleeping quarters were cleaned up horse stalls and that he remembers being served a lot of animal organ meats for meals. In the camp in Utah there was a library and a movie theater in Komoto’s internment camp. The quote below is his own recollection of the camp.

"Our sleeping quarters consisted of two white washed horse stalls. All bathrooms, dining hall, and similar rooms were located in other buildings. School was held in the dining room with all grades and dining tables in place of desks." (Komoto)

George Takei This first hand account is from the famous actor George Takei who was four years old when the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He and his family were living in Los Angeles at the time when they were rounded up and sent to an internment camp. The camp was surrounded by armed guards, tanks, and thick barbed wire. They were moved from camp to camp, the last one being the most severe because of his parents' "disloyalty." Listen below to his story and his views on the American imprisonment of the Japanese during World War II.

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Fiction/Modern Media

Literature
There is very little time spent on educating students about Japanese Internment. Oftentimes, there is either nothing written about it in textbooks or just a paragraph mentioning the camps. Outside of the academic setting, however, there have been several children's books that have been written about the internment camps and children in the internment camps. Most of the children's books that were written had the themes of hope, courage, and perseverance.

The following is a list of children's books on Japanese internment from the University of Connecticut's Asian American Studies Institute's Japanese American Internment Resource Library:

Children's Fiction on Japanese Containment-

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-Baseball Saved Us, Ken Mochizuki (1993) A boy tells how baseball gave the kids a purpose while enduring injustice and humiliation.

-Blue Jay in the Desert, Marlene Shigekawa and Isao Kikuchi (1993) Marlene Shigekawa and Isao Kikuchi were denied their basic civil rights and put into internment camps. This is the story of young Junior's view of the internment, its effect upon his family and his grandfather's message of hope.

-The Bracelet, Yoshiko Uchida and J. Yardley (1993) A story of the wartime refugee experience and what we carry in our hearts.

-Journey Home, Yoshiko Uchida (1978) A family in WW2 is left with nothing and nowhere to go after the internment camps close. In the end, faith and courage guide them home from the camps.

-Naomi's Road, Joy Kogawa (1995) In this story readers see the effect of war through the eyes of a child growing up with the hardships and prejudices. In the end Naomi sees the world with hope and understanding.

-Puppe's Story, Hiroki Sugihara (1996) A five-year old child's remembrance of his father's remarkable rescue of 6,000 Jewish refugees during the Holocaust. Based on a true story.

-The Moved-Outers, Florence C. Means (1972) This is a story of a family uprooted from their homes to live in detainment camps. The story shows their struggle to retain their dignity and identity as Americans while making the best of their situation.

Modern Media
This song is about a man who is sent to a Japanese Internment Camp in America during World War Two and represents a good example of how modern culture interprets the event.

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Works Cited

Adams, Ansel. One Camp’s Version of a Beauty Salon. 1942. Library of Congress, Washington D.C.

Adams, Ansel. Walking to School at the Manzanar Camp. 1942. Library of Congress, Washington D.C.

Baseball Saved Us. n.d. Picture. October 10, 2012.

Day of Infamy Speech. YouTube, July 4, 2007. Video. October 5 2012.

Fort Minor. “Kenji.” The Rising Tied. Warner Bros. Records, 2005. YouTube.

"Figure 1.1. Sites in the western U.S. associated with the relocation of Japanese Americans during World War II." National Parks Service. Web. Oct 10, 2012.

"Inflation Calculator." Dollar Times. Web. October 10, 2012.

“Internment History.” Children of the Camps. PBS.org, n.d. Web. September 28, 2012.

Interview with George Takei on Japanese Internment Camps. Emmy T.V. Legends. Archive of American Television, 2011. YouTube.

Japanese Relocation. Office of War Information- Bureau of Motion Pictures, 1942. YouTube.

“Japanese American Relocation Digital Archives: Daily Life.” Calisphere. University of California, n.d. Web. September 28, 2012.

"Japanese American Internment Resource Library." University of Connecticut. Web October 10, 2012.

“Japanese Internment Camps: A Personal Account.” Geography and Anthropology. University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, n.d. Web. September 30, 2012.

"JARL Children's Fiction." University of Connecticut. Web. October 10, 2012.

Mineta, Norman. “The Camps at Home.” Newsweek Vol. 133 Issue 10 (1999): 46. Web. September 30, 2012.

Presidential Letter of Apology. 1993. Photograph. PBS.org, Web.

Roark, James L., et al. The American Promise: A Compact History. 3rd ed. United States: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2007. Print.

"Table 1.1. Summary of Relocation Center Features." National Parks Service. Web. October 10, 2012.