What Is The History Of Japanese Internment

The history of Japanese Internment goes back to the surprise attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941. This day not only changed the lives of many Americans, but it also changed the lives of all Japanese immigrants as well as all American citizens of Japanese decent. The nation was in complete shock and the next day President Franklin Roosevelt labeled this day as “a day of infamy”(Inada, 30). During the war over 110,000 Japanese Americans were forced into internment camps by the United States government, eliminating anyone who was a threat or potentially dangerous to our nation. “On February 19,1942, nearly ten weeks after the outbreak of war, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066” which excluded
all people of Japanese decent from certain areas like “airports, railroads, shipyards, and military installments in order to prevent any possible acts of sabotage or espionage” (Wakida, xii).
During this time the United States government was suspicious of all Japanese, even those who were considered loyal to the country.
All Japanese people were given a time frame in which they had to close up their businesses, pack up their belongings and sell their homes. They were only allow to take “only what they could carry” and were ordered to register at “designed civil control stations” where they were identified with tags and send to “assembly centers” until the internment camps were ready. (Wakida, xii) All together there was a total of sixteen assembly centers and ten interment camps located across the United States. These camps were located in deserts and racetracks and these people lived in horse stables filled with dirt and if lucky one light above that sat above the stable. Many Japanese felt a sense of resentment towards the American people because they forcing them to live in the most unsanitary and degrading
conditions.
The photo I chose that I think best describes the most important part of the way the Japanese responded to their internment was photo 3 which shows the inside of an internment camp and an American flag that stands in the wind high above the camp. To me this represents the Japanese phrase “Shikata-ga-Nai” which meant, “Nothing can be done about it”. I feel that in these camps they remained American citizens although they were behind fences and guarded by soldiers. Most of the Japanese people were loyal and to prove their loyalty they complied with what the United States government was asking of them, even if it meant living in these camps. They did not let what was happening to them influence their character and although some were just small children at this time they continued to live a normal life. Some examples of how these families placed great emphases on maintaining their dignity was by celebrating special days, participating in American sports and allowing children to continue their education.
The Letters from the Justice Department written by Isohei Hatashita gives us an example of how this man and his family continued to celebrate birthdays and show their love to one another through letters despite the fact they were separated.
Isohei wrote these letters from the many high-security camps in which he was stationed to his family who were internees at a camp in Jerome, Arkansas. Unfortunately, Isohei was one of many Japanese men who were detained in high-security camps simply because he was a fisherman and the government felt he was a threat (Inada, 82). Isohei constantly wrote to his wife and two daughters as much as he could keeping them up to date with what was happening. His family would also reply and would send greeting cards when his birthdays came around. Isohei said in one of his letters: “Last year I celebrated alone my birthday at Missoula drinking 7-up but this year I forgotten my birthday. I know it by receiving your greeting card” (Inada, 85). To me, I felt like this was important because even know they were miles away from each other they still continued to celebrate life even in the most simplest ways. Their eagerness to remain close to one another in spirit showed greatly through the letters that were sent back and
forth.
We can also see in the Photo Essay: How I Spent the War, how these families lived where there were no barriers between who was rich and who was poor, how children happily played all-American sports and continued to portray their art through drawings and paintings. Jerry Enomoto wrote:
“If you’re a teenager, you live like a teenager. You don’t spend your time moping around wondering why you’re there, or saying, “This is a terrible injustice.” It’s true, it’s an injustice. But you don’t dwell on it. You make the best of it” (113).
This quote not only shows the strength of these children but also the free spirit they carried with them throughout these hardships. They continued to gather teams together and participated in baseball games as if the fences that surrounded them where not there. Many also continued to use their artistic talents to create beautiful drawings of what they could see beyond the camp fences. The story A Teacher at Topaz, tells us a story of a native Californian woman named Eleanor Gerard Sekerak who agreed to become a teacher at the Topaz internment camp. This story shows us the perspective of these camps from an American point of view. Although Eleanor lived in these camps, she was not forced to stay and I feel that was the main thing that separated her from the Japanese living there. Eleanor describes how these children sat in classrooms as if they were back home. In one discussion she said: “The students and I agreed that the whole evacuation process had been traumatic but could not last forever- and we could not permit academic achievement to be interrupted” (Inada, 133). The children attended class on a regular basis, completed classwork and exams and worked just as hard as they would if they were not going through a struggle. The high school was set up like a normal school; they had a chorus, a school newspaper, an athletics program and high school graduates (Inada, 133). A school auditorium was also built at Topaz, providing a library for the children to use for studying and resources. This story is remarkable in a sense that it provides hope for the children living through this time. Eleanor gave these children a chance to continue their education just as any other child outside of the fences would have. There were many stories that showed the dignity and courage these Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans had, but to me these three stood out the most. Their meaning and words gave me a whole different perspective and really showed me that these people never gave up when the circumstances got difficult and were beyond their control. These people made homes out of these camps, fell in love, married one another and tried to plant vegetables and flowers to add beauty to where they were. Although the west coast Japanese community lost millions of dollars relocating and leaving their homes, one thing they did not lose was their dignity and that to me is the most important.