Japanese-American During WWII
Japanese
immigrants and the following generations had to endure discrimination, racism,
and prejudice from white Americans. They were first viewed as economic
competition. The Japanese Americans were then forced into internment camps
simply because of the whites fear and paranoia. The Japanese first began to
immigrate to the United States in 1868. At first they came in small numbers. US
Census records show only 55 in 1870 and 2,039 in 1890. After that, they came in
much greater numbers, reaching 24,000 in 1900, 72,000 in 1910, and 111,000 in
1920.(Parrillo,287) Most settled in the western states.(Klimova,1) Many families
in Japan followed the practice of primogeniture, which is when the eldest son
inherits the entire estate. This was a “push” factor. Because of primogeniture,
“second and third sons came to the United States to seek their
fortunes.”(Parrillo,287) The promise of economic prosperity and the hope for a
better life for their children were two “pull” factors. These foreign-born
Japanese were known as Issue (first generation). They filled a variety of
unskilled jobs in railroads, farming, fishing, and domestic services.
(Klimova,1) The Japanese encountered hostility and discrimination from the
start. In California, a conflict with organized labor was due to their growing
numbers in small areas and racial visibility.(Parrillo,287) White workers
perceived Japanese as economic competition. Their willingness to work for lower
wages and under poor conditions brought on hostility from union members. The
immigrants became victims of ethno violence. In 1890, Japanese cobblers were
attacked by members of the shoe maker’s union, and Japanese restaurateurs were
attacked by members of the union for cooks and waiters in 1892. It was very
difficult to find steady employment; therefore, most of them entered
agricultural work. They first worked as laborers, accumulated sufficient
capitol, then as tenant farmers or small landholders. Some became contract
gardeners for whites.(Parrillo,287) The Japanese farmers were very knowledgeable
of cultivation, which made them strong competitors against white farmers. More
discrimination by the dominant group soon followed. “In 1913, the California
legislator passed the first alien landholding law, prohibiting any person who
was ineligible for citizenship from owning land in the state, and permitting
such persons to lease land for no more than three years in
succession.”(Parrillo,287) This was of course aimed at keeping the Japanese in
the working class. Their native born children, the Nisei (second-generation),
were automatically US citizens. Thus, the Issue had land put under their
children’s names directly or by collectively owning stock in landholding
companies. Discrimination against the Japanese continued after World War I. The
California legislature passed a law in 1920 “prohibiting aliens form being
guardians of a minor’s property or from leasing any land at all.”(Parrillo,288)
Yet another attempt by the dominant group to preserve power. Japanese American
children also suffered racism and discrimination. In 1905, the San Francisco
School Board of Education passed a policy sending Japanese children to a
segregated Oriental school in Chinatown.(Parrillo,288) “Superintendent, Aaron
Altmann, advised the city’s principals: “Any child that may apply for enrollment
or at present attends your school who may be designated under the head of
‘Mongolian’ must be excluded, and in furtherance of this please direct them to
apply at the Chinese school for enrollment.”(Asia,1) Japanese immigrants being
extremely racially distinct, had different cultural customs and religious faith,
and tended to chain migrate and stay within their own small communities. This
aroused distrust and the idea that they could not be assimilated.(Klimova,2)
Japan’s victory in the Russo-Japanese war in 1905 fueled the irrational distrust
and prejudice. It led to the Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1908, secured by President
Roosevelt, which “Japan agreed to restrict, but not eliminate altogether, the
issuance of passports.”(Parrillo,288) This attempt at reducing Japanese
immigration had a huge loophole, it allowed wives to enter. Many Japanese
practiced endogamy and sent for “picture brides.” “Several thousand Japanese
entered the United States every year until World War I, and almost 6,000 a year
came after the war.”(Parrillo,288) The anti-Japanese attitudes grew stronger.
The Immigration Law of 1924 stated that all aliens ineligible for citizenship
were refused entry. Thus, “...the Japanese migration to America [came] to a
complete cessation.”(Klimova,2) The law stayed in effect until 1952. By 1941,
“about 127,000 ethnic Japanese lived in the United States, 94,000 of them in
California.”(Parrillo,289) Only “37 percent were Issue...”(Klimova,1) On
December 7, 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. When news of
the attack reached the west coast, Japanese neighborhoods were surrounded by
police. Within the first day, the FBI arrested 1,300 ‘dangerous aliens’. They
had jailed nearly 2,000 more by the end of December.(Spickard,93) Most of them
were business executives, leaders of Japanese associations and community leaders
whose only suspicious act was visiting relatives in Japan or contributing to the
Japanese equivalent of the United Service Organization (USO). Those arrested
were thrown into county jails and then transferred to detention centers run by
the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).(Spickard,93) The fear of
bombing or even an invasion caused rumors to spread about treachery and
deceitfulness by the Japanese Americans. The allegations of sabotage and
espionage were twisted by racial bias and lacked any evidence or rationale. Some
were absolutely ridiculous. Such as poisoned vegetables and planting tomatoes so
that they formed arrows pointing at US military objects.(klimova,2) The
anti-Japanese paranoia held by the dominant group echoed in the media.
Newspapers printed unfounded racist reports about Japanese Americans, starting
in December 1941 and more throughout February 1942. Common examples of racist
articles, some openly using degrading ethnophalisns, are these headlines from
the Los Angeles Times: “Jap Boat flashes Message ashore” “Two Japs With Maps and
Alien Literature Seized” “Caps on Japanese Tomato Plants Point to Air
Base”(Spickard,96) The fear and hostility toward the Japanese Americans was
accompanied by a wide spread hysteria. People began to call for their removal
from the western states. White farmers were among those advocating their
evacuation. By now, Farmers of Japanese origin had turned dessert into some of
the most fertile farmland, which was less than 4 percent of the California
farmland, and produced 10 percent of the total value of the states farm
crop.(Klimova,3) Autin Anson of the Grower-Shipper Association of Salinas,
California, made this statement while lobbying for the mass incarceration of
Japanese Americans: “We’re charged with wanting to get rid of the Japs for
selfish reasons. We might as well be honest. We do. It’s a question of whether
the white man lives on the Pacific Coast or the brown men. They came into this
valley to work, and they stayed to take over.”(Spickard,97) This terribly racist
statement explains on e conflict over the limited resources available. The
dominant group wants the competition removed and deep the minority group with as
little as possible. Lieutenant General John L. Dewitt, the head of the Western
Defensive Command, Major General Allen W. Gullion, and other high ranking
officers, all guided by their own racism, also campaigned for the Japanese
American Population to be removed. Dewitt said: “A Jap’s a Jap. They are a
dangerous element, whether loyal or not. there is no way to determine their
loyalty...it makes no difference whether he is an American; theoretically he is
still Japanese, and you can’t change him...you can’t change him by giving him a
piece of paper.”(Spickard,98) They claimed the evacuation was a military
necessity; however, such a necessity was never demonstrated. The Department of
Justice defended the rights and liberties of U*S. citizens guaranteed by the
constitution of the United States.(Klimova,3) J. Edgar Hoover also opposed the
mass evacuation. He argued that all the dangerous Japanese Americans were
already jailed.(Spickard,98) Dispite the protest, the Roosevelt administration
supported the evacuation. On the 19th of February, 1942, “President Roosevelt
signed Executive Order No.9066, authorizing the War Department to prescribe
military areas and to exclude any or all persons from these
areas.”(McWillans,108) “More than 110,000Japanese...were removed from their
homes and placed in “relocation centers” in Arkansas, Arizona, Eastern
California, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming.”(Parrillo,289) They lost
everything they owned. Joseph Kurihara was a Japanese American soldier in the US
Army and was for Americanization prior to the evacuation, he recalls the
Terminal Island evacuation: “It was cruel and harsh. To pack and evacuate in
forty-eight hours...mothers bewildered with children crying...Did the government
of the United States intend to ignore their rights regardless of their
citizenship?”(Myer,3) Life in the internment camps was hard. They had to endure
unsanitary conditions.(Asin,1) Most of the imprisoned Japanese Americans
conformed and followed orders. There were some that protested what was being
done to them, but their resistance came very late.(Spickard,108) Kurihara was
one of the few that practiced defiance. He eventually renounced his US
citizenship.(Myer,4) These people that openly expressed their new hatred for
America as a result of the injustices they suffered were known as the “no-no’s”.
On the other side, there were those that desperately wanted to prove their
loyalty to the United States. In January 1943, The US War Department announced
the formation of a segregated regiment. Theses Nisei volunteered for the 442nd
Regimental Combat Team (RCT) to fight for their country. They joined forces with
the 100th Infantry Battalion, formed in May 1942 and were also Nisei volunteers,
in Europe. The 442nd RCT eventually consisted of the 2nd, 3rd, and 100th
Battalions; the 522nd field Artillery Battalion; the 232nd engineering Company;
the 206th Army Band; Anti-Tank Company; Cannon Company; and Service
company.(Research,1) The famous 442nd RCT were the most decorated unit in US
military history for it’s size and length of service. In total, there were
18,000 individual decorations for bravery, 9,500 purple hearts, and seven
Presidential Distinguished Unit citations.(Research,2) After W.W.II, Japanese
Americans were demoralized and in economic disarray. Because all of their
possessions and property had been taken away, they simply had to start all over
again. There were emotional and psychological consequences for the Nisei. It
took decades for them to overcome a lingering shame.(Spickard,134) There is also
a generation and cultural gap between the Nisei and Sansei. The Sansei are in a
Quandary over their identification with their “dual cultural heritage”. Their
parents push then to become “white and to “subscribe to the legacies of American
society”. Yet they are told by their major social environment that they are not
white.(Miyoshi,20) The Japanese Americans have indeed prospered since the
1940’s. The Nisei and Sansei strongly emphasized conformity, aspiration,
competitiveness, discipline, and encouraged the Yonsei (fourth-generation) and
Gosei (fifth-generation) to higher education. Their numbers are increasing in
the professional fields. The higher education achievements equate into their
having higher incomes than any other ethnic group, including all whit
Americans.(Parrillo,294) The Japanese Americans have come a long way. Bus
of course some prejudice and discrimination still exists today. The “contemporary
depiction’s of the Japanese tourists and samurai businessman...offer little of
value to clarifying the identities and realities of [Japanese Americans]...these
stereotypes continue to shape how they are perceived.”(Kiag,2) Early Japanese
immigrants came to the United States in search of economic prosperity. They were
met with hostility, prejudice, and discrimination. Everything they worked so
hard for was taken and their rights violated. The dominant group demonstrated
total economic exploitation. After enduring such injustices and hardships, many
are now enjoying the life the Issue dreamed of for their families. Bibliography
Work Cited Parillo, Vincent N. Strangers to These Shors: Race and Ethnitc
Relations in the United States. Needham Heights, : Massachuchetts: 2000,
287-289. Klimova, Tatiana A. “Internment of Japanese Americans: Military
Necessity or Racial Prejudice.” Old Dominion University. 1-9 (5/2/00) Asia, Ask.
“Linking The Past to Present: Asian Americans Then and Now.” The Asia Society
1996. 1-3 (5/1/00 Spickard, Paul R. Japanese Americans: The transformation and
Formation of an Ethnic Group. New Yourk:1996,93-159 McWilliams, Carey. Prejudice
Japanese Americans: Symbol of racial Intolerance. Boston: 1945,106-190. Myer,
Dillon S. “Joseph Yoshisuke Kurihara.” Upprinted Americans 1971. 1-5 (5/1/00)
Asin, Stefanie.”Poignand Memories.” Houston Chronicle 7/31/95.1-3 5/2/00
Reaseach Center.”research on 100th/442nd regiment conbat team.:NJAHS.1-2 5/2/00
Miyoshi, Nubu.:Idenity Crisis of the Sansei.”Sansei legacy project 3/13/98.1-21
5/1/00 Kiang, Peter.” Understanding the Perception of Asian Americans.” Asian
Society1997.1-2 5/2/00 Word Count: 1862
1.
Asian-Americans And Concentration Camps In WWII
In the early 1940’s, there was evidence of Japanese-American loyalty and
innocence, but the information was not always well known. This, coupled with the
factors of war hysteria led to the legal uphol
2.
WWII: Why Did The U.S. Get Involved In The War?
? At the beginning, the United States expressed the determination to remain a
neutral nation. When W.W.II began, opinions among the Americans were divided.
Some felt that the Nazi Germany was not only
3.
World War 2
When the subject of WWII comes up, there are two incredible images about the war
come up in my mind, the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the killing of the Jews in
the Holocaust. As the class went through
4.
Nisei Daughter
“Even with all the mental anguish and struggle, an elemental instinct bound us
to this soil. Here we were born; here we wanted to live. We had tasted of its
freedom and learned of its brave hopes for
5.
Slavery And Reparation Due
Reparation is a well established, long-standing principle of international law.
It is payment for a debt owed for a wrong done. Historians have well established
and documented that African-Americans h
6.
Computer Education
Back to the 1940s, the modern electronic computer was developed at U.S.
universities; however, in the year, there was no yet. It needed more 10 years to
have . The period of the computer revolution wa
7.
Conformity In The 1950s
During the post WWII period in America, the face of the nation changed greatly
under the presidency of Truman and Eisenhower. America underwent another era of
good feelings as they thought themselves
8.
Racism In World War 2
On December 7, 1941 the Japanese launched a sneak attack on Pearl Habor. This
attack on the United States Pacific Fleet was a total tactical success. The
Japanese, using 360 planes and midgit submarin
9.
The Need For An Anglo American Lifestyle
While many cultures have successfully assimilated into Anglo- American society,
there are other cultures whom have found assimilation either impossible or ho
have chosen not to fully assimilate, yet r
10.
Korean American
“The Korean Experience in America, 1903 – 1924” The Korean experience in America
during the years 1903 to 1924 is very unique. When compared to other East Asian
immigrants, Korean immigrants were rela
11.
Obasan
tells the story of one such family in Canada, who repeated US efforts to detain
potential Japanese loyalists and spies, regardless of their birth in that
country or another. Naomi is five years old an
12.
I Am . . . ?
But it is not enough to be American only in the eyes of the law and it is not
enough to be only half an American and know that it is an empty half. I am not
your son and I am not Japanese and I am not
13.
The Particular Features Of The Employment System In Japan
One of the unique and well known features of the Japanese employment system is
permanent employment for workers. Japanese corporations responses to
recessionary periods provide an opportunity to sort
14.
Comparing Japanese And American Education
The educational methods in Japan and the Americas vary greatly in some aspects
and not very much in others. Japan exceeds almost all other countries of the
world in education. Americans are dominant i
15.
Obasan
"I want to break loose from the heavy identity…I am tired of living between
deaths and funerals, weighted with decorum, unable to shout or sing or dance,
unable to scream or swear, unable to laugh
16.
Obasan
"I want to break loose from the heavy identity…I am tired of living between
deaths and funerals, weighted with decorum, unable to shout or sing or dance,
unable to scream or swear, unable to lau
17.
The Atomic Bomb
There has been a long standing debate on why was used to defeat Japan. The
threat of Russian advancement in Europe and in Asia was enough to worry the top
officials in the United States and British go
18.
Asian Exclusion Laws
There were a very large number of local, state, and federal laws that were
specifically aimed at disrupting the flow of Chinese and Japanese immigrants to
the United States. Two of the major laws were
19.
World War 2 And The American Navy
The American Navy joined World War II in 1941. Actually they had already started
fighting unofficially in 1939. The American Navy did everything that they could
to stay out of this treacherous world w
20.
Pearl Harbor
My report is about the attack on . In this report I will explain what happened
and why it happened. So you know, is located on Oahu island, Hawaii. was the
operating base of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Th