Japanese WWII Internment: The Rest of the Story
History
| March 24, 2004
| Tim
The story of US internment of Japanese families is one I was taught in school. I also remember watching a video which depicted a Japanese family who was forced to live in a stadium simply because they were Japanese. I remember getting the impression, somehow, that this was something which happened to all US citizens of Japanese ancestry who lived along the West Coast. I remember getting the impression that it was a terrible thing our government did, motivated only by racism and fear of "the enemy" in our midst.
But, once again, I'm learning that I wasn't told the whole story. Lately, this has been a familliar feeling. In The American Conservative, Roger McGrath (and also this article) fill in the parts of the picture which were missing from what I was taught.
I do not remember being taught, for example, that out of all the "enemy" ethnic groups in America (German, Italian, Japanese), only among the Japanese were there those (nearly 6,000) who renounced their US citizenship after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Nor was I told of the behavior of some of these "renunciants" during their internment: "In camp they greeted the rising sun, cried 'banzai,' blew bugles, drilled, celebrated on Pearl Harbor Day, rioted, and demanded expatriation to Japan."
I didn't know that there were 20,000 American-born Japanese who were sent to Japan for education, and considered themselves to still be citizens of Japan more than the US. I was unaware that many Japanese Americans sent their children to "Japanese school" on Saturday, partly to counter assimilation:
A teacher in one of the schools told his American-born students, “You must remember that only a trick of fate has brought you so far from your homeland, but there must be no question of your loyalty. When Japan calls, you must know that it is Japanese blood that flows in your veins.”
I wasn't aware that 94% of Japanese military-aged men said they would not serve in the US Armed Forces, nor that many such residents refused to take a loyalty oath and promise to abide by American laws. Nor that there were no comparable refusals among Germans, Italians, or other Europeans living in America.
And though some Japanese men did serve in the US military with distinction (in Europe) I wasn't told that far more, some 19,000, applied return to Japan to help kill their fellow US citizens, nor that hundreds of them actually did serve in such a manner:
Several of them became infamous for their interrogations and tortures of American prisoners. The most notorious was California-born Tom Kawakita, known as “Efficiency Expert” for his diabolical methods of torture. When American bombers began hitting Japan and the prisoners suspected the war’s end was near, Kawakita told them, “We will kill all you prisoners right here .... I will go back to the States because I am an American citizen.”
Nor was I told that the release of the Defense Department "MAGIC" files showed that there were, in fact an, active network of Japanese spies -- again, contrary to what I had been taught
Nor did I learn that, as with the "Ultra" secret (that we had cracked the German "Enigma" code) these spies could not be arrested individually without revealing the crucial secret (dubbed "MAGIC") that we had broken Japan's "Purple" and diplomatic codes:
What MAGIC reveals is stunning: hundreds of resident Japanese were acting as spies, feeding information to Japan. If the U.S. had arrested the individual spies, it would have revealed to Japan that her codes had been broken. Faced with a similar dilemma, Prime Minister Winston Churchill allowed Coventry to be bombed without warning.
I don't remember being told that tens of thousands of Germans and Italians whose loyalties were suspect were also detained; only the Japanese detainment stands out in my memory as an alleged atrocity.
And, later, like most Americans, I'd never heard that Japanese US Senator Hiyakawa, frustrated at what he felt was a biased government commission looking into the matter, wrote a letter to the President in which he stated that he felt the detainment was justified:
Japanese and Japanese-Americans in the Western states were relocated during World War II for their own safety at a time when the U.S. and Japan were at war. The relocation was in no way punitive. It was to remove the Japanese from the coastal areas for fear of what might happen to them if a hostile Japanese invasion force was to land on our shores.
I'm not here to "whitewash" what happened. Nor should these revelations taint contemporary assimilated Japanese. But how can we be expected to make an informed judgement about the wisdom of US actions during WWII when so much crucial information is missing from the picture which is presented to us?
Perhaps that's the point?
Excellent post on the Japanese internment, bringing much needed info to properly balance the subject. However there are some points that do not seem clear in your list, and some key items were not mentioned.
------------------------------
1) You say you were not aware that 94% of Japanese military aged men refused to serve in the US Armed forces. If this were so, how do you account for the existence of one of the most decorated military units in US History, the Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team? Upon perusal of the original article you reference, the authors seem to be referring to *a particular camp of 19,000 internees* where apparently 94% refused, not the Japanese American adult male military-age population as a whole, which your post implies.
.........
Quote from the original:
"19,000 Japanese applied to be returned to Japan during the war. 94% of military-aged men said they would not serve in the U.S. Armed Forces.."
.................
2) You mention the negative behavior of many Japanese and their ties to the ancestral homeland. All this is true, but it would not be unusual for an ethnic population as segregated as the Japanese, as in California, or where such a population existed in large ethnic enclaves as in Hawaii. Things like ethnic schools or persons returning to the ancestral homeland for "study" are not unusual in the history of US ethnic groups. The Jewish day school is an example, as are various Irish-American initiatives to cultivate Irish culture and promote hatred towards the English oppressors. Mexican Americans show similar strong patterns of attachment to their homeland, as did Italians in the 19th and early 20th centuries before heavier assimilation. The peculiar Japanese cultural emperor devotion of course reflects negatively on them (rightly so during a war), but again, deep cultural attachments in unassimilated ethnic populations are nothing unusual. Germans and Italians were more assimilated and less segregated, accounting perhaps for more patriotism.
--------------------------
3) The fact that hundreds of Japanese were spies in the US also is nothing unusual in any ethnic enclave. Japan would have been foolish not to take advantage of such a resource. Examples of German and Italian Americans in service to the Axis can also be found in several books on WW2 espionage. Various nations have always made extensive use of spies and informers from ethnic enclaves- from the British Empire's use of Arab and Armenian supplied data against the Turks, to Israeli use of information from Jews in numerous countries (particularly during the early years of the Jewish state), to the US use of the large Iraqi exile population today.
-------------------
4) I agree in part with Hayakawa's assessment that the relocation was for the protection of many Japanese Americans, given the burning desire for revenge after the Pearl Harbor sneak attack. It should be discussed and featured more widely. But there is also another side beyond mere physical protection which the original article mentions:
"Over 112,000 residents of Japanese ancestry were excluded from regions of the US, however nearly 40% of those excludees were enemy aliens who should have been interned, the remaining 67,000+ were US citizens by birth. The last of these "subversives" was not removed until 11 months after Pearl Harbor, 3 months after the last exclusion order was issued. The leisure with which such orders were issued, and the fact that martial law was not declared, leads to the conclusion that military necessity was not as urgent as represented..."
---------------
5) You mention that tens of thousands of Germans and Italians whose loyalties were suspect were also detained. This is quite true, but you don't say whether they were citizens or aliens, and detainment of foreigners is not the same as uprooting citizens and interning them in camps. The fact is that only among the Japanese population were such a large number of citizens uprooted and relocated.
-----------
Don't get me wrong. I believe in balance and carry no brief for the oft bogus "history" of the multi-culti brigade. Just want to clarify some things in the interests of balance. If anything, the Japanese example shows the importance of governments taking steps to promote common unity and patriotism, rather than the divisive "multiculturalism" that holds sway today, including the disparaging of the United States.
If anything, in many ways, the episode reflects commendably on the US, something multi-culti hypocrisy avoids. To the credit of the United States, many of the Japanese held were released, and even given the opportunity to serve in the Armed Forces. After the war they even got some compensation- a stark contrast to the behavior of other nations. When for example will the Turks get around to that re the Armenians? As such the US stands unique among nations, and indeed the West. It is only in the West generally that SELF-CORRECTIVE moral sensibilities are brought to bear to correct past abuses, and make reforms.
Slavery is a prime example. It is the West that eliminated this milennia old institution, even going to war against black African kingdoms and the Arabs that continued it into the 20th Century, and currently such slavery is still underway in the Sudan. Compare to the activities of OTHER non-Western peoples and you hear a defeaning silence. Where for example are comparable slave Abolition Movements or Aborigine Protection Societies, or Anti-Slavery Fleets etc. among our Arab, black African or Chinese friends as they robbed, raped, conquered and enslaved? The examples can be multiplied, but they illustrate why the heritage of the West, particularly the SELF-CORRECTIVE mechanisms brought in by reformed Christianity (despised by Facist, Communist and multi-culti alike), should be vigorously defended and promoted against all comers.
it's nice to see that all conservatives arn't demagogue. a commitment to balence is greatly needed by all section of the social spectrum. but i the interest of balence, pleace look beyond all that america mythology your teachers told you. yes, the japanese were released, after three years spent in internment camps, where they were never charged with crimes or given human rights.
and a note on slavery, which is indeed an ancient practice. african slavery, especially before 1500 c.e., had very little in common with american and european slavery after that date. slaves in african communities were treated much better than in the americas, often living in the same house and eating the same food as their masters. african slave owners were also not allowed to draw blood of their slaves. it bore little resemblence to the colonial system.
As for those "nearly 6,000" who renounced their citizenship:
"Some Japanese Americans did question the American government, after finding themselves in internment camps. Several pro-Japan groups formed inside the camps, particularly at the Tule Lake location. When the government passed a law that made it possible for an internee to renounce her or his U.S. citizenship, 5,589 internees opted to do so; 5,461 of these were at Tule Lake."
Now, how much allegiance would you hold to a country that detained you based on your ethnicity?
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Excellent post on the Japanese internment, bringing much needed info to properly balance the subject. However there are some points that do not seem clear in your list, and some key items were not mentioned.
------------------------------
1) You say you were not aware that 94% of Japanese military aged men refused to serve in the US Armed forces. If this were so, how do you account for the existence of one of the most decorated military units in US History, the Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team? Upon perusal of the original article you reference, the authors seem to be referring to *a particular camp of 19,000 internees* where apparently 94% refused, not the Japanese American adult male military-age population as a whole, which your post implies.
.........
Quote from the original:
"19,000 Japanese applied to be returned to Japan during the war. 94% of military-aged men said they would not serve in the U.S. Armed Forces.."
.................
2) You mention the negative behavior of many Japanese and their ties to the ancestral homeland. All this is true, but it would not be unusual for an ethnic population as segregated as the Japanese, as in California, or where such a population existed in large ethnic enclaves as in Hawaii. Things like ethnic schools or persons returning to the ancestral homeland for "study" are not unusual in the history of US ethnic groups. The Jewish day school is an example, as are various Irish-American initiatives to cultivate Irish culture and promote hatred towards the English oppressors. Mexican Americans show similar strong patterns of attachment to their homeland, as did Italians in the 19th and early 20th centuries before heavier assimilation. The peculiar Japanese cultural emperor devotion of course reflects negatively on them (rightly so during a war), but again, deep cultural attachments in unassimilated ethnic populations are nothing unusual. Germans and Italians were more assimilated and less segregated, accounting perhaps for more patriotism.
--------------------------
3) The fact that hundreds of Japanese were spies in the US also is nothing unusual in any ethnic enclave. Japan would have been foolish not to take advantage of such a resource. Examples of German and Italian Americans in service to the Axis can also be found in several books on WW2 espionage. Various nations have always made extensive use of spies and informers from ethnic enclaves- from the British Empire's use of Arab and Armenian supplied data against the Turks, to Israeli use of information from Jews in numerous countries (particularly during the early years of the Jewish state), to the US use of the large Iraqi exile population today.
-------------------
4) I agree in part with Hayakawa's assessment that the relocation was for the protection of many Japanese Americans, given the burning desire for revenge after the Pearl Harbor sneak attack. It should be discussed and featured more widely. But there is also another side beyond mere physical protection which the original article mentions:
"Over 112,000 residents of Japanese ancestry were excluded from regions of the US, however nearly 40% of those excludees were enemy aliens who should have been interned, the remaining 67,000+ were US citizens by birth. The last of these "subversives" was not removed until 11 months after Pearl Harbor, 3 months after the last exclusion order was issued. The leisure with which such orders were issued, and the fact that martial law was not declared, leads to the conclusion that military necessity was not as urgent as represented..."
---------------
5) You mention that tens of thousands of Germans and Italians whose loyalties were suspect were also detained. This is quite true, but you don't say whether they were citizens or aliens, and detainment of foreigners is not the same as uprooting citizens and interning them in camps. The fact is that only among the Japanese population were such a large number of citizens uprooted and relocated.
-----------
Don't get me wrong. I believe in balance and carry no brief for the oft bogus "history" of the multi-culti brigade. Just want to clarify some things in the interests of balance. If anything, the Japanese example shows the importance of governments taking steps to promote common unity and patriotism, rather than the divisive "multiculturalism" that holds sway today, including the disparaging of the United States.
If anything, in many ways, the episode reflects commendably on the US, something multi-culti hypocrisy avoids. To the credit of the United States, many of the Japanese held were released, and even given the opportunity to serve in the Armed Forces. After the war they even got some compensation- a stark contrast to the behavior of other nations. When for example will the Turks get around to that re the Armenians? As such the US stands unique among nations, and indeed the West. It is only in the West generally that SELF-CORRECTIVE moral sensibilities are brought to bear to correct past abuses, and make reforms.
Slavery is a prime example. It is the West that eliminated this milennia old institution, even going to war against black African kingdoms and the Arabs that continued it into the 20th Century, and currently such slavery is still underway in the Sudan. Compare to the activities of OTHER non-Western peoples and you hear a defeaning silence. Where for example are comparable slave Abolition Movements or Aborigine Protection Societies, or Anti-Slavery Fleets etc. among our Arab, black African or Chinese friends as they robbed, raped, conquered and enslaved? The examples can be multiplied, but they illustrate why the heritage of the West, particularly the SELF-CORRECTIVE mechanisms brought in by reformed Christianity (despised by Facist, Communist and multi-culti alike), should be vigorously defended and promoted against all comers.
Posted by: Carlos on April 8, 2004 10:59 PM