Belittlement of Japanese Americans During World War Two

America was the mixing-pot of all cultures, the epicenter of global advancement, and home to the pursuit of happiness and freedom during the early and mid 1900s. Values established when the country began, invited immigrants from all across the world creating the mixing-pot of culture. Our country was recognized for our acceptance of different ethnicities, cultures, religions, and ideals but it was hard to hold accepting at all moments in history. During World War Two, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor which invited America to join the war. This attack reintegrated the Aliens and Enemies Act which forced over 100,000 Japanese Americans on the West Coast to be relocated to areas in mid-western America. When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka follows a Japanese American’s family as they experience this new law and its aftermath firsthand.



Japanese who were involved in the Aliens and Enemies Act were unaware of where they were headed, their new living conditions, how they would be treated, or how long they would be away for. Julie Otsuka explains this in When the Emperor Was Divine by sharing that “When the children came home from school she [the mother] reminded them that early the next morning they would be leaving. Tomorrow they were going on a trip. They could bring with them only what they could carry.” (pg. 12) Mothers and fathers, alike the woman in When the Emperor Was Divine, were forced to bring their children along with to their new place of living even if they were too young to have any clue to what was occurring in the world. Most began their journey to their new home on a bus and then a long overcrowded and unsanitary train ride across half of America. Otsuka describes the misery of the journey by stating “By late afternoon the train had run out of water. The sun shone through the dirty glass panes and the air inside was stuffy and hot.” (pg. 31) America was beginning to shame their fellow citizens.

At first glimpse, the camp was most definitely not a place that you would like to live. Otsuka describes the young girls initial view by stating “the girl looked out the window and saw hundreds of tar-paper barracks sitting beneath the hot sun. She saw soldiers. And everything she saw she saw through a cloud of fine white dust that had once been the bed of an ancient salt lake.” (pg. 49) Living environments and the overall climate of the camps created a negative attitude about what Japanese Americans were facing. Moving from wealth or the middle class to a place where it was constantly dirty, and at the extremes of the climate, was not what the individuals had signed up for when they moved to America.

The father of the family in When the Emperor Was Divine was taken and questioned by the government before his family was relocated because of speculation of his involvement in the Pearl Harbor attacks. Otsuka describes this families experience when she explained “They had come for him just after midnight. Three men in suits and ties and black fedoras with FBI badges under their coats. ‘Grab your toothbrush’ they’d said. This was back in December right after Pearl Harbor [...] He had never seen his father leave the house without his hat on before [...] there had been no time for shoes. ‘Grab your toothbrush. Come on. Come on. You’re coming with us. We just need to ask your husband a few questions. Into the car, Papa-san.’” (pg 73-74) The manner at which the Japanese Americans were sent away created fear for the individuals and the communities on the West Coast. Uninvolved citizens recognized what was happening and who fell victim to the newly updated and advertised mandate. This publication caused attitudes to change about the Japanese people as a whole. It was especially evident who was suspect to being a spy for Japan in the Pearl Harbor attack because of the way the government handled questionings.

Following the fathers questioning, the he was relocated to a different internment camp than the rest of his family. This can be assumed by Otsuka sharing postcards written to and from the children and the father. “Lordsburg was a nice sunny place on a broad highland plain just north of the Mexican border. That was how his father described it anyways.” (pg. 60) Splitting up families in unnecessary circumstances created tension and worry. Families were left with little contact and were only able to communicate through letters/postcards which were not satisfactory as the separated members may have been on the other sides of America. The United States was splitting up families to prove a point to the Japanese and to determine loyalty which had already been made.

The stay in an internment camp was very structured and not extremely harsh in comparison to camps such as Hitler’s Ghettos. Otsuka mentions there being a mess hall open for 3 meals a day (pg. 50), a school for young children (pg. 71), and that each family had a room to themselves (pg. 50). Japanese Americans who were in the camps were treated with respect as long as they abided rules marked out for them and declared their loyalty to America. During a family's stay at the camp, they were greeted by an army recruiter asking for allegiance to the United States, “‘Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America and faithfully defend the United States from any or all attack by foreign or domestic forces, and forswear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese Emperor, or any foreign government, power or organization?’” (pg. 99) An individual's answer to this question would determine if they were to remain at the camp or if they were to be transferred to a camp of “disloyals”. By coming to America and becoming a citizen, which was already harder to do as an asian, our government had obviously not accepted them as “true” citizens. At this time, we demanded that they agree to fight against Japan with us in order to be reassured that they were truly “American”.

The camps themselves were less of the problem than the aftermath of the internment camps. Those coming back from camps no longer wanted to be Japanese. They attempted to mask their cultural background in order to protect social status and to help them get a job. The mother in Otsuka’s book struggled finding a job. She was being denied at local businesses because “We wouldn’t want to offend the other employees” (pg. 128). Other ethnicities were not the only people being offended by the Japanese-Americans, but the Japanese-Americans had become afraid of what their relatives had imposed upon America. Somehow, American citizens were being put to shame by other Americans because of the actions of their relatives in Japan. Otsuka describes the shame that Japanese-Americans faced coming home from the internment camps by suggesting “We were guilty. Put it behind you. No good. Let it go. A dangerous people. We were free now. Who could never be trusted again. All you have to do is behave.” (pg. 120) The US Government thought that in order to keep the rest of America safe, we needed to isolate the Japanese. Instead, all that they diminished was the American Dream for Asians alike. America made it hard for anybody that was a Japanese Americans to get work, which then limited their roles in a social society. The shame that Japanese Americans faced lasted long after the Internment Camps and war itself.

After the war, the Presidential Commission offered an apology to those affected by the internment camps. They apologized by stating “Widespread ignorance of Japanese Americans contributed to a policy conceived in haste and executed in an atmosphere of fear and anger at Japan.” In addition to this government apology, Ronald Reagan also signed the Civil Liberties Act to award a small stipend to those who were relocated during the war. He then suggested that “No payment can make up for those lost years, so what is most important in this bill has less to do with property than with honor. For here we admit a wrong, here we reaffirm our commitment as a nation to equal justice under the law.” America had made a poor decision. Apologies long after the war ended intended to make amends with Japanese Americans but the torture that they were put through deserved a whole lot more than an apology and 20,000 tax free dollars.

Japanese Americans became belittled in American culture by the American government. Our government sent American citizens to makeshift cities to “punish” their relatives’ behavior in order to prove a point to the Japanese. Ultimately, this destroyed the overwhelmingly cultural feel that America was known for years following World War Two. Other American citizens felt lesser about the Japanese race because of the actions of their relatives across the world in Japan even though American citizens were not involved. The actions that the US Government took may have certainly been in the best interest of national security, but internment camps most definitely impacted the mental health and social aspects of Japanese Americans throughout and following the war.