It’s officially May, which means it’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month! This year at City, we’re observing this month with a focus on “tracing our roots”. One way that I want to celebrate this is by exploring the intricate history of the Japanese diaspora in the United States. Please note: this is by no means exhaustive!
First, some terminology:
Nikkei: A term that basically refers to the Japanese diaspora, or individuals of Japanese descent living in other countries.
Japanese diaspora also have terms that refer to various generations and their experiences. Due to the history of immigration, in the US it often refers to descendants of the major wave of immigrants around the start of the 20th century, in relation to their differing wartime experiences.
Issei: The first generation, people who immigrated from Japan.
Nisei: The second generation, children of Japanese immigrants.
Sansei: The third generation, children of nisei.
Okay! Now, a dive into some Japanese American history.
1868: The Meiji Restoration
Emperor Meiji overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate, and restored imperial rule. This period brought rapid industrialization and Westernization to Japan, which took a heavy toll on farmers and caused economic decline. Many people began to seek a better life elsewhere.
1901 – 1908: The Peak of Immigration
After 1868, thousands of Japanese immigrated to the United States, primarily the West Coast and Hawaii. Although immigration continued until 1924 (we’ll touch on that later), it reached its peak from 1901 to 1908, when around 127,000 people left Japan for the US. Most took up manual labor jobs, particularly in agriculture and fishing industries. Life was difficult, and made harder because Japanese immigrants couldn’t gain citizenship.
1907: The Gentleman’s Agreement
In 1906, the San Francisco Board of Education enacted a regulation that forced Japanese children to go to separate segregated schools. The government of Japan was very upset with this policy, as they felt it violated an 1894 treaty between the two countries that guaranteed Japanese immigrants the same rights as other Americans. Japan and the United States agreed that if the board of education withdrew the policy, Japan would restrict immigration by denying emigration passports to laborers, but allow wives, children, and parents of immigrants already in the US to join them.
1913: The Alien Land Law
A law passed in California prevented “aliens ineligible for citizenship” from owning land, and only permitted them to have short leases. White landowners viewed Japanese farmers as an economic threat, and sought to prevent them from establishing a permanent place in the state through laws such as this one. While directed at Japanese immigrants, it impacted Korean, Chinese, and Indian farmers as well.
1924: Outright Ban on Japanese Immigration
The Johnson-Reed Act, also known as the Immigration Act, was passed in 1924. It put a severe quota on immigration from all countries, and completely banned Asian immigrants. It’s worth noting that this is one of the direct reasons why the formation of different generational wartime experiences became so prevalent within the Japanese American community.
1929: The JACL is Founded
The Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) was founded from the merging of several Nisei organizations. It became the oldest and largest Asian American civil rights organization in the nation. In its early years, it united the community and advocated for the expansion of citizenship rights for Japanese Americans.
1934: The First Nisei Week
The Little Tokyo neighborhood in Los Angeles was (and still is) the heart of the Japanese American community on the West Coast. In 1934, young Nisei established the first Nisei Week festival to bring visitors to Little Tokyo. They planned activities such as ondo dancing, ikebana, and a queen pageant (contestants wearing kimonos, of course). The festival helped revive Little Tokyo’s economy during the Great Depression, and from then on became an annual occurrence. Now, around 90 years later, and in spite of a seven year pause due to incarceration, Nisei Week is still going strong. It continues to be a time for Nikkei to celebrate their heritage and culture, as well as to highlight the vibrant culture of the neighborhood it’s held in.
1941: Pearl Harbor
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese military bombed the US naval base at Pearl Harbor. They intended to destroy the United States Pacific Fleet so they couldn’t fight against Japan’s Pacific expansion. American forces were unprepared for the attack, and in under 90 minutes, 19 ships were damaged or destroyed, over 300 aircrafts were destroyed, and over 2,400 US servicemen were killed. The next day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared war on Japan. On December 11, Germany and Italy also declared war on the United States, fully entering the country into World War II.
After Pearl Harbor, pre-existing anti-Japanese sentiment intensified. Wartime propaganda amplified it by using racial stereotypes as a fear tactic. They portrayed Japanese people as vicious and animalistic. While a lot of this kind of propaganda was directed at Japan overseas, it also affected Japanese Americans. It painted everyone of Japanese descent as a one-dimensional, subhuman enemy to the United States.
Additionally, Japanese Americans became the subject of hysteria surrounding espionage. Americans, especially those on the West Coast, feared that they were spies who were going to aid Japan in launching an attack in their region next. They saw no difference between their neighbors and the imperial government of Japan. The fear mongering was intensified by sensationalist newspapers and other forms of propaganda.
1942: Executive Order 9066
As the war progressed, there became increasing public pressure to remove Japanese Americans from the West Coast (the same couldn’t be done in Hawaii due to how much of the population they made up). Military leaders insisted that removing people of Japanese descent was a necessary measure for the nation’s security (despite only 3% being considered actual threats). Lieutenant general John DeWitt pushed heavily for evacuating Japanese Americans, stating that “A Jap’s a Jap whether he’s an American citizen or not. I don’t want any of them”.
This culminated in President Franklin D. Roosevelt signing Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942. The order authorized the War Department to create “military areas” along the West Coast that could exclude anyone for almost any reason. While it didn’t specifically address Japanese Americans, the intent was clear. John DeWitt quickly utilized the order to create curfews, bans on owning firearms, cameras, and radios, and create restrictions on moving out of the military zone for Japanese Americans.
Then, on March 19, 1942, DeWitt issued Public Proclamation No. 4, which ordered the evacuation of all Japanese Americans from the military zones to specific “assembly centers”.
Once they found out, families had only a few days to pack and figure out what to do. They could bring only what they could carry, and had to quickly sell off their property and other belongings. While in some cases, neighbors and friends bought their property to hold until they could return, most people had to sell their farms and homes for a fraction of the value they had spent years building.
Each person was given a tag to wear with their family number on it. They then reported to stops to be taken to makeshift assembly centers, where they would live until the permanent relocation centers were built. Conditions at the assembly centers were bad, with many being located on racetracks. Entire families lived in single horse stalls that still reeked of manure.
1942-1946: Internment
Eventually, Japanese Americans were moved to permanent “relocation centers”. There were ten camps in total: Minidoka, Manzanar, Tule Lake, Heart Mountain, Poston, Gila River, Granada, Rohwer, Jerome, and Topaz. The camps contained army-style barracks surrounded by barbed wire and patrolled by armed guards instructed to shoot anyone trying to leave. Most were located in remote desert areas that were dusty and barren.
The years those incarcerated spent in the camps were full of fear and uncertainty over what their future would look like. Despite the inescapable pain of their situation, Japanese Americans did what they could to make the camps feel like home. They established their own newspapers, schools, and hospitals. Internees also used art to cope with their emotions. Resources were limited, but they used the materials available to them to create all kinds of crafts. Some even taught classes to share their skills with others.
Over 120,000 Japanese Americans were sent to the incarceration camps. Two-thirds of them were US citizens. Even though the government justified their actions by claiming threats of espionage, not a single Japanese American was ever convicted of sabotage.
As time progressed, the existence of the camps became harder and harder to justify. In 1944, the government finally declared their necessity over, and slowly began the process of letting Japanese Americans return to the West Coast. This process didn’t fully end until 1946, when Tule Lake, the last remaining camp, closed. Internees didn’t know what was waiting for them outside of the barbed wire. The government gave them only $25 and a one way train ticket home. Some chose to return home and try to rebuild their pre-war lives. Others left for other places in the country, hoping to start fresh somewhere else (my family, for example, came to Detroit looking for jobs in the auto-industry).
Wherever they moved to after the war, Japanese Americans faced racism and discrimination. Some families returned home to find that their possessions were stolen and their property ransacked. Others struggled to find employment. The trauma of the prejudice they had faced during wartime continued to haunt internees long after they had left the camps.
1942-1945: The 100th/442nd
The 100th Infantry Battalion was activated on June 12, 1942. It was a racially segregated unit consisting of over 1,400 Nisei men. Initially, most were from Hawaii and knew each other from serving in the 298th or 299th Infantry Regiments of the Hawaii National Guard, before they were discharged for their ethnicity. Because many of the men in the 100th had assisted in helping in the aftermath after Pearl Harbor, the battalion used “Remember Pearl Harbor” as a motto. They became well-known for how hard they fought, and were nicknamed the Purple Heart battalion.
On February 1, 1943, the 442nd Infantry Regiment was activated by President Roosevelt, following a push to reopen military service for Japanese Americans. The racially segregated regiment was made up of Nisei men from both Hawaii and the mainland, where the vast majority enlisted from inside internment camps. They trained for around a year, but many were sent overseas to replace members of the 100th who died in combat. They left for Europe in April of 1944, where they fought alongside the 100th in Italy.
In June, the 100th and the 442nd combined to form the 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team. Together they fought under the motto “Go For Broke”, Hawaiian slang for putting everything on the line for a big win, and that they definitely did. The 100th/442nd became the most decorated unit in US history, amassing 9,486 purple hearts, 5,200 bronze star medals, 588 silver stars, 52 distinguished service crosses, 7 distinguished unit citations, and 21 congressional medals of honor.
The 100th/442nd soldiers fought with everything they had, and became known for how effective they were. Many Nisei volunteered because they were eager to prove the loyalty of themselves and their community. Together, the units broke all expectations and proved the bravery and resilience of Japanese Americans. Like other marginalized groups, they fought two battles: the Axis powers overseas, and racism back home.
1941-Cold War Years: Military Intelligence Service
Around 6,000 Japanese Americans worked for the Military Intelligence Service, where they served as translators, interrogators, and interpreters. They played a crucial role in the Pacific, and by the end of the war obtained around 2.5 million pages worth of documents. Nisei working for the MIS also were pivotal to the war crime trials in the Pacific after World War II ended, where they monitored for accurate translation. They continued their work into the Cold War.
Also 1942-1946: Legal Action Against Internment
While some Japanese Americans fought for their community through military service, others did so in different ways. Three Japanese Americans challenged internment through legal action: Gordon Hirabayashi, Mitsuye Endo, and most famously, Fred Korematsu. After being arrested for refusing to go to the camps, Fred Korematsu brought his case to the Supreme Court. He challenged the legality of Executive Order 9066 and argued that it violated the fifth amendment (the right to a jury trial, protection against double jeopardy, the right to a fair trial, and protection against the taking of property by the government without compensation). On December 18, 1944, the Supreme Court upheld Executive Order 9066 as constitutional, due to it being a military necessity. In 1983, Korematsu’s conviction was finally overturned.
Ultimately, Executive Order 9066 was a violation of the constitution. It violated the fifth amendment and was a suspension of habeas corpus (the right for one to go to trial if they’ve been unlawfully detained). It wasn’t formally rescinded until February 16, 1976 by Gerald R. Ford. The supreme court ruling in Korematsu vs. The United States was overruled in 2018.
1952: The Immigration and Nationality Act
The controversial McCarran-Walter Act changed immigration quotas and allowed immigration from Japan again. It also allowed Issei to become citizens for the first time.
1962: Daniel K. Inouye Becomes a Senator
Daniel Inouye, a Nisei veteran from Hawaii, became the first Japanese American senator, and later the first Japanese American in the House of Representatives. He posthumously received a presidential medal of honor.
1988: Civil Liberties Act
The effects of incarceration extended far beyond spending years behind barbed wires. Homes, businesses, and entire communities were lost. Japanese Americans lost around $400 million worth of property. For many people, the lives they had worked for decades to build were taken from them. Not only that, but the culture and language loss was also severe. Out of fear for their children going through what they went through, many internees tried to raise their kids to be as American as possible, and this often meant that language and traditions weren’t passed down. Wanting an apology for the injustice done to them, Japanese Americans began to fight for redress, and in 1988, a decade-long campaign resulted in victory. Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act, which formally apologized for internment, calling it a “grave injustice”, and gave the remaining Japanese Americans who were incarcerated $20,000.
1992: Kristi Yamaguchi’s Victory
Kristi Yamaguchi became the first Asian American to win a gold medal in figure skating at the 1992 Olympics. She was inducted into the US Olympic Hall of Fame, and paved the way for many more Asian American skaters to come.
1992: Founding of the JANM
The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) was founded in the Little Tokyo area of Los Angeles with a dedication to preserving Japanese American history. The building the JANM is located in has served an important role to the community for decades, being first the Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist temple, then a storage center for the belongings of those sent to internment camps, then a place of shelter for them as they returned home after incarceration.
2019: They Called Us Enemy
George Takei, a Sansei actor famous for his role in Star Trek, published a graphic novel about his experience as a little boy in Topaz. In it, he reflects on the harsh reality and injustice of internment, while also showing the resilience of those who were incarcerated.
2022: The Ireichō
The Japanese American National Museum installed the Ireichō in a private ceremony in September of 2022. The ceremony included a procession that brought the Ireichō and sotoba (wooden grave markers containing the soil of the 75 camp sites) to the central hall of the museum. The Ireichō is a sacred book recording the names of over 125,000 Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II. The JANM invites visitors to honor the individuality of those incarcerated by placing a hanko stamp next to their names in the 1,000 page long book.
The Present
As a Japanese American, I think it’s important to look back at both the hardships and successes of our community. We have a long past, and a long future ahead of us. If you made it to the end of this article, thank you for reading! Happy AAPI Heritage month!
Sources
Immigration and Relocation in U.S. History | Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress
Hawaii’s Rainbow of Cultures and How They Got to the Islands
Japanese-American Relations at the Turn of the Century, 1900–1922.
Pearl Harbor Attack, December 7, 1941 | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans
How Pearl Harbor changed Japanese-Americans – BBC News
Tokio kid say “Much waste of material make so-o-o-o Happy! Thank you,”
The Injustice of Japanese-American Internment Camps Resonates Strongly to This Day
https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/executive-order-9066
Sold, Damaged, Stolen, Gone: Japanese American Property Loss During WWII – Densho
Tanforan (detention facility) | Densho Encyclopedia
Mess line, noon, Manzanar Relocation Center, California / photograph by Ansel Adams.
Oakland, Calif., Mar. 1942. A large sign reading “I am an American”
World War II: Internment of Japanese Americans – The Atlantic
Military Intelligence Service (MIS): Using Their Words | The National WWII Museum |
File:Daniel Inouye, official Senate photo portrait, 2008.jpg – Wikipedia
Throwback Thursday: Kristi Yamaguchi looks back at gold — and her bangs
They Called Us Enemy: Expanded Edition by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott,
Nisei Week Foundation – Los Angeles
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