Japanese Americans: The Formation and Transformations of an Ethnic Group
Paul R. Spickard , 1996.
The book is concerned with racial and ethnic characteristics and goes into the history of Japanese immigration, how they started their own families, and then begins to discuss anti-Japanese prejudice. He sites four arguments against the Issei by people who disliked them:
1. That they were unable to become "good Americans"; they were "unassimilable"; in other words, they would never assimilate into American culture, tending to stay in their own groups instead.
2. They were filthy people who were willing to take any form of work, thus degrading the whites around them.
3. The Issei men ached with lust for white women.
4. They were the "advance wave of a new Japan."
The first argument has been noted in other books although it's been used through the ages against almost any group of immigrants. The third argument is not something I've seen elsewhere, but it makes sense since the type of people that hate others would think along those lines (and the same argument has been used against blacks, also.)
(Hatred rarely makes any sense.)
He then discusses the cultural gap between the Issei and the Nisei, and how the Nisei in particular were trying to live in two cultures at the same time, but leaning more and more towards the American culture rather than their native Japanese culture.
The author talks about the FBI arrests and presents some more detailed information that I haven't found in other books, especially from the viewpoint of those being arrested or expecting to be arrested.
Next discussed is the actual process of the evacuations. The author also spends some time discussing whether "prison camp," "concentration camp," or some other term is the correct one to use. He also examines various negative aspects of what happened and it's apparent that he really hates what was done to the Issei and the Nisei.
The next thing he discusses is various rioting and protests that occurred, even at the assembly centers. He makes a strong point that the U.S. government was trying to "whitewash" the camps, making them appear, at least to other Americans, as being rather nice places. In addition, the community governments that were established by "democratic" means had all the power of a student council in a high school; they could make any decision they wanted as long as it wasn't really anything incredibly important and significant in how the camps were run.
The author then discusses the loyalty questionnaire and then discusses how students were sent from the camps to schools elsewhere and the process of moving some others out when they found jobs outside the camps. Then he discusses the Japanese Americans who joined the U.S. military and at the same time discusses those who resisted the draft.
Next discusses is the process of the internees returning to their homes or new homes after the camps were closed and the hatred that they ran into. He then goes into the economic costs of the internment and the psychological costs to the internees. After that the author goes into the history of the returnees during the later years, then examines the legal cases, the JACL and the redress movement.
The author also notes that there was increasing hostility towards Japanese Americans in the U.S. in the 1980's and 1990's as a result of "international economics." This relates to Japanese businessmen (living in Japan) buying U.S. property, trade issues and tariffs, etc. He also discusses specific incidents of violence that have happened against Japanese Americans and others of Oriental ancestry during that time.
The book also includes various appendices.
This is an excellent, I would call "gritty" book about the Japanese Americans and, as I noted before, the author is very passionate about what he writes, especially in relation to the internment camps and the hatred that is still, in the present day, being directed against the Japanese-Americans.
Main Index
Japan main page
Japanese-American Internment Camps index page
Japan and World War II index page
|