JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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- Corporate Business English Trainers
- ACT Systems, Inc.（株式会社アクト・システムズ）, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥269,500 ~ ¥280,000 / Month
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- English Instructor (Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe)
- Berlitz Japan, Inc. (ベルリッツ・ジャパン株式会社), Kansai
- Salary: ¥125,000 ~ ¥250,000 / Month
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- FT English Teachers for Kids - Osaka
- Kohgakusha Co., Ltd. （株式会社興学社）, Osaka
- Salary: ¥255,000 ~ ¥275,000 / Month Travel Expenses, Encouragement of Japanese learning*
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The_Berserker
First of all, DeWitt's report was entirely for public consumption and in fact justified many of the fears that existed in the general populace. The comment was also for the consumption of the Empire of Japan, for the Americans had to justify the mass evacuation of 120,000 people without letting the enemy no their diplomatic and military codes had been compromised.
The plan worked flawlessly. The Empire of Japan immediately used the evacuation for propoganda purposes (like today's reparations movment), but knowledge of Japan's codes being broken was never revieled.
Unfortunatley, DeWitt's comments are now bandied about and taken entirely out of historical context.
Posted in: Japanese-American graduate recalls wartime ordeal
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The_Berserker
on the basis of their ethnic origin.
It's called racism.
No, on the basis of their national origin. If the Norwegians had launched a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor they would have received the same treatment. As I said before, the fact some Americans held bigoted views towards Japanese is irrelevent to the military needs of the evacuation.
Posted in: Japanese-American graduate recalls wartime ordeal
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The_Berserker
Furthermore I recall that the compensation by the federal government of US$20,000 per internee and apology is absurd!
Just to clarify, the 1948 Evacation Claims Act paid out $48 million to Japanese Americans, but no other American who had losses as a result of the war got a dime. The $20,000 was for "violation of civil liberties".
If the Japanese Americans marching around Tule Lake in the pics above were alive, they got $20,000 and an apology, too.
Now that's absurd...
Posted in: Japanese-American graduate recalls wartime ordeal
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The_Berserker
Instead we should have allowed these Japanese Americans to run around the country rather than infringing on their civil liberties.
http://www.internmentarchives.com/archimg/d00315p004.jpg
http://www.internmentarchives.com/archimg/d00315p007.jpg
http://www.internmentarchives.com/archimg/d00315p015.jpg
http://www.internmentarchives.com/archimg/d00315p017.jpg
http://www.internmentarchives.com/archimg/d00315p019.jpg
http://www.internmentarchives.com/archimg/d00315p020.jpg
Moderator: Readers, the purpose of the discussion board is for you to exchange views and post your opinions on the subject. Please do not bombard the thread with links to historical documents.
Posted in: Japanese-American graduate recalls wartime ordeal
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The_Berserker
Any implication that the US was unjust in putting these people under protective custody is gross historical revisionism at its worst.
I agree! Just look at the horrible conditions! Not for the faint of heart, though. The look of horror on their faces is painful.
http://www.internmentarchives.com/archimg/d00314p001.jpg
http://www.internmentarchives.com/archimg/d00314p003.jpg
http://www.internmentarchives.com/archimg/d00314p016.jpg
http://www.internmentarchives.com/archimg/d00314p031.jpg
This last pic is the worst. The women are being tortured.
http://www.internmentarchives.com/archimg/d00314p017.jpg
Posted in: Japanese-American graduate recalls wartime ordeal
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The_Berserker
...the liquidation of Asiatic ethnic interests..
Certainly the temporary suspension of civil liberties in a time of total war of any interest whose national origin is at war with our country. Chinese and Filipinos weren't affected at all - or Japanese outside the combat zones for that matter. Germans, Italians and Japanese were.
Much of the concern regarding ethnic Japanese located in the West Coast Combat Zones stemmed from known fifth column activity during the Pearl Harbor attack by Japanese locals there. Local Japanese support for the war in China (support that made a 180 degree turn after Pearl Harbor) was another reason.
A federal Alien Custodian of Property was put into place to ensure alien property was protected. This was a top priority before the evacuation even occured.
A large percentage of white Americans in the public and private sector opposed evacuation because the Japanese were superior at intensive truck farming and these crops would be needed for the war effort. In the private sector much opposition came from those in the agriculture business, including produce shippers, packing houses, fertilizer companies and white Americans who had leased farmland to the Japanese. To state all white Americans were running around hysterically hurling accusations of racism is just not true. Some were, but they were in no position to make the decision to evacuate.
Another agriculture related problem, especially in California is that the predominately Filipino and Mexican field workers refused to work for Japanese farmers and nobody was willing to work their crops.
At no point was the government interested in "locking up" the evacuated Japanese. From the beginning if the evacuation should occur the plan was to relocate them to areas in the interior with suitable farmland where the majority being in agriculture could continue producing for the war effort. From the begining religious, social service and even the JACL demanded that if the evacuation should occur the Japanese shouldn't just be "kicked out" of the combat zones.
The government should be responsible for feeding, housing, providing employment and medical care for the evacuated people - and assiting them in re-establishing themselves in the interior - in as humane an environment as could be provided. That is just what the government did with the Relocation Centers.
Thanks for the post! It allows me to keep responding!
Posted in: Japanese-American graduate recalls wartime ordeal
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The_Berserker
Before Pearl Harbor, U.S. codebreakers were intercepting Japanese consular message which revealed espionage involving resident Japanee nationals and Japanese Americans. Numerous Japanese patriotic societies on the west coast were supporting the Japanese war effort in East Asia by collecting money and sending it to Japan.
Because of such activities by persons of Japanese ancestry in America, when the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor there were urgent security reasons for separating the loyal from the disloyal pesons of Japanese descent. This could not be done overnight so evacuation and relocation of such persons from military zones on the west coast was considered a necessity until screening could determine their status..
Of the so-called "internees," two-thirds of the ADULTS were not U.S. citizens but were Japanese nationals, enemy aliens subject to detention under long-standfing law. The American-born children of such enemy aliens were kept with them to keep families together. Their average age at the time was 15 years. However most of those over age 17 among them were also citizens of Japan (dual citizens). Thousands of these young Japanese-Americans had been educated in Japan, returning to the U.S. more Japanese than American, some as members of the Japanese military reserves. .
The above only scratches the surface of this complex wartime situation. There is much, much, more. There exists an abundance of now-declassified documents supporting the military justification for the internment for the legitimate researcher to exam. Unfortunately some who do so, because of the conventionl wisdom and a pre-disposed politically-correct agenda, ignore or distort the wartime government's side of the story. American leaders may have been wrong about some things (like Battan) but they were certainly right to evacuate persons of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast after Pearl Harbor and their memory should not be dishonored for doing so.
Posted in: Japanese-American graduate recalls wartime ordeal
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The_Berserker
It's interesting how tangential facts like 'whether the fencing was barbed or not' or 'Japanese did worse (an argument that implies the poster does not recognise Nikkei-Americans as Americans)' always play a role in denial and mitigation rants against great injustices in history.
People who like to be precise can differentiate between fencing used as a perimeter and fencing used to fence people in.
An as I said before and you didn't read, the Issei were not Americans and 90% of Nisei over 17 were dual Japanese-Americans.
Here's some advice. Don't hold strong opinions on topics you know little about.
Posted in: Japanese-American graduate recalls wartime ordeal
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The_Berserker
In other words Americans of Japanese descent have little or no opportunity for dignity in either country.
War isn't about dignity is it, sonny.
Posted in: Japanese-American graduate recalls wartime ordeal
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The_Berserker
Are you now claiming that Myer was a Japanese-American?
Myer was a civilian leader of the civilian WRA without access to military intelligence. I haven't read the quote you cite in its entirety, but it doesn't sound like he was aware of DeWitt's position on the evacuation, does it? How do you know he had a lot of personal dealings with DeWitt?
How do you reconcile the military intelligence indicating fifth column activity? You ignored it again.
When Mr. Matsumoto tells of U.S. schools that would not accept Japanese Americans, nobody believes the reasons were because of national security.
Nonsense. 4,300 Japanese-Americans left the Relocation Centers to attend colleges at taxpayer expense in programs set up by fellow Americans. You obviously didn't read the article very carefully.
So is the citation of dubious, un-confirmed assertions is readily accepted as HARD FACT in the JT community?
Yea, JT community! Are military intelligence reports from WW2 really considered "dubious un-confirmed assertions" by the JT community?
Posted in: Japanese-American graduate recalls wartime ordeal
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The_Berserker
This is significant in that it serves to demonstrate the latent racism that still exists in American society towards Japanese Americans and their history.
Only when they lie about their history.
Why not address the HARD FACTS I provided regarding fifth column activity within the Japanese West Coast community. Rather than ignore it, what do you have to say about it?
Posted in: Japanese-American graduate recalls wartime ordeal
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The_Berserker
General DeWitt for one.
DeWitt certainly is one of the favorite whipping boys of the Japanese-American reperations activists.
A review of Chapter V, "Japanese Evacuation From the West Coast" of Conn, Englemman, and Fairchild's "Guarding the United States and its Outposts." [Center of Military History, U.S.Army] is suggested.
As Conn clearly shows, DeWitt, up to his final recommendation to the War Department on 13 Feb. 1942, (prior to FDR's E.O.9066) was consistent in his opposition to the detention of American citizens.
His final recommendation to the War Department was that "citizen evacuees would either ACCEPT INTERNMENT VOLUNTARILY OR RELOCATE THEMSELVES with such assistance as state and federal agencies might offer." (Emphasis mine)
In his final recommentation, DeWitt also called for the inclusion of ALL enemy aliens (German and Italians as well as Japanese) in any evacuation decided.
The evacuation decision was made in the War Department and instructions to DeWitt for instrumentation thereof differed markedly from DeWitt's final recommendation in a number of respects. But the fact is that from early on to his final recommendation prior to the Evacuation Decision made in Washington, DeWitt was consistent in his opposition to the detainment of American citizens of Japanese descent. As a good soldier, however, he bowed to the orders of his superiors and carried out their instructions to the best of his ability.
That won't stop the activists from villifying another dead soldier to suit their own ends though, will it?
Posted in: Japanese-American graduate recalls wartime ordeal
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The_Berserker
Why are you offering up these completely irrelevant points with regards to your earlier statements -- now proven wrong -- about the numbers of Japanese-Americans who actually served during WWII?
Couldn't cite a source, could you? I didn't think so. I'm offering up all kinds of information, maybe another poster will challenge me or at least comment on it.
Posted in: Japanese-American graduate recalls wartime ordeal
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The_Berserker
...which indicates in you a complete disrespect for history and the subjects of it.
Right, accusing America's political and military leaders (most of whom were already dead) who took on two of the greatest armies to scourge the earth since Genghis Khan - accusing them of being "hysterical racists that lacked political will". That's real respectful.
The West Coast evacuation of ethnic Japanese was a minor chapter in the history of WW2 that's been completely blown out of proportion by a bunch of ethnic activists.
In the United States, Japanese-Americans never had a repuation of being a "whiny minority" up until around 1982. It's shameful they have that reputation now.
Posted in: Japanese-American graduate recalls wartime ordeal
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The_Berserker
This is a clear example of the way you assemble and then dissemble your "facts," and which indicates in you a complete disrespect for history and the subjects of it. Since you won't admit that you are as wrong as can be about this, we must look to the motiviations that drive you to spread untruths about your fellow human beings.
Hey, I'm open-minded and just here to learn more. Hurling personal insults isn't helping your position at all. Hard facts will.
Here's and example of hard facts:
1.Office of Naval Intelligence memorandum for the Chief of Naval Operations, Feb 12, 1941,"Japanese Espionage Organization in the United States," which suggests that the information therein be brought to the attention of the President and stating that the Japanese government had decided to strengthen its intelligence network by, among other moves to employ "Nisei Japanese and Japanese resident nationals" using extreme caution in doing so.
The Tachibana case (March 1941) about which Peter Irons' wrote in his "Justice at War": "...There was no question that Tachibana headed an espionage ring on the West Coast that enlisted a number of Japanese Americans, both aliens and citizens (sic), nor that the government knew the identities of its members..."
Military Intelligence Div. 336.8, Honolulu, 14 October 1941. "Japanese Ex-Service Men's Organization" which reports on two Japanese ex-military member groups active in the U.S. with 7200 members, stating in part: "...these two organizations have pledged to do sabotage (railroads and harbors)in the states mentioned (California, Washington, Oregon, and Utah) in time of emergency. Similar organizations are in Hawaii. Sixty-nine local units of these two organizations are said to be carrying on activities."
U.S.Army MID Information Bulletin No.6 of Jan.21, 1942,titled "Japanese Espionage," **forwarded to Ass't SecWar John J. McCloy by Brig. General Mark J. Clark,then Deputy Chief of Staff, U.S.Army, which, among its conclusions states: "Their **espionage net containing Japanese aliens, first and second generation Japanese and other nationals is now thoroughly organized and working underground."
Posted in: Japanese-American graduate recalls wartime ordeal
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The_Berserker
According to the people who serve to provide information about the memorial....
Given how this history has been distorted over the last 25 years, I can only imagine who those people are. Can you tell me when, where and with whom these extra 8,000 served other than overseas?
I have a roster of the 100/442nd with some 8,500 names on it. Aside from the 100/442d just about the only other outfit (with a few exceptions involving only a few people) they could have served in was the Military Intelligence Service in the Pacific. A total of about 3,500 served there. That's 12,000. Allowing for another 4,000 in miscellaneous units, we reach the grand total of 16,000, the number on the memorial.
If your source uses just the statement "during World War II" these figures aren't even close to the lesser numbers who were inducted, can be accounted for, and actually served during the period the U.S. was engaged in hostilities with the Empire of Japan, i.e., from Dec 7, 1941 to August 15, 1945.
Provide the official records for the extra 8,000.
...95% of eligible Japanese Americans did not "sit out" the war.
Okay I'll rephrase to say, 95% sat out the war until January 30, 1944. The fact the United States was winning the war by this time can be an after-thought.
Posted in: Japanese-American graduate recalls wartime ordeal
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The_Berserker
...that you otherwise find no problem casting aspersions onto on most other points.
Telling it like is was is not "casting aspirations". You're just in denial that there was plenty of evidence indicating fifth-column activity amongst the West Coast Japanese community.
The "many Japan sympathizers" among the Issei were those described by the Los Angeles office of the Office of Naval Intelligence at the time as those who "might well do surreptitious observation work for Japanese interests if given a convenient opportunity." Of course nobody really knew how many there were or the identity of most of them. What was known was that the numbers were large and that their presence at large in the military areas of the West Coast would be at considerable security risk to the nation.
In a nutshell, that's it! Whether you can accept the harsh reality of this history or not is something you and Japanese-Americans in general are going to have to deal with. Blaming other Americans (including our political and military leaders during WW2) as "hysterial racists" has done more to damage the reputation of Japanese-Americans than Pearl Harbor ever did.
Posted in: Japanese-American graduate recalls wartime ordeal
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The_Berserker
Of course, from there, it's an easy slide for you to appear to assert that the camps weren't as bad as thousands have described them to be.
From the outset the WRA's principal objective was to resettle evacuees and get them out of the camps as soon as possible for locations anywhere in the U.S. but in the military zones from which they had been evacuated. Anyone (alien or citizen)could apply to leave the relocation centers and would be approved if he or she met the following criteria: (1) had a job offer or other means of support waiting on the outside, (2) agreed to keep the WRA informed of any changes of jobs or addresses, (3)had a clean record both at the center and with the FBI as well as no record of disloyalty to the U.S. with a military intelligence agency, and (4)there existed reasonable evidence that the person's presence would be acceptable to the community in which he proposed to make his or her new home.
Ironically, the announcement of the resettlement program in September of 1942 brought howls of protest from the evacuees "who saw it as an attempt on the part of the government to evade responsibility of caring for them by turning them into a hostile Caucasian world." ["Democracy on Trial,"-Page Smith, award-winning historian and professor at UC/Santa Cruz.
The WRA persisted in encouraging (practically begging) the evacuees to apply to leave the centers. Counselers were dispatched to assure them of good treatment on the outside, monetary incentives to leave were offered, WRA resettlement field offices were set up in Chicago, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Des Moines, Milwaukee, New York, and other cities to pave the way for employment of the evacuees. But still many evacuees, particularly the Issei, resisted leaving the camps. In a letter dated February 10, 1981(a copy of which I have), former WRA head,Dillon Myer, responded to a researcher's question in the following words: "The WRA did its very best to get people to leave the camps, and of course many thousands did leave...but many of the older aliens refused to leave... because they felt more secure in the camps."
Posted in: Japanese-American graduate recalls wartime ordeal
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The_Berserker
All on the obviously-flawed recollection of a person from a community that you otherwise find no problem casting aspersions onto on most other points.
Here's another quote. It's funny the people who were there aren't nearly as fanatical about it as there offspring today.
When Japanese naval forces struck Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, I was studying English at a private school in San Francisco, the Drew School. I had come to America six months earlier as a student, not knowing, of course, that war was coming.
The Western Defense Command, headquartered in the Presidio of San Francisco, declared a 75-mile coastal strip from Washington through Oregon to California as Military Zone Number 1, from which all persons of Japanese ancestry were to be evacuated before the end of March 1942. I moved out of this zone to Visalia in the San Joaquin Valley. In a few months, however, the Army ordered the evacuation of all persons of Japanese ancestry from all of California, the western half of Oregon and Washington and from the lower one-third of Arizona.
If I had gone to, for instance, the Middle West during the very first months of 1942, I would not have been affected by the Army policy. Along with people from Visalia and vicinities, therefore, I went to a war relocation center at Poston, Arizona, which had been hastily built in the desert. The summer I spent there was the hottest I had ever experienced. But food in the mess hall was plentiful. School classes were provided for youngsters of all grades. Some Japanese residents formed a kabuki group to stage classical numbers.
My intellectual life in the Arizona desert was not a total loss - I was able to improve my English because I taught Japanese to Nisei residents by using English as medium of instruction.
From the very beginning of this camp life, I did not expect I would have to live in the desert until the end of the war, which I am sure no one knew when it would end. Eight months later, the U.S. Government announced that any able-bodied person, citizen or alien, could leave a relocation center for gainful employment outside. I was one of the first to take advantage of this new policy.
When I went around the barracks to say good-bye to older campmates, one of them was puzzled and said, "Why do you leave here? This is the best (safest) place."I laughed and said I could not afford to sit idle there because I had come to America to study in school.
I began my freshman year in June 1943 in Chicago and completed requirements for a B.A. degree from Carleton College in January 1946. I also earned an M.A. from the University of Chicago before returning to Japan in 1948.
In Japan, I worked with The Japan Times, the oldest and largest English language daily newspaper published in Japan, for thirty-three years. I ended my career there as its Editor-in-Chief and Executive Director.
Currently, I am professor of "media English" and International Communication at Yachiyo International University.
In 1991, Kodansha Publishers, (Tokyo & New York) published my book titled, An Enemy Among Friends
Kiyoaki Murata October 7, 1994 Tokyo, Japan
Posted in: Japanese-American graduate recalls wartime ordeal
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The_Berserker
An interview with one former internee -- a kid at the time -- who said many decades later that he didn't recall a fence.
A couple questions for you.
politicized. Why is that any less credible than what you are saying today?
Nakamura:
*"Well, our camp didn't have that barbed wire. We were able to go to the Colorado River and hiking to the mountains. The only guard I know of that they had was at the main gate. So other than that I don't think it was very strict." *
It's too bad you have to resort to putting words in my mouth I did not say and hurl personal insults, but if that's all you can do so support your side of the debate...
Posted in: Japanese-American graduate recalls wartime ordeal