Japanese Canadians Essay

The Second World War was an international event which drastically impacted the world as a whole. With the war came a new found sense of mistrust throughout society. American and Canadian communities were divided due to the fear of espionage and sabotage, forms of spying which could help aid the enemy in war. This division promoted distrust, discrimination and violence toward Japanese immigrants and their children. To offset these fears resulting from war, Japanese Americans and Japanese Canadian citizens were forced into internment camps, resulting in a heightened sense of tension upon arrival home and finally the compensations of both US and Canadian governments

Economically, those who failed to prove they are Canadian lose their jobs because it is a security risk according to the War Measures Act. Moreover, they did not just lose their jobs, but also their homes and self-ran businesses. All of their homes and businesses are destroyed before they are sent to the internment camps. The government of Canada took all of the belongings of the Japanese and Italians whilst sending them to camps. In 1946, the government of Canada institutes the Japanese Property Claims Commission. This commission allows the Japanese to speak out their thoughts of being treated unfairly. Nor was it until 1988 when the government gave $20k as an apology to each living survivor. As a result, after all the hard effort the Japanese and Italians put into own homes and shops, the privilege of living and working where they want is taken away due to being forced to live in internment

After the restriction from the West coast exclusion zones took effect, Japanese families were moved to assembly centers and subsequently to interment or relocation camps. Many lived in assembly centers for months while waiting to be moved, having to deal with a poorly equipped community and crowded living situations. This is further described by Daniels. “The arrival at the assembly centers was particularly traumatic…Most, if not all, of the sites were overcrowded and not really prepared for human habitation. Toilet and bathing facilities were minimal.” (Pg. 65)8 Various illustrations of these poor housing situations can be seen in a yearbook made to remember the community of the Fresno Assembly Center. (Pgs. 1 & 3)9 Not only did these conditions put Japanese-Americans through a lower standard of living, but they also created distress resulting from multiple resettlements, as many had to be moved to internment camps as soon as they were getting used to life in the assembly centers. The emotions stemming from constant relocation can be seen within the same yearbook, in which the author states, “…we have experienced our primary trials and tribulations of readjusting ourselves to shape a living community out of bare nothing.” (Pg. 2)10 This community built over five months was soon shattered as families

Many Japanese Americans were actively being sent to the internment camps against their will by the government. This forced exile likely instilled feelings of fear, confusion and betrayal amongst the Japanese-American people.

The core of the Japanese experience in Canada lies in the shameful and almost undemocratic suspension of human rights that the Canadian government committed during World War II. As a result, thousands of Japanese were uprooted to be imprisoned in internment camps miles away from their homes. While only a small percentage of the Japanese living in Canada were actually nationals of Japan, those who were Canadian born were, without any concrete evidence, continuously being associated with a country that was nothing but foreign to them. Branded as “enemy aliens”, the Japanese Canadians soon came to the realization that their beloved nation harboured so much hate and anti-Asian sentiments that Canada was becoming just as foreign to them as

Families were separated, they had to abandon their friends, jobs, neighbor's, pet, possessions and their home. A common stereotype was that Japanese Americans were un-American (Renteln). In propaganda Japanese Americans were portrayed as dangerous people and the enemy. Even after the war, coming back home everyone tended to look and treat them differently. Specifically, in the camps they lost part of their identity due to the strict rules about no Japanese books and not speaking in Japanese this made them lose part of their culture. While the Japanese Americans were living in the internment camps, they lost their core identity, therefore it led to mental issues because they weren’t able to be themselves.

Secondly, he after effects from the Japanese internment camps changed the views of the Japanese Canadians in regards to minority rights in Canada. This is because they realized that they couldn't just let the discrimination of the Japanese Canadians go and they demanded justice. After the Japanese Canadians were released from internment camps they were lost. Their house and possessions were sold off by the Canadian government without their permission, they had virtually nothing. On top of that the Japanese Canadians were given the choice to either relocate East of the Rockies or deport back to Japan. Soon after the Japanese Canadians had no choice and were forced exiles to Japan began. However things started to turn up in 1947 when the federal cabinets canceled the deportation policy, but the Japanese Canadians still wanted justice. The Japanese Canadians believed that it wasn't fair that they were treated so badly because they were from Japan origin. Even though they were a minority group they were still Canadian citizens and should be treated like Canadians. The Japanese Canadians were determine for

This resulted in the relocation of approximately 120,000 people, many of whom were very much so American citizens, to one of 10 internment camps located all across the huge country. ... Some Japanese-American citizens were allowed to return to the offical West Coast beginning in 1945, and the very last camp finnaly closed in March 1946. This was my rough draft. :)

Years after the war ended, in 1988, Ottawa provided twelve million dollars as compensation to National Association of Japanese Canadians (Mollins, 1999). However, this amount was not enough to repair the economic hardships that Japanese Canadians underwent, because their sufferings did not end when the war ended. Japanese Canadians came back from the internment camps, only to find out that their properties were either stolen or publicly sold. Even though the money from the sales was kept by Custodian of Enemy Alien Property and held in account under the owner’s name, there was no interest and only limited amount of money, hundred dollars per month, was allowed to be taken out by the owner. Moreover, the law did not allow the Japanese Canadians to work if they had money in their account (Hickman & Fukawa, 2011). This prevented Japanese Canadians from building their financial status and getting involved in Canadian economic for many years.

These boats were immediately flipped by the RCN to non-Japanese fishermen and put back into operation.13 Additionally, along this new costal defense region, ethnic Japanese were prohibited to own or use any camera, firearm, radio receiving set, radio transmitter, explosive, ammunition or motor vehicle. This was just the initial step in the systematic deportation of the Japanese as on when on February 24th, 1942 all Japanese Canadian’s were forced to abandon their farms, homes, and businesses.14 These evacuees were given merely two to three hours to close their homes and determine what to do with their possessions; each evacuee could only bring possessions that they could carry, 150 pounds per adult and 75 pounds per child.15 These strict restrictions forced the Japanese to leave important and valuable belongings behind often selling items for humiliatingly low prices; in addition, anything of value that was left behind was stolen or taken by the rest of the community who were ransacking the abandoned homes.16 The British Columbia Security

Pocky, Anime, manga, kanji. Have you heard of any of these? If not… where have you been? All around us teenagers, children, and even adults are being drawn into Japanese culture through TV, books, and even food. Japanese comics, called manga, take up more and more space on American bookshelves, and they've infused new life into the publishing industry. Japanese animation, anime, is on more and more movies and TV screens and influencing popular toys and games.

Subsequent to the unexpected Japanese invasion of Hong Kong and Malaya and attack on Pearl Harbor, Canada declared war on Japan during the second World War. As racism was still present during the 1940s, the Canadian government placed Japanese-Canadians in internment camps simply due to “suspicion.” These Canadian citizens stripped of their human rights and relocated, placed under government-enforced curfews as well as interrogations, and were deprived of their job and properties. The tastefully worded novel Obasan, written by a fellow interned Japanese-Canadian speaks briefly on the history of Japanese internment camps, but heavily on the traumatic effects on those who were a part of that history. The aftermath of Japan’s entry into World

After the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor, life in the U.S. had changed. It was the first time in a long time that America was attacked on its homeland. This national security threat was a big shock to the people. The Japanese had to suffer the consequences of their attack. Just as the Germans developed concentration camps for the Jewish during World War II, the Americans set up "relocation" programs better known as internment camps to keep all the Japanese. The reason the Japanese were moved into these camps was because they were suspected of being spies. They were forced to live there for up to four years and were not able to continue with their own lives as they were before while they were living in these camps.