Post WW II and Japan Essay

The U.S. internment of people of Japanese descent during the 1940s was a major event in U.S. history, but it is often overlooked by many. It affected hundreds of thousands of people of Japanese descent, whether they were citizens or not. The incarceration of those placed in camps was affected mentally and it caused many of the internees to develop PTSD or otherwise commonly known as post-traumatic stress disorder (Potts, 1994, p. 1). The camps affected how the Japanese were viewed in society during the time period of the camps and following the liberation of them. It also changed how the Japanese viewed society. This paper will focus on the cultural and social aspects of the Internal Improvements.

While many Americans of the time would argue that any Japanese-looking person could have been dangerous and anti-America, in reality, the U.S. simply hated Japan and their culture which was shown through societal racism. Firstly, a document published in 1942, states, “All Japanese look very much alike to a white person-it is hard for us to distinguish between them… Many Japanese-Americans have been educated in Japan. Many, believers in Shintoism, worship the Emperor and regard his orders as superior to any loyalty they may owe the United States.” (Document H). Clearly, many white Americans felt that internment could be justified by the fact that it was hard to tell which Japanese-looking people were pro Japan and which were pro United States, therefore meaning that they should all be held captive. These Americans misunderstand the situation by getting the false impression that

Although radical views still faced the Japanese during this time there outcome lessened in the years after the war. Japanese Americans in the military would show much heroism overseas redeeming the name of their people in the United States. Although the Japanese brought no civil upheaval it was learned after the war their true patriotism for the nation as many remained in the country that imprisoned them for three long years.

     Unfortunately, the Japanese-Americans living on the west coast were given no time to show what their loyalties were: they were expelled from the area. They were shipped off to remote locations in the more barren sections of the country. The living conditions at the camps were inadequate at best. Residents were forced to endure extreme cold and extreme heat, cramped living spaces, poor meals, and a lack of indoor plumbing. The whole time, they were under the watchful eyes of armed military police. They were treated as prisoners.

     During this time of crisis in America, the Japanese people in our country were done a huge injustice. They were stripped their constitutional rights, relocated to a location with poor living conditions, and when America apologized it was just too late. The mental and physical health impacts of this event continues to affect tens of thousands of Japanese

When the U.S. joined the war, the U.S. soldiers expected the Japanese to be like them when it came to fighting, but they were wrong. Sledge, an American Marine (?) soldier , stated his reasons as to why he hated the Japanese, “Historians say we hated the Japs because we were racists. Racism had nothing to do with it. It was the way they fought” (Doc C [2]). Seeing the savagery of the Japanese soldiers influenced the way the U.S. soldiers fought. They went from merciful to doing the same as the Japanese. One of the soldiers even stated how Sledge changed the way he fought. In Guadalcanal, veteran Ore Marion pitched in about how a regimental

attack at pearl harbor everything went downhill, it all came back up. Both nations trust

The bombing of a U.S. Naval base in Hawaii left many people questioning it. The U.S. had been practicing isolationism. The U.S. created the Immigration Quota Act of 1924. This may have been the start of the U.S. upsetting Japan. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor the morning of December 7, 1941.

The Japanese and Americans have a rocky history because of the harm they have both caused each other. With the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor and Americans bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki, tensions have ran high between the two. Even Japanese Americans were feared after Pearl Harbor and Americans acted in a panicked manner. The fear of Japanese Americans at the spark of WWII caused American citizens to take extreme measures. Incarceration camps were set in place to contain Japanese Americans and take them out of their homes. These camps were mean to keep an eye on them and protect America from potential Japanese spies. The camps were necessary for the protection and security of the American people because America was not sure what was going on.

The widespread belief that Japanese American citizens were loyal to Japan, where their ancestors lived, resulted in fear of these people. This led President Roosevelt to sign an executive order that would relocate any citizens of Japanese descent to internment camps within the U.S. Many families left much of what they had behind, due to the uncertainty of whether or not they would be able to return to it. While the conditions inside the internment camps were nowhere near able to be compared to those during the Holocaust, they weren’t ideal. However, nothing is ever ideal when concerning racial prejudice. Despite the way that they were treated, the Japanese Americans persevered and in the end learned from their experiences.

“A date which will live in infamy,” quoted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt prior to the attacks on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. These attacks were committed by the naval air forces of the Empire of Japan on December 7, 1941. The purpose in Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor was to neutralize the U.S pacific Fleet and was caused by intensifying Japanese- American rivalry. Prior to these attacks during World War II, the fear of Japanese Americans being more loyal to their country, fell over the nation, and this mass hysteria spread quicker than one can imagine. America’s way of neutralizing this fear was too convict any Japanese American living in the United States and send them to internment camps, including children.

Japanese-American’s before World War II were treated not good but not bad in the United States, even at the start of the war they were still treated the same. It wasn’t until the Japanese’s attack on December 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor that everything changed for them. They were looked down on and that they were un-American to most Americans at the time and were treated very poorly. They were forced to live in a interment camp throughout the duration of the war and work there. No one really cared that they were being brought to camps to live except for some people that would eventually help them while their time in the camp and donate to them. The American government actions after this event changed every Japanese-Americans life forever.

In 1941, the Japanese military bombed Pearl Harbor, which made many Americans dislike Japan and the people that are from Japan. Also, President Roosevelt created the Executive Order 9066. The Executive Order stated that all people of Japanese ancestry would be relocated to internment camps, but there weren’t that many that got interned in Hawaii. From 1942-1945, there were about 120,000 “aliens” of Japanese descent that had to live in these internment camps. The government tried to portray life in these camps as happy and nice, but in reality, it wasn’t like that. They had to live in small spaces with many other people, leave most of their belongings at their house, and use what was given to them in the camps. The government didn’t do the right thing when they put the Japanese and Japanese Americans into internment camps during WWII. They only did it because of how they looked, because the United States was at war with Japan, and because of fear and anger towards Japan.

Americans citizens should recognize the importance of the Japanese American Internment Camps. After the was made attack on Pearl Harbor, a U.S. military base was bombed, Americans were filled with terror. World War Ⅱ was an all-out event like no other. Residents living on the Pacific Coast of the United States were emotionally unstable and thought the Japanese were going attacks again but this time their homes or cities. Many Americans were accusing the Japanese living in the U.S. for being accountable for bombing of Pearl Harbor, which cause racism and suspicion towards the Japanese Americans living in the United States.

In the early 1940’s, the United States was riddled with emotion as they had just joined the great and bloody World War II. Many Americans blamed this on the Japanese because of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, therefore, causing more racism and suspicion of the Japanese Americans living in the United States. On February 19, 1492, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorized the internment of the Japanese within the United States. The Japanese Internment was an order that was immoral and unconstitutional, there was no need for the order other than to satiate the fear of the American people, and the Japanese Americans affected by it were emotionally, physically, and economically harmed by the effects of this tragic