The Influence Of Japanese-Americans In The United States

Immediately after the attack, the U.S. declared war on Japan. In the days that followed, there were many presidential proclamations that declared strict restrictions on German, Italian, and Japanese residents in the U.S. In the months that followed, the restrictions for aliens from Japan continued to increase, while they were substantially relaxed for German and Italian aliens. This was most likely due to the false negotiations and the unexpected attack from Imperial Japan causing the government to become concerned with the loyalties of Japanese citizens. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government came to the conclusion that it was a very real possibility that Imperial Japan could attempt a full-scale invasion of the United States starting from the West Coast. General John L. DeWitt, commanding officer of the U.S. Army's Western Defense Command, pursued to remove all “enemy aliens” from the West Coast, due to being deemed the most susceptible area to be attacked. General Dewitt recommended the government’s evacuation of all Japanese from the coastal areas of California, Oregon, and Washington state. DeWitt's recommendations were accepted by both the Army and the civilian heads. On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing the Army to "designate military areas" from which "any persons may be excluded." The words "Japanese,” or "Japanese Americans" never appeared in the Order, but the order was primarily used with intent

Shortly after the first bombs were dropped on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, the American people’s fear of the Japanese grew dramatically, especially for those Japanese living in America. Almost every Japanese American was seen as a threat to the country. On February 19th, 1942, Executive Order 9066 was issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, authorizing the relocation of Japanese Americans to camps further inland. Over 175,000 Japanese Americans were affected in some way by the order, even though more than 70,000 of them were born in the United States and were American citizens. The common perspective of the American people was shown through their use of the expression “A Jap’s a Jap,” virtually destroying the thought that any

Most of the Japanese-Americans could not vote or take part in any election. Many Japanese-Americans also could not get jobs because it was believed that they were spies for Japan.

The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Many Americans were afraid of another attack, so the state representatives pressured President Roosevelt to do something about the Japanese who were living in the United States at the time. President Roosevelt authorized the internment with Executive Order 9066 which allowed local military commanders to designate military areas as exclusion zones, from which any or all persons may be excluded. Twelve days later, this was used to declare that all people of Japanese ancestry were excluded from the entire Pacific coast. This included all of California and most of Oregon and Washington.

The imprisonment of Japanese Americans occurred because of their Japanese ancestry. The fear of the Japanese, also known as Anti-Japanese Paranoia, was a direct result of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Many Americans feared that Japanese descendants would remain loyal to and side with their home country (Japanese American Internment, 2008). The brink of war being just around the corner clouded American minds and led to quick decisions. America was paralyzed by fear in the midst of another World War, just years after the first. Lt. Gen. John L. DeWitt wrote, “The Japanese race is an enemy race, and while many second and third generation Japanese born on United States soil, possessed of United States citizenship, have become ‘Americanized,’ the racial strains are undiluted.” Like DeWitt, many Americans felt that all Japanese Americans were a threat, especially the Issei and Nisei. “Literally speaking, the Japanese terms Issei,

Startled by the surprise attack on their naval base at Pearl Harbor and anxious about a full-fledged Japanese attack on the United States’ West Coast, American government officials targeted all people of Japanese descent, regardless of their citizenship status, occupation, or demonstrated loyalty to the US. As my grandfather—Frank Matsuura, a nisei born in Los Angeles, California and interned in the Granada War Relocation Center (Camp Amache)—often

Japanese immigrants and the following generations had to endure discrimination, racism, and prejudice from white Americans. Two months after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, the President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the United States government to forcibly removed thousands of Japanese-American citizens who lived on the West Coast. They would relocate them to concentration camps in remote parts of Arizona, California, Idaho, and other states in the West because of an unfair reason from white Americans due to fear and ignorance. The relocation of Japanese-Americans into internment camps was one of the most flagrant violations of civil liberties in American history. Approximately, 130,000 Japanese immigrants were relocated to these interment camps, lost their businesses, forced to give up their homes and assets in addition to their freedom. Most of the population were long-standing immigrants (Issei) who arrived before 1924 or American-born children of immigrants (Nisei) who were solid members of the community and loyal to their country.

The United States was scared of Japanese Americans, the U.S. thought that they might have connections to the enemy.

Sensing danger, the United States decided to freeze Japanese assets to avoid further expansion. However, this precaution did not help the Americans because soon after Pearl Harbor was bombed December 7, 1941, approximately twenty-four hundred Americans were killed. At that point, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt felt it necessary to sign Executive Order 9066, which stated that the Japanese-Americans will be relocated from the West coast to obtain national security. Most of the Japanese-American internment camps were located on the West Coast, and the East Coast had little involvement in detaining Japanese-Americans. The United States government was worried that there were conspirators that wanted to feed Intel back to their home country of Japan by sneaking into these restricted zones to gain the information. Journalist, C. B. Munson, After witnessing a progression towards mass internment, Munson even warned the President that the United States seemed to be following the destructive path the Germans traveled with the Jews. However, when faced with the same “problem”(a threatening race) as Germany, Roosevelt did decide to relocate thousands of Japanese-Americans to internment camps, by signing Executive Order 9066 on February 19th, 1942.

On December 7, 1941 the Japanese attacked the United States naval base. This attack known as “The attack on Pearl Harbor“ instilled fear into the United States. The United States and their people racially profiled all the Japanese Americans over fear. President Roosevelt decided to sign executive order 9066 as a way to lead the Japanese into incarceration.

The Japanese prosperity was seen as a threat to the white population. By 1913 labor unions fearing that the Japanese workers were gaining organisational strength, put pressure on California legislators. In 1924, the Federal Government passed various Anti-Japanese legislation. 6

Japanese immigrants left their homelands for destinations in the United States as early as the 1790s. More than 100,000 people filtered into employment in the sugar cane fields of Hawaii, where the pull of work and good wages offered promising economic opportunity. By 1860, many Americans owned sugar plantations, who - aided by the United States military, attempted colonialization of Hawaii, against their will – and in an 1887 treaty, established a naval base at Pearl Harbor. On the mainland, immigrants arrived in numbers surpassing 200,000 during the period between 1900 – 1920. While the Japanese competed with “native-born” or immigrant residents in both locations, especially in California, they faced distrust and discrimination in seeking profitable livelihood.

The Issei (first generation immigrants) crossed the Pacific Ocean to come to America because there was a high demand for immigrants’ cheap labor. The Japanese left everything familiar to them. They established their own communities of Japanese culture. The Japanese were discriminated and faced with racial injustice. The Pearl Harbor attack was a spark for more people to hate Japanese living in the United States. Then the Executive order signed by Roosevelt forced hundreds of Japanese Americans to leave their homes and go to interment camps because people feared they were spies for Japan. Most young men wanted to prove their loyalty to America and restore family honor so they joined the war.

Migration of Japanese people to America began in mid-1800s as they searched for peace and a mode of payment to improve their family conditions, and escape from unstable home conditions in Japan. Migration resulted in a life of great hard work and severities of hostility in the workplace. In addition, Japanese immigrants had to face multiple legislative attacks from Americans and endure poor working conditions because of their presence in a foreign land.

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.