Unbroken Japan Analysis

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.

Mine Okubo was an American citizen of Japanese descent, artist, and writer who was one of over a hundred thousand Japanese people that were forced into internment camps for “protective purposes” during World War II. In her graphic novel Citizen 13660, which was named after the number designated to her family unit, Okubo documents her journey from her initial relocation to Tanforan Assembly Center after the Pearl Harbor attack, up until she is finally granted release from the Central Utah Relocation Project in Topaz. She tells her story through sketches and storytelling due to recording devices being confiscated as contraband. Okubo’s original motive behind this novel was to inform her friends living outside the camps of her living situation, however, it has now transformed into a historical reference to the often glossed over history of Japanese internment camps in the United States. Okubo’s use of visuals gives the novel more clarity in delivering her story by giving the reader an additional source of information to digest. She also explicitly states in the preface that she believes some form of reparations and an apology are due to those who were evacuated and interned and that things could be learned from this tragic episode for it may happen again.

Japanese-Americans and Americans felt invisible in many ways because of the way they were treated and relocation or POW camps. Once the Japanese-American families were at a relocation camp they had to go through an interview with the Government workers. “As a result of the interview,” she wrote, “my family name was reduced to No. 13660. I was given several tags bearing the family number, and was then dismissed” (Okubo, 19) This shows that MIne feels invisible because she got her name taken away and reduced to a five digit number. When POWs got to the camp in Ofuna no one was allowed to talk or look at other prisoners, if they did they would be beaten by a guard. “There were dozens of men in cells near him, but there was no sound. In this warren

Imagine having everything taken away from you, your food, your rights, your family, and your life. That is what happened to Louie Zamperini and other other POWs at japanese prison camps. Louis Zamperini grew up in Torrance being a bad kid that everyone in his town disliked. Later in his life in high school he took on running, being trained by his brother pete. This turned his life around and everyone loved him. He started breaking records and adventally he went to the olympics. He was drafted into the air corp and was a bomber. He got stranded in the ocean and later was taken captive by the japanese, who tortured him. During his life Louie never gave up, he was unbroken. Even through the hardest things he had resiliency and showed redemption.

War can be loud and visible or quiet and remote. It affects the individual and entire societies, the soldier, and the civilian. Both U.S. prisoners of war in Japan and Japanese-American citizens in the United States during WWII undergo efforts to make them “invisible.” Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken hero, Louie Zamperini, like so many other POWs, is imprisoned, beaten, and denied basic human rights in POW camps throughout Japan. Miné Okubo, a U.S. citizen by birth, is removed from society and interned in a “protective custody” camp for Japanese-American citizens. She is one of the many Japanese-Americans who were interned for the duration of the war. Louie Zamperini, as a POW in Japan, and Miné Okubo, as a Japanese-American Internee both experience efforts to make them “invisible” through dehumanization and isolation in the camps of WWII, and both resist these efforts.

Two months after Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt authorized “Executive order 9066”. Which made More than 110,000 Japanese in the U.S to relocate to internment camps for reason of “national security”. The United States feared that they’re could have been Japanese spies inside America so the government relocated most Japanese immigrants to camps. It was one of the saddest moments in America that the government of America took actions on innocent people just because their heritage. America’s internment camps are similar yet different to Hitler’s concentrations camps.

When Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942,1 thousands of Japanese-American families were relocated to internment camps in an attempt to suppress supposed espionage and sabotage attempts on the part of the Japanese government. Not only was this relocation based on false premises and shaky evidence, but it also violated the rights of Japanese-Americans through processes of institutional racism that were imposed following the events of Pearl Harbor. Targeting mostly Issei and Nisei citizens, first and second generation Japanese-Americans respectively,2 the policy of internment disrupted the lives of families, resulting in a loss of personal property, emotional distress,

Japan is a small island nation off the coast of Eastern Asia. Despite its size, Japan has proved to be formidable both economically and militarily. Since the expedition of Commodore Matthew Perry in 1853 opened up the past feudalistic and reclusive Japan, this nation has expanded and adopted many imperialistic policies as well as taken a more aggressive military stance. Japan has changed in many ways, but has also continued upholding traditional practices throughout 1853 and 1941.

The move to the internment camps was a difficult journey for many Japanese-Americans. Many of them were taken from their homes and were allowed only to bring a few belongings. Okubo colorfully illustrates the dramatic adjustment of lifestyle that Japanese-Americans had to make during the war. Authentic sketches accompany each description of the conditions that were faced and hardships that were overcome. The illustrations were drawn at the time each event described throughout the story took place. Each hand drawn picture seems to freeze time, capturing the feelings and intense anxiety many felt during the war. The pictures assist the author's first person narration and assist the reader in creating an accurate

During the Second World War the Americans held 120,000 Japanese Americans in camps that was isolated, uncomfortable, and overcrowded. Even if their families were treated this way 33,000 Japanese Americans still served in the military. The Americans would see their Japanese neighbors as aliens and untrustworthy, however the Journalist would have false reports about them, which then made the suspense against the Japanese Americans bigger. Executive Order 9066 was signed on February 12, 1942 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and had 120,000 of his American soldiers go to the detention camps until the war was over. A few weeks after, there wasn’t any trials, so they had to force the Japanese Americans to go to the camps and had to abandon their

Mary Matsuda Gruenewald, Looking Like the Enemy: My Story of Imprisonment in Japanese American Internment Camps

While in the Japanese American National Museum, I was observing the historical artifacts and analyzing the readings and I felt this tense intangible atmospheric pressure throughout the museum. The museum definitely gave me whole new perspective of the japanese living in America during World War Two. Something that history textbooks in America won’t cover to in depth, especially showing the other side of history. A display that caught my attention were the pictures that showed daily life inside the incarceration camp. According to the display of the photos, “cameras were forbidden in the camps but it became clear that the Japanese Americans posed little or no threat to American security, camp administrators looked the other way when it came to

The United States of America a nation known for allowing freedom, equality, justice, and most of all a chance for immigrants to attain the American dream. However, that “America” was hardly recognizable during the 1940’s when President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, ordering 120,000 Japanese Americans to be relocated to internment camps. As for the aftermath, little is known beyond the historical documents and stories from those affected. Through John Okada’s novel, No-No Boy, a closer picture of the aftermath of the internment is shown through the events of the protagonist, Ichiro. It provides a more human perspective that is filled with emotions and connections that are unattainable from an ordinary historical document.

After the United States defeated Japan in World War II, Japan was left with devastating casualties and reparations to be done. The United States wanted to secure Japan and wanted to influence them, that way Japan would not turn to Soviet communism during the Cold War. In order to make proper reparations, General Douglas A. MacArthur was in charge of the restoration of Japan. MacArthur proposed a reconstruction program which included military, political, economic, and social reforms. So the United States could be able to impose the reconstruction program in Japan, the Allied powers wanted to disarm Japan, deal with colonies, stabilize the economy, and prevent remilitarization. General MacArthur began to work on the reconstruction of Japan in September, 1945 and divided the reconstruction was to be divided into three phases. The three phases were to reform Japan, revive the economy, and a formal peace treaty and alliance with the United States.

In Ozu’s film, the Tokyo Story, has many scenes that define the human struggle, such as the struggle to make a living, aging and death of loved ones, and the way children eventually fall apart from their parents when they get older. The one human struggle from Ozu’s film that influenced the most empathy is the inevitable truth of life that the struggle for survival in society eventually drifts individuals apart such as parents and they're children when they begin to live independently and become to take care for only themselves because of their daily busy lives.