World War II And Japanese Peoples

Starting in the early 1930’s, the Japanese began to display their great imperialistic dreams with ambition and aggression. Their goal was to create a "Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere" where they controlled a vast empire in the western Pacific.1 In September of 1939, Japan signed the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis Treaty, allying themselves with Germany and Italy in an effort to safeguard their interests in China from the Soviet Union. Japan’s only major obstacle left lay in the significant size of the United States Pacific Fleet. To rid themselves of this, Japan attacked the United States Pacific Fleet in hopes of crippling it enough to prevent any further hindrance from the

The Fifteen-Year War was a time of great turmoil and uncertainty in Japan. Various facets of the country were tested and driven to their limits. During the occupation, race and gender began to evolve in ways that had not exactly be seen before. War had a tremendous impact on every part of the life of a Japanese citizen. Both men and women began to fill roles that were completely novel to them. Race became a part of the definition of who people were. As the war progressed and American troops landed on Japanese soil for occupation, more drastic changes occurred. Economic hardship and rations befell the people of the Land of the Rising Sun. Prostitution began to rear its ugly head and rape transpired. Through memory, research, and vivid

During World War II, approximately 120,000 people of Japanese descent who lived on the Pacific Coast of the US were sent to internment camps after the bombing at Pearl Harbor by Japan on December 7th, 1941. American citizens made up 62% of those who were interned. And even though these American citizens were being unconstitutionally blocked off from the rest of society, the majority of these citizens still declared that they remained forever loyal to America. Some of the recollections left behind by the internees of their experiences at these camps include letters to their loved ones, diaries, pictures, and even full plays. And while living in often cramped, and poorly maintained conditions, the internees still tried to lead normal lives

Imagine if people consider you guilty of sabotaging your country without a fair trial. Your home was searched against your will. And you were denied rights as straightforward as freedom of speech. That’s what the Japanese underwent during WWII. 120,000 Japanese Americans were taken from their homes and brought to concentration camps in remote locations that were in in harsh environments. That all happened because they were considered possible spies, sent from Japan. On December 7th, 1941, Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese military. War hysteria, failure of leadership, and preexisting racism was mostly why the reason why so many Japanese Americans were put into concentration camps. Our country was trying to balance common good with individual rights of the people. But, the common good was valued more than people’s during World War II. Most of the time, The United States government does a favorable job balancing people’s rights and the good of the nation. For example, we pay taxes to support our government, and the government protects us (ex: the police force) But during WWII, the US broke more than half the amendments in the bill of rights. Some of the major ones being the 4th amendment (search and seizure,) the 1st amendment (mainly freedom of speech) and the 6th amendment (right to a speedy and fair trial) Why, in the land of the free was a large amount of citizens denied basic constitutional rights for so long?

Over the span of nine months 22,000 Japanese Canadians were forced from their homes, stripped of their belongs and denied basic human rights (1). During World War 2, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Canadian government felt people of Japanese origin could be a threat to the Canadian war effort. Because of this, thousands of Japanese Canadian citizen’s were moved to internment camps in British Columbia. The internment of the Japanese Canadians was wrong because it was completely unjustified, most of the people put in the internment camps had a Canadian citizenship, were treated very poorly and there wasn’t any proof that they would do anything negatively effect Canada during the war.

On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed the Executive Order 9066 allowing the military to exclude “any and all persons” from designated areas of the country as needed for national defense. These “any and all persons” were Japanese Americans, 2/3 citizens and 1/3 aliens, and the designated area was the West Coast of the United States. The Executive Order to place the Japanese living in the United States into internment camps was deemed necessary due to the recent attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, by Japan.

In the United States, prejudice, propaganda, and power were collective factors influencing discrimination against Japanese Americans before, and during World War II, but the bombing of Pearl harbor catapulted the greatest violation of civil rights against a minority group during this time with the issuance of Executive Order 9066, which ordered their confinement.

Ronald Takaki told his experiences of military men, immigrants, and the government during World War II. The United States was hypocritical having ethnic groups fight for freedom but not treated as equal individuals nor having full access to the “Four Freedoms”. (Takaki, 7) As articulated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on January 6, 1941, the Four Freedoms are freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. Equally important, Ruth Benedict argued that Hitler’s Anti-Semitism required Americans to challenge their own racism. (Takaki, 6) There is no master race, as Hitler argued. Everyone is from one race: the human race. During World War II racism was not only in the service it was also still going on with civilians. As World War II took place, Takaki expressed his feelings about the military men, the immigrants, and the government because the United States was very hypocritical. All of this can be seen in the WWII experiences of Japanese Americans, African-Americans and women.

World War II dramatically altered everyday life in the United States. Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 1941. The day after the attack, Great Britain and the United States declared war on Japan and two days later, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. During the course of the war, food, gas and clothing were rationed and the search for scrap metal to build armaments became an increasing need. Because the men were now sent to war, women were forced to find employment as electricians, welders and riveters.

As during any election cycle, nearly all types of media are currently flooded with campaign advertisements that viciously attack various candidates’ politics, character, or sometimes both. People are willing to go to extraordinary lengths in order to gain power over others. This is likely due to the fact that everyday citizens are so susceptible to influence from those above them. As demonstrated in World War II, individuals are extremely susceptible to impact from authority figures.

The spring of 1945 marked the completion of the atomic bomb. Created by Franklin Roosevelt in 1939, the Manhattan Project had used 2 billion dollars of taxpayer money to build the atomic bomb, equating to the most costly government project at the time. Political consequences of such wasted expenditures if the atomic bomb was never detonated justified dropping the bomb. When scientists finally witnessed its power in the demonstration at Alamogordo, New Mexico, newfound repercussions of this weapon of mass destruction propelled the subject to heated debate. Still, the majority opinion of government officials was to drop the bomb because it would reduce lives lost. Or at least that is what they told the American people. The alternative plan was invasions on Kyushu and Honshu, two strategic warfare locations of Japan which were to take place the coming fall and spring. There was no doubt that many lives would be lost through these invasions. Hisaichi Terauchi, Field Marshal of Japan, had already announced the execution of 100,000 Allied prisoners to deter any invasions from taking place. Extreme Japanese war customs also heightened Americans unwillingness to invade. Gyokusai, the Japanese term for suicide, was considered more honorable than surrendering. Committed to fighting to the death, Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, in 1944, declared 100 million gyokusai if circumstances were deemed necessary. The entire nation of Japan was prepared to die.

Well what if America didn’t nuke Hiroshima.World War 2 would’ve ended regardless.America had the upper hand if Japan didn’t attack at pearl harbor they wouldnt’ve nuked hiroshima.World War 2 would’ve ended but not as soon but it would’ve ended.A couple things that would’ve happened is that the US wouldn’t have military bases on japan.

Societies have always had traditional ways of life, such as, gender roles. Gender roles vary in different countries all around the world. In Japan as the years go by traditions begin to change, and people alter their ways of life. A wide variety of things are now more accepted in today’s time. In countries around the world such as Japan, the gender roles were the complete opposite before and after World War II.

First and foremost, I was astonished by the level of inquiry of the students at Mishima-Kita Senior High School. It blew me it. We have visited several high schools and Cram Schools, including Nada High School, and not a single student has asked used tough, politically relevant, and even cross-culturally taboo questions. I was extremely impressed by the girl who asked if the use of an atomic weapon on Japan during WWII was justified. This question is cross-cultural taboo between American and Japanese people. Its something nobody wants to talk about. This tabooness is exactly what made it a great question, because speaking about taboo subjects can be incredibly constructive. Students also talked to us about a myriad of difficult issues including

During world war II, US president ordered to attack on Japan with Nuclear bombs. Two bombs named little boy and fat man, made up of uranium and plutonium, were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively. It caused human life calamity of 140000 people in Hiroshima and 80000 people in Nagasaki and colossal damage from radioactive radiations. Eventually, Japan surrendered to the allies power and consequently, the world war II