Japanese American Museum

(My continuing summer 'field trip' series.)

My sister wanted to check out the new Japanese American Museum so her boys can know a little bit about their Japanese heritage. It was a very nicely organized and detailed museum depicting the Internment period for the Japanese in America.

The building is modeled after a rural Japanese farmhouse. The Museum highlights how Japanese Americans have struggled to adapt and contribute to the US for over a century. Exhibits feature early settlers, farm and community life and a range of WWII experiences including the forced removal from the Pacific Coast, incarceration in the interior of the country, military service, and post war resettlement and reintegration into society.

After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, war was declared with Japan. And the government decided to gather all Japanese persons (even if they were American citizens and/or if you were only part Japanese) because they were considered 'dangerous'. The Japanese were only allowed to bring enough belongings that they can carry and had to sell off or give away everything else including their home and any other assets.

They first boarded trains to temporary Assembly Centers until more permanent Camps were built away from the Pacific Coast. They would spend the next three years in these Camps. This order eliminated the constitutional protection of due process and violated the Bill of Rights for hundreds of thousands of Japanese American citizens.

I can only imagine that this was a torturous time for them.. probably not as bad as how the Nazi's treated the Jews but probably as close as it can get. Unfortunately today, racism still exists; stereotypes still are believed.  My girls have attended a multi-ethnic church and a very ethnically mixed school their whole lives. The color of their friend's skin doesn't mean anything to them. They are more conscious of one's behavior and actions than the way they look. But this is the Bay Area, a melting pot. I am sure that if we venture out of our Golden State into the Mid-West we would be treated differently.

I now understand why the Japanese-Americans were probably (I think) the most assimilated ethnic group in America. Before they left, they were told to rid of everything 'Japanese' not only physical things but everything that represented their culture: their language, accents, their foods, their hobbies, traditions etc.. Now the Japanese-Americans strive to retain their traditional cultures through preserving their lands such as Japantown (which there are only three in the nation existing: San Francisco, San Jose and Los Angeles).

Our docent explained to us that there was a great sense of urgency for the Japanese to comply with government orders.

Discussing the removing and relocating all of whom is of Japanese decent

There were 10 War Relocation Authority Camps and one Internment camp throughout the United States.

Everyone was 'tagged' with their name and a number. My sister found a few with her husbands' family name.

Tule Lake is located at the most north county of California. It was here that the largest and most controversial of the ten War Relocation Authority camps existed. This particular camp was the only one that was turned into a high-security segregation center ruled under martial law and occupied by the Army.

This camp interned Japanese-Americans that were deemed potential enemies of America because of their response to a loyalty questionnaire which intended to distinguish loyal American citizens from enemy alien supporters of Japan. Answering "No" or refusal to answer to either of these two questions: "Are you willing to serve in the armed forces of the United States on combat duty, wherever ordered?" and "Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States and faithfully defend the United States from any or all attack by foreign or domestic forces and forswear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor or any other foreign government, power, or organization?" were viewed as proof of disloyalty and potential troublemakers. Now many may have answered 'No' due to not clearly understanding the question or to protest their incarceration.

The most tragic and divisive issue was created when Public Law 405 was passed by Congress and signed by President Roosevelt that allowed Japanese Americans in Tule Lake to renounce their citizenship in wartime. To do so meant to be expatriated to Japan or if remained in the US, you are stripped of citizenship and became as powerless as Native American aliens.

Many who renounced their citizenship did so for various reasons: some feared that they would be forced into hostile American communities with no money, no promise or income and no place to live. Army personnel told them they could remain safe in Tule Lake until the war ended if they renounced their US citizenship. Some had intense pressure from their non-citizen immigrant parents to renounce in order to keep the family together in case the Issei (immigrant generation) were deported after the war. Some (who thought the US was losing in the war) thought they had to renounce in order to prepare for life in victorious Japan. Some renounced to avoid being drafted by the country that imprisoned them and their families. Nevertheless, when the war ended there was a mass deportation of the thousands who denounced. The majority sought restoration of their citizenship due to their misunderstanding of what they were giving up. Eventually, Congress repealed this law in 1971.

Although absolved by the government, these Japanese Americans who either answered No to the loyalty questions or renounced their citizenship were stigmatized and ostracized for their choices. Consequently they speak little about their life in the Segregation Center, a time and place filled with feelings of stigma and shame.

My sister's in-laws were interned in these Camps. They were children at that time but they still vividly remember those experiences, ones that they do not like to talk about.

This is an exact replica of a Tule Lake Relocation/Segregation Center barracks room.

Japantown has become a museum in of itself with many reminders of who and where the Japanese came from...

.. and what they endured by the hands of the US government. 

In JTown, The BEST mochi you will ever eat will come from here!