Ga Rab Yoon
On a quiet Sunday morning of December 7, 1941, Japanese aircrafts flew over Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, a naval base of the United States. Soon, bombs dropped and the United States realized that Japan has attacked them. This surprise attack Japan conducted with about 353 aircrafts successfully inflicted some damage on the United States Navy; it was a part of Japan’s ambitious imperialist plans to control the pacific and Asia. However, it also led to the United State’s military involvement in the World War II, and also triggered the beginning of a nation-wide Anti-Asian sentiment—especially directed towards Japanese Americans who were living in the US.
Americans were shocked by the surprise attack. The shock however, soon turned into anger. Then, this anger was effectively redirected to Japanese Americans who had nothing to do with the attack, by propagandists. Japanese Americans had to endure unjust treatment from the government and also hatred from fellow Americans, which was often caused and amplified by American anti-Japanese propaganda that were employed in various forms of popular culture.
One form of propaganda was flyers that were made and distributed to people. “Jap hunting” was a popular term used at the time to express hatred of Japanese Americans, and fake licenses called “Jap Hunting License” also appeared, which urged people to put their hatred into action by hunting down Japanese Americans.
Posters were also used by anti-Japanese propagandists. In the posters, Japanese Americans were depicted as animal-like, and sub-human entities, or their facial features were exaggerated in order to insult them. A famous example of anti-Japanese propaganda posters is the Tokio Kid posters. These posters contained a villainous Japanese character with a treacherous grin on his face, expressing his happiness at things such as American workers wasting resources and slacking off.
Films, or movies were also used for propaganda by the government. Attack on Pearl Harbor also resulted in Japanese American internment, which was authorized by Executive Order 9066, signed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. Executive order 9066 was to “exclude” any person from a military area, but it was primarily used against Americans of Japanese descent under the suspicion that they can be related to the wartime enemy. They were moved to certain locations called “War Relocation camps,” where they were locked up. About 70,000 Japanese Americans and 40,000 Japanese immigrants were interned in 1942. In order to legitimize internment, and for the ease of executing the process, movies such as Japanese relocation (1943), and A challenge to democracy (1944) were produced. In the films, Japanese Americans were labeled "potentially dangerous," and internment camps were portrayed as a positive place where safety, health, and opportunities were guaranteed. Even though they were films produced for the sake of Japanese Americans on the surface, it was obviously nothing more than a hypocritical anti-Japanese propaganda film which actually argued for sending off and isolating the "Japs."
"Some among [Japanese Americans] were Potentially dangerous..." (Japanese Relocation)
The release of the movie Pearl Harbor in 2001 caused many Japanese Americans to fear another outbreak of anti-Japanese sentiment because the movie was about the Pearl Harbor bombing, which was basically the starting point of anti-Japanese sentiment. Since the movie's content was very “patriotic” in nature, their fear was understandable. Personally, I saw the movie too, when it was released in the past. Fortunately, I don't remember Japanese people being portrayed like the Tokio Kid in the movie, nor did I see any occurrence of hate crimes against Japanese Americans that after the release. However, the fact that they're still afraid of a backlash after more than 50 years from the internment clearly shows how false propaganda and unjust government actions can leave such deep mental scars in the hearts and minds of people.
People shouldn't have harsh feelings towards the United States government. It's funny how people can point out our mistakes, but fail to notice the horrendous atrocities committed by the Empire of Japan. The United States government didn't merely intern these people out of racism. The intense nationalism of the Japanese made the possibility of spying very real. Also, why not point out the treachery of the Japanese during World War 2? Why does the fact that the movie "Pearl Harbor" is patriotic offend some people? We Americans have a right to patriotic. Don't use our reactions to your atrocities as an excuse to silence the voice of American patriotism.
ReplyDeleteWow, Kirkland. You need to read up a bit before you make comments. Try reading the book "Stubborn Twig" by Lauren Kessler for example. The crimes against Japanese Americans during WWII was completely uncalled for. Many of the ethnic Japanese that were interned were born and raised in the states, spoke fluent English, practiced Christianity, etc. Italians and Germans were not nearly as affected because they could pass for white, which in a nutshell proves that the sentiment toward the Japanese was purely based on outward appearance. If the Italians or Germans were more ethnically distinct from white Americans, perhaps they would have been interned too. Anti-Japanese propaganda created a wartime hysteria that, looking back, is just shameful to think about - as an American. You say that the Japanese were intensely nationalistic, yet MANY fought and gave their lives in American wars. The American Legion, for example, in Hood River, Oregon scratched out the names of the dead Japanese on a memorial plaque just because they had Japanese names. Never mind the fact that they died for their country (America), right? People don't choose what race they are when they're born and many interned individuals had never even been to Japan. Why should they be punished for the crimes that some country thousands of miles away committed.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, America is one of the most nationalistic countries on the planet. We don't really have a right to point fingers at other countries for being nationalistic.
Source: I'm a historian.