‘Mum and Dad lost everything we had. Absolutely everything,’ says Iain.

Grace and Iain slept in a room with 34 others.

The prisoners were starving, but would be savagely beaten if caught eating a weed. Grace and other inmates sucked on stones to keep the hunger pangs away.

She typed up her diary and sent it to a New York publisher, who rejected it on the grounds she was not American. She never attempted to publish it again, instead hiding it away and refusing to talk about her experiences with even her closest family.

In this year of liberation, which has seen so many millions freed from tyrannical rule, it is fitting that we give thanks with special fervor to our Heavenly Father for the mercies we have received individually and as a nation and for the blessings He has restored, through the victories of our arms and those of our allies, to His children in other lands...

To the end that we may bear more earnest witness to our gratitude to Almighty God, I suggest a nationwide reading of the Holy Scriptures during the period from Thanksgiving Day to Christmas.

Let every man of every creed go to his own version of the Scriptures for a renewed and strengthening contact with those eternal truths and majestic principles which have inspired such measure of true greatness as this nation has achieved.

...I call upon the people of the United States to observe [this day of national thanksgiving] by bending every effort to hasten the day of final victory and by offering to God our devout gratitude for His goodness to us and to our fellow men.

April 3, 2015

March 21, 2013

1. We are not at war with the Syrians -- we were with the Japanese after Pearl Harbor.
2. These are Syrian refugees fleeing their war-torn homeland. There were no Japanese refugees fleeing Japan to our country in the early 1940's that I know of (I would probably not be too far off in saying there were Japanese "fleeing" back to Japan).
   
3. There were indeed Japanese "foreign nationals" living in the US at the outbreak of WWII. Yes, they were then declared as enemy aliens. And yes, we HAD to deal with them accordingly. But the huge issue facing us was what were we going to do with their American-born children, especially those trained to be "good Japanese."
   
4. There was no national hysteria nor race prejudice. Foreign-national Japanese were living in central and eastern United States and were not lynched nor even rounded up and put in any of the centers; only those who were under federal investigation were sent to internment or detention camps.
   

...paranoia and ethnic bias can lead the country to commit actions it will later regret. The internment of the Japanese-Americans... was a "great injustice"... the mistake of stigmatizing an entire population over suspicions of people who share their ethnicity.

Mass removal of the American Japanese was admittedly a drastic step, but it was deemed the only effective way to clear up a situation that was becoming more critical and chaotic with every passing week of the war.

Rebel With A Cause: The Doc Nikaido Story by Bretton Loney

B. C. to Move 2,500

The British Columbia evacuation will remove all Japanese from districts north and west of the lower mainland district around Vancouver. Nine coastal steamers will be used.

A total of 2,500 Japanese at 60 points along the mainland and Vancouver Island will be picked up and taken to Vancouver, where they will he held until accommodations outside the coast-defense zone are ready for them. In addition, 607 Japanese from Northern British Columbia will assemble at Prince Rupert, to be taken to Vancouver.

At the same time, the United Press reported that the clamour for swift action in the defense of British Columbia was rising in the wake of new warnings that the Japanese may attack the Pacific Coast and that some provincial cities were pressing plans to organize and train guerrilla bands to fight any invasion attempts.

In Vancouver, a citizens' committee has been formed to aid in recruiting 4,000 men to bring a reserve brigade to full strength in the coastal area. Maj. Oscar Erickson, president of the Canadian Corps, said "it is up to every man who is able to pull a trigger to learn to use weapons, from rifle to trench mortar."

The Army also had grandiose ideas. There is a document called the "Proposal for Land Disposition in the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere." It would have placed the Governments General (Directorate Governors General) over lands occupied by Japan. For example, there was to be a South Pacific Government General covering New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia, etc., an Eastern Pacific Government General for Hawaii, Tahiti, Samoa, Tonga, etc., an Australia Government General for Australia, Tasmania, etc., a New Zealand Government General, a Ceylon Government General, an Alaska Government General, a Central America Government General, and so on.

The Alaska Government General was to include western Canada and the U.S. northwestern state Washington, but for some reason most of the U.S. mainland, was not included. The proposal was created around February 1942 by the Army Ministry's Research Department. Four years later, the occupation forces' GHQ confiscated it from Kazuo Yatsugi (Secretary General of the Research Society for National Policy) and introduced it as evidence at the Tokyo war crimes tribunal. Yatsugi stated that he thought it a "quite extremely assertive opinion." It was never officially adopted, but it reflects the confident atmosphere of the Japanese Army and Navy drunk on "victory disease."

The Japanese flag will soon be flying over Ottawa. All Canadians will be slaves as you are now! Your mothers will be killed. Your wives and sisters will be raped by our soldiers and anyone resisting will be shot.

[Dr. Lechner] related an incident which occurred at Camp Lordsburg, New Mexico. He stated that a number of Japanese prisoners captured during the Solomon Islands campaign were brought to the relocation center at Lordsburg and interned there with the Japanese evacuees. He stated the civilian administration of the camp permitted the Japanese prisoners to mingle and talk with the evacuees in the Japanese language. On October 29, 1942, Camp Bulletin Number 56 was issued in mimeographed form by the evacuees. It was in the Japanese language. The bulletin described the number of Japanese prisoners who had been brought into the camp a day or two before and gave minute details as to where they had come from and named the boat that brought them to the United States; information, Dr. Lechner contended, withheld from our own metropolitan newspapers. He stated that the Japanese prisoners from the Solomon Islands painted an encouraging picture of Japanese victories for the Japanese-Americans in the camp, and as a result, the camp was "all fired up." The following morning saw a big demonstration staged by both the Japanese-American evacuees and the Japanese prisoners. He stated that there were several thousand Japanese participating in the demonstration, marching up and down through the camp, singing and having a "great time." A loyal Japanese, placed in the camp by the Federal Government, and whose name was withheld, reported that two or three officials in charge of the camp felt quite happy concerning the demonstration. One of them said: "Our policy for the relocation board is pretty good; we are giving them all the leeway possible; look how happy they are!" The Japanese informant turned to the official and said: "Do you know what they are singing?" The official answered, "It doesn't make any difference. They are happy." The Japanese informant then told the official that "They are singing the Japanese National Anthem." The official became alarmed and said, "They can't do that here!" the Japanese informant then stated: "If you will look at the flag-pole you will see what they can do!" The official looked at the flag-pole and saw a home-made Japanese Flag flying from it. During the night the Japanese had run up the Japanese Flag. Dr. Lechner stated that his report revealed that it took the threat of Army machine-guns to enable a man to take down the Japanese Flag. --from REPORT OF THE JOINT FACT-FINDING COMMITTEE
ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA, 1943

Several Tokyo Club leaders were interned at Lordsburg. Members of this club, headquartered in Los Angeles, were feared by Japanese up and down the West Coast. However, after becoming friendly with them in the camp, I discovered they were not scoundrels; in fact, as is often the case this type of people, many of them had a high sense of duty and honor. They were always very quiet and cooperative. This was my impression; according to some Mainland Japanese, they were merely putting up a front.

The Tokyo Club resembles the gambling clubs run by American and Chinese gangs on the Mainland. It asserts its right to a percentage of the income from Japanese-sponsored events. If ignored or rebuffed, members use pressure or take retaliatory actions, sometimes ruining a promoter's fortune. On the other hand, they contribute, financially and otherwise, to Japanese charities and welfare organizations. They play their bad and good roles skillfully.

The Tokyo Club was responsible for many shocking murders never went to trial. One member was known to have killed five or six people. Several club bosses were in turn assassinated and the perpetrators never found. The Tokyo Club's "methods" were similar to those used by Chinese gangs... One member used this method to get rid of a body and escaped arrest due to lack of evidence. Once free, he brazenly invited a large number of people to a party to celebrate his release. Many Japanese in Los Angeles, aware of the situation, nevertheless sent congratulatory gifts of cash to avoid future problems. The evil influence of this club made its way into various segments of the Japanese community in California. Lawyers and newspaper companies conspired with them. Religious men enjoyed their protection, albeit indirectly. Even the police in some areas may have been a part of their "racket." --from Through the Eyes of an Issei

"Even though he was incarcerated during World War II, my grandfather said he understood it," said Hirahara. "He said the American government felt they had to protect everyone. So he had no bitterness."

And this, which is not what you generally hear from them about all those photos, which they think are staged and the "sufferers" were coaxed to smile:

Hirahara, who said that her father and grandfather rarely talked about the difficult aspects of life in the internment camp, is often asked why the subjects of her father's photographs are always smiling.

"If you're having a photograph taken, and it might be your last on Earth, you want to be shown happy," she said. "This is going to preserve you for posterity, so you don't want a bad picture."

Oliver took care of the Hiyama vineyard like it was his own, sending annual checks for the raisin harvest, until the Japanese-American family returned. At one point, he and another neighbor drove from Fresno to the Gila River Relocation Center, south of Phoenix. Loaded in Oliver’s truck were furniture and other belongings for the Hiyamas to use in their barracks...

During the war years, a handful of white lawyers, bookkeepers, and office managers kept the group’s thousands of acres alive. These good neighbors regularly journeyed to the Granada Relocation Center, in Amache, Colorado, to consult with the incarcerated farmers and distribute profits.

Imazeki was only an infant and doesn’t remember the experience, but conjured a somber image of life in desolate central Utah when she walked the dusty, sagebrush-covered landscape of the internment site.

The preservation and interpretation of the Japanese American World War II confinement sites ensures that their important and distinct place in American history will continue to educate future generations against repeating injustices of the past.

The fact that no-nos received reparations has been criticized by people opposed to Redress. You may remember some right-wing pundits who came out post-9/11 in support of the “internment” of Japanese Americans. They used no-nos as proof that racial incarceration was justified, and liked to sneer about these treacherous “disloyal” Japanese getting reparations.

One audience member mentioned that in Southern Colorado there was a small group of Japanese American families and when Executive Order 9066 came into effect, the local ranchers protected them and hid them from government authorities.

But Noguchi’s work on the piece was interrupted. As the government began rounding up people of Japanese heritage to send them to internment camps, he volunteered to join them.

He didn’t have to. As a resident of New York, Noguchi wasn’t subject to the evacuation zone, which was limited to the West Coast. He volunteered, according to biographical accounts, as a gesture of solidarity. Appalled at the internments, Noguchi thought he could do some good by teaching art to the detainees.

.....

On top of it all, the artist had little in common with the Japanese evacuees he had hoped to befriend... He couldn’t have been more different from the farmers and laborers who populated the camp. Coming in with his high-end art supplies, his urbane manners and air of distinction, Noguchi was more of an outsider than ever.

A sophisticated Japanese army receiver [Fig. 83], perhaps some 60 years
hidden in Southern California, has been recently found by Mike Adams, so
clandestine traffic into the U.S. cannot be ruled out.

Radio Spies

• Spy Radios of World War Two as an Evolution of 1930s Midget Radios (a presentation to AWA)
• America’s Wireless Spies
• Radio Spies Article
  • RS Sources
  • RS Captions
  • RS Photos Small
  • RS Photos Large

At the time, political tensions in the world were escalating. An increasing number of Japanese trading parties were traveling in and out of the Dutch East Indies, ostensibly on business trips but, in actuality, they were there to gather intelligence in the area. I suspect that the Dutch East Indies government was aware of these activities, but this has never been officially verified. There were many signs of duplicity on the part of the Japanese. For example, a delegation of Japanese traders were scheduled for a one-day trip, that ended up taking three days due to alleged ‘missed connections’. Japanese, posing as tourists would book ordinary plane flights and then surreptitiously take mapping photos of the land. To discourage further such spying, pilots were instructed to fly above the clouds making picture taking difficult.

The Japanese had been heavily investing in trade in the Dutch East Indies for the past several years and had established shops and businesses there. When war finally broke out, most of the local Japanese merchants and businessmen donned military uniforms. Apparently, they were secretly already in the Japanese military service and were outfitted accordingly.

The Japanese had transported us to Burma. We had been transported as slaves. At this point my hard times as a POW was just beginning. I could not count on the notion that help was forthcoming. I had to survive by myself. Only the strongest men, physically and mentally, would be able to survive this nightmare. FOOTNOTE: Thousands of men died from illnesses like malaria, dysentery, tropical wounds that never healed, beriberi, burning feet, etc. There was no medicine available. Oh, people of Japan, what did you do to us?

Title: U.S. Navy blimp, Seaside, Oregon
Description: This blimp is from the Tillamook Naval Air Station on patrol during World War II. The photo was taken from Seaside Beach looking south toward Tillamook Head. During World War II the U.S. Navy had a naval air station just outside Tillamook. Two wooden blimp hangers were constructed to house a squadron of blimps. These hangers were huge inside, so huge that each contained eight blimps. Construction started in August, 1942 and patrols started in the summer of 1943. The blimps were sent out on missions to patrol the shipping lanes and search for enemy submarines. The blimps were also tasked with watching for a Japanese invasion fleet and escorting the Liberty Ships and Air Craft Carriers being constructed at the Swan Island shipyards, once they reached the mouth of the Columbia River. On September 15, 1945, two weeks after the Japanese surrender, Tillamook station was reduced to functional status. In October, the last two blimps left for California, and by mid-1946, all wings were decommissioned by the U.S. Navy.

Title: Elroy Gravelle and friend, sleeping in uniform Description: Black and white image of a number of men lounging beneath a tree while others in the background stare out over a body of water. Trees and groundcover in the image appear to be more reminiscent of the Pacific Northwest than the South Pacific. During World War II, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, much of the 41st Infantry Division was deployed to protect the coasts of Washington and Oregon against a possible Japanese invasion. In 1942, the Division was deployed overseas, including the band, and saw service in the South Pacific. Elroy Gravelle, to the left of the image, was a long-time Portland area resident who enlisted in the National Guard as a musician in 1940.
Location: Washington state
Date: 1942

Our Division soon began to make large-scale maneuvers in and around Fort Lewis. We then traveled to the Hunter Ligget Military Reservation in King City, California. We maneuvered against the 40th Division. This maneuver involved about 65,000 troops. A short leave was granted after this. I decided again not to go on leave but to wait for Christmas time. This proved to be a mistake because in August, President Roosevelt issued an executive order extending our tour of duty for another 18 months. Things did not look good. Maneuvers began again in earnest along the Washington coast. We were plagued by rain, mud and Continual night moves over almost impassible roads. I still planned on having a leave to go home around Christmas. The day of December 7 changed all of my future plans.

The troops were on weekend leave and scattered all over nearby towns. I had been to Tacoma but came back to camp Saturday night. On Sunday morning, as we were loafing around the barracks, we received the shocking news that Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor. Orders were immediately broadcast all over the Northwest directing all personnel to return to their commands as soon as possible. We were receiving orders fast and furious. Our first actions involved issuing live ammunition, loading machine gun belts, and preparing the vehicles to move. We packed all of our personal belongings, labeled them and stored them in the recreation hall.

In the weeks prior to the bombing we had been busy organizing a defense system and digging gun emplacements along the Washington coast from Aberdeen to Port Angeles, along the Strait of Juan De Fuca. By 1800 hours our extended convoy was loaded and we began moving out of our camp area toward the prepared positions. The weather was cold and foggy, so dark came early and our move had to be made under total blackout conditions. It was a slow treacherous move that took until the wee hours of the morning to complete. After the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, the whole West Coast braced for an invasion of Japanese forces. At this time we began to assess why we had been preparing these positions. We assumed that someone higher up must have known that war was a very strong possibility or certainty.

Within a week our 41st Division was deployed all along the Strait of Juan de Fuca, extending 150 miles south of Fort Lewis. We spent our time manning our positions and patrolling back roads and reporting any suspicious activity we encountered. We had the authority to stop, search or question any civilian who acted suspicious. Patrols were all made under blackout conditions at night. This continued until late February when we were relieved and returned to Fort Lewis. We stayed here until moving overseas.

Virtually all of the protests filed with the American Government by the Japanese Government during the period herein covered related to alleged mistreatment of Japanese nationals who had been evacuated from the West Coast areas of the United States. In none of the instances covered by the Japanese Government’s representations was the alleged mistreatment of Japanese nations comparable even in remote degree to the mistreatment of American nations which formed the basis for the American Government’s protests. In the State Department’s telegram of January 27, 1944 the Japanese Government was advised as follows:

"The Government of the United States also desires to state most emphatically that, as the Japanese Government can assure itself from an objective examination of the reports submitted to it by the Spanish, Swedish, and International Red Cross representatives who have repeatedly visited all places where Japanese are held by the United States, the United States has consistently and fully applied the provisions of the Geneva Prisoners of War Convention in the treatment of all Japanese nationals held by it as prisoners of war or (so far as they are adaptable) as civilian internees, detainees or evacuees in relocation centers. Japanese nations have enjoyed high standards of housing, food, clothing, and medical care. The American authorities have furthermore freely and willingly accepted from the representatives of the protecting Powers and the International Red Cross Committee suggestions for the improvement of conditions under which Japanese nationals live in American camps and centers and have given effect to many of these suggestions, most of which, in view of the high standards normally maintained, are directed toward the obtaining of extraordinary benefits and privileges of a recreational educational of spiritual nature."

Article by Timothy Maga, Ronald Reagan and Redress for Japanese-American Internment, 1983-88 - Very enlightening explanation behind the reason Reagan signed into law H.R. 442, which called for an apology and $20,000 compensation to both US-citizen and alien Japanese who were in relocation centers during WWII.

My Larger Education, Being Chapters from My Experience (1911)

• There is another class of coloured people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs. --Ch. V: The Intellectuals and the Boston Mob (pg. 118)

• I am afraid that there is a certain class of race-problem solvers who don't want the patient to get well, because as long as the disease holds out they have not only an easy means of making a living, but also an easy medium through which to make themselves prominent before the public.
  My experience is that people who call themselves "The Intellectuals" understand theories, but they do not understand things. I have long been convinced that, if these men could have gone into the South and taken up and become interested in some practical work which would have brought them in touch with people and things, the whole world would have looked very different to them. Bad as conditions might have seemed at first, when they saw that actual progress was being made, they would have taken a more hopeful view of the situation. --Ch. V: The Intellectuals and the Boston Mob

Karl Yoneda was a very interesting character -- Communist, pro-American, and then working for the MIS. Interestingly, the Japan Communist Party was against the Emperor during WWII.

Here's the link for the Hoover Report re the San Diego menace:
http://mansell.com/eo9066/1942/42-02/IA094.html

Catherine Treadgold mentions Yoneda here:
http://mansell.com/eo9066/1984/IA183.html

Here's an excerpt re Karl Yoneda and his pseudonyms:
http://mansell.com/eo9066/1941/41-12/TokClub.html

CANNERY WORKERS AND FARM LABORERS UNION
(CIO Affiliate, Local #7)
Seattle, Washington

Officers:

	HAMA, Carl (Aliases: YONEDA, Karl or George; HAMA, Kiyoshi; UCHIDA, Tsutomo.)	-	Vice President (1939).
	ITO, Kenji (or Kenzo)	-	Legal representative (1941).
	KUMAMOTO, Yukio	-	Member Executive Board (1937-1938).
	MINATO, "George" Masao	-	Delegate (1938) to national convention of the UNITED CANNERY, AGRICULTURAL, PACKING AND ALLIED WORKERS OF AMERICA.
	MIYAGAWA, "Dyke" Daisuke	-	Member Executive Board (1937-1938) in charge of publicity.
	TAKIGAWA, "George"	-	Vice President (1937-1938) and delegate to national convention of the UCAPAWA (1938).

Summary:

As stated in the report on JAPANESE CANNERIES (see case history), the interests of cannery laborers are represented by the A.F. of L. ALASKA CANNERY WORKERS UNION and the above-mentioned CIO CANNERY WORKERS AND FARM LABORERS UNION. Of these two unions the latter is by far the larger and more influential; at the same time both groups are related through a newly organized ASSOCIATION OF JAPANESE CANNERY WORKERS (see case history), which ostensibly aims to consolidate the Japanese elements into a united labor front.

While the Japanese membership of subject union (1939 total about 700) is numerically inferior to the Filipino, it is obvious that the Japanese are in control of key positions and have utilized the union as a front for activities far removed from the demands of normal cannery business. An inspection of the attached diagram and a study of the individual affiliations set forth below will indicate that the union's connections with the West Coast Japanese consulates, Army and Navy agents, officials of the TOKYO CLUB chain, and other suspects have been more than coincidental. It must constantly be kept in mind in this connection that Japan strove to put into operation in the United States and its territories a highly integrated and specialized intelligence network which could "take over" from regular established agencies in wartime.

Under such circumstances, Japanese nationals and pro-Japanese nisei who are well settled in normal and yet strategic occupations are likely to be the mainstay of Japanese espionage-sabotage operations in this country.

Members and Associates:

HAMA, Carl (with aliases) -- Class "A" suspect. West Coast Communist Party organizer and labor agitator. Editor (1936) of the San Francisco HODO SHIMBUN, a Communist Japanese-language news organ (no longer published); contributor (1941) to the Communist DOHO newspaper of Los Angeles, which is also printed (in English) by Japanese. Credited with having organized the Los Angeles JAPANESE WORKERS ASSOCIATION in 1936. Active in AMERICAN LEAGUE AGAINST WAR AND FASCISM. Vice president of subject union in 1939.

This footnote:
http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=ft1f59n61r&brand=calisphere&doc.view=entire_text

45. Although the term "JACLer" has sometimes been used generically to denote the JACL leadership at Manzanar along with left-wing intellectuals who supported similar positions on the Evacuation, camp politics, and the war, there were marked differences in overall background and philosophy between these two groups. Indeed, the contrast was so extreme that Togo Tanaka, in "An Analysis of the Manzanar Incident and Its Aftermath," Collection 122, Box 16, JARP-UCLA, and Tanaka to Hansen, O.H. 1271b, JAOHP-CSUF, designates leftists like Koji Ariyoshi, Karl Yoneda, Tom Yamazaki, and Joe Blamey as the "Anti-JACL" group. This group's influence was particularly notable both in the English and Japanese editions of the Manzanar Free Press, which was heavily staffed by its members. For an amplification of the above, see Hansen and Hacker, "Manzanar Riot," 148, n. 59. For the perspective of selected members of this group, see: Koji Ariyoshi, "The Nisei Victims of Racism," "Evacuation to Manzanar," and "Memories of Manzanar," Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 7, 8, 9 April 1971; Yoneda, Ganbatte, 125-49; Tom Yamazaki, "Personal and Confidential Report" (August 1942), Collection 122, JARP, DSC-URL, UCLA; and Oda, Heroic Struggles, 18-103.

In his 14 September 1943 letter to Carey McWilliams (see n. 37 above), Yoneda recounted an incident which occurred at his Manzanar apartment in late August 1942: "About 15 kibei came to my place and many others were guarding outside and demanded that I must make a written statement that I lied at the Camp Council Meeting in regard to the kibei meeting [of August 8; see n. 40 above]." Later in the same letter, Yoneda wrote: "I remember very clearly when he [Harry Ueno] led his kibei gang to my house at Manzanar and told me, `You wait for a few months. The Japanese Army will be here and you will be the first on the list to be shot." Yoneda has recently elaborated upon this incident, without mention of Ueno's name, in his autobiography, Ganbatte, 139.

Upon further inquiry from the editors of this volume, Ueno responded that he recalls: "One evening Koichi Tsuji urged me to visit Karl Yoneda's home just to witness. Of course, I hadn't attended the Kibei meeting and I had nothing to say to Karl Yoneda. He was a big noise in the camp and I wanted to meet him. It was more out of curiosity that I went [to Yoneda's barrack apartment in Block 4 on August 23, 1942]." Of those who visited the Yoneda apartment, Ueno states, "At that time I knew only Shigetoshi Tateishi and Kiuchi Tsuji." See also the interview with Ueno, 193, in John Tateishi, And Justice For All: An Oral History of the Japanese Detention Camps (New York: Random House, 1984), where he recounts this particular incident and refers to Yoneda only as "that Kibei." John Tateishi, who spent part of his childhood in Manzanar, is the son of Shigetoshi Tateishi; the younger Tateishi dedicated And Justice For All to the memory of his father.

Some more from books:

THE LOYALTY QUESTION

The great need for a determined policy of segregation was amply indicated by the answers to the loyalty question contained in the Army questionnaire which was filled out by the Japanese in the relocation centers in February of the present year. An alarming proportion of Japanese American citizens of draft age (17 to 38), frankly refused to declare their loyalty to the United States.

The loyalty question read as follows:

Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America and faithfully defend the United States from any or all attack by foreign or domestic foes and forswear any form of allegiance to the Japanese Emperor, or any other foreign government, power, or organization?

The following tabulation presents in the most simplified form possible the extent to which the Japanese-American citizens of draft age declared their loyalty to the United States:

Relocation center	Number registered	Number answering "No" to loyalty question	Number  volunteers
Central Utah	2,420	805	116
Colorado River	3,358	671	238
Gila River	2,488	547	119
Granada	1,117	107	121
Heart Mountain	1,881	451	47
Jerome	1,341	116	33
Manzanar	1,826	913	101
Minidoka	1,607	32	310
Rohwer	1,585	306	37
Tule Lake	2,342	835	59
Total	19,963	4,763	1,181
Average, percent	-----	24	6

The committee reiterates its conclusion that there was an alarming proportion of the Japanese-American citizens of draft age to avow their unqualified loyalty to this country. From the foregoing tabulation, it is apparent that avowed disloyalty reached the high percentage of 24.

A more complete break-down of the answers to the loyalty question is given in the following tabulation:

Relocation center	Total eligible to reg- ister	Total regis- tered	Total ac- count- ed for	Yes	Non- affirm- ative an- swers	No reply	Yes (per- cent)	Non-af- firm- ative an- wers (per- cent)	No reply (per- cent)
Central Utah:
Hawaii	163	163	163	25	133	0	15.3	84.7	0
United States	1,447	1,447	1,447	1,015	462	0	65.7	31.3	0
Colorado River	3,405	3,405	3,211	2,601	596	14	81.0	18.6	.4
Gila River	2,630	2,588	2,502	1,599	901	2	63.9	36.0	.1
Granada	1,342	1,342	1,254	1,222	27	5	97.4	2.2	.4
Heart Mountain	1,964	1,963	1,963	1,809	253	101	82.0	12.9	5.1
Jerome	1,592	1,591	1,385	895	417	73	64.6	30.1	5.3
Manzanar	1,989	1,989	1,885	921	950	4	48.9	50.9	.2
Mindidoka	1,629	1,603	1,680	1,497	61	22	94.7	3.9	1.4
Rhower	1,608	1,608	1,410	1,150	252	8	81.5	17.9	.6
Tule Lake	2,960	2,330	2,274	1,489	783	2	65.5	34.4	.1
Total	20,679	19,979	19,164	14,023	4,850	231	73.4	25.4	1.2

The foregoing tabulation indicates that disloyalty among those of draft age at the Manzanar center was in excess of 50 percent. The committee is of the opinion that such a result obtained from the questionnaire called for immediate separation of the disloyal from the loyal, and is at a loss to understand the reasoning of the War Relocation Authority which prompted its inaction in so important a matter.

I, __________, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I hereby renounced any other allegiances which I may have knowingly or unknowingly held in the past; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental observation or purpose of evasion. So help me God.

Will you swear to abide by the laws of the United States and to take no action which would in any way interfere with the war effort of the United States?

The Japanese are loyal on the whole, but were wide open to sabotage on this Coast and as far inland as the mountains, and while this one fact goes unrectified I cannot unqualifiedly state that there is no danger from the Japanese living in the United States which otherwise I would be willing to state.

The following tabulation presents in the most simplified form possible the extent to which the Japanese-American citizens of draft age declared their loyalty to the United States:

Relocation center	Number registered	Number answering "No" to loyalty question	Number  volunteers
Central Utah	2,420	805	116
Colorado River	3,358	671	238
Gila River	2,488	547	119
Granada	1,117	107	121
Heart Mountain	1,881	451	47
Jerome	1,341	116	33
Manzanar	1,826	913	101
Minidoka	1,607	32	310
Rohwer	1,585	306	37
Tule Lake	2,342	835	59
Total	19,963	4,763	1,181
Average, percent	-----	24	6

The committee reiterates its conclusion that there was an alarming proportion of the Japanese-American citizens of draft age to avow their unqualified loyalty to this country. From the foregoing tabulation, it is apparent that avowed disloyalty reached the high percentage of 24.

A more complete break-down of the answers to the loyalty question is given in the following tabulation:

Relocation center	Total eligible to reg- ister	Total regis- tered	Total ac- count- ed for	Yes	Non- affirm- ative an- swers	No reply	Yes (per- cent)	Non-af- firm- ative an- wers (per- cent)	No reply (per- cent)
Central Utah:
Hawaii	163	163	163	25	133	0	15.3	84.7	0
United States	1,447	1,447	1,447	1,015	462	0	65.7	31.3	0
Colorado River	3,405	3,405	3,211	2,601	596	14	81.0	18.6	.4
Gila River	2,630	2,588	2,502	1,599	901	2	63.9	36.0	.1
Granada	1,342	1,342	1,254	1,222	27	5	97.4	2.2	.4
Heart Mountain	1,964	1,963	1,963	1,809	253	101	82.0	12.9	5.1
Jerome	1,592	1,591	1,385	895	417	73	64.6	30.1	5.3
Manzanar	1,989	1,989	1,885	921	950	4	48.9	50.9	.2
Mindidoka	1,629	1,603	1,680	1,497	61	22	94.7	3.9	1.4
Rhower	1,608	1,608	1,410	1,150	252	8	81.5	17.9	.6
Tule Lake	2,960	2,330	2,274	1,489	783	2	65.5	34.4	.1
Total	20,679	19,979	19,164	14,023	4,850	231	73.4	25.4	1.2

The foregoing tabulation indicates that disloyalty among those of draft age at the Manzanar center was in excess of 50 percent.

Even before the more recent unconstitutional turn of our government, there have been some major tyrannical events, perhaps the worst was this as over 100,000 US citizens along with a few non-citizens from the West Coast states were put in "internment" camps by Roosevelt during WW2. There was a very small percentage of Japanese who were against the US government and for Hirohito. The government will no doubt do something similar again if "necessary" against enemies ......

The problem was what to do with all the enemy aliens. Japan just rounded up all the Allied civilians and put them into concentration camps -- we did not with the Japanese nationals, mainly due to the American-born children involved. Germans and Italians were also a big issue since there were many more of them, but some of them were initially interned.

See below graph images for some numbers of Japanese nationals and their kids. Note how many lived east of the West Coast states and were never in camps unless they voluntarily wanted to enter, which a number did. See also these tables below. You'll often hear that MOST or MORE THAN HALF of the Japanese interned were Americans, but what they leave out is that most of the adult men and women were NOT American citizens.

TABLE 2. -- NATIVITY OF THE TOTAL JAPANESE POPULATION

AND OF THE ADULT JAPANESE POPULATION OF ARIZONA,

CALIFORNIA, OREGON AND WASHINGTON: 1940

Sex and Nativity	TOTAL POPULATION		ADULT POPULATION*
	Number	Percent	Number	Percent
BOTH SEXES
All	112,985	100	62,899	100
Native-born	71,896	64	22,375	36
Foreign-born	41,089	36	40,524	64
MALES
All	63,208	100	37,438	100
Native-born	38,094	60	12,628	34
Foreign-born	25,114	40	24,810	66
FEMALES
All	49,777	100	25,461	100
Native-born	33,802	68	9,747	38
Foreign-born	15,975	32	15,714	62
* Persons 21 years of age or older.

TABLE 3. -- AGE AND NATIVITY OF JAPANESE POPULATION IN
ARIZONA, CALIFORNIA, OREGON AND WASHINGTON: 1940

Age (Years)	TOTAL		NATIVE-BORN		FOREIGN-BORN
	Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent
All ages	112,985	100.0	71,896	100.0	41,089	100.0
Under 5	7,189	6.4	7,134	9.9	55	0.1
5 to 9	8,357	7.4	8,281	11.5	76	0.2
10 to 14	12,861	11.4	12,743	17.7	118	0.3
15 to 19	18,138	16.1	17,893	24.9	245	0.6
20 to 24	14,636	13.0	14,193	19.7	443	1.1
25 to 29	7,667	6.8	7,075	9.8	592	1.4
30 to 34	4,470	4.0	2,699	3.8	1,771	4.3
35 to 39	6,381	5.6	1,120	1.6	5,261	12.8
40 to 44	7,068	6.3	394	0.5	6,674	16.2
45 to 49	5,854	5.2	195	0.3	5,659	13.8
50 to 54	7,412	6.6	83	0.1	7,329	17.8
55 to 59	5,917	5.2	37	0.1	5,880	14.3
60 to 64	4,450	3.9	18	---	4,432	10.8
65 to 69	1,799	1.6	7	---	1,792	4.4
70 to 74	566	0.5	10	---	556	1.4
75 and older	220	0.2	14	---	206	0.5
21 and older	62,899	55.7	22,375	31.1	40,524	98.6
Source: Bureau of the Census.

I think David Lowman understood a lot of the issues since he was in intel and studied the MAGIC decrypts extensively. See his testimonies:
http://mansell.com/eo9066/1984/IA211a.html
http://mansell.com/eo9066/1984/IA182.html

Lots of people use that image to show how they were "mistreated." What they don't mention is just how many were actually citizens of the US. Like I always tell folks, these were Japanese nationals (i.e. enemy aliens) with families, who had American kids, so a unique problem for the military to handle.

Santa Anita was a temp assembly center before people were sent to relocation centers. Here's a photo the media should also use to show the horrible conditions and suffering there:


A referee in traditional dress watches over a Sumo wrestling match in front of Japanese-Americans interned at Santa Anita, California.

More on the Santa Anita camp here -- note that the horse stalls (another thing brought up constantly) covered only a small portion of the camp. Also occupants were free to move around, even to see their homes.
http://www.militarymuseum.org/CpSantaAnita.html

More interesting pics at different sites:
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/08/world-war-ii-internment-of-japanese-americans/100132/

Critics of Lowman and his book point out that he was heavily involved in disinformation activities while in the NSA, and that the book was not published until after Lowman's death. This makes it impossible to get clarification of the conclusions presented, or even to verify that Lowman was in fact the author.

...many in the camps—unsophisticated farmers and fishermen—were suspicious of him. Many thought that he was sent in by the authorities. Within a month, he wanted out...

''The kind of assimilation pressure here is very strong,'' said Kazuhiro Ebuchi, a professor of cultural anthropology at the University of the Air in Tokyo. ''Even people who speak good English are teased here because Japanese should speak English in the Japanese way. Japanese people like to say that we appreciate cultural differences, but this is only lip service. In fact, there is not much place for difference here.''

"...we, the Japanese in America, occupy the most important place, representative of the Japanese national interests."

Each camp was approximately 10,000 acres, including 500 acres of tarpapered, A-framed buildings arranged into numbered blocks. All were partially surrounded by barbed wire or heavily wooded areas with guard towers situated at strategic areas and guarded by a small military contingent. Each block was designed to accommodate around 250 people residing in fourteen residential barracks with each barrack (20'x120') divided into four to six apartments. Each block also consisted of a mess hall, a recreational barrack, a laundry building, and a building for a communal latrine. The residential buildings were without plumbing or running water, and the buildings were heated during the winter months by wood stoves. The camps also had an administrative section segregated from the rest of the buildings, a military police section, a hospital section, a warehouse and factory section, a residential section of barracks for WRA personnel, barracks for schools (kindergarten through twelfth grade), and auxiliary buildings for such things as canteens, motion pictures, gymnasiums, motor pools, and fire stations. Both camps were immense, sprawling cities that were two of the largest agricultural communities in Arkansas. During the construction phase of the incarceration camps, more than 5,000 workers were employed to clear hundreds of acres of land, to build more than 1,200 barrack-type buildings, and to lay miles of gravel-laden roads. The cost to the federal government alone in 1942–43 was $9,503,905.

The Rohwer Camp operated from September 18, 1942, to November 30, 1945, under the project director, Ray D. Johnston, and its peak population reached 8,475. The Japanese American population was divided into classifications known as Issei, first-generation nationals (aliens) precluded from American citizenship by federal immigration laws; Nisei, second-generation American citizens born in this country; and Sansei, third-generation offspring of the Nisei who were also American citizens. Another classification in the camps was the Kibei—American citizens who had received some of their primary years of education in Japan.

Although accurate population and age statistics were in a state of flux due to the WRA’s constant movement of the Japanese American population, the total Rohwer population of 8,475 Japanese Americans in January 1943 indicates well over ninety percent of the adult population had been involved in farming, commercial fishing, or agricultural businesses. Thirty-five percent were Issei (aliens), with ten percent over the age of sixty. Sixty-four percent were Nisei (American citizens), with forty percent under the age of nineteen. There were 2,447 school age children in the camp—a full twenty-eight percent of the total population.

The Jerome Relocation Center operated from October 6, 1942, to June 30, 1944. In operation the fewest number of days (634) of any of the ten relocation camps, Jerome was under the direction of Paul A. Taylor. Eli B. Whitaker, former regional director of both camps in Arkansas, became project director of Jerome during its last few months of operation. Of a total agriculturally based population of 7,932 as of January 1943, thirty-three percent were Issei, with fourteen percent over the age of sixty. Sixty-six percent were Nisei—American citizens—with thirty-nine percent under the age of nineteen. There were 2,483 school age children—a full thirty-one percent of the total population.

MAGIC AND LATIN AMERICA

I would like now to discuss a related topic where the Commission has again gone astray because it was unaware of Magic. In its appendix, the report has a section entitled Latin Americans. This section describes in some detail how about 1500 Japanese, mostly diplomatic and consular officials, were deported from Latin America to the U.S. for internment. The report correctly states that the United States encouraged this movement because it did not feel confident that the countries in Latin America could control subversive activity within their borders. Having said that, the Commission once again leaves its readers with the impression that the U.S. acted against Japanese people without reason or cause by concluding that section of its report as follows: "Although the need for this extensive, disruptive program has not been definitely reviewed by the Commission, John Emmerson, a well-informed American diplomat in Peru during the program, wrote more than thirty years later: 'During my period of service in the embassy, we found no reliable evidence of planned or contemplated acts of sabotage, subversion, or espionage.'"

That is the "view" which the Commission wants to leave with the reader. In truth, the whole South American continent was riddled with both Nazi and Japanese agents, and this was well known to United States security authorities.

There was a good deal of Magic intelligence available concerning Japanese espionage in Latin America directed at the U.S. I've already covered some of the messages dealing with Mexico and Panama. Other messages from Tokyo levied requirements on its diplomatic facilities in Central and South America to gather intelligence on the U.S. and to keep abreast of U.S. activities in Latin America so that actions could be taken to counter U.S. aims and desires in these countries. Again, the diplomatic posts were instructed to recruit Japanese residents to assist in the intelligence effort. In the messages intercepted are discussions of how communications would be handled in the event of war, and there was the usual array of intelligence reports. Although there are military dispatches, the intelligence from Latin America, understandably, tended to be more diplomatic and economic.

One of the more dramatic messages was a proposal to incite and finance a revolution in Guatemala. The Japanese message pointed out that:

    "Such a plot might not necessarily be a success in every respect; however, even if it fails, if it's carried out to a certain extent, it would have to be quieted by the United States using its armed forces. In such a case, it would cast a shadow on the so-called 'Good Neighbor Policy' of the United States and cause a cleavage among the countries on the American continent. It would also endanger considerably the fundamental policy on which the United States attaches the greatest importance, a policy which envisages placing within her influence the regions extending to Panama. If it succeeds to an extent, it would at least upset at once the political balance among the countries as far as Panama. It would seem to me that there is considerable likelihood of its turning that region into an arena of political confusion... It seems to me that we should provide funds sufficient to commence preparations for the rebellion..."

With messages like this being intercepted along with previously mentioned reports that the Japanese had obtained details of the Panama Canal Zone fortifications, is it any wonder that the U.S. preferred not to leave stranded Japanese officials running loose in Latin America?

Just a few days before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Terazaki, Second Secretary at the Japanese Embassy in Washington, D.C. and Chief of Intelligence in the Western Hemisphere, received a message from Tokyo ordering him to leave immediately. The Japanese ambassador protested and asked as a personal favor that Terazaki be allowed to remain until December 19. But the Japanese Government was adamant. Their chief spymaster had to be safely out of the U.S. before the Pearl Harbor attack in order to manage the espionage nets which had been so carefully constructed for just this eventuality. Commander Kramer, who selected out the most important Magic for the President and others, penciled on this message: "Terazaki -- is head of Japanese espionage in the Western hemisphere. He and his assistants are being sent to South America." Ominous words indeed.

In the event of open hostilities, Mexico will probably be the Japanese Intelligence nerve center in the Western Hemisphere, and in anticipation of war, U. S. - Mexican Intelligence routes are being established. This network, covering Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru and the Central American countries, will come together in Mexico City, and Japanese co-operation with the German and Italian Intelligence organizations is expected. Such co-operation has been discussed in Tokyo with representatives of the Axis powers and the plan is said to have been approved by them.

Japanese activities are by no means limited to Mexico. In Peru it is reported that the 30,000 or more Japanese living there are highly organized and that, following anti-Japanese riots, they distributed rifles to all their establishments. Here in the United States there has been reported a possible infiltration of Japanese espionage agents through Cuban and Florida ports. A similar danger exists with regard to the Pacific Coast and the Mexican border.

In October 1944, Henry Tanaka visited Manzanar to encourage other Nisei to attend college outside camp. During his visit, Superintendent of Education Genevieve Carter noticed "how serious the gap was between the Nisei who have stayed behind the barbed wire... and those who have left the centers behind." Two years earlier, the Quaker-led American Friends Service Committee and the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council started working together to transfer 4,300 Nisei college students to institutions outside the exclusion zone.

Although the Quakers were one of the few organized groups to consistently protest the internment of Japanese Americans, support also came from neighbors, ministers, priests, teachers, and friends who stayed in touch with internees. As Swarthmore College student William Inouye reflected, "my faith and my hope in America is greatly strengthened whenever a willing hand helps us."

Beginning in June 1942, the WRA granted permission for some internees to leave camp. After being investigated and cleared on an individual basis they moved east to work or attend college. Hundreds of people left on temporary furloughs to help farmers harvest crops. By August 1943, 11,000 had left the War Relocation Centers; by 1944, that number increased to 35,000.

The Nomuro family was one of nearly one thousand families who "voluntarily" moved from the West Coast in March, 1942. They later helped other Japanese Americans relocate to their neighborhood in Madison, Wisconsin.

Being a firm believer in democracy and justice and knowing the people in the camps had done nothing to deserve their internment, Mr. Myer did everything possible to make life tolerable for the internees. He encouraged camp self-government, hired teachers from outside to continue the education of the children, sent WRA staff around the East and Middle West to seek college admittance for Nisei who had graduated from the camp high schools. One result was that many Nisei students who, without enforced evacuation from the west coast, might have stopped with a high school education to work in their father's shops or farms, instead went on to college, including prestigious and private institutions such as Antioch, Oberlin, and Mount Holyoke, as well as to such great public institutions as Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Purdue.

A large number of young people -- middle-aged people by this time -- from very modest families got a college education which they otherwise would never have if they had not been sent to relocation camp.

Among those whose lives were seriously disrupted by the relocation order were the students attending colleges and universities in California, Washington, and Oregon.

John H. McCloy, Assistant Secretary of War, requested Clarence Pickett of the America Friends Service Committee in May 1942 to start planning a program of student relocation that would enable young people to continue their studies. Distinguished educators from west coast universities and other institutions from elsewhere, plus the Japanese-American Citizens League, Government agencies and church groups and so on, began to form within a few short weeks a National Student Relocation Council. The problem was not only to relocate students already in college, but to place students in college as they graduated from high schools in the relocation centers. A further problem was to raise scholarship money to enable students to pay for their education.

The efforts of the Student Relocation Council were supported by the Staff of the War Relocation Authority as well as by the internees themselves.

In 1941, according to a study by Robert O'Brian entitled "The College Nisei," there were 271 Nisei students in colleges and universities east of the Rockies. Then, because of the combined efforts of everyone concerned, including especially the America Friends Service Committee, from 1942 to the end of the war, almost 4,300 students were relocated in all parts of the United States outside the west coast.

Among the many institutions that had never had Nisei students before, but received them during the relocation, were Illinois Institute of Technology, fashionable schools like Bryn Mawr, Carleton, Kenyon, Louisiana State University, University of Texas, Rutgers, Antioch, Oberlin, Haverford, Mount Holyoke, and Purdue University and so on.

In most places, Nisei were alone or virtually alone in a white society, but they soon found themselves among friends in their classmates and their professors, who received them warmly. Many Nisei distinguished themselves scholastically, others distinguished themselves in sports, and some in both. But all found themselves at home in a larger America than they had ever known before.

Their basic learning was summed up by a girl who attended an eastern school, who is quoted by O'Brian. She said,

I've always wanted to be looked upon as an American. I have found it here. They treat me as an American. They do not treat me as a Japanese-American.

RAFU SHIMPO
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 12, 1979

WWII JA relocatee college students sought

Nisei to thank Nat'l Student Relocation Council supporters

PORTLAND, Conn. -- Were you able to attend college during World War II? If so and you are Japanese American, then you were very likely helped in gaining this opportunity by the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council. over 3000 Nisei were assisted during the war by the council in relocating from the wartime concentration camps in which they were incarcerated to more than 500 institutions of higher education across the country.

The National Student Relocation Council was formed under the leadership of the YMCA-YWCA, the Pacific College Association and such West Coast college presidents as Robert Gordon Sproul of the Univ. of Calif., Lee Paul Sieg of the Univ. of Washington, and Romson Bird of Occidental College. It established a central office in Philadelphia under the auspices of the American Friends Service Committee and a board of directors which included college presidents and deans, officers of college associations, and representatives of leading Protestant churches, Jews, Catholics, Quakers and the YMCA-YWCA. Operations of the council were carried out by scores of volunteers and supported by grants from church boards and philanthropic foundations.

As a result of such efforts, thousands of Japanese Americans were eventually able to complete their college education, thus lessening the tragic impact of the wartime internment on their lives. A few of the Nisei who were among those selected recently met and discussed the possibility of commemorating the humanitarian efforts of these various organizations and individuals. "It wasn't popular to support Japanese Americans back in those days," recalls Dr. Lafayette Noda, a member of the group. "I think it's time we expressed our appreciation in some formal way to those who helped us. Many of us were able to pursue successful professional careers because of the education we received during the war," he said.

Noda and the others are all members of a larger group called the New England Nisei which was formed two years ago to bring together Japanese Americans in the New England region for various programs of mutual interest. This larger group is offering to organize a national commemoration project which would culminate in a tribute to those organizations and individuals who were involved in the work of the council.

Among the ideas for an appropriate tribute discussed by the New England Nisei was the establishment of a perpetual fund to support students who are presently in need of similar assistance, or to support continuing humanitarian efforts of such organizations as the American Friends Service Committee. Also discussed was the idea of naming the fund after a ------ {illegible} organization or individual that would exemplify the efforts of the many organizations and individuals involved with the council. However, no final decision on the form of the tribute was reached, and it was agreed that suggestions from more people should be solicited.

As a first step in organizing the commemoration project, the New England Nisei is working to identify Japanese Americans throughout the country who were aided by the council. Such individuals and others interested in the project are being asked by the New England Nisei to contact its representative, Mrs. Nobu Hibino, of ----- Drive, Portland, Connecticut, 06480. Suggestions concerning the project should also be forwarded to Hibino. A deadline of Oct. 31, 1979, has been set for the receipt of expenses.

A presentation at California State University, East Bay in Hayward, CA on April 10, 2012 --

"In commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Fall of Bataan, Cal State University's Philippine American Student Alliance (PASA), Theatre and Dance Department and Artis Mundi will present a program to honor the defenders of Bataan on Tuesday, April 10 at 4PM at the University Theatre. Guest appearances from the Philipine Scouts Heritage Society, Battling Bastards of Bataan, Bay Area Civilian Ex-Prisoners of War and USAFFE. Please spread the word."

The message came from Cecilia I. Gaerlan, www.ceciliagaerlan.com.

A right-wing youth group called Shichisho-kai (literally "Club of Seven Lives") held its first meeting in the east classroom on the night of December 12. I decided to attend. At the meeting, young people seated themselves in groups and roll was taken. Then they all stood up and chanted in unison: "We are the loyal subjects of the Emperor. We are determined to be reborn seven times and serve our country." After that Rev. Dojun Ochi talked about the great history of Japan, beginning with the Meiji era and going back in time. It was very interesting. The leader of Shichisho-kai was apparently a man from Tule Lake.

Among the internees at Tule Lake, two groups that were constantly at odds with one another were the pro-Japan or "disloyal" faction and the pro-American or "loyal" faction. Such a division in thinking could be found at any relocation center or camp, but it was especially serious at Tule Lake. The pro-Japan group set up a spy ring to gather information on those who were sympathetic to the United States. They infiltrated various groups, placing certain individuals under surveillance and using gatherings to collect information abour their enemies. They selected faction members who were to take direct action against the enemy through extraordinary measures. If this proved unsuccessful, they planned to report the enemy to the Japanese government after the war.

Once a person was identified as pro-American, they intimidated him by throwing human feces at his house or even boiled feces at the windows. Families were afraid of what others might think and quickly and quietly cleaned up the mess. In July 1944, after a certain Mr. Hitomi had been murdered, fear among the pro-American internees reached a panic stage. Thirteen families fled to a separate enclosed barracks, leaving everything behind. Some of the soldiers who were asked to retrieve their possessions were said to be in sympathy with the pro-Japan group, because when they went to collect one person's belongings, they asked, "Where's the dog's luggage?" [NOTE: Dog, or inu in Japanese, was a derogatory term for an informant, presumably so termed due to the nature of a dog always sniffing around.]

It is urged, then, when as American citizens (by birth) the opportunity comes for them to reinforce the Japanese residents in America who have no citizenship rights, they must, on behalf of His Majesty, the Emperor of Japan, become the loyal protectors of the race.

The two civilizations can not mingle, and the leaders in Japan agree that it is not well to attempt to amalgamate them. They can not and will not understand our civilization, and no matter in what part of the world he is, a Japanese always feels himself a subject of the Emperor, with the Imperial Government backing him, much as a feudal retainer had the support of his overlord in exchange for an undivided loyalty.

I hope no other American has to go through what we did, simply because they are American.

Mr. President, I am proud to be a Japanese American. But when a small but vocal group of Japanese Americans calling themselves a redress committee demand a cash indemnity of $25,000 for all those who went to relocation camps during World War II, including those who were infants at the time and those who are now dead, a total of some two and three-quarters of a billion dollars -- we have been seeing this in a series of articles being published in the Washington Post -- my flesh crawls with shame and embarrassment.