Civilian Internment Camps in Japan

• Source for below material is from Enemy Alien Internment by Mayumi Komiya (Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kobun Kan, 2009). Dec. 1941 data compiled from Gaiji Geppo (Foreign Affairs Monthly Report), December 1941 issue, Tokyo, Japan.
• As of December 1941, there were 2,138 civilians of Allied nations in Japan -- 1,044 Americans, 690 British, 188 Canadians, 109 Dutch, 41 Australians, 38 Belgians, 19 Norwegians, and 9 Greeks (General Conditions of External Police Affairs, Mid-1941, Vol. 1). Total Allied civilian internees of the Japanese estimated to be 132,895 (50,740 men, 41,895 women, 40,260 children); of these, there were 15,000 deaths (Bernice Archer, The Internment of Western Civilians Under the Japanese, 2004).
• A total of 152 Allied civilians, including 76 from internment camps, left Japan aboard the first exchange ship, the Asama Maru, on June 17, 1942. On July 30, 1942, 60 British internees left on the 2nd exchange ship, the Tatsuta Maru. A group of 73 internees boarded the 3rd exchange ship, the Teia Maru, on Sept. 13, 1943. See The Exchange and Repatriation Voyages During WWII for a good study about the Gripsholm exchanges.
• Figures do not include Japanese-Americans (Nisei), who, in accordance with wartime directives issued by Japan's Ministry of Home Affairs, were to be treated as Japanese nationals. As for the numbers of Nisei in Japan, "Japanese figures show that in 1937 there were 50,000 American citizens of Japanese ancestry residing in Japan" (Gentlemen of Japan by Haven, 1944) -- the Japan Foreign Office urged these kibei shimin (American returnee citizens) to return to the US. Approximately 20,000 Nisei were living in Japan in 1940 (Zaibei Nihonjinshi, 1940). According to an estimate by the U.S. Consulate in Yokohama, some 15,000 Nisei were residing in Japan at the end of the war, 10,000 of whom were eligible to return to the United States (Rafu Shimpo, March 22, 1947). See Were We The Enemy? by Rinjiro Sodei for further information. See here for number of resident aliens of Japanese descent as of June 1942. Forthcoming book by John J. Stephan will cover this subject in detail. For further info and extensive data on ethnic Japanese and Japanese Americans in the US prior to and during WWII, see my EO9066 website, The Preservation of a People, dealing with the evacuation and relocation of people of Japanese ancestry (assembly and relocation centers, internment camps, etc.).
• Per U.S. Prisoners of War and Civilian American Citizens Captured and Interned by Japan in World War II by Gary Reynolds (2002): 7,300 US civilians were interned by Japan, 13,000 Amerasians with US citizenship "hid during this period" and never interned (Stenger). There were 13,979 US civilian internees (including War, Navy, and Merchant Marine personnel) held by the Japanese, with approximately 1,530 deaths, or 11%. (Office of the Army's Provost Marshal General). [NOTE: Throughout Asia, many civilians, instead of being placed in internee camps, were held in POW camps along with Allied soldiers.]
• Links under "Prefecture" are for prefectural civilian internment camp groups which I have compiled from archival documents; [APUJ] = Allied POWs Under the Japanese, Mansell.com webpages; "Name" links will direct to related websites; "Location" links will bring up GoogleSightseeing maps; GoogleEarth KMZ links will eventually be made available.
• For timeline of camps showing number of internees and their movement among the various camps, see Chronology Chart of Civilian Internment Camps: Internee Strength & Movement
• For foreign resident population and locations as of June 1942, see Foreign Resident Population in Japan: Nationality and District of Residence
  
• For an excellent comparison of civilian internment under the Imperial Japanese, see Lou Gopal's website, Victims of Circumstance - Santo Tomas Internment Camp. Another very moving film is So Very Far From Home about civilian internees in China. For civilians in Hong Kong, see Hong Kong War Diary. See also Ron Bridge's British Civilians Interned by the Japanese during WWII and this Brief History of Civilian Internment in the Far East.  A list of Japanese Civilian Internment Camps WWII is also helpful.
• As with all such documents, transcribing issues due to legibility are noted by question marks. For clarification, as well as any other questions you may have, please contact me.