Tofugu - Latest Comments in Why Japanese in Hawaii Weren’t Interned during WWII

Re: Why Japanese in Hawaii Weren’t Interned during WWII

Sogno — Mon, 07 Apr 2014 21:37:56 -0000

I highly doubt every Japanese person at the time supported Japan. I'm sure there were some, but those born on American soil and especially those who, you know, served in the AMERICAN army as AMERICAN citizens and died for AMERICA, did not support the country that bombed their homeland. Which was America.

Re: Why Japanese in Hawaii Weren’t Interned during WWII

Jakub Skowron — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 14:54:41 -0000

Hawaii wasn't a state at the time. Maybe Japanese were interned in the _states_ only?

Re: Why Japanese in Hawaii Weren’t Interned during WWII

Hitokiri 1989 — Sat, 21 Dec 2013 09:11:30 -0000

I don't understand how your grandmother could have sent those packages during the war. Wasnt that sort of communication cut off during wartime? Also wouldn't the US authorities check any outbound packages to Japan, an enemy nation?

Re: Why Japanese in Hawaii Weren’t Interned during WWII

jerseydave — Sat, 14 Dec 2013 09:48:56 -0000

I'm pretty sure he was kidding. There'd be no way for her to get the aluminum foil to Japan.

Re: Why Japanese in Hawaii Weren’t Interned during WWII

meow — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 10:45:38 -0000

just stop

Re: Why Japanese in Hawaii Weren’t Interned during WWII

meow — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 10:45:31 -0000

you are wrong

Re: Why Japanese in Hawaii Weren’t Interned during WWII

meow — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 10:45:22 -0000

Re: Why Japanese in Hawaii Weren’t Interned during WWII

JT — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 02:38:08 -0000

The Japanese were interned in Hawaii. See the new documentary film, "The Untold Story, Internment of Japanese Americans in Hawaii". There were camps all over the islands. I think the biggest was Honouliuli. The FBI used picked people, mostly community leaders from a Custodial Detention/ABC List, a list developed years before the war. I think there were about 2300 taken away; mostly men. Isseis were sent to Santa Fe, New Mexico on the mainland and the rest on islands in Hawaii. your title is a bit misleading. These people were often shunned when they returned by other Japanese for fear that they would be found guilty by association.

Re: Why Japanese in Hawaii Weren’t Interned during WWII

Freejahaja — Thu, 16 May 2013 02:44:20 -0000

Hey, if the paraniod japanese dicks didnt bomb us first, maybe we wouldnt have had to retaliate, and would have actually kept out of the war.

Re: Why Japanese in Hawaii Weren’t Interned during WWII

Freejahaja — Thu, 16 May 2013 02:41:16 -0000

Thats not true, they actually had a japanese division in the U.S military, who were sent out to do the most dangerous missions, but their attitude was "im proud to be american, I want to make america realize it can be proud of me" so they actually did really well. Kind of like how amazing the african american fights were in the civil war. But not quite.

Re: Why Japanese in Hawaii Weren’t Interned during WWII

Kaii — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 12:08:15 -0000

My grandmother lived in Hawaii (she is Japanese) during WWII. She saw her best friend being raped by American soldiers...sooo...yeeahhh...

Re: Why Japanese in Hawaii Weren’t Interned during WWII

Toshiyori — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 15:12:04 -0000

Thank you so much for this insight into American history! May Amida bless your dear grandmother. Please look at Vol. XV, Leaf 55, of The Organ for the Universal Buddhist League (http://organubl.wordpress.com) and find Toshiyori's observations at bottom.

Re: Why Japanese in Hawaii Weren’t Interned during WWII

Ignoranceiscostly — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 00:16:45 -0000

Yeah ok....your opinion is a little uninformed. Heads of the Japanese community were targeted for interment in Hawaii including one who served on the senate. The numbers of internees were less in Hawaii but more targeted including Buddhist priests, prominent business and community leaders. Many Japanese families were relocated to the mainland from Hawaii. They could not inter 40% of the population because they had just been bombed and would have lost to much of the work force....Honouliuli (you have a picture of the interment camp in your blog) . As for cultural items many families in Hawaii hid or destroyed them out of fear of being taken away and interred with the rest. They wanted no association with anything Japanese to prove their loyalty...sad really to loose such things.(no one knew where they went) A lot of the work is still being done on these camps, there was 12 to 14 around the Hawaiian islands, most have been located. Honouliuli is in the process of being placed on the National Register. Martial Law was declared in Hawaii after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was still a US territory and not yet a state....as for grandma aiding the war effort from Hawaii? Have you been to Nagasaki? I have, nuff said. A lot interred were given the choice to join the military and fight for the US, they too received hachimaki from family members. Don't kid yourself the Japanese community in Hawaii was very hard hit culturally & economically. I think your interpretation of events needs a little more background and accurate information. (If you got your info from the HI JCC you missed out on some important points)

Re: Why Japanese in Hawaii Weren’t Interned during WWII

Kathy Warth — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 11:38:03 -0000

My family had vineyards in the San Joaquin Valley - and thanks to caucasian friends, managed to return to their land after the war.

Re: Why Japanese in Hawaii Weren’t Interned during WWII

Wps — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 04:18:01 -0000

Grandmother could not possibly have sent anything to Japan from Hawaii during the war. Must be a family legend, but can't be true.

Re: Why Japanese in Hawaii Weren’t Interned during WWII

koichi — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 21:09:51 -0000

Compared to the number of Japanese living in Hawaii though, it was almost nobody. Fewer than 2000 out of 157,000 total, I think it was.

Re: Why Japanese in Hawaii Weren’t Interned during WWII

Voila_adeline — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 20:49:48 -0000

http://www.hawaiiinternment... ,,,,There were interment camps in hawaii....

Re: Why Japanese in Hawaii Weren’t Interned during WWII

koichi — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 14:11:47 -0000

That's a good point, for sure.

Re: Why Japanese in Hawaii Weren’t Interned during WWII

Anne — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 10:55:48 -0000

Hawaii was not a state during ww2 just a territory. It only became a state in 1959. Therefore, I suspect the US gov't and the law for internment actually didn't/couldn't apply there. Let alone the powers that be who knew interning all the japanese there would kill the economy, the agriculture, the merchant class, etc.

Re: Why Japanese in Hawaii Weren’t Interned during WWII

neildingman — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 19:25:30 -0000

Interesting article. War sucks big time. I saw a documentary on the internments on the mainland. What was interesting were the camps in Arkansas. The Japanese-Americans transported there were shocked at the poverty and lack of education in rural Arkansas. In fact, they felt sorry for the Arkansas folks because of their state of poverty and tried to help them out, when they could. The whole thing was just messed up. The folks in rural Arkansas even expressed jealousy towards the Japanese-Americans because they were paid better, educated better and feed better. Amazing how things were just messed up all the way around.

Re: Why Japanese in Hawaii Weren’t Interned during WWII

koichi — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 01:22:42 -0000

Her and every other Japanese person of that time supported the Japanese side during the war in some way... why blame me for that? Pretty sure there isn't a family in existence that wasn't involved in some way with some kind genocide in the past, yours included, but I wouldn't blame you for anything anyone in your family has done...? Or, even if it isn't blame we're talking about, there's no point in attacking someone's family, no? People tend to like their relatives...

Re: Why Japanese in Hawaii Weren’t Interned during WWII

Strungoutjunky — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 01:13:29 -0000

Yeah your great grandma supported genocide in china and the nationalistic death of millions of its own. You should be proud of her.

Re: Why Japanese in Hawaii Weren’t Interned during WWII

Jesus Freak — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 23:20:44 -0000

This helps! i have to teach my class on this with a group so this info is goooood stuff :)

Re: Why Japanese in Hawaii Weren’t Interned during WWII

Frblarney — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 14:21:21 -0000

If I know anything about women (since I am one), I would wager that the husband got rid of it, since "you know men" - men know better what a sword can do in a moment of rage; they're the ones using them. He may have buried it, hid it elsewhere than the house, or needed cash and went to a pawnship with it. In any case, you know men! They blame women for the things they're ashamed they did!!!
Uh, just joking. I don't think all men are alike. Humans as a whole LOVE to blame other people, especially the opposite gender, how handy! And don't forget racism, another good blame game!

Re: Why Japanese in Hawaii Weren’t Interned during WWII

Frblarney — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 14:14:29 -0000

I'm a tourguide in San Francisco. A tattooed young man called Tanaka claimed that his Japanese grandfather had been interned in Hawaii during the war. I said, "That's interesting. As far as I have read, FDR tried to get them interned over there, but since they were one-third of the population, the economy would have collapsed, so the Congress blocked his order, whereas in California and West Coast generally, FDR rammed it through; about 128,000 were interned after Pearl Harbor." He replied, "Well, he was interned". A Navy officer from Australia, retired, said that perhaps his grandfather had been a special case - either important economically or had broken a law and went to a special camp-prison for Japanese nationals set up at that time. The young man looked startled that two at the lunchtable had any inkling of such things, or challenged his story a bit.

Young people who hear stories from their old folks never quite get the whole story straight, because often the old folks sugarcoat the bad stuff or exaggerate it to a kind of hell, whichever way. Only when someone questions them, does their curiosity arise. So people, when you get out there in the world and hear all kinds of personal stories passed on from early generations to this new and young one, ask them very specific questions. No one did ask the young man, but one could ask, "What year was that? How old was he? DId he still have Japanese citizenship? How long in Hawaii? What was the name of the camp? Which Island? How long was he in the camp? Was it all males or mixed genders?" These questions appear to be rude, perhaps, but the young person was bringing up the subject in the first place, inviting an interest in his poor grandpa by the listeners.

Dennis Quaid stars in a film about an American-Irish New Yorker, a young man, falling in love with a Japanese-American woman in Los Angeles. They married, had children, moved to Seattle, she stopped working and stayed home, and they lived off his manual labor jobs in the 1930's, namely, a fish-packing plant job. He was a socialist, a rabblerouser and hothead, and the next thing you know, he was in big trouble, while she and the kids were packed off to an internment camp. He visited her there, hoping to get her out as her husband, but all Japanese-Americans there, the older folks, plus the American campguard, advised him that since anti-Japanese feelings were very strong during the war, esp. on the coast, that they'd be safer for the duration interned there. He had to concede the point.

VEry well done film - what was the name, with actors portrayed the patient and wise internees very well. Look up Dennis Quaid!

In any case, it was not the case in Hawaii, apparently...

Mary McGreevey