The Teahouse of the August Moon (Historical Context)

Historical Context

World War II

World War II was waged from August 31, 1939, until August 14, 1945, between the Axis powers (including Germany, Italy, and Japan), and the Allied powers (including Great Britain, the USSR, and the United States). The War was carried out on many fronts, primarily in Europe and the South Pacific.

Japanese and United States Relations Before Pearl Harbor

Relations between the United States and Japan had grown increasingly tense over the decade preceding United States entry into World War II. Japan had developed a strongly militaristic foreign policy, with an aggressive stance toward many of its neighbors in Asia and the South Pacific. In 1937, Japan invaded China, initiating the Sino-Japanese War, which continued until the end of World War II. In 1940, Japan formed an alliance with the Axis powers of Germany and Italy by signing the Tripartite Pact between the three nations. In 1941, Japan occupied Indochina. Not yet directly involved in World War II, the United States retaliated for the Japanese invasion of Indochina by freezing all Japanese assets and establishing an embargo on shipments of petroleum and other war materials to Japan.

Pearl Harbor

The United States had maintained a staunch policy of neutrality during the first two years of World War II, although American sympathies leaned increasingly toward Great Britain and against Germany and Japan. Anti-war sentiments immediately changed, however, upon the Japanese bombing of a United States naval base in Pearl Harbor, on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu, on December 7, 1941. The attack, utilizing some 360 Japanese warplanes, came as a complete surprise, and permanently destroyed five of the eight United States battleships in the harbor within the first thirty minutes. In addition, some 180 U.S. military aircraft were destroyed. The United States suffered 2,300 deaths and over 1,000 injured in the attack, while the Japanese suffered less than 100 deaths. The United States declared war on Japan on December 8.

Japanese-American Internment Camps

On the home front, the United States government responded to Japanese aggression by treating nearly all people of Japanese descent living in the United States (many of them American citizens) as enemies of war. In March, 1942, the War Relocation Authority was passed under the notorious Executive Order 9066. As a result, some 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese residents in the United States were taken from their homes and placed in “relocation centers” — essentially, concentration camps — for the duration of the war. There were a total of ten internment camps, located throughout the United States, the largest being Manzanar, in California.

Although the war with Japan ended on August 14, 1945, citizens were not released from the internment camps until that November. Upon release, many found that all of their assets and properties had been confiscated by the United States government, under the pretense of tax debt and storage fees. The ostensible reason for these internments had been to contain the threat of treason by Japanese Americans on behalf of Japan during World War II; however, it is now generally agreed that this was an unnecessary act on the part of the government, motivated more by racial prejudice against people of Asian descent than by any real security risk.

However, the United States did not issue an official apology, or offer any reparations, until 1988, over forty years later.

The War in the Pacific

At first, Japan met with military success in its engagement with the United States in the Pacific. In early 1942, Japan successfully took Manila, in the Philippines, as well as Singapore, the Dutch East Indies, and Rangoon (Burma). However, the decisive Battle of Midway, in June, 1942, was a turning point in the war. The Japanese attacked Midway Island, but were defeated by United States naval forces. In the Battle of Guadalcanal, which lasted from August, 1942, until February, 1943, Japanese forces in the South Pacific were again defeated by the Allies. In 1944, Saipan fell to Allied forces, and in 1945, the Allies launched firebombing raids against most major cities of Japan. The decisive battle on Okinawa in February, 1945, in which United States forces roundly defeated Japanese defenders of the island, was one of the last and bloodiest land battles in the Pacific.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Germany had surrendered to the Allies on May 8, 1945, soon after Hitler, tacitly acknowledging defeat, committed suicide. The war in the Pacific, however, continued. At the Potsdam conference, held in July, the Allied powers sent the Potsdam Declaration, a request to Japan for unconditional surrender, which was not met. On August 6, the United States dropped the first ever offensive atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima; three days later, another atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki. The death toll as a result of these atomic bombings reached over 200,000.

Japan surrendered to the Allies on August 14, 1945, and a peace treaty was signed on September 2, aboard the United States battleship Missouri.On September 9, Japan negotiated a separate peace treaty with China, thus formally ending World War II. During the post-War era, Japan was forced to submit to occupation by Allied forces — primarily, the United States — until 1952.

Compare & Contrast

• 1939-1945: World War II is waged between the Axis and the Allied powers from 1939 to 1945. The war ends soon after the United States drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, on August 6, 1945, and another on the city of Nagasaki three days later. Japan surrenders on August 14.

  1945-1952: Upon defeat in World War II, Japan is subject to economic, political, and educational restructuring by Allied Occupation Forces. In 1952, Japan is released from occupation, and all but the Okinawa and Sakishima island chains are returned to Japanese sovereignty.

  1990s: Relations between the United States and Japan revolve around issues of ongoing tension in regard to fair trade practices and an ongoing agreement to bilateral security in military matters affecting international relations.

• 1945: Japanese defeat in the battle on Okinawa results in United States occupation of Okinawa.

  1945-1952: During the Post-War era, occupation of Japan includes a continued military presence on Okinawa. In 1952, all but the Okinawa and Sakishima island chains are returned to Japanese sovereignty.

  1972: The remaining Ryukyu Island chains of Okinawa and Sakishima are finally returned to Japanese sovereignty, and the entire Ryukyu Island archipelago is renamed the prefecture of Okinawa, Japan. However, the United States maintains 88 military bases on the island of Okinawa.

  1990s: The continuing United States military presence on Okinawa — with a total of almost 30,000 military personnel — remains a sore point among Okinawans. The protests of Okinawan residents mount when, in 1995, three United States servicemen are indicted for the abduction and rape of a twelve-year old Okinawan schoolgirl. Nonetheless, in 1997 Japan grants to the United States a renewal of the leases for land on Okinawa on which its military bases are located.

• 1942-1945: Soon after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the United States government establishes the War Relocation Authority (in March 1942), under Executive Order 9066; this office forces some 110,000 people of Japanese descent living in the United States from their homes, and imprisons them in internment camps located throughout the country.

  1988: The United States government for the first time apologizes to the 60,000 surviving Japanese Americans who had been interned during World War II for the loss and suffering caused by their imprisonment. Congress votes to offer grants of $20,000 each to all Japanese Americans who had suffered internment.

• 1920s: There are approximately 80,000 professional geisha working in Japan.
  1990s: The number of professional geisha in Japan is only a few thousand, serving primarily politicians and very wealthy businessmen.