Japanese Internment Camps

Internment camp housing typically refers to the structures and facilities used to confine individuals, often during wartime or periods of national crisis. These housing units were often overcrowded, poorly constructed, and lacked basic amenities, contributing to harsh living conditions. Examples include the wooden barracks used in U.S. Japanese internment camps during World War II, which housed families in cramped quarters with limited privacy and resources. Such camps highlight the challenges faced by those interned and the broader implications of government policies during times of conflict.

Nisei refers to the second generation of Japanese Americans, typically those born in the United States to Japanese immigrant parents. This group played a significant role in American history, particularly during World War II when many faced internment due to wartime fears and prejudice. Nisei individuals often struggled to balance their Japanese heritage with their American identity, contributing to cultural exchanges and the civil rights movement. Today, they are recognized for their resilience and contributions to American society.

Executive Order 9066.

Not all Japanese Americans were placed in Internment Camps, but the majority were. The ones that were not put in camps were generally Japanese immigrants who did not live near the Pacific.

As a formal apology in 1988, The U.S Government grants $1.6 billion in reparations to all survivors.

Searchlight Serenade Big Bands in the WWII Japanese American Incarceration Camps - 2012 V was released on:

USA: November 2012

During World War II, the U.S. government placed thousands of Japanese Americans in internment camps primarily due to fears of espionage and sabotage following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. This decision was fueled by widespread prejudice and racial discrimination against Japanese Americans, leading to a perception that they posed a security threat. As a result, around 120,000 individuals, most of whom were U.S. citizens, were forcibly relocated and incarcerated in camps across the country. In 1988, the U.S. government formally acknowledged the injustice and issued reparations to surviving internees.

idk but japanese food is very good better than chinese

Way too many. It was horrible and it's a scary part of our American history.

Japanese internment during World War II had significant economic repercussions, both for the internees and the broader economy. Many Japanese Americans lost their businesses, property, and savings, leading to a long-term economic disadvantage for their families and communities. The removal of these individuals from the workforce also disrupted local economies, particularly in agriculture and small businesses, contributing to labor shortages and economic instability in affected areas. Overall, internment not only harmed the livelihoods of those directly impacted but also had cascading effects on regional economies.

Adolf Hitler

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The use of internment camps for enemy aliens (at least for men of military age) was also widespread in the US, Australia and Britain in World War 2 (and World War 1). There's nothing specifically Hitlerian about it.

The US government formally apologized for Japanese internment in 1990.

Japanese Americans were forced into internment camps during World War II primarily due to widespread fear and suspicion following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The U.S. government, influenced by wartime hysteria and racial prejudice, believed that individuals of Japanese descent could be loyal to Japan and pose a security threat. As a result, over 120,000 Japanese Americans, many of whom were U.S. citizens, were forcibly relocated to internment camps, often losing their homes and businesses in the process. This action has since been recognized as a grave injustice and violation of civil liberties.

During World War II, Iowa did have Japanese internment camps, specifically the Camp Des Moines, which housed Japanese Americans who were forced from their homes and relocated. These camps were part of a broader government policy that targeted Japanese Americans due to wartime fears and prejudice. Today, there are no operational internment camps in Iowa, but the historical sites serve as reminders of this dark chapter in American history.

The papers did not really talk about them. If they did though they would say they were amazing and people were in great living conditions. This was propiganda of coares

Franklin D. Roosevelt was the president during the entirety of World War 2.

"Some 120,313 persons of Japanese descent came under the custody of the WRA (War Relocation Authority) between May 8, 1942 (the date Colorado River Relocation Center opened which is also called the Poston Relocation Center, and March 20, 1945 (the date Tule Lake closed).

Available online:

http://relocationarchives.org/showdoc.php?docid=00002&search_id=29709&pagenum=17

Original Source: "The Evacuated People A Quantitative Description". United States Department of the Interior, J.A. Krug, Secretary; War Relocation Authority, D. S. Meyer, Director.

They were released to resume their lives.

Japanese American internment was the forcible relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese residing in the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. The internment of Japanese Americans was applied unequally throughout the United States. Japanese Americans residing on the West Coast of the United States were all interned, whereas in Hawaii, where more than 150,000 Japanese Americans composed nearly a third of that territory's population, only 1,200 to 1,800 Japanese Americans were interned. Of those interned, 62 percent were United States citizens.

According to a 1943 War Relocation Authority report, internees were housed in "tar paper-covered barracks of simple frame construction without plumbing or cooking facilities of any kind." The Spartan facilities met international laws, but still left much to be desired. Many camps were built quickly by civilian contractors during the summer of 1942 based on designs for military barracks, making the buildings poorly equipped for cramped family living.

Dust storm at Manzanar War Relocation Center.

A baseball game at Manzanar. Picture by Ansel Adams circa 1943.

To describe the conditions in more detail, the Heart Mountain War Relocation Center in northwestern Wyoming was a barbed-wire-surrounded enclave with unpartitioned toilets, cots for beds, and a budget of 45 cents daily per capita for food rations. Because most internees were evacuated from their West Coast homes on short notice and not told of their assigned destinations, many failed to pack appropriate clothing for Wyoming winters which often reached temperatures below zero Fahrenheit. Many families were forced to simply take the "clothes on their backs."

Armed guards were posted at the camps, which were all in remote, desolate areas far from population centers. Internees were typically allowed to stay with their families, and were treated well unless they violated the rules. There are documented instances of guards shooting internees who reportedly attempted to walk outside the fences. One such shooting, that of James Wakasa at Topaz, led to a re-evaluation of the security measures in the camps. Some camp administrations eventually allowed relatively free movement outside the marked boundaries of the camps. Nearly a quarter of the internees left the camps to live and work elsewhere in the United States, outside the exclusion zone. Eventually, some were authorized to return to their hometowns in the exclusion zone under supervision of a sponsoring American family or agency whose loyalty had been assured.

The phrase "shikata ga nai" (loosely translated as "it cannot be helped") was commonly used to summarize the interned families' resignation to their helplessness throughout these conditions. This was even noticed by the children, as mentioned in the well-known memoir Farewell to Manzanar. Although that may be the view to outsiders, the Japanese people tended to comply with the U.S. government to prove themselves loyal citizens. This perceived loyalty to the United States can be attributed to the collective mentality of Japanese culture, where citizens are more concerned with the overall good of the group as opposed to focusing on individual wants and needs.

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My father was a Japanese POW captured Christmas Day 1941 and spent 3 years 8 months as a "guest" of the Japanese who had no respect whatsoever for their prisoners. The Japanese culture believed death was preferable to surrender. Forced labor was required to receive the daily ration of 2 bowls of rice per day, if a prisoner got sick and couldn't work, the ration was decreased to 1 bowl of rice per day. Anyone on that ration soon succumbed to starvation. Beatings by the Japanese of prisoners were frequent with them often employing the butts of rifles or other objects. The prisoners were forced to dig their own grave, a large pit where they'd be forced to stand on the edge of the pit and be machine-gunned so the pit could be bulldozed over and no one would know of the atrocities the Japanese committed contrary to the 3rd Geneva Convention (1929) where forced labor to obtain food had been outlawed. My father's friend tried to escape and was shot going over the barbed wire. After his wounds had healed, he was rousted from his bunk and taken out of the camp. He was never seen again yet among prisoners in the European Theatre, attempting escape was a right. My father (a Sargent) was elected head cook in his camp and had to stand in opposition to officers believing they should receive a larger ration owing to rank, stool-pigeons were commonly used by the Japanese who paid their informants with food and tobacco so a spirit of mistrust existed even between fellow-POWs. My father claimed there were no atheists in camp, a belief in God or at least some higher power was a requirement of survival. James Clavell wrote a book called "King Rat" about the black-market trade that went on inside the camp for commodities such as tobacco. My father normally weighed 140 lbs, on his return from Japan he weighed in at 78 lbs. Of the POW's 1/3 died in camp, 1/3 died within 10 years of being released and the other 1/3 experienced permanent disabilities related to confinement such as beriberi, pellagra and other vitamin deficiency diseases. The doctors at the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) claimed that many of the problems of the POW's subsequent to their return were "psychological". My father had one leg that was twice the diameter of the other, but it was "all in his head". When the Japanese paid a cash settlement to the Canadian POW's for the time they were interred, half the sum was split among the prisoners themselves, the Canadian government retained the other half. For the remainder of his life my father and other ex-POWs worked to insure at least a 50% disability pension was available from DVA by forming several chapters of what became known as The Hong Kong Veterans Association across Canada in various provinces.