Why Did Japan Attack Pearl Harbor

Seita Paul Honda my great-great-grandfather lived through the times of the Japanese internment camps. His wife Erminie Ekaterina Madison lost her American Citizenship due to her marrying Seita Honda due to the fact he was Japanese she married him. My great grandfather John Honda senior one of the children of Seita and Erminie was also put into these camps. Great Grandma Beth Harue Suguro was placed into the camp Minidoka but before placed in Camp Harmony. My grandma Eiko was born close to the end of the camps but her parents were Eiichi Arita and Mitsu Murotani Arita who had to live during the camps. My grandpa John Honda, his parent were John Honda Senior and Beth Harue Suguro Junior was born couple months after the camps ended.

In the year nineteen forty-two forced around 120,000 Japanese American’s were put into internment camps. The camps were not any typical camp, they did not have a luxury type of living. The internment camps ended in 1945. The year 1988 the United States government formally apologized. From before the internment camps to the reason behind Japanese people being put into the camps to live in the camp and finally with the camps ending and life after. All of this relates to the topic because it was a tragedy that they were put into these camps for not being trusted but then going into the triumphs they had a formal apology.

Before the internment camps, Japanese internment camps the Japanese community had a different life. From Richard Nishioka’s testimony, he states May 1942 he was removed from his neighborhood, his public schools, and Christian church (Nishioka). This shows that he attended any school any person would attend, lived in a neighborhood with the people and went to church he lived his life in a place where he was cozy and where he was so familiar with. This shows the before the war describing where he went and where he attended and then one day, he had to leave that all behind. From learning all about the past and their stories on their life before the camps show that they were normal humans doing the exact same thing anyone will do on an everyday basis. Monica Sone described how she felt living in America and being a Japanese saying to herself “I felt as if nothing could mar my world now.

The family was together at last, healthy and happy. Father had found this marvelous big barn of a house on lovely Beacon Hill from where we could see the early morning mist rising from Lake Washington in the east, a panoramic view of Puget Sound and the city in the west. In such a setting, my future rolled out in front of me, blazing with happiness. Nothing could possibly go wrong now” (Sone 144). This shows that before pearl harbor she was joyful that her family was together and that everything in her life to her was perfect, and nothing bad could happen, she was a normal human being living in America doing nothing wrong. All in all, learning about the life before Pearl Harbor and before the internment camps it shows they were normal people living in America doing nothing wrong and they were no threat to society, they lived the same lives as anyone else. There were many reasons why the Japanese were put into internment camps.

One main important reason that they bombed Pearl Harbor saying “The Japanese thought that if they took out the warships in Pearl Harbor, then the United States Navy would be crippled and would never attack. However, they were mistaken and the attack on Pearl Harbor had just the opposite result. The US Declared war the next day” (“World War II Attack on Pearl Harbor.” ). This shows that the Japanese they bombed Pearl Harbor because they thought America will back down but, it was not the Japanese People living in America it was the Japanese in Japan who bombed Pearl Harbor.

The second reason that ties into the first reason that they were not trusted, Monica Sone described what she heard “`The Japanese are dangerous and they must leave. Remember the destruction and the sabotage perpetrated at Pearl Harbor. Notice how they have infiltrated into the harbor towns and taken our best land`” (Sone 157). Sone talked about what she heard and that America did not trust anyone who was Japanese, they thought they were going to do harm. Sone about what happened in February saying “ In February, Executive Order No. 9066 came out, authorizing the war department to remove the Japanese from such military areas as it saw fit, Aliens and citizens alike. Even if a person had a fraction of Japanese blood in him, he must leave on demand” (Sone 158). This shows that after everything America they didn’t trust anyone of Japanese descent you could have the smallest percentage of Japanese but still you are considered an Alien or a person not to be trusted, they requested that anyone of Japanese descent needed to leave even if they do not want to leave.

All in all, learning why the Japanese were put into camps shows that it was a tragedy, to begin with, the country they lived in turned their backs on a community that had nothing to do with an attack, they were considered aliens and they forced them out because they could not trust them. Going into the camps, they were put in many different areas. Monica Sone, she was put into Camp Harmony this relocation center and she described it as “We had been brought to Puyallup in May. We were still there in August. We knew Puyallup was temporary and we were Anxious to complete our migration into a permanent camp inland” (Sone 187).

This shows that this must not sound bad but they were put into Camp Harmony otherwise known as today the Puyallup fairgrounds, she described being put into the camp and knowing that being there in the relocation center was temporary but she was nervous being entered the real camps. The life during the camps were not the greatest. Aiko Yoshinaga described what the living experiences were saying “` The only thing that was in the apartments when we got there were army metal beds with the springs on it, and a potbellied stove in the middle of the room’… ‘That was the only thing. No chest of drawers, no nothing, no curtains on the windows. It was the barest of the bare’” (Migaki). This shows that they did not have fancy beds the beds were just army beds and then a stove and they had nowhere to put their clothes. Monica Sone, she described the first day at camp saying “On our first day in camp, we were welcome by a dust storm. It caught up with us while we were still wandering about looking for our room…. Henry and Father Pushed on ahead while Mother, Sumi, and I followed, hanging onto their jackets, banging suitcases into each other…. The window panes rattled madly, and the dust poured in through the cracks like smoke” ( Sone 192).

This shows how they were looking at the camps trying to find their rooms but a bunch of smoke the windows were in terrible shape. After the war showing the triumph is that they were released

Cite this page