WORLD WAR II INTERNMENT CAMP SURVIVORS: THE STORIES AND LIFE EXPERIENCES OF JAPANESE AMERICAN WOMEN Precious Vida Yamaguchi A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 2010 Committee: Radhika Gajjala, Ph.D., Advisor Sherlon Pack-Brown, Ph.D. Graduate Faculty Representative Lynda D. Dixon, Ph.D. Lousia Ha, Ph.D. Ellen Gorsevski, Ph.D. © 2010 Precious Vida Yamaguchi All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Radhika Gajjala, Advisor On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066 required all people of Japanese ancestry in America (one-eighth of Japanese blood or more), living on the west coast to be relocated into internment camps. Over 120,000 people were forced to leave their homes, businesses, and all their belongings except for one suitcase and were placed in barbed-wire internment camps patrolled by armed police. This study looks at narratives, stories, and experiences of Japanese American women who experienced the World War II internment camps through an anti-colonial theoretical framework and ethnographic methods. The use of ethnographic methods and interviews with the generation of Japanese American women who experienced part of their lives in the United State World War II internment camps explores how it affected their lives during and after World War II. The researcher of this study hopes to learn how Japanese American women reflect upon and describe their lives before, during, and after the internment camps, document the narratives of the Japanese American women who were imprisoned in the internment camps, and research how their experiences have been told to their children and grandchildren. iv Dedicated to my beautiful grandmothers Toshiko Tabata and Michi Yamaguchi. Thank you for all your support, guidance, teachings, and love. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are many individuals, organizations, and institutions I give my sincere gratitude and thanks to for their generosity while writing my dissertation. The Top Dissertation Non-Service Fellowship from the School of Media and Communication Studies at Bowling Green State University made it possible for the completion of my dissertation along with many professors, staff members, colleagues, friends, and family members. I am very fortunate to have had the support, encouragement, and guidance from my vibrant and dedicated advisor, Dr. Radhika Gajjala, and a dissertation committee composed of influential and intelligent women who I know I will share a lifelong friendships with: Dr. Lynda D. Dixon, Dr. Lousia Ha, Dr. Ellen Gorsevski, and Dr. Sherlon Pack-Brown. The kind people I have met in Ohio and at Bowling Green State University created a significant impact in my life during my time as a Ph.D. student. It is important for me to thank the staff working in the office of the Department of Media and Communication, Assistant Dean and Director of Project Search Dr. Lisa Chavers, Dr. Sandra Faulkner, Dr. Clayton Rosati, Dr. Michael Ogawa, and Drs. Diane and Wally Pretzer. I will never forget your gracious acts of kindness and the various ways in which I have learned from you. This dissertation and research would not exist without the bravery, generosity, strength, and goodwill of the women and men who have offered their narratives, stories, life stories, information, and resources. Thank you very much Toshi Tabata, George Tabata, Michi Yamaguchi, Patricia Yamaguchi, June Ito, Grace Yamanaka, Sachi Yoshioka, Chibby Kato, Fumi Ito, Kinue Nakano, Toshi Shimoura, Toshi Kadowaki, Kathy Tashima, Soh Suzuki, Jennie Kuroyama, Mary Oi, Yoshi Matsuoka, Reiko Nimura, and Jerome Joseph. Throughout my academic journey I have crossed paths with several people and organizations that have offered me valuable suggestions, support, and information. I extend my thanks to Dr. Kent Ono, Dr. Larry Shinagawa, Dr. Morris Young, Dr. Rory Ong, the Japanese American Citizens League – Los Angeles, the Japanese American Citizens League – Detroit, and the Japanese Consulate of Detroit. Most importantly, I thank my family and friends for their ongoing love before, during, and after my years as a doctoral student. My love and gratitude are embedded in this text to my mother, father, Darrick Yamaguchi, Toshi Tabata, George Tabata, Julie and Andy Nakano, Marci Furuye, Paige Furuye, Andrew Lien, David Tabata, Alison Tabata, Trevor and Rusty Nakano, Imelda de Vera, and all of my friends in the School of Media and Communication Studies, especially Samara Anarbaeva, Cory Hill, and Franklin Yartey. Special acknowledgements are necessary to Matthew Caire and Sonya for their deepest love throughout my graduate studies. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I. CANTALOUPE SUNRISES ........................................................................ 1 Los Angeles, 1937: From Cantaloupe Sunrises to the Cantaloupe Farms ................ 1 Brawley-Westmoreland, 1942: “We All Have to Leave” ......................................... 2 En Route to Poston, Arizona, 1942: “That is a Poor Man‟s Habit”........................... 3 CHAPTER II. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 5 Locations of an Insider and Outsider ......................................................................... 7 The Survival of Memories ........................................................................................ 8 As a Child, I Did Not Know I Was Japanese ............................................................. 9 …As an Adult, People Do Not Know I‟m American ................................................ 11 CHAPTER III. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SILENCE ......................................................... 13 The Significance of Silence in Japanese American Communication ........................ 13 CHAPTER IV. REVIEW OF LITERATURE ...................................................................... 15 Asian American Demographics ................................................................................ 15 The Second World War ............................................................................................ 16 The Japanese American Internment Camps .............................................................. 17 Japanese Americans in the Media During World War II .......................................... 19 Intergenerational Research on Holocaust and Concentration Camp Survivors ......... 23 Japanese and Japanese American People in Communication Research .................... 24 The Second Wave of Asian American Studies .......................................................... 28 The Perimeters of Postcolonial ................................................................................. 32 Postcolonial Turned Anti-colonial Theoretical Framework ..................................... 34 vii Previous Quantitative Research on Japanese Americans and Their World War II Experiences ............................................................................................................ 38 CHAPTER V. METHODOLOGY AND METHOD ............................................................ 40 Ethnographic Methodology in Relation to Globalization and Generations ............... 40 The Possibilities of Microaggressions During the Interview Process ....................... 42 Awareness of „Enryo‟ and „Gaman‟ in Japanese American Communication Ethnographic Methods ............................................................................................................ 47 World War II Internment Camp Survivor Participants ............................................. 48 The Adaptive Interview Process ................................................................................ 49 From Issei to Gosei, a Chronological Generational Timeline .................................. 50 CHAPTER VI. INTERWAR ERA IDENTITY TRANSFORMATIONS ........................... 55 Los Angeles, California, 2009: “Please Serve Your Brother,” Part One .................. 55 Evacuation ............................................................................................................ 56 Japanese American Women Claiming and Re-claiming Labor Positions ................ 60 Life Inside the Internment Camps ....................................................................... 64 Artistic Re-Claiming of Culture Through Odori ...................................................... 66 Liberation From the Barbed Wire .............................................................................. 72 Self-Recognitions and Moving Through Framed Conditions: “Please Serve Your Brother,” Part II ......................................................................................................... 74 The Mourning of the Past ................................................................................... 81 The Communication Gap of Japanese American Women‟s World War II Experiences ............................................................................................................ 87 Locations of Racial Transitions ................................................................................. 89 viii CHAPTER VII. STORIES FROM A GENERATION OF WOMEN .................................. 93 The Stories Fade Away ............................................................................................. 93 CHAPTER VIII. CONCLUSION ......................................................................................... 108 Saying Goodbye