The beginning of the war came with the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The declaration of war with Japan affected many people in America in a number of ways. The majority of U.S. citizens hated Japan and all Asians for what they did in Hawaii. Japanese Americans were affected

Jeanne and her family had been in the Manzanar Internment camp for months. Her father was taken to prison on charges based solely on racist accusations from the government. The internment camps were fenced in and guarded by armed soldiers. The midpoint of the war was the lowest time for Japanese Americans. They were measured below all other minorities for the first time in American history. Jeanne and her family lived in squalor and made do with the few remaining possessions they had. Inside the camp Jeanne’s family began to self destruct. With no privacy or father figure to keep all the members of the family together, Jeanne lost sense of her heritage as did many other children in the camps. The large rice and sushi based traditional dinners were replaced by military rations. The tradition of eating as a family was made impossible in the crowded military cafeterias. Japanese Americans did what they could to remember their heritages, but in the closely monitored camps much sense was lost. Segregated from the outside world, Jeanne felt no sense of national belonging. Little talk about the war and the reasoning behind the wartime sanctions went on inside the camp. The strange and awkward lifestyle within the internment camps forced all inmates to lose all sense of belonging.

Jeanne Wakatsuki and her family were let out of their camp once the war had subsided with Japan. This was uplifting to Jeanne who was eager to regain her normal childhood prior to the war. Her father reunited with the family and they headed back to Southern California. It did not take long for Jeanne and other Japanese Americans to realize that society was not willing to let them back into everyday life easily. Jeanne’s father struggled to find a new career. Not only did white America not want any part of Japanese Americans, many Japanese Americans did not forgive the U.S. for its actions against them during the war. Resentment from both parties lasted for many years. As time past, the one thing that separated the arguing sides was race.

The end of World War Two meant the defeat of Japan and the homecoming of thousands of solders from around the world. America celebrated the people who helped win the war, while not forgetting who fought against U.S. soldiers. With combat over and peace treaties signed, Japanese Americans were let out of the internment camps. The end of the war did not, however, end the anti-Japanese sentiment in the U.S.

Some topics in this essay:
Japanese Americans, Native Americans, World War, Pacific Ira, York Times, Southern California, Jeanne Wakatsuki, Asians American, Manzanar Internment, Navy Marines, japanese americans, native americans, internment camps, world war, pearl harbor, jeanne family, beginning war, jeanne wakatsuki, middle war, generation japanese, jeanne japanese americans, acceptance native americans, native americans war, bombing pearl harbor, americans japanese americans,