Japanese Internment Camp Summary

1. How does Kikuchi describe conditions prior to the evacuation of Japanese Americans? Prior to February 1942 and before Executive order 9066 passed, the Japanese had integrated into the United States and were citizens just like the rest of the population. Japanese owned stores, homes and attended college just like Kikuchi did. Kikuchi compared San Francisco’s Japanese towns to ghost towns. There was massive sales going on due to the evacuations and the junk dealers were making profit from the cheap items they bought from the Japanese (Kikuchi: 640). According to the text Kikuchi was studying social work at the University of California-Berkeley. He had described that the day that the Japanese were kicked out of Berkeley like any other regular

He continues to talk about the camp in a positive attitude as days pass by. Kikuchi is an optimistic person and sees the good in all of the bad situations he was in. He mentioned that he felt out or place or like a “foreigner” because even though he was around people of his own race, he identified himself more as an American than Japanese. According to him he was getting all around service without having to worry about money (Kikuchi: 642). In college, he was living on a $25.00 a month budget and had to be constantly watching all of his expenses. About a week into being at the internment camp, his attitude towards being there seem to have changed. Committees like the California Joint Immigration Committee began to file charges that Japanese Americans should not have been able to obtain citizenship even if they were born in the United States (Kikuchi: 642). He like many others is getting tired of being treated unequally and they began to face reality. He mentioned in the text that he felt that the American people have stabbed him in the back. (Kikuchi: 642). He is entitled to his rights and I do agree with him because before Executive Order 9066 passed, Japanese, Japanese Americans, and Americans all got along for the most