Lessons from a Different Shore: Portrayals of Japanese American Incarceration and the Redress Movement by Western European Newspapers

Abstract This article examines the relationship between the Japanese American redress movement and the oral interviews of two Japanese immigrant women, known as Issei women. Focusing on the shared images of Issei women in the Japanese American community and the perspectives and self-representations of the interviewees in the oral interviews, it explores how cultural consensus produced stereotypical, collective images of Issei women as submissive, persevering, and quiet persons. As the redress movement progressed in the 1960s to the 1980s, the Japanese American community conducted oral history projects to preserve memories and legacies of their wartime experiences. There are dissimilarities between the original audio recordings and the published transcripts regarding the perspectives of Issei women. This article shows how the community’s desire to preserve idealized images of Issei men and women reduced the accuracy and nuances in the women’s self-representations and the complexities of family relations. Also, contrary to the collective images, Issei women demonstrated how they were independent, assertive, and open individuals expressing their perspectives, complicated emotions, and importance in the family.

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The Paradox of Reparations

Minority Relations ◽

10.14325/mississippi/9781496810458.003.0006 ◽

2016 ◽

pp. 159-188

Author(s):

Greg Robinson

Keyword(s):

African American ◽

African Americans ◽

Japanese Americans ◽

Japanese American ◽

Political Leaders ◽

Early Stages ◽

The 1960S ◽

Redress Movement

This chapter offers a more complex and multiracial view of history by revisiting the narrative of the Japanese American redress movement and discovers a paradox at its core: while the campaign by Japanese Americans for reparations for their wartime confinement started at the end of the 1960s as part of a wider antiracist coalition, and received key support in its early stages from African American political leaders, Japanese Americans increasingly distanced themselves from their black allies as the goal of redress grew nearer, even as African Americans became increasingly public in their opposition. The chapter also shows how the victory of the redress movement in 1988 offered a major precedent, and a model, for reparations efforts by blacks.

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The Movement for Japanese American Redress

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History ◽

10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.013.538 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Megan Asaka

Keyword(s):

World War Ii ◽

Civil Liberties ◽

Japanese Americans ◽

Japanese American ◽

World War ◽

1960S And 1970S ◽

The Government ◽

The 1960S ◽

The Cold War ◽

Redress Movement

The Japanese American Redress Movement refers to the various efforts of Japanese Americans from the 1940s to the 1980s to obtain restitution for their removal and confinement during World War II. This included judicial and legislative campaigns at local, state, and federal levels for recognition of government wrongdoing and compensation for losses, both material and immaterial. The push for redress originated in the late 1940s as the Cold War opened up opportunities for Japanese Americans to demand concessions from the government. During the 1960s and 1970s, Japanese Americans began to connect the struggle for redress with anti-racist and anti-imperialist movements of the time. Despite their growing political divisions, Japanese Americans came together to launch several successful campaigns that laid the groundwork for redress. During the early 1980s, the government increased its involvement in redress by forming a congressional commission to conduct an official review of the World War II incarceration. The commission’s recommendations of monetary payments and an official apology paved the way for the passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 and other redress actions. Beyond its legislative and judicial victories, the redress movement also created a space for collective healing and generated new forms of activism that continue into the present.

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The Japanese American Citizens League, Los Angeles Politics, and the Thomas Noguchi Case

Southern California Quarterly ◽

10.1525/scq.2020.102.2.158 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 102 (2) ◽

pp. 158-192

Author(s):

Anne Soon Choi

Keyword(s):

Los Angeles ◽

Civil Rights ◽

Model Minority ◽

Japanese Americans ◽

Japanese American ◽

Grassroots Organizing ◽

Political Alliances ◽

Political Narrative ◽

The Media ◽

Redress Movement

This article examines the political mobilization of Japanese Americans by the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) against the 1969 firing of Los Angeles County Coroner Thomas Noguchi. By challenging the racism in the Noguchi case, the JACL opened a public discussion of the racism behind wartime incarceration, rejecting the quiescence that had marked Japanese Americans as the “model minority.” Activism in the Noguchi case proved the potential of grassroots organizing and built experience in forming cross-racial political alliances, effectively shaping political narrative in the media, and exercising clout in city politics. For Japanese Americans and the JACL, these experiences shaped a new political sensibility that underscored civil rights and served as a precursor to the later redress movement.

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Who is the Strongest in Washington, D.C.?: A Comparative Study on the Korean- American Comfort Women Movement and the Japanese-American Redress Movement

Asian International Studies Review ◽

10.16934/isr.12.2.201112.87 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 87-107

Author(s):

임은정

Keyword(s):

Comparative Study ◽

Korean American ◽

Japanese American ◽

Comfort Women ◽

Redress Movement

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"Destructive Force": Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga's Gendered Labor in the Japanese American Redress Movement

Frontiers A Journal of Women Studies ◽

10.1353/fro.2003.0017 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 24 (1) ◽

pp. 38-60 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Thomas Y. Fujita-Rony

Keyword(s):

Japanese American ◽

Redress Movement

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Who is the Strongest in Washington, D.C.?: A Comparative Study on the Korean-American Comfort Women Movement and the Japanese-American Redress Movement

International Studies Review ◽

10.1163/2667078x-01202005 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 87-107

Author(s):

Eunjung Lim

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Common Ground ◽

The United States ◽

World Politics ◽

Korean American ◽

Japanese American ◽

Comfort Women ◽

Political Issues ◽

National Capital ◽

Redress Movement

Washington, D.C. is not only the national capital of the United States, but it is also an international arena in which world political issues are substantially dealt with. Immigrants in the United States represent influence in world politics, exerting their leverage on policy makers in Washington, D.C. The Korean-American Comfort Women Movement in 2007 and the Japanese-American Redress Movement from 1970 to 1992 share common ground in terms of their norms and strategies for success. This article conducts comparative analysis on the two grassroots movements based on Resource Mobilization Theory, and suggests their realistic implications to political dynamics in Washington, D.C.

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