In Rhode Island, there are Japanese who are uncomfortable leaving their homes on Victory Day because they fear violence. Having a racially-based holiday fuels these actions and attitudes.
As I have discussed in previous articles in “Discover Nikkei,” the news of the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II seeped beyond the borders of the U.S. and traveled around the world.
This month marks the 80th anniversary of the presidential order that led to the internment of nearly 120,000 Japanese-Americans during World War II. One of those camps was just south of the Oregon border in Newell, California. It was called the Tule Lake Segregation Center. JPR’s Erik Neumann spoke with Hiroshi Shimizu who was interned there with his family.