Ch. 10

For me this chapter was a bit of a review because I had already studied last quarter about WWII and the internment of Japanese Americans. I was happy to learn, however, some new things about the experience from the perspective of other Asian Americans.

For instance, the Filipinos were ready to fight next to American soldiers. I was very surprised to read that 40% of the Filipino Americans in California registered for the first draft (359) and I was happy to read that they were able to receive citizenship because of how bravely they fought.

As for Korean Americans, it came as no surprise to me that they celebrated Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor, as this was an opportunity for the United States to take down Japan especially after Korea’s brutal history with Japan. I also understood why the Korean National Association produced a set of ‘rules’ and that one of the rules was to wear a badge that identified them as Korean and not Japanese. I feel as though more frequently, it is the Japanese and Koreans who get mixed up when people are trying to figure out which ‘one’ they are. My mother frequently gets mistaken for Korean when she is actually Japanese or sometimes she mistakes someone whose Korean for Japanese and I have seen the frustration on both of their faces when this mix up occurs. It also makes a lot of sense when Koreans would get mistaken as a Japanese that they would be furious and even more so that the Alien Registration Act classified Korean immigrants as subjects of Japan (365) . I also found it very interesting that 109 Koreans organized a Korean Unit for the national guard and called themselves the Tiger Brigade and that Koreans gained greater acceptance for their work within the unit.

As for the Chinese Americans go, with the events of WWII and the internment of the Japanese Americans they found it as an opportunity to take back some jobs that they felt was taken from them from Japanese Americans, even going as far as stating that “WWII was the most important historic event of our times. For the first time we felt we could make it in American society (373).” and it seems that this was mostly due to the fact that TIME magazine released an article that “helped” Americans tell apart the Japanese and Chinese even though it was still blatantly racist, it still wanted to show that there was a difference.

With this chapter however, my anger had reawakened from the slumber that was winter break and I was reminded yet again of the unfair treatment of Japanese Americans and the reasoning for their internment. It was very frightening to read that a Congressmen (John Ford) could say such cruel words  like “…stop fucking around. I gave them twenty-four hours notice that unless they would issue a mass evacuation, I would drag the whole matter on the floor of the House and of the Senate and give the bastards everything we could with both barrels.” (391) This excerpt has probably been of the most blunt statements I have read in regards of White Americans in a position of power that bred such hateful words towards Japanese Americans.

Ch. 11

Throughout this chapter and within the book, I have really appreciated topics of struggle and racism through the perspective of other Asian Americans. However, what I noticed the most about this chapter is that earlier in the chapter, Takaki discusses the second wave of immigrants from the country first started with “having dreams of success in America” and then eventually leading up to heartbreaking stories of escaping war and  the memories they retained of watching  those close to them suffer or even fall to their death, Takaki painted a vivid picture of the loneliness that the recent immigrated Asian Americans felt lost and uncomfortable not being in their home country. Takaki writes about the Hmong experience and quotes the experiences of a Hmong refugee: “Here, maybe the American Indians believe in spirits, but those (pointing int the direction of the nearby Laguna range) are their mountains, not ours.” (468).

A quote that really spoke to me in this chapter was “No matter how long you are here in America, you will always be an Asian, always an outsider, not an American.”(461). It makes me sad that to this day, that that statement is still so very true. Especially with the semi-recent interests in Japanese culture. With the rising popularity of Japanese culture, and the lack of Japanese Americans in Olympia, I have found that even though I was raised in the United States, people still approach me with obscure questions about Japan and expect me to know that answer because I am Japanese. With incidences like this, I feel as though I will truly never be an American here so long as I have yellow skin.

Ch. 12

I began reading this chapter in the place of my work, where I have spent many days from last quarter in a quiet section of the restaurant, reading the books that were assigned to us as I silently cried as the carpet that had hard truths about Japanese American history tucked underneath it was revealing itself to me. I thought that perhaps since I was already aware of the hard truths from last quarter that maybe I wouldn’t experience this again but it was with this chapter that my feelings of defeat overwhelmed me yet again and the tears welled up in my eyes.

Now I really appreciate reading about the Model Minority Myth because it is very important to discuss especially in a class that focuses on Asian American pop culture and how the people and the media has a tendency to view us. It was something that I dabbled in a little bit last quarter for my final research project, yet, this chapter painted this picture for me that no matter how hard I try in school, no matter how well I do, there is a chance that whatever career I go into with my life, that I will not be able to acheive higher positions and that if you were to put me side by side with someone who had the same qualifications as me but they were of European descent then they automatically have the upper hand and that I would be left struggling to find a job all because of the color of my skin, something that I will never be able to control.

As a Japanese American, I also agreed with this statement: “Asian Americans blame the education system for not including their history in the curricula and for not teaching about U.S. society in all of its racial and cultural diversity.” (482) I was amazed by the things that I learned last quarter in regards to what the U.S. did to Japanese Americans because while I remember briefly learning about WWII, I do not recall any time in my life when someone has sat me down and told me that Japanese Americans were put into concentration camps and that is upsetting to me because I feel like this country doesn’t want to discuss a part of their history that they are ashamed of yet as a Japanese American that was in the school system from 1st to 12th grade, it’s kind of a big deal to me that the school district decided to utterly skip this huge part of history!

Ch. 13

I am really happy that even though I am half white, I am still able to claim my Asian pride. I am happy to see that there are more and more people everyday whether I meet them or not, are beginning to look more like me. It makes me feel like I have more people to relate to whether it’s about our celebrations or about our struggles. My life has been so interesting because of the two different cultures that I have in me and that I have the freedom to celebrate both parts.

I love living in a time now where I can date someone who is white and neither of us will face the sort of discrimination that people in the 1940′s faced for being in an interracial relationship. I’m not saying it’s perfect and previous partners and I have faced the obstacles of people despising our relationship because I am Japanese or making very strange assumptions about our relationship. At the end of the day though, I get to share with my partners, a different part of myself, and invite them into my mothers home that smells like tonkatsu, gohan and takuan and share with them a taste of a distant home and my partner graciously accepts my invitation with love and respect.