The Japanese-American Translators of World War II
2024 ж. 20 Нау.
105 518 Рет қаралды
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Links:
- The Asianometry Newsletter: www.asianometry.com
- Patreon: / asianometry
- Threads: www.threads.net/@asianometry
- Twitter: / asianometry
Dear Asianometry, I was born and raised in Hood River OR USA and I know this story very well, Hood River OR had a quite large community of Japanese-American farmers, many of them quite successful. In High School I went on one of my very first dates with a local girl. My Parents found out, and delicately informed me that it was their wish that I stop seeing her. Having never behaved in such a way before I was taken aback. No she was not Japanese American. When the US Government ( in a fit of racist paranoia as no German Americans went to camps ) sent the Japanese Americans to "...The Camps..." they had to leave their homes, possessions, but worse they had to leave their land, and farmland does not take care of itself. Often they would sell the land for a $ 1.00 someone in the area who would promise to sell it back when the war was over, and when they came back. The insult to their injury was that for some of them, when they came back they could not get their land back, or if they did, the land had been commercially raped, no fertilizer, no pruning, no care of any kind. The caretaker owners had sold every piece of fruit on the tress, year after year at top US Army prices, and making a small fortune. So when the Japanese-American family came back from the camps, and assuming they could even get their own property back, the farm had to be plowed up and started from scratch at great cost. Those who profited from the Japanese-Americans misfortunes were known, many of the more "liberal" or Christian members in the valley knew who these people were, it was a small world after all, and refused to associate with them socially or even in business ( some were even family ), and this is where my girlfriend story emerges, her family was one of those that had profited and my Parents had rejected her family. There was a deep, deep rift of feelings within the European-American community over this, it was a scar that lasted for many decades after the war.
Thank you for sharing your story.
And today the US is afraid of its own shadow. It sees fascism everywhere, where actually it's the US all along that's the top fascist
I was wondering why you mentioned that bit about your girlfriend in the beginning. lol Thanks for sharing
Im a 40yo working white guy. The most discriminated against people in America currently. I understand your past resentments and current sentiment. No I’m not kidding and I bet this comment will be reported and/or removed
Racist paranoia... or you've never heard of the Niihau incident.
7:28 "Your first quest is eliminate 10 rats from the basement"
Lvl 01 quest..
My father, a Kibei, spent the war in DC working for the OSS estimating what the GNP of Japan would be after the war. My mother was in Manzanar camp and then in DC at the OSS also. But most of their friends fought in the war. When I was a child, one of his cronies from Hawaii brought me from Hawaii to Taipei to my parents. On the way he told me some amazing stories. He was in Burma tapping phone lines for Merrils' Mauraders, and later was sent to Yunan to translate Japanese communications. On his 18th birthday, Mao and Chou En Lai attended; probably he is the only american who can say that. Later when Nixon went to China he was remembered and invited. The war created some incredible challenges but also some amazing experiences and opportunties for these Nisei.
After WWII, many thousands of Japanese immigrated to Brazil. We already had some here since 1908 but their numbers grew exponentially. Currently, we have the largest Japanese population outside Japan, over 1.5M considering Japanese nationals and descendants of those first immigrants. There's even a very cool region in São Paulo called Liberdade (freedom) where you have many Japanese shops, architecture, restaurants, etc. Quite a cool place.
Jiu Jitsu
Fascinating, thanks for sharing. Brazil is definitely on my bucket-list & this is just another good reason to visit.
And of course, all of them were just innocent immigrants. There were for instance no war criminals like those nazi Germans, italian fascists, Vichy frenchmen, murderers from Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ucrania, Croatia, Hungary and Romania that migrate to North America and particularly to South America where they were blessed and protected by the Catholic church.
Peru, too... There was a second generation Japanese-Peruvian that was elected to the Presidency of Peru! His name- Alberto Fujimoro, and hos name reminds me of the names of my grandparents and great aunts/uncles, who were all Nisei (second generation Japanese Americans): Fred, Joe, Thomas, and Fritz Tokagawa- Jane and Rosie Sasaki etc, etc.
Acho que a coisa mais similar ao bairro da Liberdade que eles tem são as chinatowns, só que estas são de outra etnia. Settler societies com o Brasil e os EUA são um terreno fértil para a convivência de grupos que em suas terras de origem seriam rivais.
I knew a Japanese translator who worked for the occupying American forces. He was born in the US but was on the last ship from the US to Japan at the age of 17. He did not speak Japanese when he arrived in Japan. He lived in a small village through the war and when the Americans became an occupying force. He became a translator/interpreter for the American forces as he spoke fluent American English. Later he became a journalist.
I started listening to you because of your semiconductor content, but i enjoy these historical episodes as much if not more.
Same story. What a wonderful channel
Years ago, I went to a WW2 memorial on Okinawa and I watched a video interviewing an Okinawan woman who was about to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff with her baby. The Japanese military had implored civilians not to be captured and to commit suicide. As she gathered the courage to jump off the cliff with her baby, she heard a man speaking "beautiful" Japanese pleading with her NOT to jump. She didn't think it could be an American so she obeyed and didn't jump. Unfortunately, many other Okinawan civilians committed suicide by jumping off what was to be later called "suicide cliff".
What a noble deed. I wonder if that baby is still alive today?
Grandpa in the 442nd: My Grandfather and several great-uncles served in the 442nd. My grandfather as a Corporal (w/ purple heart, bronze star) and eventually an MP, maybe attached to the artillery batillion- its not clear.) ...After going through the craziness of the Itialian campaign, France, etc, he saw DACHAU during its liberation. (can you imagine that? With his own family spending most of the war in 'camp', in places like Idaho?) He ended up guarding German POWs, at a former concentration/death camp (not sure which: he was a shutterbug, but the pics I have don't show exactly where, though I suspect it was Dachau, which was used for that purpose)... He was a guard, whole they were sorted into different classifications- draftees, officers, SS, war criminals, etc. Apperantly, He got along fairly well with a few of the POWS, and, as most were cleared of any war crimes, I think he may have identified with some of them as in: 'Well, ain't this FUBAR?', etc. (I'm paraphrasing). Anyway, when my mother was a teenager in the 60s, My grandfather owned a wholesale nursery (for trees/plants), and one afternoon, a stranger came to the door, asking for my grandfather by name. The visitor was a former German officer that was in town to sell machine tools (of course he was- what could be more German?), and had recalled that my grandfather, as a guard, had mentioned that he lived there. The German had brought a six-pack of German beer, and appearently they sat on the porch for a while and caught up, and then never saw one another again. It's a great story... according to my mother and uncle, it's true. My grandfather would never speak about his time in Europe (which is common, appearently), but, I suppose that those were significant moments in his life and for that German ex-soldier. So, wow, eh? I've been thinking about writing a history of the 442, using his life and experiences to personalize/ anchor the history. Anyway, that's my connection to the 442nd. (I have some relics- a camera he 'bought' in Italy, an alabaster statuette, some photo albums (Most of which have been donated to an Asian-American museum- the Wing Luke- in Seattle) -B (One more thing- as a shutterbug, he had a ton of photos of his friends in itally- short-ish Japanese men sitting/ dancing/ flirting with lots of tall, beautiful (recently liberated?) Itialian women. He DID talk about that, a few times... Grandpa was pretty cool.)
Write it up, sounds great! 😎✌️
@@gus473 thanks... I've been collecting info and documentation for a while. Also, since that generation (the Nisei- first gen born in the US) is basicly gone, and the next, who remember them personally, are going... I do some work with some historical associations in my area (Seattle) as well, so I have the material... I may as well do SOMETHING with my English degree, eh? Thanks for the encouragement. Cheers.
That sounds terrific - I'd love to read more!
So out of curiosity, are you fully of Japanese descent?@@bholdr----0
@@bnooper Half- 4 of my great-grandparents immigrated to the US in the early 1900s. (The men for work, and their wives as 'picture brides')... I am fourth generation. (I don't speak a lick of Japanese, nor did my third-gen, 100% Japanese mother- while my white Father was semi-fluent! Cheers! P.S./ Also: There is a term: 'Hapa' (a slang term from Hawaiin plantation workers), which means half-asian/ half-white, and had recently begun to be used more commonly: The idea is that, say, a half-Japanese may find more in common (re: their experiences in the US) with a half-Vietnamese person than they might with a full Japanese American or White American... It's an interesting te, amd, probably a lot more prevalent in areas like Seattle, San Francisco, etc, than in the broader US.)
My father John D Ishii was one of them . US Military Intelligence Then 25 years in the CIA during the Vietnam War. He was at camp Savage Mi
This story remind me that the conflict in WW2 and the cooperation after WW2 between US and Japan, which proved that human kind is kind enough to forgive the hatred and reach a better future together. Wonderful story.
Gookurosama deshita. I grew up next to Herbert Miasaki, his Ookasama, and their 3 kids. Miasakisan was mostly closedmouthed, except for his Kibei experiences back before the war. I had no idea how precious those recollections were until I went to the mainland for the University of California. Strange you must go to Kaliponi to learn what your treasures are!
These history videos of yours are my favorites. Pleas keep it up and tell more stories like these. I had no idea about these brave men and their contribution.
Their facilities should be a museum to tell their extraordinary stories.
This one was great, one of the many reasons I keep coming back to this channel is the history I don't really get anywhere else. Thanks.
Always high point of the day when you post. Thank you so much
These Japanese-Americans who worked for the allied cause, only to see their family and friends placed in internment camps. Unjust.
As someone with an interest Japanese culture, this was an excellent episode. It's one of those stories that feels like a puzzle piece fell into place with regard to how history developed. A language note: issei and nisei literally mean first and second generation. The "iss" in issei is a contracted form of ichi (one) and "ni" means two.
With so many of your videos I feel like I am just sitting down for a boring history lesson but every time I find myself rivated and fully engaged. Great writing. This is probably the only channel I watch regardless of the topic of the video because its just always very interesting and I learn so much every time as well without it being tedious.
I live across the river from Savage, Minnesota. I am a huge WW2 history buff, lived here most of my life, never knowing this all occured here. Sad how a lot of history gets lost. Thank you for covering this entire story.
Same here about living in this area and not knowing this history. There is a informative historical marker in Savage at the location of where Camp Savage was (Xenwood Av and the South Frontage Rd,- it's displayed on Google maps). I was there just recently, and sadly there is nothing of the camp structures left. There is a "take-a-book/leave-a-book" box next to the marker, and inside I left a copy of the photo of the camp that was used in this video. This was a great KZhead video.
Loving the surprinsly different last couple videos, a nice change of pace from the usual content.
The Japanese Americans were put in interment camps for a valid reason. The US military had (for the most part) broken Japanese codes and knew there were agents among the community along the west coast. They had a reasonable idea who and where. The problem was “if” they picked up the agents the Japanese would know their codes were compromised. Due to the relatively small numbers the decision was made to pick up the entire community. So tell me, if they had done the opposite and only picked up the spy rings thus giving away the secret the codes were broken how many young men’s lives would be lost that otherwise came home, had families, children, grandchildren. All due to political correctness 83 years later?
I love these videos so much I can't even explain. thank you for your amazing quality channel!
This is truly an excellent history video, owing to the depth of the information as well as the succinct and tactful manner with which it is presented. Great job!
@Asianometry Thank you Jon. Another brilliantly framed excerpt of how history frames current times.
Internment Camps... one of the greatest mistakes of our leadership ever.
Those who wrap themselves in the flag the most are the first to discard what it stands for in times of duress.
What infuriates me most about the internments was it only applied to the West Coast. If Japanese-Americans were such a dire threat, it should have applied to Hawaiians even more so. The rank hypocrisy so typical of politicians really shows. Stirring up the public with nonsensical fears of an impossible invasion of the West Coast makes it even more unforgivable.
Hearing the anecdote of the nissei soldier, I do wonder if staying amongst the (let's face it, extremely dumb and racist) west coast population would have been that much better, or would it have resulted in more deaths and hostility. Although the way it was done, planned and executed was still shamefull obviously. Americans were not and to be fair are still not especially good at dealing with whatever "foreign" problems they have. I'm french, and my family was in the US in 2003. It was easier for them to say they were canadians. And that was for a "light" problem compared to what the arab-americans went through.
@@grizwoldphantasia5005Over 2000 Japanese Americans were interned at Honoluilui and other camps on the islands and/or deported to the mainland.
@@freedmen123 I'm sure those 2000 were mighty pissed, and rightly so. But compared to what happened on the west coast, it's insignificant and doesn't lessen the hypocrisy.
another very well done, interesting, and informative video from which I learned a lot. Thank you for the work, and then sharing. I always look forward to your next video.
Awesome presentation Jon! 😃
Great video man. 👍
Very moving story. Thank you for telling. Your research is excellent. I learned a lot.
That was fascinating and informative. Thanks
Brilliant video and comments too!
Loved this, thank you.
Good Video, i appreciated it a lot, thanks.
Mahalo for posting....
I want a movie on this
There is one about this (more or less) it’s called Windtalkers
@@KomradZX1989 It wasn't that good, but once won't hurt. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@@gus473 Thought Windtalkers was about American Indian code talkers?
@@xraymind Yes, Windtalkers was about Navajo code talkers who served with the Marines in the Pacific Theater of WWII. Don't think a movie about Japanese-American Linguists and their role in the war has been done (and it probably won't happen because it will inevitably bring up the topic of the Japanese Internment Camps that the US operated during WWII).
You're correct, @@xraymind!
This was fantastic and I learned a lot, your video quality incredible. Also was proud to see my home state of Minnesota accept and treat these people with the respect they deserve.
Excellent video
Wow! This is a great story. Thank you for telling it.
Most underrated channel on yt, EVER
Beautifully told, thank you.
Top stuff again.👍
Your video is very good, thank you.
One minor clarification: the image of Rasmussen flanked by two Nisei - the Nisei were paratroopers assigned to the 11th Airborne Division.
Thank you very informative as all history is , they were very courageous and raise my hand with full respect Excellent video 👍👏🤷♀️
Wow! Bravo! Standing ovation!
this is great content
They did outstanding service for their country and should be praised for it.
There's an interesting story of a Navajo Indian named Joe Kieyoomia who was captured while fighting in the Pacific Theater. His captors assumed he was a Japanese American and hence a traitor and tortured him for months until he finally convinced them he wasn't.
he got another session of torture when the japanese recorded communications between navajo code talkers - he had to convince them he couldn't understand the code - which was a subset of navajo words redefined so that even navajo speakers couldn't understand without training
Thanks!
Excellent video.
Those awarded the Silver Star seemed to do something that deserved a Medal of Honor.
"Snow Falling on Cedars" by David Guterson. fiction / novel, but a good read referencing the internments
In 1963 while working for the US Navy I was sent to New York for a 12 week tech school. There I met fellow students from other shipyards. I became friends with 2 men from Pearl Harbour Naval Shipyard. They were both Hawaiian born Nisei veterens of WWII. Thomas Nikita served with the famous 442 Battalion in Italy. The other guy, Fumio Kito, had spoke japanese in his home as a youth. He became a translator serving in the US Army in the Pacific. At the end of the war he parachuted into Manchuria along with 2 white American army officers. Their mission was to take charge of a large Japanese prisoner of war camp holding many allied prisoners. They were immediately imprisoned themselves and Fumio particularly underwent very harsh treatment from the Japanese army as he was considered a traitor. It took 3 days to convince the Japanese that Japan had surrendered and the war was over. Thomas and Fumio were both great guys and true Americans.
Many, many decades ago G.I. combat ran a story about a Nisei translator. That story always stuck with me
Man.... John Aiso did not deserve to have his story ended like that, after all he went through.
A fine episode.
Another excellent episode, Jon -- one I am sure to replay from time to time! 😎✌️
Very excellent. Thank You
Thank you! Amazing men and we owe them so much.
I have a softspot for the translators for the Japanese during this time period. My Grandmother's uncle, Edwin Dozier, was a Southern Baptist Missionary before World War II and was well respected as he spent much of his life in the country. You can find an article about him and in the 80's a biography was written on him, I own the book still. After getting kicked out of Japan due to the order of "All foreigners must leave" He served as a translator to Japanese prisoners of war where he even befriended them as well
I've read Bridge to the Sun. Excellent book.
Thanks For Upload. 442nd "Go For Broke" is a Good Movie.
★★★★★ Another stellar presentation. I admire your erudition and clarity greatly. What a pleasure. Thank you for this sad, meaningful, poignant narrative.
This pretty accurately describes most first generation Americans I think. My Spanish is pretty shit and I have a toe in multiple cultures, which is quite alienating. As an adult I found myself more comfortable living in Europe and Asia because it’s easier to be totally foreign than kinda foreign in America.
I vividly remember being told that my grandfather, being nisei, refused to teach any our family the Japanese language. Proclaiming “we are Americans, and we will speak english”. He held onto this sentiment despite his treatment and service to the US Army in the Pacific, and with some of his own brothers and sisters sent to internment camps. For the remainder of his life, I never witnessed nor heard of him speaking ill of America in spite of everything that happened to the family during and after the war.
No mention of the Niihau incident?
Amazing stories, both in the video, and here in the comments.
"....saving lives on both sides..." - right on!
Forgive me - I was sure Asianometry had made a video on the history of Supercomputers/Cray or Seymore Cray and his team ? Anyone know or know which one I'm thinking of?
Excellent
I know someone already mentioned Brazil, but there's also a very interesting story regarding a Japanese immigrant organization in Brazil called Shindo Renmei, spreading Japanese propaganda amongst the Japanese Brazilian community and prosecuting "defeatists".
Thank you
Sad these things took place at all, but grateful for what they did and had to endure.
Great story, I worked with the Japanese in Japan during the late 1950s and truly enjoyed it.
An excellent piece of educational history. I have studied the war for many years, but never knew the actual derails of how the Japanese speaking Americans were trained and their service in the Pacific. Their role in Europe is of course well known. As a South African, I thank you for the work you put into this presentation.
Thanks for sharing this video. As the fourth generation of Japanese American, where my great, great uncle, Japanese American, and was He was the first Japanese American elected to the Senate of the Territory of Hawaii.
So your great great uncle is Sanji Abe? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanji_Abe
Well done, as a military history buff, this was highly informative telling the good and not so good about our past. Is Mr. Asianometry of Japanese or Japanese descent bragging on the historic Japanese contributions to the US?
Its kind of funny to me to think the children didn't really know any japanese but its not a surprise. My grandparents on my mother's side were immigrants from Hong Kong and they gave all their kids "American names" and refused to teach them chinese. As an adult I kind of envy children that grow up in multilingual families because I wish I did.
First generation immigrants giving their children American names is evidence of how much they tried to assimilate and contribute to the United States. I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all. There are people in the United States whose families have resided for generations and they give their kids absurd names that are difficult to pronounce when they can’t even speak their family’s native language. Giving them those names is performative because they have no connection to the culture aside from their skin color. Not teaching the language however is a shame because it just reinforces the fact that there’s no real connection to the culture and that the name issue is just performative.
@@conor7154more like evidence of how one can expect to be treated in America if they have any aspect of character that doesn’t conform to white Christian dogma
My late wife's grandparents immigrated from China during the early 1900's, one side taking up farming in Oregon, the other into grocery business in the Sacramento/Stockton area. Her aunties and uncles were bilingual, if not always comfortably, and her generation not so much. She often wished she could speak more, but with the two sides speaking slightly different dialects, it was less easy than one might wish.
This old white guy wishes he were bilingual. It is a blessing I do not have. I struggle with my one language, English.
To take my grandfather as an example, he could speak Japanese to speak with his immigrant parents, but because it was the Hiroshima dialecthe had to learn Tokyo “standard” dialect to work as an interpreter.
Thank you.
Japanese Americans during WW2 were predominantly Nisei which were children of the Issei which were migrants from Japan. Some were actually Issei being born in Japan and later migrated to the US. Being Issei and Nisei, Japanese was the language spoken at home with family members. Their knowledge in Japanese language allowed them to serve in the US military translating interception Japanese radio transmission. Japanese Americans serving in combatant units were instead send to fight in Europe to avoid any unwanted situations if they were sent to fight in the Pacific.
exactly what my uni professor kept talking about, impecable timing thanks a lot
1. It's sad to see the parallels between the treatment of these translators and the modern day Afghan translators who were left to their fate as Western forces exited Afghanistan a couple of years ago. 2. Fort Minor (Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park) wrote the song "Kenji" as a reflection of his families history in US internment camps. Regardless of how you feel about his musical genre, it's a really sad song when you reflect on it
As an American, hearing the way this great man died is really infuriating to me. We've got too much of this nonsense still going on.
I'm always moved by the stories of those who work to rise above their hardships and unfair persecution. You can only feel admiration for that.
In Yokohama, there is a fantastic museum dedicated to the lives of the Japanese diaspora. Highly recommend it if you ever visit
Wars are horror. I was brought up with the idea that killing enemies was great for our side, even though we weren't sure who they were. So as an adult, eventually, when we have our own kids we realise how horrible the warring horror can get. The message is like bad tasting medicine.
A suggestion for your video and research projects are the fortunes made by others making fortunes buying American Japanese properties for pennies on the dollar. Bellevue Washington is an example. John Scott Reality.
What a beautiful story. Domo arigato! 🎉😊
Heroes… every one of them!
What a fantastic effort by everyone, I am English, but proud of you all!
that was beautiful, man.
Knew a man. Dead now. Served in the Pacific Theater. Ivy Leaguer. The US Army had him in Language School to learn Japanese BEFORE we dropped the Big One. He was one of the many Soldiers they sent in to help remake “The Empire of the Rising Sun.” FunFact? He saw Douglas MacArthur. He was on Guard Duty when the General walked into the building for a meeting.
Very interesting. I had heard some of it, but this was far more in-depth. Japan has an interesting history. Japan and America have been exchanging much for decades now. We get a ton of quality from our relationship with Japan. Not the least of which is great entertainment. One of my favorite all time directors is Akira Kurosawa, one of the greatest film directors of all time. The Nisei were essential to our WW2 victory.
I think I remember you mentioning in a past video that you were gonna talk about the Nisei’s. I’m glad today’s that day.
as Japanese immigrant , who can pose as Japanese, we can go among Japanese prisoner of war, pretend like we are Japanese soldier also, and get information from them.
The link to sources began to be cut in half from 4:53
一世 (いっせい / issei) and 二世 (にせい / nisei) are literally "first generation" and "second generation." "Of immigrant" is implied in this use case.
A great untold part of history.
Excellent video here, I wish this story would be written and produced into an accurate Hollywood movie.
The timing of this video, with the firing of the Shohei Ohtani interpreter / translator, just an uncanny coincidence, or …
What great people of character!