Welcome! Irasshaimase! Pretty catchy name, huh! Around my town there are a number of movements that begin with "Friends of…", such as "Friends of the Trees", "Friends of the Library", etc. The name is rather clever because if you happen to disagree with what the movement is saying, then by inference you're not a friend. These days if you disagree with the Japanese American Reparations movement not only are you not a friend, you're accused of being a RACIST! Whatever. Actually, I'm a white guy with half-Japanese kids. I'll be damned if my kids grow up with chips on their shoulders regarding this history to satisfy the political motivations of a bunch of ethnic activists who care less about 100% historical accuracy. Now I'm a pissed off white guy with half-Japanese kids! That along with a deep appreciation of Japanese culture and history is the motivation for this site.

This site is for critical historical debate of the 1942 West Coast Evacuation of ethnic Japanese.

I am a born and bred West Coaster, having lived all my life in a community that was greatly affected by the 1942 evacuation of ethnic Japanese from the military zones of the United States. Contrary to popular belief in other parts of the United States, as children we knew all about the evacuation, the reasons for the evacuation and what was happening in the ethnic Japanese community prior to the evacuation. Being also university educated in history, I learned early that the role of a good historian is to seek out and document the 100% historical truth to the point of callousness.

I will say here at the outset that I am very much opposed to how this history has been portrayed since the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians published its report in the early 1980s. Rather than provide a one-liner as to why I oppose the commission's findings, stick around, read the evidence and decide for yourself.

Although the ethnic Japanese and Caucasians had resolved this history in my community back in the 1950s, a new breed of activist types have jumped on the bandwagon regarding the evacuation. They have determined that apparently there is power in victimization, not to mention money. After all, the reparations movement has become big business, at least $1,000,000 in taxpayer dollars per year is provided to the State of California to "re-educate" the public. Tens of thousands is provided to the State of Washington for the same purpose.

Government legislated history based on a flawed commission report backed by special interests being funded with taxpayer dollars to "re-educate" the public? Sounds like Mao's China, but it's not. It's the United States. When did America's politicians switch from legislating to re-educating? It's a terrible precedent. Scholars taking money from the "Civil Liberties Public Education Fund" to finance their work is akin to the booze industry financing studies that conclude binge drinking is healthy.

Admittedly, when I knew much less about this history than I do now, it was easy to regurgitate what I had read in the newspapers or heard in the classroom. Only after I had lived a number of years in Japan did I realize I had been fed a series of half-truths. You see, in Japan the attitude is more like "...of course we had ethnic Japanese in overseas colonies who supported us! They're Japanese after all!" There is no shame. I distinctly remember the day my interest in this history was renewed. I was on the Tozai Line reading an article about a Japanese woman at a relocation center who was stealing food from the mess hall and hoarding it under her bed because, "...when the glorious Imperial Japanese Army arrives, the Americans will run away and leave us to starve in this place." Wow! Never heard that story in the states!

My desire to really understand the history of the evacuation is an extension of my desire to understand the growth of Japan from the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate to the rise of the modern nation state. For me, this includes a thorough understanding of the rise of militarism in Japan and the effect of this militaristic and racial thought on Japanese colonies dotted throughout the world.

Many subjects regarding this history I know for sure. The latest is this: In my community the half-truths of the Japanese American reparations movement has done more to damage decades old friendships and acquaintances between ethnic Japanese and Europeans than Pearl Harbor ever did. If ethnic Japanese Americans carry any shame, it should be for that.