When The Emperor Was Divine Summary

Executive Order 9066, issued on February 19, 1942, called for the incarceration of Japanese Americans after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy. It is one of the most controversial topics of the twentieth century, and even today Americans are still in disbelief that this occurred in the so-called “Land of the Free.” There were mixed opinions about whether or not the United States government had the right to place Americans of Japanese descent from primarily the west coast of the United States into internment camps. The government stated that it was only trying to protect Japanese Americans considering there was an increasing amount of hostility and discrimination towards them as World War II carried on,

which many feel is a lie. Japanese Americans were essentially stripped of their citizenship and all of the rights that come with it while being left confused and uselessly tormented.
Once it was known that the Japanese orchestrated the Pearl Harbor attack in December of 1941, many people in the United States started to fear that Japanese Americans would be loyal to Japan instead of the United States.

Non-Japanese Americans started discriminating against Americans of Japanese descent and these Japanese Americans were treated poorly in society. They were not allowed in certain places and had trouble finding jobs because of their Japanese ancestry. Discrimination against Japanese Americans is prevalent in Julie Otsuka’s book titled When the Emperor was Divine. This discrimination had damaging effects on Japanese Americans, especially the children. The best example of this in the book is the passage on page 57 when the boy is thinking about why he was placed in the camp. Being just a little boy, he does not understand what he did to deserve all of the discrimination and torment that he received prior to being in the camp. He then concludes to himself that he must have done something terribly wrong in the past and all of the harsh treatment is punishment for those mistakes. “Breaking a chain letter from Juneau, Alaska. Flushing his dying pet goldfish down the toilet before it was completely dead. Forgetting to touch the hat rack three times when the iceman drove by” are a few examples of what he came up with (Otsuka 57). Obviously these are all minor faults of the boy and would never constitute the discrimination and torment he went through prior to being

forced into the camp and while in the camp. Children are sensitive and this passage shows how fragile the boy’s mental state is and how the racism has affected him.
The living conditions in the internment camps were atrocious.

The boy in When the Emperor was Devine describes them as "a city of tar-paper barracks behind a barbed-wire fence on a dusty alkaline plain" (Otsuka 49). In Professor Inouye’s lecture titled “World War II Internment of Japanese American Citizens,” she discussed what it was like to live in the camps. “Entire families shared one room with one light bulb, their possessions were searched by officials, they were kept behind barbed wire with armed guns pointed at them, and if anyone was seen outside of the fence, they were shot dead immediately” (Inouye, Feb 12). Professor Inouye also talked about the lack of medical care in the camps and that there was quite a bit of sickness that went around. In some cases people died due to not having sufficient medical treatment and because there were few or no doctors in the camps. They lived like this for almost three years, which were full of unnecessary torture and

anguish.
“In the camp, the prisoners are told they've been brought there for their "own protection," and that "it was all in the interest of national security. It was a matter of military necessity. It was an opportunity for them to prove their loyalty" (Otsuka 70). This quote from When the Emperor was Divine just heightens the confusion that Japanese Americans had during World War II. They were all confused as to why they had to “prove” their loyalty to America when the majority of them were American citizens to begin with. This was not only a confusing time but also a frustrating one for Japanese Americans considering that almost of them were not disloyal to the United States and supported them over Japan. Some Japanese Americans were even asked to join the American forces in World War II as translators but were only able to do so after they took a “so-called Loyalty Questionnaire” (Omori). This questionnaire was controversial and confusing as well.
Even in times of national crisis, the government does not have the right to take away individuals’ rights and freedoms, especially American Citizens’. The American government’s sudden actions towards the Japanese Americans during World War II were racist and irrational. They uselessly traumatized American citizens. They succumbed to the public fear of Japanese Americans and the public’s opinion affected the better judgment of the government. No Japanese American was ever tried for crimes against the United States during World War II. “Removing” Americans of Japanese descent did nothing for this country and only took valuable resources and effort away from the war.