key question american dehuminization of japanese people during and after world war 2

7/29/2019 Key Question American Dehuminization of Japanese People During and After world war 2

1/4

AMERICAN DEHUMINIZATION OF JAPANESE PEOPLE pg.3

World War II was a hard time for people in the world. It was one of the most destructive

conflicts in world history and many participants violated human rights on a level that had never been

seen before. Its been said that the American government and media used some of the most effective

methods to dehumanize their main enemy, the Japanese. The US Government used domestic methods

and strategies such as concentration (or internment) camps and propaganda through film, radio and

posters. US Soldiers collected war trophies from dead or alive Japanese soldiers, and even though the

war has ended, for some the grudge against the Japanese people still persists.

In country measures were taken to isolate physically with concentration camps and isolate

socially using propaganda. Japanese people were sent into camps during the war and had most

properties taken away. As said by Harold Ickes (1946) , we gave the fancy name of 'relocation centres'

to these dust bowls, but they were concentration camps nonetheless (para.5). On February 19, 1942

Roosevelt ordered some 120,000 people of Japanese descent living in the US to be removed from their

homes and placed in internment camps. The US justified their action by claiming that there was a

danger of those of Japanese descent spying for the Japanese. However more than two thirds of those

interned were American citizens and half of them were children. None had ever shown disloyalty to the

nation. In some cases family members were separated and put in different camps. During the entire

war only ten people were convicted of spying for Japan and these were all Caucasian (History on the

net, 2000). Life in these camps were very difficult, most people were given short notice to evacuate

their homes and were not able to collect many of their belongings. Some internees died from

inadequate medical care and the high level of emotional stress they suffered. Those taken to camps in

desert areas had to cope with extremes of temperature. These camps were guarded twenty four seven

by armed military personnel (History on the net, 2000). Another method used by Americans was


2/4


propaganda in the form of radio, film and posters. Wartime propaganda typically defines one's nation

as the civilized nation, while the enemy is depicted as barbaric and sub-human (Navarro, n.d.). Posters

depicted Uncle Sam saying 'Jap you're next' or a man in uniform saying 'Avenge December 7' these

were used to inspire American's to help their soldiers anyway they could or to buy bonds ( Wheeler, K. ,

1983, p.9/10 ). A popular maker of film propaganda was Frank Capra, who won an Academy Award for

best documentary, which was the first of a series of war documentaries he made under commission of

the U.S. Military ( Navarro, n.d.). Wartime propaganda was so effective US Civilians actually wrote

to soldiers asking for what they have heard of as being called 'war trophies', another way Americans

dehumanized the Japanese people.

Many acts that took place during World War II violated human rights, but non more so than the

act of trophy taking. Historians have attributed the phenomenon of trophy taking to a campaign of

dehumanization of Japanese in the US Media ( Wikipedia , n.d.). Teeth, ears and skulls were the most

popular war trophies taken, soldiers would fashion them into belts, pencil holders or anything else they

could think of. Eugene Sledge relates a few stories of fellow marines extracting gold teeth from the

Japanese. Including one from a soldier who was still alive ( Wikipedia, n.d.). By September 1942, the

taking of war trophies had become so widespread and controversial that the Commander in Chief of the

Pacific Fleet ordered no more souvenirs to be taken from dead Japanese soldiers, this order was only

partially effective in stopping the practice (Wikipedia, n.d.). A lot of trophy taking did continue as did

the brutality towards enemy soldiers. Some writers and veterans state that the trophy and souvenir

taking of body parts was a side effect of the brutalizing effects of a harsh campaign ( Wikipedia, n.d.).

On March 4, 1943, during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, General George Kenney ordered Allied patrol

boats and aircraft to attack Japanese rescue vessels, as well as all the survivors from the sunken vessels


3/4


on life rafts and swimming or floating in the sea. This was later justified on the grounds that rescued

servicemen would have been rapidly landed at their military destination and promptly returned to active

service (Wikipedia, n.d.). Considering the amount of training given to US soldiers and the massive

amount of propaganda heard on a daily basis, you can understand why prejudice against the Japanese

people persists.

The massive amount of trophy taking during the war has resulted in continued discoveries of

trophy skulls from dead Japanese in American possession (Wikipedia, n.d.). In Holden, Maine a man

named Ralph McLeod was in possession of a trophy skull of a dead Japanese women. He had been

holding on to this skull for five years attempting to have it returned to Japan. It is believed by experts

that this is the skull of a young women that was brought back by an American soldier as a war souvenir

(Ricker, N. 2010). After the war some Japanese Americans were able to reclaim their homes but others

were not able to because as described in the novel, snow falling on cedars by David Guterson, their old

neighbours or friends weren't willing to return their properties to them. Snow falling on cedars

demonstrates how people still hold grudges against the Japanese people from the war, which is due

mostly to the very effective use of propaganda that the US government used during the war. The

words and images left by propaganda remain in a nation's collective memory (Navarro, n.d.).

There were many methods used by the US government to curtail the assumed danger presented

by the Japanese people. Some of these measures were in direct violation of human rights, but due to

the massive amounts of fear in the nation the US government deemed these measures to be necessary.

The measures used in country were concentration (or internment) camps and propaganda that socially

and physically isolated the Japanese people during the war. Soldiers in the war were so effected by

their training and nation's propaganda that they began taking war trophies (souvenirs from Japanese


4/4


soldiers) some of which were taken while the Japanese soldier was still alive. There are many

examples and instances in the book Snow Falling On Cedars showing how people were and can still be

hateful towards people of Japanese descent. This is mainly because the methods used by the US

government and media were so effective in inspiring people to be patriotic, that today there are some

people who still hold a grudge towards Japanese people.

key question american dehuminization of japanese people during and after world war 2

Documents