Browse > Theme > Individual versus society
31 articles
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Two Homelands (book)
- Books
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Historical Fiction
- Death – inevitable or tragedy, Emptiness of attaining a false dream, Evils of racism, Family – blessing or curse, Heroism – real and perceived, Individual versus society, Nationalism – complications, Patriotism – positive side or complications, Vulnerability of the strong
- Widely available
Epic three volume novel by best-selling Japanese novelist Toyoko Yamasaki that centers on the identity dilemmas of a Kibei man during and immediately after World War II. Published in Japan in 1983, it was adapted into a popular Japanese television drama the following year. Alarmed by reports that the novel/TV show portrayed Japanese Americans as having split loyalties, Japanese American leaders succeeded in preventing the TV drama from being shown in the continental U.S. In 2007, the University of Hawai'i Press published an English language translation by V. Dixon Morris under the title Two Homelands .
Two Nails, One Love (book)
- Books
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Fiction, Gay and Lesbian
- Communication – verbal and nonverbal, Family – blessing or curse, Individual versus society, Power of the past
- Widely available
Short novel told in the first-person voice of Ethan Taniguchi, a Sansei musician living in New York City in the year 2000, centering on the visit of his estranged mother from Hawai'i. Throughout his life—but particularly after the death of his beloved father—Ethan has felt distant from his mother, whom he feels is too bound by arcane Japanese tradition and who hasn't supported his being gay and his pursuing a career as a musician. But learning the details of her wartime incarceration story—her father had been interned and their family had been deported to Japan on the M.S. Gripsholm as part of a civilian exchange—and her quest for reparations via the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 changes the dynamic between them.
The Untold Story of Ralph Carr and the Japanese: The Fate of 3 Japanese-Americans and the Internment (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary, History
- Heroism – real and perceived, Individual versus society, Injustice, Rights - individual or societal
- Available
Japanese-produced documentary film on Colorado Governor Ralph Carr and his embrace of Japanese Americans during World War II, along with the experiences of three Japanese Americans affected in different ways by his stance.
When National Security Trumps Individual Rights (curricula)
- Curricula
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
- Individual versus society, Injustice, Patriotism - positive side or complications, Power of the past, Rights - individual or societal, War - glory, necessity, pain tragedy
- Widely available
This lesson prompts students to think about the balance of civil liberties and national security during times of national crisis by considering the Supreme Court case of Korematsu v. United States (1944). Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu fought against the mass removal of Japanese Americans during World War II by refusing to report to the Tanforan Assembly Center in 1942. He challenged his felony conviction on constitutional grounds, and the case was appealed to the Supreme Court where he lost in a 6-3 decision. In 1983, this conviction was vacated after information surfaced proving that the government had originally withheld critical evidence.
A Brother Is a Stranger (book)
- Books
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Memoir
- Change versus tradition, Desire to escape, Family – blessing or curse, Immigrant experience, Individual versus society, Nationalism – complications, Power of tradition
- Available
Memoir of a young Japanese immigrant/refugee Christian about his upbringing and travails in Japan, his journey to the U.S. and his wartime internment, and his postwar observations in Japan. Published in 1946 by the John Day Company, it was among the first books by a Japanese American to appear after the war.
No-No Boy (book)
- Books
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Historical Fiction
- Convention and rebellion, Family – blessing or curse, Heroism – real and perceived, Individual versus society, Patriotism – positive side or complications
- Widely available
In 1956, Nisei writer John Okada wrote No-No Boy , a novel that explored the predicament of a Japanese American World War II conscientious objector, having served time in prison for refusing to serve in the military, who returns home only to face the consequences of his decision. Upon arriving in his former neighborhood, he is met with hostility and despair. He discovers that his mother delusionally believes that Japan has won the war, and his younger brother—ashamed of Ichiro's decision to refuse the draft—abruptly quits high school to join the army himself. In the course of the novel, Ichiro's inner conflict grows to reflect the racial tension and residual anguish following the war and his individual guilt represents the conflict of the country at large.
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