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24 articles

American Pastime (film)

Films and Video
Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
Drama, History, Sport
Widely available

A 2007 feature film directed by Desmond Nakano that is based on true events that occurred at Topaz , an American concentration camp in Utah which held thousands of Japanese Americans during World War II. The film's story focuses on the Nomura family, whose mother and father are both Issei , and their two Nisei children, Lane and Lyle. Following the signing of Executive Order 9066 in February 1942, the Nomuras, along with over 120,000 other Japanese living on the West Coast, are forced into desolate government camps across the country. To boost the morale of the younger inmates and help build a sense of community, Mr. Nomura, who was once a professional baseball player, forms an in-camp league within the concentration camp, in an attempt to to instill some sense of normality into their lives.

American at Heart (film)

Films and Video
Grades 9-12, Adult
Documentary
Heroism - real and perceived, War - glory, necessity, pain, tragedy
No availability

Film that tells the story of the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team through historical footage (including clips from the movie Go for Broke! ), still photographs and interview with many Nisei veterans, their white commanders, and others tied to the story. American at Heart covers the origin of the units in Hawai'i and Washington, DC, basic training in Camps McCoy and Shelby, their experiences in combat in Europe, and their return to the Hawai'i and the continental U.S. after the war. The film also contrasts the experience of Japanese Americans in Hawai'i vs. those on the West Coast, outlining the mass forced removal and incarceration of the latter. Among those interviewed are General Mark Clark , the World War II commander of the Fifth Army and 15th Army Group in Europe, who discusses what he calls "the wrong decision" to send Japanese Americans to "concentration camps" and …

Blue Skies and Thunder: Farm Boy, Pilot, Inventor, TSA Officer, and WWII Soldier of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (book)

Books
Memoir
Coming of age, Death - inevitable or tragedy, Disillusionment and dreams, Displacement, Facing reality, Family - blessing or curse, Injustice, Loss of innocence, Overcoming - fear, weakness, vice, War - glory, necessity, pain, tragedy
Available

Mixed race Nisei shares his story, from a tough childhood growing up on a farm in the Midwest to his experiences in combat with the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion during World War II.

Chikara!: A Sweeping Novel of Japan and America From 1907 to 1983 (book)

Books
Historical Fiction
Change versus tradition, Coming of age, Death - inevitable or tragedy, Disillusionment and dreams, Displacement, Emptiness of attaining a false dream, Evils of racism, Facing reality, Family - blessing or curse, Forgiveness, Greed as downfall, Fate and free will, Heartbreak of betrayal, Heroism - real and perceived, Immigrant experience, Individual versus society, Inner versus outer strength, Lost honor, Lost love, Nationalism - complications, Patriotism - positive side or complications, Power of the past, Will to survive
Available

This work of historical fiction traces the tumultuous rise and fall of the Hoshi family, whose scion, Sataro, takes his wife Itoko and eldest son Noboru to California in 1907 to seek his fortune and restore his family's honor. He leaves his second son Hiroshi behind with family, a decision that marks the inauspicious first step of the tragic transpacific drama that unfolds over the course of the novel.

Children of the Atomic Bomb: An American Physician's Memoirs of Nagasaki, Hiroshima, and the Marshall Islands

Books
Memoir
Available

A Japanese American pediatrician reflects on his lifelong involvement with studying the effects of radiation on children, while also recalling his and his family's experiences during World War II.

The Color of Honor: The Japanese American Soldier in WWII (film)

Films and Video
Grades 9-12, Adult
Documentary
Patriotism - positive side or complications
Available

A 1987 documentary film by Loni Ding that largely focuses on Japanese Americans who served in the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) during World War II. A sequel to Ding's 1983 film Nisei Soldier: Standard Bearer for an Exiled People , the two films were among the first and most influential films on the Nisei soldiers and both were critically acclaimed and widely viewed.

A Flicker in Eternity (film)

Films and Video
Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
Documentary, Short
War - glory, necessity, pain, tragedy, Loss of innocence, Coming of age
Widely available

A short documentary film from 2013 by Sharon Yamato and Ann Kaneko about the experiences of a young Nisei named Stanley Hayami , based on his diary and letters. A Nisei teenager incarcerated with his family during World War II at Heart Mountain , Hayami kept a diary documenting his life and thoughts in camp and subsequently as a member of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team until his death while in combat in Europe just days before Germany surrendered. Filmmakers Yamato and Kaneko tell the story largely in Hayami's own words, voiced by actor Aaron Yoo, as well as those of his older sister Sach, voiced by Amy Hill. The film includes archival photographs and footage and aspiring artist Hayami's own drawings from his diary, often in animated form. The DVD release of the film included interview footage with Hayami family members including Stanley's sister-in-law Miwako Hayami, niece Dawn Hayami, …

Four-Four-Two (book)

Books
Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12
Grades 7-8
Historical fiction
Coming of age, Companionship as salvation, Displacement, Forgiveness, Identity crisis
Available

A popular and confident Nisei boy and his best friend enlist in the all-Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team and are thrown into the horrific reality of combat in Europe.

442: Live with Honor, Die with Dignity (film)

Films and Video
Grades 9-12, Adult
Documentary
Heroism - real and perceived, War - glory, necessity, pain, tragedy, Evils of racism
Limited availability

A 2010 documentary film directed by Japanese filmmaker Junichiro Suzuki that tells the story of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and other Japanese Americans in the U.S. armed forces during World War II. It is the second film in Suzuki's trilogy of films on the Japanese American World War II experience.

Going for Broke (film)

Films and Video
Grades 9-12, Adult
Documentary
War - glory, necessity, pain, tragedy, Heroism - real and perceived
Widely available

Documentary film that provides an overview of Japanese Americans who served in the 100th Infantry Battalion , 442nd Regimental Combat Team , and Military Intelligence Service (MIS) during World War II using archival footage, interviews, and contemporary footage of key wartime locations. The film also includes information on the history of Japanese Americans before the war and the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans and is narrated by George Takei and "hosted" by Daniel Inouye . Going for Broke was produced in 2005 by the Go For Broke Educational Foundation, with funding from Farmers' Insurance. The film's tagline is "They Believed in America, When America No Longer Believed in Them."

Going for Honor, Going for Broke (film)

Films and Video
Grades 9-12, Adult
Documentary
War - glory, necessity, pain, tragedy, Heroism - real and perceived
Limited availability

Short 2006 documentary film that gives an overview of the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team . Produced, written, directed, narrated & edited by George Toshio Johnston, he film was funded by a grant from the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program .

Letters from the 442nd: The World War II Correspondence of a Japanese American Medic (book)

Books
Historical Nonfiction
Communication - verbal and nonverbal, Companionship as salvation, Death - inevitable or tragedy, Displacement, Facing reality, War - glory, necessity, pain, tragedy, Will to survive
Available

Letters sent by a medic in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team serving in Europe to his wife incarcerated at Minidoka concentration camp during World War II.

Most Honorable Son (film)

Films and Video
Grades 9-12, Adult
Documentary, Biography
War - glory, necessity, pain, tragedy, Heroism - real or perceived
Available

Documentary film that profiles Nisei war hero Ben Kuroki , tracing his life from his Nebraska childhood, his fight to be allowed to serve in the military after the attack on Pearl Harbor, his bombing missions over Europe and Japan, and his visits to American concentration camps in which Japanese Americans were held. Kuroki tells much of the story in his own words, which are augmented by many interviews with crew members who flew with him in both Europe and Japan. In addition to archival footage and photographs, the filmmakers also film reenactments of a few key episodes. Among the incidents highlighted are the dramatic raid on the Ploesti oilfields in what is now Romania, one of Kuroki's last missions in Europe; his speech before the Commonweath Club in San Francisco upon his return; and his visit to the Heart Mountain concentration camp of which inmates Eiichi Sakauye, Jack Tono, …

Nisei Soldier: Standard Bearer for an Exiled People (film)

Films and Video
Grades 9-12, Adult
Documentary
Patriotism - positive side or complications, Injustice, Heroism - real or perceived
Limited availability

Influential documentary film by Loni Ding that was the first of many to specifically focus on the story of Japanese Americans who served in the armed forces during World War II.

The Silent Glory (film)

Films and Video
Grades 9-12, Adult
Documentary
War - glory, necessity, pain, tragedy, Heroism - real and perceived
Limited availability

Documentary film on the 442nd Regimental Combat Team . Relying on archival and newsreel footage along with interviews, The Silent Glory begins with the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and the subsequent mass forced removal of West Coast Japanese Americans, continuing with the struggle to restore eligibility to military service for Japanese Americans and the military history of the 442nd, and climaxing with the rescue of the Lost Battalion and the movement to award Congressional Medals of Honor many years later. Among those interviewed are George Katagiri, Kennie Namba, George Oiye , and Al Ouchi, along with Martin Higgins, one of the commanders of the "Lost Battalion." Producer and director Zed Merrill specializes in making films about relatively little known aspects of World War II.

American Heroes: Japanese American World War II Nisei Soldiers and the Congressional Gold Medal (exhibition)

Museum Exhibitions
Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
History
Patriotism - positive side or complications, Heroism - real and perceived
Limited availability

Traveling exhibition developed by the Smithsonian Institution to commemorate the awarding of the Congressional Gold Medal to the 100th Infantry Battalion , 442nd Regimental Combat Team , and Military Intelligence Service in 2011. Created by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service in partnership with National Veterans Network, National Museum of American History, and Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, the exhibition included photo and text panels about the Japanese Americans who served in World War II along with the medal itself.

Beyond the Call of Duty: Honoring the 24 Japanese American Medal of Honor Recipients (exhibition)

Museum Exhibitions
Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
History
Patriotism - positive side or complications, Heroism - real and perceived
Limited availability

2004-05 exhibition on Japanese American recipients of the Medal of Honor , the country's highest military decoration organized by the Japanese American National Museum (JANM). Of the twenty-four Japanese American recipients, twenty-one were honored for their service during World War II. Beyond the Call of Duty was one of eight exhibitions in the Little Rock, Arkansas, area that were part of the Life Interrupted project, a collaboration between JANM and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Three of the exhibitions, all on some aspect of the Japanese American military experience , were displayed at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, the other two being Witness: Our Brothers' Keepers and Undaunted Courage, Proven Loyalty: Japanese American Soldiers in World War II .

Witness: Our Brothers' Keepers (exhibition)

Museum Exhibitions
Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
History
Evils of racism, Patriotism - positive side or complications, War - glory, necessity, pain, tragedy, Heroism - real and perceived
No availability

Exhibition on Japanese Americans and Jewish Americans in the military during World War II and their participation in the liberation of Nazi extermination camps organized by the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) and the National Museum of American Jewish Military History. Witness debuted in on April 20, 1995, in JANM's Legacy Center Gallery to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Dachau. It closed on August 27, 1995. [1]

Undaunted Courage, Proven Loyalty: Japanese American Soldiers in World War II (exhibition)

Museum Exhibitions
Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
History
Heroism - real and perceived, Patriotism - positive side or complications, War - glory, necessity, pain, tragedy
No availability

Exhibition on Japanese Americans in the military during World War II that was organized by the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Public History Program in 2004. Undaunted Courage included the stories of the 100th Infantry Battalion , 442nd Regimental Combat Team , and Military Intelligence Service as well as a kiosk featuring stories of Japanese American veterans collected by the Go For Broke National Education Center. The exhibition was one of eight exhibitions in the Little Rock, Arkansas, area that were part of the Life Interrupted project, a collaboration between the Japanese American National Museum and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Three of the exhibitions, all on some aspect of the Japanese American military experience, were displayed at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, the other two being Beyond the Call of Duty: Honoring the 24 Japanese American Medal of Honor Recipients and Witness: Our Brothers' …

They Call Me Moses Masaoka: An American Saga (book)

Books
Grades 9-12, Adult
Memoir
Patriotism – positive side or complications, Quest for power, Rights - individual or societal
Available

Nisei known primarily for his role as executive secretary of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) during World War II reflects on his life experiences, and declares with confidence that he would make the same choices if he could do it over again.

Fighting for Tomorrow: Japanese Americans in America's Wars (exhibition)

Museum Exhibitions
Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
History
Patriotism - positive side or complications, War - glory, necessity, pain, tragedy, Injustice
Limited availability

Exhibition on Japanese Americans in the American armed forces that debuted at the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) in 1995.

From Barbed Wire to Battlefields: Japanese American Experiences in WWII (exhibition)

Museum Exhibitions
Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
History
Heroism - real and perceived, War - glory, necessity, pain, tragedy, Displacement, Evils of racism
Available

Exhibition on the Japanese American incarceration and on Japanese Americans in the U.S. armed forces during World War II at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana. Barbed Wire to Battlefields opened in the Joe W. and D. D. Brown Foundation Special Exhibit Gallery on March 15, 2014, and ran through October 12, 2014. The exhibition featured the photographs of Dorothea Lange , Ansel Adams , and Bill Mambo along with objects and video interviews. In conjunction with the exhibition, the museum put on a slate of public programs including book events, lectures, and film screenings, and incorporated curricular material and a webinar aimed at school children. The exhibition was funded in part by the Annenberg Foundation and the Eugenie and Joseph Jones Family Foundation. The National World War II Museum opened in New Orleans in 2000 at the National D-Day Museum.

The Nisei: The Pride and the Shame (film)

Films and Video
Grades 9-12, Adult
Adult
Documentary
Injustice, War - glory, pain, necessity, tragedy
Widely available

Documentary film centering on the Japanese American wartime experience that was part of CBS television's weekly The Twentieth Century series. The half-hour episode was the first retrospective documentary on the wartime exclusion and incarceration experience.

A More Perfect Union: Japanese Americans and the U.S. Constitution (exhibition)

Museum Exhibitions
Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
History
Will to survive, Patriotism - positive side or complications, Nationalism - complications, Immigrant experience, Evils of racism
Widely available

In 1987, the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History (NMAH) opened A More Perfect Union: Japanese Americans and the US Constitution (MPU), an exhibition on the World War II Japanese American detention centers designed to coincide with the anniversary of the signing of the Constitution. Though the creation of an exhibition that exemplified a moment of weakness for the Constitution was opposed by some, the exhibition stayed long past its intended term and was replaced with a permanent online version even after its physical removal in 2004.