Japanese Americans Who Resisted Internment During WWII

The First and Second World Wars had immeasurable consequences when it came to how militaries waged war, the geographic locations that could be impacted by conflict, and how soldiers and civilians got treated on the battlefield and in internment camps. Of course, when most people hear the term "internment camp," their mind immediately races to WWII and the German camps where political prisoners, Jews, Roma, and the handicapped faced imprisonment and selective extermination. But mass incarceration of populations has a much longer history, according to the International Encyclopedia of the First World War. 

From 1914 to 1919, more than 30,000 enemy aliens faced imprisonment in and deportation from the British Isles, their only crime being their country of origin. And Europe saw the imprisonment of 400,000 enemy aliens with everyone getting into the mix, including neutral nations like the Netherlands. Forcing ethnicities into concentrated masses during wartime has deep historical roots, exemplified by the reconcentrado system employed in Cuba by the Spanish during the 1890s and the reservation system spearheaded by the United States through the 1851 Indian Appropriations Act (via History). 

Conditions varied wildly at these locations, from the relatively humane treatment of German-born Brits at Knockaloe Farms to the starvation conditions on Montana's Blackfoot reservation during the winter of 1884, per Smithsonian Magazine. Sadly, Japanese Americans experienced internment during WWII, but a brave few resisted these camps, which were just one of the messed up things that happened during the war. Keep reading to learn more about those who fought against forced relocation and incarceration imposed by Executive Order 9066.

Minoru Yasui was born in Hood River, Oregon, to Japanese immigrants, and he graduated from the University of Oregon School of Law (via the Oregon Encyclopedia). He passed the Bar in Oregon and served as a second lieutenant in the US Army Infantry Reserve. After relocating to Chicago, he worked in the Japanese Consulate until Pearl Harbor. Following the attack, Yasui immediately resigned, returning to Oregon to prepare for active duty, per the Densho Encyclopedia.

But instead of military service, he faced restrictive curfews and relocation to a concentration camp. He opposed these measures, placing his personal liberty and professional career on the line. The government justified these actions with racist logic: "Japanese racial characteristics naturally promoted [Japanese Americans] to be loyal to Japan and to betray the United States, regardless of their citizenship." Nevertheless, Yasui recognized this unconstitutional discrimination for what it was, and he knew a legal challenge must follow. He purposely violated curfew, strolling the streets of Portland on March 28, 1942. A criminal offense on the federal level, Yasui paid dearly for his actions.

He received a sentence of one year in prison and a $5,000 fine (the equivalent of $89,661.35 in 2022). Appealing the case, Yasui faced nine months in solitary confinement. By 1943, his case reached the Supreme Court, where the justices ruled he could not lose his American citizenship, but they argued the rights associated with American citizenship could be suspended during wartime. 

Born in Sacramento, California, Mitsuye Endo was the daughter of Japanese American immigrants. Even though things weren't easy for women during the war, things were even worse for women facing internment. She would embark on one of the most successful legal resistances against Japanese American internment, as reported by the Densho Encyclopedia. Her case proved historic, eventually leading to the closure of concentration camps and the return of Japanese Americans to the West Coast in 1945, per The Washington Post.

Endo's struggle began after she, along with 300 to 500 Japanese American employees, were summarily dismissed by the California Department of Employment following Pearl Harbor. Of the hundreds of individuals who lost their jobs, Endo was one of 63 who publicly decried the injustice. The 63 turned to the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) and lawyer James C. Purcell for help.

Legal remedies take time, and Endo ended up in a concentration camp at Tule Lake. Then Purcell contacted her for participation in a test case. He chose her for three reasons. First, she'd never been to Japan. Second, her brother served in the military, and, third, she was a Methodist. Although the two never met in person, Purcell got her to agree, albeit reluctantly, to participate in the legal action. Years later, in an interview with John Tateishi, she explained, "I agreed to do it at that moment, because they said it's for the good of everybody, and so I said, well if that's it, I'll go ahead and do it."

Like the story of Mary Asaba Ventura, Theresa Takayoshi's experience during World War II illustrated the confusion surrounding Executive Order 9066. The policy represented both a muddied and muddled attempt at addressing the enemy alien threat, per Greg Robinson's "The Unsung Great: Stories of Extraordinary Japanese Americans."

Takayoshi was the daughter of a mixed-race Irish and Japanese couple, which made her fate uncertain. After petitioning the Western Defense Command, she received attention from the right place. The President's wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, got word of Takayoshi's plight and wrote a letter in favor of her petition. The army provided her with an exemption so she didn't have to relocate to a camp for incarceration, but this proved a bittersweet victory.

You see, Takayoshi was married to a Japanese American man with whom she had two small kids. Despite her granted request, the military ruled her husband and children had to relocate to a camp. No exemptions would be made because the army feared letting the Takayoshis free might set a bad precedent for other Japanese Americans. Rather than face a life without her family, she willingly abandoned her freedom following them to the Minidoka relocation camp in the Northwest.

Lincoln Seiichi Kanai was born in Koloa, Hawaii, and worked as a social worker with the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), according to the Densho Enyclopedia. His interconnection with the local community made him a natural advocate for Japanese Americans in the months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. As a critic of Executive Order 9066, Kanai vigorously opposed the targeting and relocation of Americans of Japanese descent.

Strong convictions motivated him to act although this placed his personal freedom in jeopardy. He refused to leave San Francisco after the evacuation of Japanese Americans was announced with the enactment of Public Law 503. His case never became as well-known as some of the other Japanese Americans who resorted to legal action. Nevertheless, it marked one of only 12 legal challenges to the evacuation order. Kanai's civil disobedience set an important precedent within the Japanese American community. "At a time when community and family pressures forced many Nisei to comport with an overwhelming posture of quiet compliance, Lincoln Kanai boldly faced potential ostracism and intimidation in order to lay claim to his constitutional rights."

In court, he battled against Public Law 503, joined by a handful of other people who also challenged the evacuation order. Not only did they go against the mainstream, but they hoped to use the legal system to secure redress. Instead, officials rewarded Kanai's efforts with a six-month prison sentence.

Kiyoshi Okamoto was a native of Hawaii who completed two years at the University of Hawaii where he studied engineering and chemistry, per Reference. After leaving the university, he worked at a sugar mill as a superintendent before relocating to San Pedro, California, as a soil engineer. He worked on introducing papaya to the "Golden State." In 1929, after the stock market shakeup that ushered in the Great Depression, Okamoto became a high school teacher in Los Angeles where he stayed until 1942. Described by many as a loner, he never married and didn't have any children.

After arriving at Heart Mountain concentration camp in 1942 at the age of 55, Okamoto immediately got to work. He was among the first Japanese Americans to demand redress for the loss of constitutional rights in the wake of Pearl Harbor. He sent countless protest letters where he discussed the deprivation of basic civil liberties that had become the new reality for Japanese Americans.

His efforts didn't prove in vain as he brought national attention to the plight of his community in wartime America. But his advocacy didn't end there. He also actively fought for due process while opposing corruption in concentration camps. Starting in 1943, he organized resistance to the Selective Training and Service Act, which involved the conscription of men being held in concentration camps. Okamoto would end up serving time in Leavenworth before having his sentence overturned in 1946 on appeal. 

After spending the first two decades of his life in Hawaii, Joseph Yoshisuke Kurihara moved to San Francisco. There, he enlisted in the United States Army and served overseas in France during World War I (via the Densho Encyclopedia). After the end of the Great War, he moved to Los Angeles where he lived and worked until the passage of Executive Order 9066, which turned his life upside down. Soon, Kurihara found himself at the concentration camp in Manzanar.

Although stomaching incarceration was hard enough on Kurihara, he would be thoroughly disgusted by the actions of his fellow Japanese Americans. After meeting Mike Masaoka, he learned that the field secretary of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) was actually cooperating with the government in its incarceration of members of their community. Concluding they were "a bunch of spineless Americans," Kurihara determined to find these so-called community leaders and oppose them. This led to violence at Manzanar and his relocation to an isolation camp in Moab.

How history sees Joseph Yoshisuke Kurihara reputation remains a mixed bag. Painted both as a hero and villain, he asked for redress from the American government for unjust treatment starting in 1943. Embittered by his experience, he relocated to Japan after the war ironically working as a translator and interpreter for the US military.