11 15 16 Film Rabbit in the Moon PDF

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notes on film Rabbit in the Moon; watched during class...

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Next lecture: Chinese confession program 1950s Paper son Study Guide #13: Film: Rabbit in the Moon ● Japanese-Americans were put into internment camps during WWII because they were seen as a threat (spy) to the US ● Issei (the father)- born in Japan and immigrated to America ● Kibei (the mother)- born in America, but went back to Japan to be educated ● Nissei (the children)- second generation, born in America Camp Days ● Had a curfew so limited to do a lot of things ● “A relocation center for the Japanese-Americans, not internment camps” ● WRA: ○ Super dusty environment ○ Lived in barracks and used hay as a bed ○ One doctor and no nurses ○ No running water and electric power off ○ Coldest winters → Take showers outside and had to walk back to barracks ● Didn’t have to live with families → emotional disconnection from the family ● Had to pay rent in live in camps ● School: no books and school materials; shut down to harvest potatoes ● There were some Indians in the camps too ● Anyone with 1/16 blood of Japanese had to go to the camps ● Issei more powerless, Nissei rose ● JACL = considered to “traitors”; org of Japanese-American citizens; excluded Issei; distant themselves from family; ● Ernest Besig = ● Petition to the US President that the Japanese-American were willing to be put to the camps ● Who represented the Japanese-Americans? ○ JACL threw out the other org runned by Issei ○ JACL last surviving org. → came to presented the JA, but many people were not happy → protest ● Kibei were considered “too Japanese” → not American enough ● Harry Ueno = Manzanar kitchen worker who was accused of stealing meat and sugar and selling it in black market; uncovered the missing sugar case; accused of beating a JACL leader and jailed in Manzanar ● Loyalty grading sheets = (EX: Christian → 2+, spoke and read only Japanese → 2-, etc.) ● 2 questions: Yes/No. 27. Will you be willing to serve the US army? 28. Will you pledge allegiance to the US and to give up allegiance to the Emperor of Japan? ● Mother educated in Japan → put herself last

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ACLU = came to help to Japanese who were detained in stockade Omori had an interracial marriage → cut herself from Japanese ties

Who is Chizuko Omori in this film Rabbit in the Moon? - A girl who experienced the camp What is Emiko and Chizuko Omori’s mother’s story? For example, what happened to their mother in this video? At the end of the film? - Went to camp and died at the age of 34 What does this film have to say about pre-war life (Hawai’i and CA) and Japanese American history (social-economic mobilities in agriculture, second-generation Nisei youth and acculturation in US, etc.), and then, what happened to the Omori family at the start of WWII? After WWII? - Lived happily before the camp Issei, Nisei and Kibei issues and Second-Generation Dilemmas (see CHAN Chapter 6, p.112 ff, remember Milton Muryama book on similar concerns) Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941: What happened at this place, date? According to Chan and film, what does it say were similarities and differences for Japanese Americans in Hawai’i vs. in California/West coast during Internment period/WWII period? President Roosevelt, General John DeWitt: What was the Executive Order 9066? In film, note the anti-Asian hysteria/racism, the ways stereotypes appear: “enemy aliens”, “national security” issues, “Fifth Column” spy concerns about the Japanese in film and in Chan Chap. 6. WRA (War Relocation Authority) and Military zones: What types of issues come up in different assembly and relocation centers: For example, in Manzanar and Tule Lake, CA? Poston, AZ? And Heart Mountain Wyoming are mentioned in Omori film and Chapter 7? How is life in camps described in video and in Chan chapters 6 and film: What were the social and political differences/tensions/dilemmas for Japanese issei and Japanese American nisei? Consider the: a. strikes/demonstrations in different camps b. Nisei-draft service into military, the concerns of Nisei going to war c. civil rights/constitutional issues: curfew, evacuation and internment challenges d. repatriation to Japan/renunciation of U.S. citizen issues: what was this about? In the film, what were the kinds of tensions or different factions among Japanese Americans, the different organizations within camps? For example, the JACL (Nisei) vs issei/kibei constituencies in camps? (Film, Chan Chapter 6, 117-118, optional but can be helpful in

understanding factions: Chan Chapter 7) Film mentions: Fairplay Committee/Heart Mountain Frank Emi James Omura, ed. Rocky Shimpo Harry Ueno/James Ito/Manzanar Ernest Besig, ACLU/civil rights/consitutional challenges 100th Infantry Battaliion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team, one of the most decorated units during WWII Who are the No-No Boys /Disloyals at Tule Lake? [No-No boys were also linked to the LA Zoot Suit period that I talked about earlier.] What was such a huge dilemma in the Loyalty Questionnaire, esp. Questions 27-28 mentioned in the film? What is the notion mentioned in the film about Japanese Americans as “hostages” held by the U.S. in exchange for U.S. war prisoners held by the Japanese? What was return to CA like for Japanese Americans after the war? For the Omori family? Parents? What is the end mention of goldfish about at end of the video?...