Plot
On the first weekend of December 1941, the news that the Japanese has bombed Pearl Harbor reaches the family of Jeanne Wakatsuki when they are at the wharf watching her father's sardine fleet heading out to the sea at San Pedro Harbor in California. Chizu, Jeanne's sister in-law asks Mama, "What is Pearl Harbor ?". Mama doesn't know neither. That night, Papa burns his Japanese flag and any documents that connect him with Japan because he is afraid that he is a non-citizen and FBI has begun to arrest Japanese people as potential treats to the U.S. Two weeks later, Papa is arrested by the FBI and the family is unable to find out where he has been taken. Mama has to move her family to the Japanese immigrant ghetto on Terminal Island. Jeanne is scared of this new place because she is surrounded by Japanese people. She gets tease because she cannot speak Japanese, and her brother Kiyo and she have to avoid ambushes after school from rough kids. After two months at Terminal Island, the Wakatsuki family has to move again to Boyle Heights in downtown Los Angeles.
President Roosevelt signs the Executive Order 9066 in February 1942, which allows the War Department to relocate anyone who may treat the national security. All Japanese are waiting to be relocated. Mama receives a letter from Papa who is being held at Ford Lincoln, North Dakota. Many Japanese accept the move because of fear from the Caucasian hatred toward them, or simply see it as an adventure. They comfort themselves with the phrase "shikata ga nai" which means "it cannot be helped" and "it must be done". The Wakatsuki family receives the order to move to Manzanar relocation camp in the desert 225 miles from Los Angeles.The Spanish word manzanar means "apple orchard".
The living conditions at Manzanar camp are real bad. The camp is an unfinished barracks with dust and wind blow everywhere. People are cramped into tight quarters divided by blankets, and sleep on steel army cots with mattress covers stuffed with straws. There are not enough blankets and warm clothes so many people get sick. Food is badly prepared and camp toilets are not partitioned so lack of privacy and cleanliness are big issues for Mama. With her eyes blazed and her voice quietly furious, Mama said, "Woody, we can't live like this. Animals live like this".
The Wakatsuki family tries to adjust to the life and condition of the camp by working together and with other campers to survive. After a few weeks in the camp, the Wakatsuki family stops eating together and begins to disintegrate. Jeanne starts to take an interest in other people in camp, and in Catholicism. One day, Jeanne suffers sunstroke when walking home in the hot sun while imagining herself a suffering saint.
"When your mother and your father are having a fight, do you want them to kill each other? Or do you just want them to stop fighting?”. That is Papa’s final
question to the interrogator at Fort Lincoln. It explains the difficult situation into which the war between the United States and Japan thru Japanese-American Issei.
Just before Jeanne's sunstroke incident, Papa returns to Manzanar after a year at Fort Lincoln detention camp. While he and the family look at each other in silence, Jeanne welcomes him. She always admires her father. But her father changes a lot. He becomes violent and drinks heavily. He almost hits his wife with his cane before Kiyo, Jeanne's brother, punches him in the face.
The frustration of living situation in the camp along with the sense of helplessness and rage are built up and eventually break out. It results in the December Riot, which takes place one year after the Pear Harbor attack. The rioters and the military police clash and kill two Japaneses and wound ten others. The mess hall bells ring all night and do not stop until noon the next day. At the night of the riot, Kaz, Jeanne's brother-in-law got questions by the military police about his protecting role in the reservoir.
In February, the conditions get worse when the government require everyone over seventeen swear a Loyalty Oath to distinguish loyal Japanese from potential enemies. Answer "no" to the loyalty questions will result to deportation. Answer "yes" results in being draft to the US. military. Papa emerges from his five-month isolation to argue about this. Both he and Woody answer "yes". Papa attacks a man for calling him an inu (means both "dog" and "traitor" in Japanese). That night, Jeanne overhears Papa singing the Japanese national anthem "Kimi ga yo" which speaks of the endurance of stones.
Camp life calms down after the riot. The Wakatsuki moves to a nicer barrack near an old pear orchard where Papa tends the fruit trees. Manzanar begins to look like a typical American town with its own churches, stores, movie theaters, and schools. Residents can take short trips outside the camp and Jeanne's oldest brother, Bill, leads a dance band called the Jive Bombers. Jeanne starts to explore the world inside the camp. She tries out different Japanese and American hobbies before settling on baton twirling. She also returns to her religious studies and longs to be baptized. Papa gets angry and refuses her wish. She decides to hate Papa and distances herself from him. Her parents become closer than ever after the birth of their grandchild.
By the end of 1944, the number of people staying at Manzanar get smaller. Men are drafted, and families are allowed to relocate away from the west coast. Despite Papa's protest, Woody leaves in November to join the famous all-Nisei 442nd Combat Regiment.
In December 1944, the Supreme Court rules that the camps are illegal. The War department must prepare to close all camps. Fear for their future, homeless, jobless, and without property, the remaining residents of Manzanar postpone their departure but eventually are ordered to leave. On August 6, 1945, the United States drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, ending the war. In October 1945, being ordered to leave the camp and deciding to leave in style, Papa buys an old blue sedan to take his family back to Long Beach.
Woody visits Papa's family who lives outside of Hiroshima nearly a year after the atomic bomb is drop, and meets Toyo, his great aunt. Woody finally understand his father's pride.
In Long Beach, the Wakatsukis move into a public housing project called Cabrillo Homes. They see little sign of public hatred. On the first day of 6th grade, a
girl named Radine from Jeanne's class is amazed at Jeanne's ability to speak English. It makes Jeanne realizes that prejudice is not always open and direct.
Jeanne said in her book, "I smiled and sat down, suddenly aware of what being of Japanese ancestry was going to be like. I wouldn’t be faced with physical attack, or with overt shows of hatred. Rather, I would be seen as someone foreign, or as someone other than American, or perhaps not be seen at all". Having a Japanese face will not cause people to attack her but will simply make people see her as foreign. Despite that, she becomes close friend with Radine who lives in the same housing project. They share the same activities and tastes but unspoken prejudice keeps Jeanne from some social and extracurricular activies. Jeanne also learns that her sexuality is a tool she can use to gain acceptance to certain activities. Jeanne retreats into herself and almost drops out of school. She loses respect for Papa because if his continual heavy drinking and refuse to comfort to American ways. He wants her to become more Japanese.
In 1951, Jeanne tries school again when her family moves to Santa Clara Valley outside of San Jose to take up berry farming. The homeroom nominates her to be carnival queen. On the election day, Jeanne dresses in an exotic sarong with her hair down and a flower behind her ear. The applauses and cheers indicate that she wins, but the teachers are trying to stuff the ballot box to prevent her from winning. Her friend, Leonard Rodriguez, uncovers the plot and ensures her victory. Papa is angry that she wins because he thinks that she uses her sexuality to entice the white boys. He forces her to take Japanese dance lessons, but she quit soon. As a compromise, Jeanne wears a conservative dress to the coronation ceremony. The crowds begin to murmur. Jeanne realizes that neither the exotic sarong nor the conservative dress represents her true-self. She wonders who she really is.
Jeanne is the first of her family to graduate from college and the first to marry a non-Japanese person. Her family rarely talks about Manzanar camp as most Japanese which makes Jeanne wonders if she imagines the whole thing. Much later in life, in April 1972, Jeanne revisits Manzanar with her husband and three children. Overcome fear, doubts, and painful memories, Jeanne needs to remind herself that the place exits and not in her imagination. Walking thru the ruins, the sights and sounds of the camp come back to her. She remembers her father driving crazily thru camp before leaving with his family, and finally understands his stubborn pride. Seeing her 11 years old daughter, who is the same age as Jeanne was when the camp closed. She realizes that her life really began at the camp, just as Papa's life ended there.
President Roosevelt signs the Executive Order 9066 in February 1942, which allows the War Department to relocate anyone who may treat the national security. All Japanese are waiting to be relocated. Mama receives a letter from Papa who is being held at Ford Lincoln, North Dakota. Many Japanese accept the move because of fear from the Caucasian hatred toward them, or simply see it as an adventure. They comfort themselves with the phrase "shikata ga nai" which means "it cannot be helped" and "it must be done". The Wakatsuki family receives the order to move to Manzanar relocation camp in the desert 225 miles from Los Angeles.The Spanish word manzanar means "apple orchard".
The living conditions at Manzanar camp are real bad. The camp is an unfinished barracks with dust and wind blow everywhere. People are cramped into tight quarters divided by blankets, and sleep on steel army cots with mattress covers stuffed with straws. There are not enough blankets and warm clothes so many people get sick. Food is badly prepared and camp toilets are not partitioned so lack of privacy and cleanliness are big issues for Mama. With her eyes blazed and her voice quietly furious, Mama said, "Woody, we can't live like this. Animals live like this".
The Wakatsuki family tries to adjust to the life and condition of the camp by working together and with other campers to survive. After a few weeks in the camp, the Wakatsuki family stops eating together and begins to disintegrate. Jeanne starts to take an interest in other people in camp, and in Catholicism. One day, Jeanne suffers sunstroke when walking home in the hot sun while imagining herself a suffering saint.
"When your mother and your father are having a fight, do you want them to kill each other? Or do you just want them to stop fighting?”. That is Papa’s final
question to the interrogator at Fort Lincoln. It explains the difficult situation into which the war between the United States and Japan thru Japanese-American Issei.
Just before Jeanne's sunstroke incident, Papa returns to Manzanar after a year at Fort Lincoln detention camp. While he and the family look at each other in silence, Jeanne welcomes him. She always admires her father. But her father changes a lot. He becomes violent and drinks heavily. He almost hits his wife with his cane before Kiyo, Jeanne's brother, punches him in the face.
The frustration of living situation in the camp along with the sense of helplessness and rage are built up and eventually break out. It results in the December Riot, which takes place one year after the Pear Harbor attack. The rioters and the military police clash and kill two Japaneses and wound ten others. The mess hall bells ring all night and do not stop until noon the next day. At the night of the riot, Kaz, Jeanne's brother-in-law got questions by the military police about his protecting role in the reservoir.
In February, the conditions get worse when the government require everyone over seventeen swear a Loyalty Oath to distinguish loyal Japanese from potential enemies. Answer "no" to the loyalty questions will result to deportation. Answer "yes" results in being draft to the US. military. Papa emerges from his five-month isolation to argue about this. Both he and Woody answer "yes". Papa attacks a man for calling him an inu (means both "dog" and "traitor" in Japanese). That night, Jeanne overhears Papa singing the Japanese national anthem "Kimi ga yo" which speaks of the endurance of stones.
Camp life calms down after the riot. The Wakatsuki moves to a nicer barrack near an old pear orchard where Papa tends the fruit trees. Manzanar begins to look like a typical American town with its own churches, stores, movie theaters, and schools. Residents can take short trips outside the camp and Jeanne's oldest brother, Bill, leads a dance band called the Jive Bombers. Jeanne starts to explore the world inside the camp. She tries out different Japanese and American hobbies before settling on baton twirling. She also returns to her religious studies and longs to be baptized. Papa gets angry and refuses her wish. She decides to hate Papa and distances herself from him. Her parents become closer than ever after the birth of their grandchild.
By the end of 1944, the number of people staying at Manzanar get smaller. Men are drafted, and families are allowed to relocate away from the west coast. Despite Papa's protest, Woody leaves in November to join the famous all-Nisei 442nd Combat Regiment.
In December 1944, the Supreme Court rules that the camps are illegal. The War department must prepare to close all camps. Fear for their future, homeless, jobless, and without property, the remaining residents of Manzanar postpone their departure but eventually are ordered to leave. On August 6, 1945, the United States drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, ending the war. In October 1945, being ordered to leave the camp and deciding to leave in style, Papa buys an old blue sedan to take his family back to Long Beach.
Woody visits Papa's family who lives outside of Hiroshima nearly a year after the atomic bomb is drop, and meets Toyo, his great aunt. Woody finally understand his father's pride.
In Long Beach, the Wakatsukis move into a public housing project called Cabrillo Homes. They see little sign of public hatred. On the first day of 6th grade, a
girl named Radine from Jeanne's class is amazed at Jeanne's ability to speak English. It makes Jeanne realizes that prejudice is not always open and direct.
Jeanne said in her book, "I smiled and sat down, suddenly aware of what being of Japanese ancestry was going to be like. I wouldn’t be faced with physical attack, or with overt shows of hatred. Rather, I would be seen as someone foreign, or as someone other than American, or perhaps not be seen at all". Having a Japanese face will not cause people to attack her but will simply make people see her as foreign. Despite that, she becomes close friend with Radine who lives in the same housing project. They share the same activities and tastes but unspoken prejudice keeps Jeanne from some social and extracurricular activies. Jeanne also learns that her sexuality is a tool she can use to gain acceptance to certain activities. Jeanne retreats into herself and almost drops out of school. She loses respect for Papa because if his continual heavy drinking and refuse to comfort to American ways. He wants her to become more Japanese.
In 1951, Jeanne tries school again when her family moves to Santa Clara Valley outside of San Jose to take up berry farming. The homeroom nominates her to be carnival queen. On the election day, Jeanne dresses in an exotic sarong with her hair down and a flower behind her ear. The applauses and cheers indicate that she wins, but the teachers are trying to stuff the ballot box to prevent her from winning. Her friend, Leonard Rodriguez, uncovers the plot and ensures her victory. Papa is angry that she wins because he thinks that she uses her sexuality to entice the white boys. He forces her to take Japanese dance lessons, but she quit soon. As a compromise, Jeanne wears a conservative dress to the coronation ceremony. The crowds begin to murmur. Jeanne realizes that neither the exotic sarong nor the conservative dress represents her true-self. She wonders who she really is.
Jeanne is the first of her family to graduate from college and the first to marry a non-Japanese person. Her family rarely talks about Manzanar camp as most Japanese which makes Jeanne wonders if she imagines the whole thing. Much later in life, in April 1972, Jeanne revisits Manzanar with her husband and three children. Overcome fear, doubts, and painful memories, Jeanne needs to remind herself that the place exits and not in her imagination. Walking thru the ruins, the sights and sounds of the camp come back to her. She remembers her father driving crazily thru camp before leaving with his family, and finally understands his stubborn pride. Seeing her 11 years old daughter, who is the same age as Jeanne was when the camp closed. She realizes that her life really began at the camp, just as Papa's life ended there.