When we think of the Executive Order 9066 which was signed on February 19, 1942 by FDR, we think of the people of Japanese ancestry who were forcibly removed from their homes in America's West Coast and sent inland into the so-called "Relocation Centers." When we think of the "West Coast," we normally think of only the Pacific Coast of the continental United States, from Washington down to California. We really don't include Hawaii which is farther west, and we don't think of Alaska either, which is also farther west than any of the three Pacific Coast states in the Lower 48.
Another thing that we don't think about is the fact that Washington, Oregon, and California were not the only states that were affected by the Executive Order 9066. States such as Arizona and Nevada, and some other states west of Mississippi were also affected and its population of Japanese ancestry people were removed from their homes and sent to Relocation Centers. Hawaii, despite its very high percentage of people of Japanese ancestry, still had a small number of Japanese, I believe about 200, who were held in a Relocation Center in Hawaii, then moved to the Continental United States. Alaska, as strange as it may seem, did also have a small population of its residents who were of Japanese ancestry, and they too were removed from their homes and moved to a temporary "camp" at what was then Fort Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. Today that military installation is known as Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, which is shared by the U.S. Air Forces and U.S. Army. After a short stay at the temporary camp at Fort Richardson, these people were moved to the Lower 48, mostly to an isolated camp in Idaho. There were, in total, about 200 Alaskans who were classified as being of Japanese ancestry who were subjected to this terrible, cruel treatment.
In 1907, Shonosuke Tanaka moved to Juneau, Alaska from the lower 48. Tanaka was not a farmer, so he did not want to work in the fields in Hawaii or the West Coast. Instead, he came to Juneau, Alaska and opened a café/diner called the City Café. It became a very popular place for all the locals and Tanaka and his growing family ran the popular and successful business until that fateful day in 1942 when they were all forcibly removed from Juneau and put in a camp at Fort Richardson. There they stayed with other families of Japanese ancestry until they were all scattered once more to camps in the Lower 48.
The extreme, draconian nature of the Executive Order 9066 was that anyone who was at least 1/16th Japanese was subject to this law! This essentially guaranteed that anyone with a Japanese surname would be put in a "Relocation Center" as these concentration camps were euphemistically called by the government. It meant that someone who's great, great, grand parent was Japanese was subject to this law! Just think about it! The popular Hollywood actor Richard Gere is 1/4th Japanese (his grandmother is Japanese) and he would have been subject to this law! It did not matter whether you physically looked Asian or not, if you had a Japanese surname or were known to be at least 1/16th Japanese, then you were subject to removal to a "Relocation Center." Caucasian or non-Japanese women who were married to Japanese and had a Japanese surname were subject to this law. Caucasian wives of Japanese were encouraged to drop the Japanese name to keep from going to these camps. Some did drop their Japanese married name and stayed out of the camps. A few refused to change their name and followed their husbands to the camps. Other non-Japanese wives of Japanese who were Asian, were not given that option.
In Alaska, there were native Alaskans with Japanese surnames, just as there were and still are many with Russian surnames. That is because of Alaska's closeness to both Russian Siberia and Japan. Besides, Alaska was Russian territory at one time. Japanese fishing vessels often came to Alaska even in the 19th Century, and as is often the case, some Japanese sailors/fishermen stayed behind and fathered children by marrying native women. These descendants all had Japanese surnames but were no more Japanese than those natives with Russian or English surnames. Yet, because of this incredibly cruel law, Executive Order 9066, many of these Alaskan natives were rounded up and sent to Relocation Center! The stupidity of this law and those who administered it is absolutely mind numbing!
At the conclusion of World War Two, the Alaskans who were incarcerated in the Relocation Centers in Lower 48 returned home. Unlike what happened to the Japanese who returned to California and other West Coast locations, the Alaskans did not lose their property and were not treated like outcasts. The Tanaka's were welcomed back to Juneau and their City Café remained intact and once more opened for business. The Alaskans, it seems, had a much better sense of fairness and loyalty to their former residents than those in the Lower 48! In California, for example, many Japanese returned to their former homes only to find their homes and businesses had been confiscated or simply commandeered by non-Japanese squatters, so they had to move on and start all over! There was still a lot of animosity directed at people of Japanese ancestry for several years after the end of the war. When I was with academia in the 1970s, I had a good friend, a fellow academic who was a Japanese American and who started college in 1945. He told me that in order to be accepted to University of California with a Japanese name, you had to have better grades, much better grades than what was required for admission for others! Many changed their names to avoid discrimination. A popular Hollywood comedian and actor Jack Soo was really born Jack Suzuki, but changed his name to Chinese so that he could get bookings as a standup comedian during and right after the war! Jack lived in Chicago where he was not subject to relocation!
This ugly past in our history should not be forgotten or ignored. It is easy to forget that such things could take place, since this happened over half a century ago. But despite all the advances in equality in our country, keep in mind that all it takes is just some act or incident to trigger panic and hatred which can cause the creation of another Executive Order 9066, perhaps not directed at Japanese, but another ethnic or racial group.
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