This Japanese painting is from the National Museum of Asian Art. It represents the true story of two brothers, Soga Sukenari and Soga Tokimune, who spent eighteen years planning to avenge their father’s murder that happened in 1176. In the end, they successfully killed their father’s murderer in 1193. During the attack, the older brother, Sukenari, died in battle, while the younger brother, Tokimune, was captured alive. Their story became a very popular subject in Kabuki theater, and many artists created prints showing actors performing scenes from it. Through the Japan in DC program, I learned that many Japanese artworks are based on historical events, legends, and often depict famous theater performances. This also helped me to understand why stories like this are so important in Japanese culture and how artists used their prints to keep these stories alive. I found this story especially interesting because the characters were memorable. I also really enjoyed learning about their journey and listening to the story from our tour guide, Ru Fan.
On Friday, July 17, we visited the National Museum of Asian Art. We were given a tour of the Japanese art collection. During the tour, I ended up being really surprised by the amount of influence that other cultures had on Japan, and how those influences could be seen just by looking at their art.
To begin the tour, we saw a wooden guardian figure from the Kamakura period. We learned that these types of statues were placed at the front of shrines to ward out things that weren’t compatible with Buddhism and let in those that were. Our tour guide, John Brennan, explained that Buddhism and Shinto were the most prominent religions of Japan for much of its history. But the religions were not practiced separately. Instead, many shrines served both as Buddhist and Shinto shrines, and it became valued in Japan to follow and coexist with both Buddhism and Shinto. This was really interesting to me, because I’ve never heard of two religions being practiced together – it seems to go against the idea of devoting yourself to a religion in the first place, especially thinking about it in the context of the Abrahamic religions that most of us are used to. But thinking about what I’ve learned about Buddhism and Shinto in the past, it actually makes sense. Neither Buddhism nor Shinto has a “God.” In fact, neither religion includes the idea of any sort of all-powerful, universal creator. Therefore, you can worship both without having to “choose” a God. Additionally, I’ve learned before that Shinto doesn’t even have a central text, making it easier to combine it with Buddhism. In the end, we were told that during the Meiji restoration, most “foreign” things and ideas in Japan became taboo, and Buddhism, having originated from India, was pushed out. But to this day, we can still see Buddhist influences in Japan reflected in these art pieces.
Chinese Influences
While looking at the art and being told its history, one thing became clear — Chinese art was one of, if not the most prominent outside influence on Japanese art. Mr. Brennan was the perfect person to tell us about this. He had studied both Chinese and Japanese for a long time, had lived in Japan and China, and knew their history well. Through the art piece below, we learned that a long time ago in Japan, there was a certain writing style that used only Chinese characters and was comprehensible to both Japanese and Chinese speakers. I thought this was really interesting, because when it comes to spoken Japanese and Chinese, they are completely different. Yet, since Chinese characters are used to convey meaning in both written languages, using written language can actually produce something that can be understood on both sides. As far as I know, there’s no other pair of languages that have this attribute. The text in this specific art piece wouldn’t be very easy to understand for Japanese speakers today, but it’s still fascinating to know that there was a time when the written language worked this way.
Below are more Japanese art pieces that were influenced by Chinese art. As our tour guide stated, although the inspiration is clear and the pieces show a lot of similarity to traditional Chinese art, none of them are exactly the same as their inspiration. For example, while the porcelain plate appears very similar to the well-known Chinese blue and white ceramics, its design is actually based on a board game played long ago in Japan. In the other picture with 3 pieces of pottery, the piece on the very left uses a pottery shape popularized in China. But rather than being a flawless, smooth and evenly glazed work, as these types of pieces usually were, it is purposely made to look imperfect, conveying the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi (meaning to see beauty in imperfection). It goes to show that while many cultures, and evidently Japanese culture, have taken in many outside inspirations and influences, they often change to reflect the culture itself, despite being something originally foreign.
In Modern Times
Seeing these cultural exchanges through Japanese art made me think about how these same cultural influences happen even in the modern day. Take Jazz, for example. It’s one of the most important genres in American music, and it is fully American-born. However, I’ve always found it interesting that Jazz is also extremely popular and has a large presence in Japan. Apparently, this phenomenon starts from the early 1900s, at the very beginnings of Jazz. During World War 2, Jazz was banned by the government, being considered “enemy music” because of its American origins. But despite this, it continued to flourish, especially after the war and beyond. And just like what I talked about when it came to the porcelain and pottery, this movement of Jazz to Japan didn’t just mean that they took an American genre and popularized it there – instead, they’ve developed and molded it into “Japanese Jazz,” having a distinct sound from what the music originally came from. There are lots of other examples of this sort of movement of culture, from America to Japan, Japan to America, and all countries, all throughout history, as shown in the art we saw.
I’m really glad we got to have a tour of the exhibition and I learned a lot!
Ever since 1952, when the US occupation of Japan after World War II officially ended, the USA and Japan have been improving their friendship more and more over time. In 1954 the Governor of Tokyo gifted the Stone Lantern which you can see at the Tidal Basini to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Commodore Perry’s mission to Japan, and this year, in 2026, the Japanese government made a gift of 250 cherry trees in honor of our country’s 250th birthday. On top of that, Japanese culture has had a large impact on DC with things like the Sakura Matsuri Japanese street festival and the Tanabata Festival. All of this Japanese involvement sparks many peoples’ interest in Japan. Some may even want to learn the language, but they might not know where to start, so I am here to help.
There are different ways to learn Japanese in DC, and it doesn’t matter what kind of person you are because I’m sure there’s something out there for you. Sadly, out of all the public schools in DC, only one has an actual Japanese class, which is CHEC (Columbia Heights Education Campus) and that is it. So unless you are switching high schools, or are planning on going back to high school, you are out of luck. But if you are a high school student, you could be in luck because of a little thing called the Japanese Plus Program which is a Japanese learning program that meets twice a week and provides a full Japanese learning experience, with language classes, cultural workshops, and career exposure! Did I mention that it’s free? Because it is.
Now, if you are not in school or don’t live in DC, there are many different ways to learn different languages. Some well known ones are Duolingo, Mango, Tandem, HelloTalk, and Japanese music/podcasts. While Duolingo is a language learning app, it is way more useful for learning words and meanings, and maybe phrases, but actually speaking, it’s not very good. Another great resource is something called Mango. You need nothing but a library card to start learning! Mango helps with grammar patterns, pronunciation, practical vocabulary, cultural etiquette and more, but it is not as great for learning kanji. For more experienced Japanese learners, Tandem and HelloTalk are apps that can help a lot with actually having conversations with other people who know Japanese, but it can also be very humbling. Lastly, listening to Japanese podcasts or listening to Japanese music with captions is a pretty good way to pick up phrases or words, and it helps with conversations, singing, etc.
After reading this, I hope that you learned a lot about different ways to get started on your journey to learn Japanese, and I hope this helps.
NOTE FROM THE PROGRAM DIRECTOR: Our week, focused on World War II and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, continued with a visit on July 15 from Karin Tanabe and Victoria Kelly, co-creators of the documentary, Atomic Echoes: Untold Stories from WWII. This film, which is currently airing on PBS, tells the story of the impact of these horrific bombings on the lives of both Japanese residents and American veterans who lived the experience. Through the personal stories of survivors from both the US and Japan, Atomic Echoes shows the deep and long-lasting effects of the use of nuclear weapons, and the responsibility of the current generations to remember and learn from the past. Karin Tanabe is a first-generation American, and an author of historical fiction and a journalist. Victoria Kelly is also an author and poet, and granddaughter of an American atomic veteran. Karin and Victoria see their film as a “tool for peace” that can be used for discussions in school classrooms or community settings like ours. Our students had strong reactions to what they learned this day.
Pippa: I liked how Karin and Victoria covered a variety of topics surrounding the bombing. They talked about both the human stories, political side, moral arguments, and health effects of the bomb. The part that had the biggest impact on me was hearing about the picture that they described of the boy by the crematorium. Hearing about that made me very emotional and made me think about how beyond all the deaths that happened, a lot of pain also happened through what the survivors had to deal with, both through grief for their loved ones and the lasting effects of radiation on human health. Life lesson: Always think about the people that may be affected by your actions.
Lauren: Hearing Karin Tanabe talk about the effects the atomic bomb had on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was so saddening to hear. Even though it has been a long time since then, so many people are still affected. What shocked me the most was finding out survivors that had kids later on, their kids have radiation in their DNA, which I believe can be passed on still.
The part of Karin’s presentation that impacted me was finding out the US government wanted to keep the effects on Japan after the atomic bomb a secret from the public because first, they knew it was wrong and inhumane, and second, they knew it was so graphic and that many people died. They didn’t want people to know that people who lived in Hiroshima were affected more than the rumbled and almost gone buildings that were the only thing photographed after the bomb dropping, and what would be the only thing released to the public on the bomb dropping until the 1990s. Almost 50 years later.
The one thing I took away from what Karin spoke to us about is that all countries should get rid of atomic bombs as a whole. Everyone should be taught about the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, and world leaders should recognize the effects and the amount of deaths that came out of one bomb and decide that nuclear bombs shouldn’t be a thing.
Aston: The biggest impact that the meeting with Ms. Karin and Ms. Victoria had with me would be their description of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and the experiences of the survivors due to how traumatizing and unbelievable the event seems. I felt shock and pity for the fallen victims throughout the visit. The information I learned here directly tied to the information we learned at All Souls Church and their Hiroshima Children’s Art project. Life lesson: Keep pushing forward even when it seems impossible.
Blessing: The part of the program that had a big impact on me was the photograph of the boy who was holding his little brother on his back and did not know that he was dead. I feel so bad because they did not have to drop this bomb. They could find another way to fix things. Life lesson: We do not have to create a war for a misunderstanding. We can act like humans who are smart and think before doing something.
Kamaya: Listening to this presentation made me realize that the impact of the atomic bombings went far beyond the destruction of all buildings in the area. I learned that survivors that didn’t just die right away suffered lifelong problems mentally and physically. The radiation did more than anyone realized. This made me think of the millions whose lives were destroyed.
Madisen: When the United States dropped the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, they thought little of it and celebrated, while Japanese citizens were viciously killed in the explosion and lost everything. Hearing about the Barbie and Oppenheimer movies collaborative promotional campaign (“Barbenheimer”) and how it was disrespectful towards the Japanese showed me how insensitive people can be towards traumatic events if they don’t directly affect them.
Karin and Victoria turned out to be celebrities! Demetris, Liam, Jay, and DeVonte getting autographs after a very meaningful session.
NOTE FROM THE PROGRAM DIRECTOR: A visit to All Souls Church Unitarian on 16th Street, at the intersection of Mt. Pleasant, Adams Morgan, and Columbia Heights, is the experience we look forward to in each Japan in DC program. All Souls is a historic DC church with a strong social justice tradition. After World War II, the children of All Souls collected art supplies to send to the surviving children of an elementary school in Hiroshima, Japan, devastated by the atomic bomb dropped on their city by the United States. This gesture of support from the All Souls community was reciprocated when they much later and unexpectedly received a box of children’s drawings from these same children as a gesture of appreciation. During our visit on July 14 our students were able to view this extraordinary exhibit of Hiroshima Children’s Drawings. We were welcomed by Rev. Rob Keithan, Charles Wooldridge, and peace activist Mel Hardy who shared information on the church, the history of this project, and the church’s ongoing Heiwa Peace Project.
This incredible history is documented in the film Pictures from a Hiroshima Schoolyard, which our students watched the day before our visit to the church. You can find the film streaming on a number of platforms. We highly recommend it.
We were also joined by Karl Tan, a Public Affairs Officer at the Embassy of Japan, who spoke to our group over lunch about his experiences as a JET teacher in Nagasaki, as well as his own interest in Japan and career trajectory.
Here are some of our students’ reflections on the visit:
Kiya: The biggest impact was how kids have so much imagination. Also the impact kids can have to bring two nations together even though they were in deep hatred with each other. My feeling mainly was how much I loved that the church is doing their best to preserve the memory and the history of the beginning of the peace between Japan and America. The lesson I learned was that after a fight you don’t have to hate that person after. Happiness and peace is always a choice and it’s a matter of if you choose it or not.
Demetris: I felt a lot of an old feeling, not because we were in a church, but because it seemed old with a lot of historic things inside and it was really quiet too, so it made it more peaceful than anything. The part of the program that had a big impact on me was that All Souls Church had the drawings of kids’ artwork from Hiroshima, Japan but not only that. It was mostly on how old and how long ago it was, mostly how the drawings were made only two years after the bombs but somehow were full of color and talent. It showed the optimism of the kids and we can learn from this by seeing even in time of despair we can still see the beauty in what life has given to you.
Life lesson: “Even after devastation, they chose to see beauty in life and create it for others to see.”
Kamaya: Seeing all the kids’ drawings made it emotional to know that the kids still had the creativity. Visiting all Souls Church taught me that there are worship communities that do so much.
Madison: Seeing the drawings of the Japanese boys and girls in Hiroshima was the most important to me because of the nature of the art pieces. Despite facing a traumatizing experience and losing their homes and all their connections and belongings, the drawings these children drew were not negative and gloomy, but bright and colorful. This shocked me, especially with how grateful they were when receiving colored pencils from the country who bombed them and sending gifts back to the church. I enjoyed seeing the drawings of the children. Not only were they beautiful and well drawn, but they are artifacts from real people. Aside from the drawings, I enjoyed hearing about the church’s history and what they do to honor it.
A valuable lesson that could be taken from the visit is to help others no matter who they are, and you shall be rewarded.
Zaevior: At the All Souls Church, the biggest impact for me came from the Hiroshima children’s drawings in the basement. Knowing those drawings came from preteens following their homes being bombed breaks my heart. Before going to the Church, we watched a film about it. In the film, we learned that the church had created a Heiwa Peace Project to help after the war. After the visit, an idea that stuck with me was that art can tell many stories.
Lauren: The thing that made the biggest impact on me was seeing how the kids were able to make such happy drawings full of color after a tragedy. This impacted me deeply because I could never imagine drawing such things after losing loved ones. The visit to the church felt so wholesome because Honkawa didn’t have to send anything back after receiving the supplies from All Souls, but instead of sending a thank you card they sent beautiful drawings which shows how kind Honkawa Elementary was to a nation that killed so many of their people.
A life lesson I would take away is to not let anything dim your happiness and kindness.
Aston: The most impactful part of the program to me would be the pictures that the kids made since they could show how life was for them or even a symbolic reflection of their current life situation. I felt amazed because of their artistic abilities.
DeVonte: The part that surprised me the most was how the paintings weren’t bad, like they showed colorful and heartwarming paintings. They didn’t show war and the chaos that just happened. I didn’t even know that a school survived and their kids drew amazing paintings that leave an impact on the world. It shows how, because of something, it didn’t affect the peoples’ minds. They could still find a way to have fun.
Christian: The biggest impact left on me was the pictures. How they weren’t war kids’ pictures but instead colorful, bright, and of people in places stuck in time. It made me feel a great sense of calm and impressed. I liked how much history and things were inside the Church – from Austrian organs to the Japanese kids’ pictures.
Life lesson: Colors make everything better.
Blessing: The part of the program that made a big impact on me were the children who were innocent but had to face something so terrible. So young and beautiful. All of this because of the bombs that killed their family and their home. That’s not a good thing to do to children so innocent because of their parents. I feel so bad for the baby who died on the back of his brother. That was so much pain for a kid to lose his brother so young. This experience is related to all of the things that all countries cause each other. There are people who did not even talk but yet were killed just like that.
The life lesson is to not try to fight someone who has more power than yours or you could lose your family and your peace on one day, and also learn how to rebuild what has been destroyed.
Honesti: The program left an impact on me because of how colorful and vibrant they were able to make their drawings despite the things they saw and lived through. I was deeply hurt after the bombing and how they progressed through the horrible situation they were in. I love how they were able to visualize things in such a beautiful light even through the mess and destruction of their Hiroshima.
Jaylen: I think the thing that stuck with me the most was the fact that the children still remembered the times before the bomb, and also the fact that they could still keep moving forward after such a devastating attack, because I feel like if my whole city was bombed and thousands of people died, I would really struggle to keep on going. Also the fact that they forgave America so easily despite how devastating the attack was. Beyond the content, I noticed that people talked about the drawings and how just little kids made them, and I think that that view is not good because I feel like anyone can do anything as long as they really want it.
Pippa: The part that had the biggest impact on me was just looking at all the kids’ art and seeing that even though they were not given any prompt about what to draw, all of them ended up drawing something related to life before the bomb or nature. It showed that in a time like this, most people’s desire was simply to return to a normal state of things and nothing more. I thought it was really nice and it was very cool to know that most of the originals had been reunited with those who made them. It helped with providing a human story to go with what we were learning about the bomb, which helped me feel the event on a deeper level.
Life lesson: Keep creating, even when in difficult situations.
Cherry blossom trees are an important gift for many people from all across the states and the world to enjoy the beauty of, but cherry blossoms are more than just a beauty. They are a great symbol of friendship between the United States and Japan. In my opinion, cherry blossoms are a great show of growth from the tensions of the U.S. and Japan into their blooming friendship. Even after a brutal war. Before that, we need to know the story behind the trees. Who and what helped to bring these here?
Cherry blossoms were first introduced by Eliza Scidmore. Eliza was a writer and photographer who was also the first woman on the Board of Directors for the National Geographic Society. She had been to Japan before and had developed a big interest in the cherry blossom trees. Amazed by these trees, Eliza proposed the idea to the President and every Superintendent of the Office of Public Buildings and Grounds over two decades to get the trees into D.C. After the many denied proposals, she turned her efforts into gaining traction with the trees. Eliza went on to host a cherry blossom viewing party in 1905. By doing this, it happened to catch the eye of botanist David Fairchild.
Though Eliza was the first to actively make an impact to get cherry blossoms to the U.S., David Fairchild played a very key role in the story of the cherry blossoms. Fairchild was a pioneering American botanist and plant explorer who also grew a liking to these trees. The following year after Scidmore’s party, in 1906, Fairchild did a test of planting cherry blossoms to see their ability to survive in other soil, leading to a success. He would later go on to promote the trees and later in 1907 ordered 300 trees. Afterwards, in 1908, he would share his plans at the Franklin School in downtown D.C. He would go to give a speech at the school on Arbor Day and gifted seeds to the children to have them plant in their school yards and at Franklin Park with Mrs. Scidmore in attendance.
After the many successes of getting cherry blossoms around D.C., in 1909, Eliza decided to try to raise money to purchase and donate the trees to the city, proposing her idea to First Lady Helen Taft. Mrs. Taft had lived in Japan before and had a fondness of the idea and decided to plant them along the “speedway” near the Potomac River instead. The day after, Japanese chemist Dr. Jokichi Takamine heard of Mrs. Taft’s idea and went to help with a donation of two thousand trees with the help and approval of the Mayor of Tokyo, Yukio Ozaki.
After months of shipment, the cherry trees had finally arrived on January 6, 1910. Sadly, on January 19, after a deep inspection, the trees were deemed to be infested and diseased and it was concluded they needed to be burned to protect the other trees around. Despite this unfortunate act, after the Secretary of State delivered the news to the Japanese ambassador, Mayor Ozaki and others decided to make another donation of specially selected trees and also increased the amount to 3,020! This made me feel as though they could understand and realize how and why they made this decision and not feel offended for their gift being thrown away.
After that, the trees were then planted around the Tidal Basin with the remaining going to East Potomac Park. The first few trees were planted with a ceremony with Mrs. Taft and Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese Ambassador.
Only a while after the trees were mature, many photographers and artists all around were drawn to the trees. Quickly, after the news of the trees spread, it became a very popular place for people all across America to come witness the gorgeous pink hues across the trees with people of all cultures and backgrounds coming to celebrate the blossoms. In 1915, President William Howard Taft (Helen Taft’s husband) sent a gift of dogwood trees to Japan in appreciation of the generous gift of cherry blossoms to D.C..From the impact of the trees, I feel that this shows the way that the friendship of the U.S. and Japan grew bigger and improved from gift giving between them.
Cherry blossoms even had so much of an impact on the people around that even the attempt to remove some had people in protest. In 1938, with President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved to clear the grounds near the Tidal Basin to construct the Jefferson Memorial, people were outraged at the thought of their precious trees being removed causing people to go as far as to tie themselves to the trees to stop the removal. Ultimately, the construction crew had to resort to removing them during the dead of night as the only way to go around this roadblock. Even after the impact of World War II and the high tensions, they still continued maintenance and improving the cherry blossoms and the US’s and Japan’s unity. This had shocked me seeing how quickly friendly relationships between the U.S. and other countries can change, but I feel it just shows how much of an impact gift can make and how special the trees had become.
Not long after, in 1954, Japanese Ambassador, Sadao Iguchi, presented a 300 year old Japanese stone lantern to continue the celebration of the 100th year anniversary of the first treaty of peace between the United States and Japan. Pushing along the tight friendship between the United States and Japan with the love and appreciation of Japanese culture in the States.
Clearly as seen, cherry blossoms were a highly loved and celebrated thing in the US as well as Japan with their many Hanami festivals consisting of music, cultural performance, traditional food, artwork, etc. And just like them, we too celebrate cherry blossoms with similar tastes. One popular event is the Bloomaroo, hosted at the Wharf with many places to watch and listen to many talented artists, to enjoy painting on canvas or on faces, and of course to explore many places to catch a break to eat the wonderful food around. I myself have gone with some family of mine and have loved the fun and lively experience from going, I enjoyed getting to see how decorated everything was from buildings to street stands as well as people. I overall enjoyed how people dressed for the occasion and the welcoming atmosphere of everything.
To this day, cherry blossoms are still a highly celebrated symbol of unity between Japan and DC. Both places share the joy of celebration with this shared tree. A beautiful display of a culture exchange that can come out of friendship.
If you’d like to learn more about the history of the cherry blossom trees in DC, check out these two links:
When you’re in a conversation about architecture, your brain immediately goes to metals, stones, or other generic foundation materials. Nobody expects to hear that someone is using paper tubes and cardboard to create living spaces. Going to the Japan Information and Culture Center (JICC) on July 10 was very eye opening. The speaker during the first part of our program was Gabrielle Headly, who we had met earlier in the program, and who now guided us through the exhibit and shared the history behind Shigeru Ban and his peculiar building ideas.
Ban’s style of architecture was an interesting one, beginning back in 1986 with experimentation, and humanitarian aid beginning in 1995. During that time, he worked on his first major project: designing low cost, easy to build houses out of paper tubes for Japanese disaster victims following the Kobe, Japan earthquake. These homes, despite being built of a widely known fragile material, were very sturdy, and allowed for sustainable living.
Ban’s style is a very intriguing one to me, because who thought one man could put together a whole organization solely for disaster aid, let alone with paper and cardboard?? Shigeru Ban is a huge inspiration for me to innovate and be more creative with my works, and I’d love to research more about him.
Something I’d like to briefly talk about is his Paper Partition System, used in Noto, Japan following their earthquake in 2024. The Paper Partition System provided privacy and homes for families who were victims of the earthquake. These systems were deployed all over workplaces, gyms, and community centers, allowing many people to be guaranteed to have a safe place to live while dealing with their circumstances.
Being an extension of Ban’s already innovative paper log houses, the PPS was already majorly impressive, garnering respect from not only the citizens of Japan, but many humanitarian aid organizations as well. Shigeru Ban was and still is an impressive architect, and his influence is still around today, you just have to look for it.
On July 7, 2026 in Japan in DC we had Mr. Gerald Yamada come in to present information on Japanese Americans during World War II. He was former President of the Japanese American Veterans Association (JAVA). He came to talk to us about the events that happened during and after Pearl Harbor, when the US entered the war, about Japanese Americans in incarceration (or what I call concentration) camps, and a little bit about his own family during this time. He went over how during World War II, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the US government forced Japanese Americans from their homes and put them into concentration camps. Because the United States got attacked by Japan, the government believed that any Japanese Americans in America could be spies or try and affect America in the war that would lead to Japan’s and Germany’s victory. Next he went into the concentration camps and the conditions there. Also he discussed how there were Japanese American military units, like the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the 100th Infantry Battalion, that made a big impact during World War II. Mr. Yamada also talked about his own family life a little, like his mom and dad, and a person named Bob Fletcher, who agreed to take care of his grandfather’s farm while they were away. Bob Fletcher would give the farm back to his family after the war was over.
Visiting the peaceful National Japanese American Memorial near Union Station.
When Mr. Yamada was talking, the part that stuck out to me the most was when he was talking about the concentration camps. He was talking about how during World War II Japanese Americans were forced out of their homes, forced to sell their property, like their land, crops, etc., and leave their jobs. The only thing they were able to keep was the stuff that fit in their arms, like a suitcase, but not to mention they were also required to bring things like utensils, because the camps didn’t provide any of that.
When Japanese Americans arrived at the camps, the place was big, but small, because the barracks were 20 feet by 120 feet, and depending on whether you were single or a family, it determined how many people lived in each barrack. It was up to 25 single people, or 4-6 families together per barrack, depending on the family size. Also living in there was terrible. The places had no walls, so they had to use their blankets to cover the walls, no running water, no air conditioning, so it got really hot in there, because there were a lot of people sharing one room. When it came to anything like going outside to get food, they had to go into lines which made everything longer and more tiresome, but the kids enjoyed it. I don’t know why, but they had fun while being there. But one thing that surprised me was that of course they had guards so no one leaves, but the thing was the guards weren’t facing outwards to stop anyone from coming in, they were facing inward so no one leaves, which surprised me the most about it. But while they were there, it was boring, so they did things for entertainment like singing, playing sports, teaching, and farming, because most of the Japanese Americans in there were farmers, teachers, and so on, so that was something they could do in the meantime while World War II was happening.
After the war was over and the victory of America, the death of Hitler, and the surrender of Japan, everything was over. All concentration camps for Japanese Americans were done and they were set free, and when that happened, it’s not like Japanese Americans got their property back. What they got was a train ticket back home and 25 dollars. When I heard that, it pissed me off, because I feel like they should have gotten all their things back. In 6th grade I remember reading a book (I forgot the name) about people escaping from concentration camps. Also I watched a video about a Japanese American girl in a concentration camp and it went into more depth about it and how bad Japanese Americans had it during WW2. Next in 9th grade we learned about President Roosevelt (FDR) and the good things he did, and how he made America great again after the Depression. After this, I feel he was never good. He never cared about colored and only white people. Learning about this changed my way of thinking about FDR and what he did.
Overall, I believe Japanese Americans are probably one of the top five races that went through terrible stuff and I wish none of these things happened to them. I learned at the FDR Memorial down at the Tidal Basin it doesn’t show anything about what he did to Japanese Americans. It’s like he never did it and he was all great even though he wasn’t any of that. It’s like they’re trying to hide the bad about America, or the President specifically, especially with Donald Trump trying to do that too.
Teammate Aston at the FDR Memorial at the Tidal Basin. No mention of Japanese Americans!
On Thursday evening, July 9th, we went to a Tanabata Festival, also called the Star Festival, as part of an extended workday. The Tanabata Festival actually originates from the Chinese Qixi Festival. Tanabata means “evening of the seventh,” and celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi. Tanabata is celebrated by writing a wish on a piece of paper called tanzuku and hanging it on bamboo.
In DC, the Tanabata Festival, sponsored by the Japan America Society of Washington DC, was held at the Hillwood Estate near Rock Creek Park. There were a few activities like writing wishes and making lanterns. However, the part I enjoyed the most were the gardens, which were just a part of the estate. The nicest part was the section inspired by Japanese gardens. It was fairly small, but very beautiful. My favorite part were the paths that went through the water.
In Japanese culture, these bridges have a deeper meaning, they represent a transformation. In Shinto mythology, bridges connect our world to the gods and spirits. The reason why they’re so arched is so evil spirits cannot cross over them, because evil spirits are believed to travel in straight lines only.
It felt amazing going through the gardens after walking around by the monuments all day, cleansing even. I had a headache when we arrived at the Tanabata Festival; after I went through the gardens it was completely gone. It had just stopped raining when we got there, so it started to get foggy. The second time I went through the gardens, the fog was at its thickest, and the clouds had parted just enough for the sun to shine through. We could see the rays of light shining through the trees, the only word I could use to describe it was mystical.
We heard from Mr. Gerald Yamada of the Japanese American Veterans Association (JAVA) about some of the history of Japanese Americans and the military regiment that was composed of Japanese Americans, named the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.
Mr. Yamada started off by informing us about how Japanese American civilians were treated before World War II. Then after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the USA started to discriminate against the Japanese Americans more through racism and creating the assembly centers and incarceration camps, which were remote barracks meant to keep a hold of a mass amount of Japanese American supervised and isolated from the rest of the USA. When he finished informing us on the treatment the Japanese Americans had faced after Pearl Harbor, Mr. Yamada then told us about the 442nd, which is a highly decorated Japanese American military regiment that gave Japanese Americans a chance to prove their loyalty to the USA and played a crucial part in defeating Germany in April of 1945.
After all of that, Mr. Yamada told us that the US Government finally let the Japanese Americans leave the incarceration camps, but gave them only $25 and a train ticket home. Eventually in 1988, after various debates and disagreements on whether Japanese Americans should receive reparations, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act that offered $20,000 and an official apology to all of the living survivors of the World War II camps.
Note: The above engraved words are found at the National Japanese American Memorial which we visited as part of Japan in DC.
