Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II

There is nothing wrong with the Constitution. . . . If the promised protections did not materialize, it is because those entrusted to uphold it have failed to uphold it. Ultimately, the buck stops here, with me, with us, the citizens. . . . It is up to us.

George Orwell wrote, “Political language—and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists—is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable.

Please remember that whatever you do or wherever you are, we are with you—and hope for the day when we can all be together again in peace.

Renouncing loyalty to Japan would terminate their Japanese citizenship at a time when they were not allowed to become American citizens. That would leave them entirely stateless, with no citizenship at all.

he committed himself again to using this experience as an opportunity to refocus on a central tenet of his philosophy, gaman, living patiently through a hard time, waiting until he could go home to his wife.

In April 1946, in the aftermath of World War II, George Orwell wrote, “Political language—and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists—is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable

When they did finally come. the medals dramatically underscored the Nisei soldiers' disproportionate valor during the war. Of the roughly 16 million Americans who served in World War II, only 473 have received Medals of Honor. But 21 of those medal recipients came from the ranks of the 18,000 men who ultimately served in the 442nd. So in the end, the 442nd, representing just over 0.11 percent of the U.S. military force, earned 4.4 percent of the Medals of Honor.

But two dozen of them were sent quietly to Cat Island, a small uninhabited speck of sand, brush, sloughs, and alligators, just two miles offshore from Gulfport, Mississippi. There they spent three months creeping through bushes and swamps, hunted by dogs being trained to detect what someone in the army brass thought was the unique scent of the Japanese. When a dog happened across one of the nisei boys, a guard fired a shot in the air, the Nisei soldier dropped to the ground and played dead, and a piece of meat was thrown on the ground in front of him. The dogs inevitably ate the meat licked the soldiers' faces, and wagged their tails enthusiastically. As one of the soldiers, Yasuo Takata, remembered, 'We didn't smell Japanese, We were Americans. Even the dogs knew that.

[Gordon Hirabayashi] It is up to those of us who feel that a wrong has been committed, that we have fallen short, to bear witness to that fact. It is our obligation to show forth our light in times of darkness, nay, our privilege. The risk is great; the consequences unpleasant. But there is the vision of those seekers of independence. We must carry the torch.

gaman—enduring the seemingly unendurable quietly and with patience—and about the spirit of Yamato damashii, the virtue of sticking together no matter what, fighting for your group rather than for yourself. They

...an evil given face and form by soulless men who wielded racial hatred, demagoguery, blind nationalism, and brute violence as the means by which to seize and hold power.

The Miho brothers looked at each other, uncertain what to do. Kats asked a white officer which facility they should use.

Then in 1883 a major drought seared the landscape and wiped out millions of yen worth of rice and other crops, only to be followed in 1884 by a major storm that caused widespread flooding and destroyed still more crops.

The Tokiwa family did not own the land they farmed. Japanese immigrants were prohibited from owning any sort of land by virtue of a set of anti-Asian laws that had roots reaching back to the arrival of Chinese laborers in California during the gold rush of 1849.

Most of them had lived lawfully in the United States for decades, though by law they were not allowed to naturalize as citizens. Their second-generation, American-born children—the Nisei—were American citizens and theoretically protected by the Constitution from unwarranted arrest, though that protection would soon turn out to be illusory.

But by the end of their lives almost all of them—whether they fought in courtrooms or in foxholes—would be counted American heroes.

otonashi, the necessity of keeping one’s place, remaining quiet, avoiding the appearance of knowing too much or voicing too many opinions.