The Japanese encountered many hardships in their struggle to live in America since they came here in the late-19^th century. Although discriminatory barriers preventing citizenship rights, job opportunities, and land owning were frequently a problem, the Japanese had some people that supported them. Their supporters included politicians and Idaho residents. This essay will show examples of people who supported the Japanese and weren’t afraid to stand up for the Japanese when they weren’t being treated right.

Japanese Americans were placed in Internment camps throughout the United States during World War II.[1] 120,000 Japanese Americans were placed in these camps after Executive Order 9066 was signed by FDR. The camps were in the states of Colorado, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah. The Idaho internment camp was in Minidoka, northeast of Twin Falls. In Washington D.C. around the time that FDR talked about creating the internment camps specific people opposed them. Attorney General Francis Biddle and his aides Edward Ennis, and James Rowe opposed the camps in 1942. Secretary of War Stimson also opposed the internment camps. Eventually Biddle, and Stimson sided with FDR in support of the camps, but the important fact is that they opposed them in the first place. They didn’t succeed in stopping the camps, but it should be noted that they stood out against the camps in the beginning.[2]

The farming communities in Idaho had cases of local people treating the Japanese with respect. Masayoshi Fujimoto recounted, "Although the young men his age in Rexburg are white to me…They are from the same town and really feel like pals,”[3] Historian, Eric Walz credited this good relationship with the Japanese work ethic. In an interview with Miye Hikidu, she recalled that Principal Dan Martin protected Nisei children at Irving Junior High during the war. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he gathered all the Nisei students; Martin "called us together and said, 'if there are any students that are abusive to you verbally or in anyway or tried to make you feel less, that you don’t belong there,' he says, 'I want you to report that to me immediately.' We never had any trouble.... I never did feel discriminated against."[4] In an interview Brian Morishita recounted his father’s experience as a farmer in Osgood, Idaho, north of Idaho Falls.[5] He recalled that during World War II his father had local people who supported him and treated him with respect. He said that the local sheriff defended his father’s right to deliver potatoes over the Broadway Bridge in Idaho Falls during WWII. He also recounted that his father had friends during the war that didn’t want his father to give up his guns, because they wanted to go deer hunting together. The Nikkei had their homes raided by authorities during World War II, and the guns were often taken.[6] These are only individual cases, but they illustrate that there were people who defended the Japanese.

Governor Clark Chase of Idaho was famous for his anti-Japanese stance during WWII, but many people in Idaho openly opposed his actions.[7] John Carver an attorney for Idaho was one. Carver referred to Japanese Americans as loyal Americans.[8] The Idaho Daily Statesman editorial writer on March 14, 1942 also criticized the governor’s stance and supported the Japanese’s legal rights.[9] The people who opposed Governor Clark didn’t change his mind, but they still opposed offered a principled dissent.

These are only isolated cases of people opposing the maltreatment of the Japanese, but their actions prove that there were people who fought for and supported the rights of the Japanese, both immigrants and native-born citizens. They may not have been successful, but they still fought for fair treatment of Japanese Americans.

Dameon Hansen got a B.A. in Geology from Idaho State University in 2019, and is working on his M.A. in History from Idaho State University. The full interview video is available in this site under the resources, oral interviews tab.

[1] Erika Lee, “ Military Necessity, and Grave Injustices.” In The Making of Asian America: a History, 211-251. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2015.

[2] Erika Lee, “ Military Necessity,” in The Making of Asian America: A History, (New York: Simon & Schuster,2015), 222-2.

[3] Eric Walz,” Idaho Farmer, Japanese Diarist: Cultural Crossings in the Intermountain West,” Idaho Yesterdays (Fall, 1995): 2-12.

[4] Miye Hikidu, and Kazu Kawamura, interview by Ronald James, March 8, 2003, JACL Collection, Special Collections and Archives, Eli M Oboler Library, Idaho State University.

[5] Brian Morishita, interview by Dameon Hansen, March 10, 2020, Idaho State University. Southeast Idaho Nikkei Project.

[6] Robert C Sims, “ The Free Zone Nikkei : Japanese Americans in Idaho, and Eastern Oregon in World War II.” In Nikkei in the Pacific Northwest : Japanese Americans and Japanese Canadians, Edited by Louis Fiset, and Gail M Nomura, 236-253. Seattle : University of Washington Press, 2005.

[7] Robert C. Sims, “ A Fearless Patriotic Clean-Cut Stand: Idaho’s Governor Clark and Japanese American Relocation in World War II,” Pacific North West Quarterly 70, no. 2 (April 1979): 75-81.

[8] Robert C Sims, “A Fearless Patriotic Clean-Cut Stand," 75-81.

[9] Robert C Sims, “ A Fearless Patriotic Clean-Cut Stand," 75-81.