Nisei Daughter

What sort of discriminatory treatment did Japanese-Americans face in America both before and after the start of the Second World War?

pages 109-178

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The predominant theme of the memoir is the Japanese American experience a the author knew it first hand. This experience seems to have changes enormously after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor during World War II. This led to distrust of Japanese and Japanese American people and although being sent to an internment camps seemed harsh and unreasonable to the author and her family, it was also understandable in the context of what the nation was facing. In her biography of Olympian turned war hero Louis Zamperini, author Laura Hillenbramd tells of Zamperini's experiences with Japanese Americans in his California neighborhood who acted as spies for the Japanese consulate and thereby threatened the safety and stability of the country. This was the reason for the internment camps. Sone found that she fit in best when around an international community rather than when with entirely American or entirely Japanese company. Even after the war there was general distrust and racism directed towards people of Japanese descent.