Asian History Commons^™

Itadakimasu: Recipes From Japanese American Internment Camps, Alexander K. Nishida

Graphic Communication

This project presents a historical narrative told through the format of a cookbook, exploring the relationship between food, memory, and resilience during the Japanese American Internment of World War II. Using primary resources such as news publications from within the camps (Topaz Times,1943), historical interviews (Herzig, 1994), and secondary resources from an archival podcast (Campu, 2021) to highlight how food served as both a means of survival and an expression of identity under confinement.

The cookbook will combine recipes inspired by documented internment-era meals with stories and reflections gathered from interviews, archival materials, and community voices. Each section will contextualize …

In The Hull Of The Uss Disregard: An Analysis Of Secretary Of State Cordell Hull’S Execution Of Foreign Policy In East Asia And The Precipitation Of Armed Conflict Between Japan And The United States, Eric B. Hawkins

Theses

The political career of Cordell Hull was motivated primarily by trade policy and the courting of Central America through the negotiation of reciprocal trade treaties that helped stabilize, for the most part, the entire Western Hemisphere. He was an obvious choice for Roosevelt’s cabinet to address economic instability. But why was he chosen for Secretary of State? The Open Door Policy, adopted by many Western nations in East Asia during the early 20th century, was a petri dish primed for the growth of political strife and international conflict. With the warnings from Hull’s predecessor, Henry Stimson, placed on the back …

A Retrospective Of “Comfort Culture:” A Paradigmatic Study On The Creation Of The “Comfort Women” System Constructed By The Imperial Japanese Military From 1932 To 1945, Emma Nicolini

All Theses

From 1932 to 1945, the Imperial Japanese military sexually enslaved approximately two hundred thousand Asian women from Japan, Korea, China, Indonesia, Taiwan, and the Philippines. This institution was known as the comfort women system, which the Imperial Japanese government created to ensure the sexual and mental health of Imperial Japanese military personnel. This provision of comfort for Imperial Japanese military personnel was enabled by cultural influences introduced in the Early Modern period of Japan, which normalized a contemptuous attitude toward sexual labor. This blend of Early Modern Japan, as well as the beliefs that facilitated the need for comfort women, …

The Whispered Crimes Of Sexual Violence In The European And Pacific Theater Of World War Ii, Channing N. Morrison

History Theses

This thesis addresses sexual violence in World War II in both the European and Pacific Theater. Often, the violence of these War Crimes tends to be overshadowed and not talked about. This thesis examines the stories of women, children, and men who suffered from sexual brutality in World War II and how nations try to hide or justify acts of rape and violence. By using as case studies the nations of Japan, Germany, the United States of America, and the Soviet Union, and how they either committed sexual acts of violence or handled rape cases when it came to the …

The Philippine Economy During The Japanese Occupation, Jasper Lem

Asian Studies: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

The economy of the Philippines was derailed by the Japanese occupation during World War II. As an American colony before World War II, the Philippines had close amicable ties with the United States highlighted by promises of independence on July 4th, 1946. The Philippines also maintained a beneficial economic relationship with the States at this time through extensive foreign trade. However, because of the Japanese invasion, the Philippine economy was robbed of this profitable foreign trade and the promise of independence, severely crippling the island nation and her morale. The first policies implemented by Japan were designed to control the …

Res Historica, Volume 2, Lynneth Miller Renberg Phd, Alpha Rho Epsilon Phi Alpha Theta

Res Historica

The 2023 journal of historical research by Anderson University students, Res Historica.

The editorial team for this edition of Res Historica was Dr. Lynneth Miller Renberg. Johnathan Sorce, and Helen Smith. Cover art for this volume by Helen Smith.

Visions For Japanese Society: An Examination Of Japanese Postwar Occupation Period Film, Kaitlin Smith, Michael Gibbs

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

By following the films of directors Akira Kurosawa ( 黒澤明), Yasujiro Ozu ( 小津安二郎), Masaki Kobayashi (小林正樹), and Shohei Imamura (今村昌平) around occupation period Japan, unified visions for Japanese society are formed as it transitions from wartime into the postwar era. Each of these films conveys a sense of rapid change in society, external pressures and foreign influence, a daily struggle, and immediate postwar suffering. Not only can these films be seen across a wide variety of styles, but they also each approach these issues with immediacy and show tentative outlooks for how Japan functioned and felt for most people …

When Numbers Lie, Brandon Johnson

Tredway Library Prize for First-Year Research

This paper breaks down officially-reported statistics surrounding Japanese-American internment in the United States. Specifically, his paper argues that numbers have a voice, hold power, and that the many discrepancies surrounding these statistics have far-reaching and lingering implications.

Youth In World War Ii, Alyson Griggs

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This thesis project consists of two focuses. The first part focuses on the experiences of Japanese American adolescents who were interned with their parents at the Central Utah Relocation Center during World War II. Although these students were born in the United States and therefore U.S. citizens, they were considered "Japanese" by the U.S. government and many of its citizens. When the U.S. government forcibly removed Japanese American youth and their families from the West Coast, this heavily affected Japanese American youth's perceptions of themselves and the country of their birth. This portion of the project includes a digital exhibit, …

So Others May Live: The Price Of Healthcare In Combat, Robert Del Toro

War, Diplomacy, and Society (MA) Theses

“Medics carried more responsibilities than dry feet, salt tablets, syphilis, and puncture wounds,” U.S. Army Medic Ben Sherman stated after reflecting on his tour in Vietnam. On the battlefields of North Africa, Italy, France, and Vietnam, the medics of the U.S. Army Medical Department faced the difficult duty of preserving life while death surrounded them. Their patients were not strangers but, men they had grown close to, they were comrades and family. Analyzing the memoirs and letters of forward medical personnel from the Second World War and the Vietnam War, this thesis analyzes how a medic’s care went beyond the …

Nationalistic Massacre Victims Triumph Over Ccp, Nathan Huffine

Voces Novae

Following the Japanese invasion of mainland China, and the subsequent Nanjing Massacre in 1937, Chinese Massacre survivors gained a nationalistic perspective as a result of their lived experiences. Later, these survivors’ nationalistic perspective came in direct conflict with the class-based perspective held by the Chinese Communist Party. This clash in political views helps shed light upon much of the internal and external Chinese historical narrative throughout the mid to late twentieth century.

Between The Devil And The Deep Sea: The Korean American War For Independence (1910-1945), Andrew Chae

War, Diplomacy, and Society (MA) Theses

From 1910 to 1945, while the Korean peninsula was a protectorate- and eventual colony- of the Empire of Japan, Koreans in the United States began an arduous process to maintain their sense of identity in a new land, and struggled to have a voice in a society that rejected their race. As a people in diasporic exile, Korean Americans engaged in a collective war for their independence by gathering resources to liberate Korea and committing extraordinary effort to deconstruct contrived stereotypes of Koreans. There are a number of forms of primary sources that corroborate the major arguments of the thesis, …

Japan's War On Three Fronts Prior To 1941, Shaohai Guo

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

This paper argues that Japan fought a three-front war prior to 1941. Japan not only fought China in the Second Sino-Japanese War, but conducted military operations against the Soviet Union. The third front occurred within Japan, as military factionalism prevented Japan from focusing on either China or the Soviet Union. By 1941, weakened through years of war, Japan focused their attention on French Indochina. This ultimately led to U.S entry into World War II.

A War Won In The Skies: Air Superiority In The Second World War, Chandler Dugal

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This paper studies the impact that air superiority had on the outcome of the Second World War in both the European and Pacific theaters of war, and argues that it was the determining factor in the outcome of the conflict. The paper outlines both the tactical and strategic aspects of air-power along the respective 'fronts'. In addition, the relative quantitative and qualitative strength of the air forces of the belligerent nations are discussed, along with their aircraft production and technological capabilities.

"Avenging Furies": The Memoirs Of American Women In The Philippines During The Second World War, Meghan E. O'Donnell

Student Publications

A large and active resistance movement developed in the Philippines during the Japanese occupation of the islands from 1942-1945. This paper discusses the memoirs of several women caught up in these movements, specifically Claire Phillips, Margaret Utinsky, Yay Panlilio, and Virginia Hansen Holmes. I argue that these women utilized their memoirs to secure places for themselves in history, using gendered and racialized language to define their experiences as incredible adventures. Their memoirs give significant insight into the civilian experience of the Japanese occupation and testify to the unique efforts made by women to support the American cause.

Hiroshima On Peace Education And Problems With U.S.-Centric Historical Narratives In A World Without Survivors, Matthew S. Thome

International ResearchScape Journal

As time passes, the number of survivors from major world tragedies like the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki grows fewer and fewer. These survivors are a powerful resource for educating students of all ages about the importance of world peace. Drawing on the writing of Richard Moody and Frans Doppen, as well as Paul Ham, and Herbert Feis respectively, I outline the important role of hibakusha, or a-bomb survivors, in peace education at the secondary and collegiate levels. I explain how personalized survivor testimony provides an alternative and highly effective and necessary counterweight to teaching solely a U.S.-centric historical …

Manipulated Museum History And Silenced Memories Of Aggression: Historical Revisionism And Japanese Government Censorship Of Peace Museums, Benjamin P. Birdwhistell

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The Japanese government has a vested interest in either avoiding discussion of its war-torn past or arguing for a revisionist take. The need to play up Japanese victimization over Japanese aggression during World War II has led to many museums having their exhibits censored or revised to fit this narrative goal. During the 1990’s, Japan’s national discourse was more open to discussions of war crimes and the damage caused by their aggression. This in turn led to the creation of many “peace museums” that are intended to discuss and confront this history as frankly as possible. At the beginning of …

The Broad, Toiling Masses In All The Continents: Anticolonial Activists And The Atlantic Charter, Mark Reeves

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The 1941 Atlantic Charter’s references to self-determination galvanized anticolonial nationalists during the Second World War. These activists used the principles enumerated in the Atlantic Charter to frame their demands. This thesis examines three cases in the broader global context during the war, from vastly different colonial and wartime situations: British-ruled India, French-ruled Syria, and the U.S.- ruled Philippines. Across these different situations, anticolonial nationalists used the Atlantic Charter in an attempt to legitimate their own projects. This thesis shows that the elite nationalist movements examined here used a common rhetoric from the Charter, but in variable ways. Each case study …

Art+Politics, Shannon Egan, Jenna L. Birkenshock, Hillary B. Goodall, Tessa M. Sheridan, Josiah B. Adlon, Megan E. Hilands, Emily A. Francisco, Molly E. Reynolds, Shelby P. Glass, Colleen L. Parrish, Francesca S. Debiaso

Schmucker Art Catalogs

For the exhibition Art + Politics, students worked closely with the holdings of Gettysburg College's Special Collections and College Archives to curate an exhibition in Schmucker Art Gallery that engages with issues of public policy, activism, war, propaganda, and other critical socio-political themes. Each of the students worked diligently to contextualize the objects historically, politically, and art-historically. The art and artifacts presented in this exhibition reveal how various political events and social issues have been interpreted through various visual and printed materials, including posters, pins, illustrations, song sheets, as well as a Chinese shoe for bound feet. The students' …

Burchfield, Evelyn (Day), 1896-1990 (Sc 1973), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1973. Several letters written by Evelyn D. Burchfield, Davao, Philippines and a 190-page memoir of her life in the Philippines, chiefly during the World War II Japanese occupation; also includes an introduction (17 p.) to the memoir by friend Viola Crump.

Broken Bodies, Shattered Dreams: The Aftermath Of A Life As A Korean "Comfort Woman", Jessica Wininger

The Gettysburg Historical Journal

The Pacific War in Asia is infamous for the sickening atrocities committed by the military forces of both the Allies and Japan. Proof of the carnage is undeniable and is often discussed in textbooks, history classes, and documentaries around the world. The forced recruitment of women to serve as sex slaves to the Japanese military is included on the long list of wartime tragedies, however it often remains on the periphery of discussions on wartime violence. The negligence is due in part to the half century of silence that followed the victimization of the women most often known as “ianfu,” …

Maintaining The Neutrality: Soviet-Japanese Relations, 1941-1945, Michael Shawn Blevins

History Theses & Dissertations

In April 1941, the Soviet Union and Japan concluded a five-year neutrality pact. Before the end of the year both nations were embroiled in bitter wars against each other' allies, but not against one another. How did Soviet.— Japanese wartime relations preserve this neutrality that lasted nearly four years during World War II? The answers are provided through analysis of both Soviet and Japanese foreign policies while also considering each nation's prospects for winning the war. To this end, timely MAGIC and ULTRA signal intelligence intercepts provide key insights into each government's intentions. Thus, the Special Research History and the …

Allied Communications Intelligence And The Monsoon Group, 1943-1945, Christopher G. Stuart

History Theses & Dissertations

The critical weakness of trade between Germany and Japan during the Second World War was exposed in 1943, when, after all other methods had failed, the Axis powers resorted to submarines as their main means of transportation. The Allied powers succeeded in disrupting the submarines, which the Germans called the Monsoon group. The Allies used communications intelligence to disrupt the Monsoon group in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Recently released United States Armed Forces LTRA decrypts, MAGIC messages and their summaries, and Selected Research Histories (SRH) provide the previously top secret details.

Ultra Underseas: Signal Intelligence And The Submarine War Against Japan, 1941-1945, Robert B. Watts

History Theses & Dissertations

During the Second World War the United States conducted a highly effective undersea war against Japan which relied on signal intelligence to direct the submarine force. Although submarines were naval assets, the sophisticated signal intelligence operation supporting them was composed of both army and navy organizations that considered a wide variety of factors in directing submarines against enemy economic and military power. While signal intelligence was used to direct submarines against targets of opportunity, the primary advantage of signal intelligence lay in the ability to provide a long-term strategic picture of the enemy. Through inter-service coordination, signal intelligence allowed for …

A Participatory Study Of The Self-Identity Of Kibei Nisei Men: A Sub Group Of Second Generation Japanese American Men, William T. Masuda

Doctoral Dissertations

At one time, the Kibei were perceived as "a minority within a minority" (Me Williams, 1944: 322) who were "distrusted in both America and Japan" (1944:321). But today, the Kibei are hardly distinguishable from the Nisei as they both enter the evening of their lives. Raised in both America and Japan, but strongly influenced in their formative years by Japanese cultural values and beliefs, they were often perceived differently by their own family, by the Japanese American community, and by the American community at large. The apparent marginality of this group, living on the fringes of or in the space …

Signal Intelligence And Macarthur's Use Of Military Intelligence (G-2) During The Second World War, James Walter Zobel

History Theses & Dissertations

Though signal intelligence significantly benefited MacArthur 's conduct of military operations during the Second World War, each of his campaigns from July 1942 to August 1945 was marred by his reliance on inaccurate intelligence provided by his G-2 organization. An examination of the production and use of intelligence during MacArthur's campaigns displays these mixed aspects of his use of intelligence. Historical analysis shows MacArthur made effective use of signal intelligence, and despite instances of his reliance on inaccurate estimates the result was never disastrous. A detailed view of MacArthur's use of intelligence can be found in the records of his …

Three American Resistance Leaders In The Philippine Islands During World War Ii, Brian W. Mclean

History Theses & Dissertations

This thesis compares the effectiveness of three Americans who led major guerrilla groups against the Japanese in the Philippine Islands during World War II. It is limited to Wendell Fertig on Mindanao, James Cushing on Cebu, and Russell Volckmann on Luzon. Previous works addressed only individual leaders; this thesis compares different leaders.

The thesis concludes that although differences did exist in how each individual officer rose to command, all three were effective in leading resistance efforts against the Japanese. The greatest differences among them were the amount of support they received from MacArthur's General Headquarters Southwest Pacific Area (GHQ SWPA) …

001 Conference Agenda, Northeastern Illinois University Archives

With Liberty and Justice for Some: The Case for Compensation to Japanese Americans Imprisoned During World War II Conference, September 19 and 21, 1981

This one-day conference - with a special address by former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Arthur J. Goldberg - was held at Northeastern Illinois University and meant to precede the hearings of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians.

The United States Great Britain And The Status Of Thailand (Siam), 1940-1946, Peter Goodwin

History Theses & Dissertations

This paper traces the changes in the attitudes and policies of the United States towards the Southeast Asian country of Thailand during the Second World War. From a position of indifference the United States assumed an active role in the emergence of Thailand as a sovereign nation at the conclusion of the war, encouraging pro-American factions and opposing a traditional power of the area, Great Britain.

The emphasis of the paper is on the different attitudes held by Britain and the United States and the efforts to reconcile them. The British expected recompense by the Thais for allying themselves with …

American Policy And The Netherlands East Indies, 1940-1945, Buford A. Harris

History Theses & Dissertations

Abstract unavailable.