Legacies of Incarceration: The World War II Experience of Hawai‘i’s Japanese

Legacies of Incarceration provides a holistic view of the incarceration experience of Hawaiʻi’s Japanese by exploring the factors that shaped the circumstances of confinement on each island before, during, and after World War II. This book examines residents’ experiences on Hawai‘i Island, Maui, Moloka‘i, Lāna‘i, Kaua‘i, and O‘ahu, expanding beyond an O‘ahu-centric, urban focus to highlight the community impact of incarceration. It addresses the specific conditions and challenges inmates encountered on each island before they were released, transferred to O‘ahu, and sent either to Honouliuli or incarceration centers on the American continent. Notably, the pre-war influence of the United States military and the plantations shaped the evolution of the distinctive and inconsistent incarceration policies across the islands, resulting in a diversity of inmate experiences. The author’s archival research, in both English and Japanese, reveals these varied perspectives and includes sources such as inmate oral histories, diaries, newspaper interviews, songs, and poetry found in Hawai‘i, California, Washington D.C., Maryland, and Hiroshima, Japan.

With the conclusion of the war, authorities would lift military regulations and release the remaining prisoners. However, the impact of war and incarceration continued to reverberate throughout Hawaiʻi. This study ends with the economic, political, and social ascension of the Nisei in the mid-1900s during the Democratic Revolution, detailing the divergent fates of celebrated Nisei veterans and the devastated former inmates. It also invites further research and critique of the outsized impact Japanese residents in Hawai‘i continue to wield. As its title suggests, this book ultimately documents the enduring legacies of war that continue to reverberate in various communities within the Islands and beyond, illuminating the impacts of wartime racism.

• Kelli Y. Nakamura, Author

  Kelli Y. Nakamura is professor of history at Kapi‘olani Community College.