Japanese Internment; a lesson in decision making

By Bob Peters || June 24, 2025

Lessons of history 

Marcus Tullius Cicero once said, “To be ignorant of what happened before you were born is to remain forever a child.” In other words, if your only knowledge comes from firsthand experience, your perspective may remain limited. 

Mark Twain echoed this sentiment: “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” 

There are many lessons of history to learn. 

A Childhood Memory… one of my closest friends 

I was born in California in 1961 and have lived my whole life on the West Coast. As a child, one of my closest friends, Kenny, was Japanese American. His parents and grandmother had emigrated from Japan. 

Kenny’s grandmother lived with the family and raised him while his parents worked full-time. Though she spoke no English, her quiet discipline was remarkably effective. 

I remember her lighting incense at a Buddhist shrine, offering food, praying, and striking a small gong. At the time, I didn’t know what had happened to her and Kenny’s parents on February 19, 1942. 

Before we go there, let’s look at how Japanese immigration to the U.S. began. 

Japanese Immigration After 1868 

Before the Industrial Revolution, Japan was mostly agrarian and closed to the world. Industrialization brought economic growth but also displaced many rural workers. 

In rural Japan, second and third sons were often excluded from inheritance. These young men, facing poverty, sought better lives abroad. 

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and Its Impact 

In the mid-1800s, many Chinese immigrants came to California during the Gold Rush. They escaped natural disasters, poverty, and the effects of the Opium Wars. 

The transcontinental railroad, built from 1863 to 1869, created demand for low-cost labor-much of it supplied by Chinese workers. But by the 1880s, anti-Chinese sentiment had grown, prompting the U.S. to pass the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. 

With Chinese immigration restricted, West Coast industries faced labor shortages. Employers then turned to Japan for low-cost labor. 

Many Japanese immigrants first worked in Hawaii’s sugarcane fields. Later, they migrated to the U.S. mainland. By 1942, more than 150,000 people of Japanese descent lived in Hawaii (38% of the population) and 120,000 lived along the West Coast. 

Bainbridge Island and Port Blakely 

In the late 1800s, Bainbridge Island, WA, became home to Port Blakely Lumber Mill-once the largest mill on the West Coast. Immigrants from many backgrounds came to work there. 

Many Japanese immigrants, once poor farmers, settled on Bainbridge Island and found opportunity. By the 1920s, as lumber declined, Japanese American families began farming strawberries. This crop soon became the island’s leading industry. 

By the end of 1941, 276 people of Japanese descent lived on Bainbridge Island. Most of the 43 farms were either partly or fully owned by them. 

Fear Leads to Bad Decisions 

“We were really careful.  We were prisoners…they had guns with spears”  Fumiko Nishinaka Hayashida

“We went to concentration camps because we looked like the enemy”  Gerald Nakata

“I am for the immediate removal of all Japanese…Personally I hate the Japanese and that goes for all of them…”  Henry McLemore, San Francisco Examiner

“I felt like a second class citizen, to be herded onto the boat by soldiers with bayonets.  It was one of the most humiliating experiences of my life.”  Sam Nakao

“We took an earlier ferry [to Seattle] to see our friends get on the train.  I ran alongside the train until I couldn’t keep up”  Rich Barr

Everything changed after the Japanese government attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, killing over 2,400 Americans and crippling the U.S. Pacific Fleet. 

Just weeks later, on February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. This order forced all people of Japanese descent living on the West Coast-citizens and non-citizens alike-to relocate to internment camps.  Fear leads to bad decisions. 

Some had only 48 hours to leave, while others were given a few weeks. 

Property Loss and Financial Hardship 

On Bainbridge Island, 246 Japanese Americans were given six days to liquidate their assets. Forced sales led to devastating property loss and financial hardship. 

While some people took advantage of the situation, others showed compassion. For instance: 

• The Kuroa family sold their farm to neighbors for $1, who later sold it back in 1945 for the same amount. 

• Hjalmer Anderson paid property taxes on Bainbridge Gardens to prevent its seizure. 

• Filipino workers agreed to maintain farms during the owners’ absence. 

• Walt and Millie Woodward, publishers of The Bainbridge Review, advocated for their Japanese neighbors and published updates from the camps. 

Yet, despite these acts of kindness, the broader injustice affected 120,000 people. 

An Apology, Decades Later 

It wasn’t until August 10, 1988, that President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act, formally acknowledging the U.S. government’s wrongdoing. 

Later, on June 13, 1998, President Bill Clinton issued an official letter of apology for the denial of fundamental liberties to Japanese Americans. 

What We Must Learn 

As Cicero warned, ignoring history leaves us intellectually stunted. Fear is a powerful emotion. It clouds judgment and leads to harmful decisions. 

After Pearl Harbor, Americans feared an attack on the West Coast. My own mother remembers blackout curtains in her Oakland home, installed to prevent detection by imagined bombers. 

This fear, though understandable, drove policies that harmed innocent people. What we must learn: fear-based decisions often are highly susceptible to bad outcomes. 

Returning to Bainbridge Island 

Recently, my wife and I took our bikes on the Seattle ferry to Bainbridge Island. We rode just under four miles to the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial at Pritchard Park. 

It was from this very site that 276 Japanese American residents were forcibly relocated to internment camps. 

Today, I serve as an independent director alongside the retired CEO of Port Blakely Timber Company. I’ve heard stories of the mill town and the Japanese immigrants who built lives there. 

Earlier in my career, I worked with a Japanese American family who owns a respected grocery store in Seattle. They remained loyal to our financial institution because it was the only bank that offered loans to Japanese Americans after World War II. 

Fear, Government, and Financial Security: A Final Thought 

This blog’s mission is to help young people live more financially secure and less stressful lives. In the post Financial Security Is Achieved by Wisely Investing, Not Speculating, we discussed the “fight or flight” response embedded in our DNA. 

That same fear response-once critical for escaping predators-still activates when markets crash by 30–50%. Understanding this emotional wiring can help you avoid panic selling and stay invested. Awareness of how fear distorts decision making can also temper how we see others.

Today, fear is also real in places like Ukraine, Israel, and Gaza. We look to our governments to both protect and reassure us. 

After Pearl Harbor, the U.S. made many wise decisions to defend the nation and support our allies. Yet, we also made decisions rooted in fear that brought harm to innocent people. 

Let us remember these lessons-and choose better next time.