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Nisei

The term Nisei (second-generation) refers to American-born children of Japanese immigrants. In the United States, this typically refers to the children of Issei (first-generation) migrants from Japan who entered Hawai'i and the U.S. mainland in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Generations are counted from the people who migrated to the United States (not the first generation born in the United States). The children of post-World War II Japanese migrants to the United States are included as Nisei but are sometimes referred to more specifically as Shin-Nisei, that is, “new (postwar) second generation,” to distinguish between the two major pre- and postwar waves of Japanese migration. Though American citizens by birth, Nisei loyalties to the United States were repeatedly questioned throughout the war era because of their Japanese ancestry. In response, most Nisei emphasized their American identities and discarded or downplayed Japanese ethnic identities. Nisei experiences have been greatly shaped by their shifting racial exclusion and inclusion in different periods.

Americanization as a Response to Racism

Before, during, and after World War II, Nisei were confronted with racist doubts about their national loyalties and had to decide how to respond to them. The mass internment of people of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast, the administration of a loyalty questionnaire to internees, and the question of whether or not to serve in the U.S. military while their civil rights were being violated sparked debates about what it meant to be an American of Japanese ancestry while the United States was at war with Japan. More specifically, the discussions centered on what rights Japanese Americans were entitled to and how to react once those rights were taken away. Opinions differed, and a spectrum of responses ensued, but the mainstream strategy was to cooperate with the U.S. government to demonstrate loyalty to the United States. Many felt they had no other option and trusted that the government was looking out for their best interests. In this way, most Japanese Americans adopted a tactic of Americanization and assimilation, and those who took on different approaches were often ostracized and marginalized by the larger community.

The Loyalty Questionnaire

In 1943, interned Japanese Americans were required to fill out what is now called the “loyalty questionnaire.” The most infamous questions were #27 and #28, which respectively asked whether the individual was willing to serve in the U.S. armed forces on combat duty “wherever ordered” and whether the individual would swear “unqualified allegiance” to the United States and renounce any form of allegiance to the Japanese emperor or any other foreign group or power. Both the ambiguities of the questions and the insinuations of disloyalty caused much consternation among respondents. Those who rebelliously responded “no” and “no” were deemed “no-no boys” and seen as social outcasts for challenging the mainstream Japanese American tactic of demonstrating loyalty to the United States, regardless of the circumstances. These “no-no boys” were one of several groups who responded in a more confrontational way to the irony of a country illegally imprisoning its citizens based on racial and ethnic classifications and then questioning them about their national loyalties.

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