Honored and Dishonored Guests: Westerners in Wartime Japan

392 Pages·2017·30.071 MB·English

by  W. Puck Brecher

Honored and Dishonored Guests
Harvard East Asian Monographs 399

Honored and Dishonored Guests
Westerners in War time Japan
W. Puck Brecher
Published by the Harvard University Asia Center
Distributed by Harvard University Press
Cambridge (Mas sa chu setts) and London 2017
© 2017 by Th e President and Fellows of Harvard College
Printed in the United States of Amer i ca
Th e Harvard University Asia Center publishes a monograph series and, in coordination with the
Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, the K orea Institute, the Reischauer Institute of Japa nese Stud-
ies, and other facilities and institutes, administers research proj ects designed to further scholarly
understanding of China, Japan, Vietnam, Korea, and other Asian countries. Th e Center also spon-
sors proj ects addressing multidisciplinary and regional issues in Asia.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Brecher, W. Puck, author.
Title: Honored and dishonored guests : Westerners in war time Japan / W. Puck Brecher.
Other titles: Harvard East Asian monographs ; 399.
Description: Cambridge, Mas sa chu setts : Published by the Harvard University Asia Center,
2017. | Series: Harvard East Asian monographs ; 399 | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifi ers: LCCN 2016028795 | ISBN 9780674975149 (hardcover : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Japan— Race relations— Political aspects. | Japan— Race relations— History. |
World War, 1939–1945— Japan. | Racism— Japan— History.
Classifi cation: LCC DS832.7.A1 B65 2017 | DDC 940.53/5208909— dc23
LC rec ord available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2016028795
Index by Stephen Ullstrom
Printed on acid- free paper
Last fi gure below indicates year of this printing
26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17
For my family

Contents
List of Tables and Figures xi
Acknowl edgments xiii
Introduction 1
Part I: Caucasians and Race in Imperial Japan
1 Racism, Race Consciousness, and Imperial Japan 21
A Normative Racism 23
Aspects of Race Consciousness in Imperial Japan 28
Sources of Cognitive Dissonance 34
2 Privilege and Prejudice: Being a Westerner in Imperial Japan 44
Early Foreign Settlements 46
Th e Yoko hama Community 51
Ornaments in Isolation: Th e Frank and Balk Families 59
Class Insularity at Western Resorts 76
3 Handling the Other Within: Approaches to Preemptive
Containment (1939–41) 83
Direct and Indirect Forms of Containment 85
Japan’s “Jewish Prob lem” and the Ko be Community 98
A Repressed, Mobilized Chris tian ity 109
viii Contents
Part II: Lives in Limbo: Wartime Containment
in the Wake of Pearl Harbor
4 First Responses and Containment Protocols
after Pearl Harbor (1941–43) 123
A New Taxonomy of Foreigners 124
Temporary Detentions of Suspicious Enemy Nationals 130
Enemy Diplomatic Staff under House Arrest 139
Racialized Others: Jews and Asians 144
5 Watched and Unseen: Nonenemy Nationals after
Pearl Harbor (1941–43) 152
Fracture and Emotional Confl ict 154
Withdrawal and Invisibility 168
Japa nese Ambivalence and Antiforeign Sentiment 173
6 Fleeing for the Hills: Evacuee Communities
in Hako ne and Karui zawa (1943–45) 182
“ Running Smoothly” in Gora 187
Karui zawa: A “Strange Miniature Babel” 193
Part III: Lives behind Walls: Japan’s Treatment
of Enemy Civilians
7 From Humiliation to Hunger: Th e Internment
of Enemy Nationals (1941–45) 219
Camp Administration 219
Th e Initial Roundup (1941–42) 227
Stringency and Privation (1942–45) 239
8 Torture and Testimony: Th e Incarceration
of Suspected Spies (1944–45) 253
Interrogation 255
Trial and Imprisonment 269
Death and Liberation 275
9 Race War? On Japa nese Pragmatism and Racial Ambivalence 286
Th e Failure of Propaganda 287
Continuity and Change Following the Surrender 304
Contents ix
Epilogue 310
Notes 313
Bibliography 341
Index 355