page_title: History of Japanese Americans
section_title: Internment
hierarchical_section_title: History of Japanese Americans / Internment
caption_attribution_description: English: John Tanaka, Juneau High School valedictorian, receives his diploma at a special graduation ceremony in April of 1942. He was then taken, along with his family and other Juneau Japanese Americans, on an Army transport to Seattle for processing and then on to Minidoka Internment Camp in Idaho, where they were incarcerated during World War II. (Courtesy Tanaka family)
context_page_description: Japanese American history is the history of Japanese Americans or the history of ethnic Japanese in the United States. People from Japan began immigrating to the U.S. in significant numbers following the political, cultural, and social changes stemming from the 1868 Meiji Restoration. Large-scale Japanese immigration started with immigration to Hawaii during the first year of the Meiji period in 1868.
context_section_description: During World War II, an estimated 120,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese nationals or citizens residing in the United States were forcibly interned in ten different camps across the US, mostly in the west. The Internment was a 'system of legalized racial oppression' and were  based on the race or ancestry rather than activities of the interned. Families, including children, were interned together. Each member of the family was allowed to bring two suitcases of their belongings. Each family, regardless of its size, was given one room to live in. The camps were fenced in and patrolled by armed guards. For the most part, the internees remained in the camps until the end of the war, when they left the camps to rebuild their lives.
caption: Juneau High School valedictorian John Tanaka received his diploma at a special graduation ceremony at the school's gymnasium in Juneau, Alaska in April 1942 prior to his internment. He was unable to attend actual graduation the next month due to evacuation orders.
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