Proof of Loyalty: Kazuo Yamane and the Nisei Soldiers of Hawaii

The story of Nisei (American-born children of Japanese immigrants) in Hawaii is told in this excellent documentary by filmmakers Lucy Ostrander and Don Sellers. Following Hawaii's annexation in 1898, Japanese immigrants became the preferred laborers of plantation owners, setting the stage for a long, complicated relationship during the 20th century between the newcomers, their offspring, and the federal government. Many of these typically educated immigrants reinvented themselves by building businesses and creating a foundation for their kids as full Americans. Proof of Loyalty touches on assimilation, denial of citizenship to Japanese immigrants and discriminatory schooling for their children, and the maintaining of cultural ties with the old country, but ultimately it focuses on Kazuo Yamane, the son of a successful merchant on Oahu, who attended a top college in Japan and received military training. Returning to Hawaii, Yamane helped secure beaches during rumors of further Japanese attacks following the December 7, 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor. But he became one of 2,000 Nisei men from the islands who were interred in camps during the war, and then part of a government experiment to see if Nisei could reliably be called loyal. The result was Yamane's enlistment in the U.S. Army, where he was tremendously valuable to military intelligence as a translator, ultimately working under Eisenhower himself and helping to shorten the war by discovering a crucial Japanese-language communication. Combining archival materials and interviews with historians, Proof of Loyalty presents a powerful story of the cultural, political, economic, and legal forces that propelled Japanese immigrants and their descendants to become a vital segment of the American population. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (T. Keogh)