Midnight in Broad Daylight: A Japanese American Family Caught Between Two Worlds
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About this ebook
Meticulously researched and beautifully written, the true story of a Japanese American family that found itself on opposite sides during World War II—an epic tale of family, separation, divided loyalties, love, reconciliation, loss, and redemption—and a riveting chronicle of U.S.–Japan relations and the Japanese experience in America
After their father’s death, Harry, Frank, and Pierce Fukuhara—all born and raised in the Pacific Northwest—moved to Hiroshima, their mother’s ancestral home. Eager to go back to America, Harry returned in the late 1930s. Then came Pearl Harbor. Harry was sent to an internment camp until a call came for Japanese translators and he dutifully volunteered to serve his country. Back in Hiroshima, his brothers Frank and Pierce became soldiers in the Japanese Imperial Army.
As the war raged on, Harry, one of the finest bilingual interpreters in the United States Army, island-hopped across the Pacific, moving ever closer to the enemy—and to his younger brothers. But before the Fukuharas would have to face each other in battle, the U.S. detonated the atomic bomb over Hiroshima, gravely injuring tens of thousands of civilians, including members of their family.
Alternating between the American and Japanese perspectives, Midnight in Broad Daylight captures the uncertainty and intensity of those charged with the fighting as well as the deteriorating home front of Hiroshima—as never told before in English—and provides a fresh look at the dropping of the first atomic bomb. Intimate and evocative, it is an indelible portrait of a resilient family, a scathing examination of racism and xenophobia, an homage to the tremendous Japanese American contribution to the American war effort, and an invaluable addition to the historical record of this extraordinary time.
Pamela Rotner Sakamoto
Pamela Rotner Sakamoto is an American historian. Fluent in Japanese, she lived in Kyoto and Tokyo for seventeen years. She works as an expert consultant on Japan-related projects for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and has taught in the University of Hawaii system. She is on the faculty at Punahou School in Honolulu.
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Reviews for Midnight in Broad Daylight
47 ratings6 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5For much of this book, I liked it much more than my rating may indicate. The first third to one half is quite intriguing, centering upon a family which, I would argue, is inappropriately labeled "Japanese American." The members are composed of persons who never lived in America nor became American citizens, those who lived in America only part of their lives and were never citizens, those who lived part of their lives in America that were citizens, and those that lived part of their lives in America who were citizens and lost their citizenship. [If I travel to Ethiopia and stay there several years without ever becoming a citizen, I would not consider myself an Ethiopian American (nor an American Ethiopian.)] That issue aside, the book is quite good at pointing out the intricacies of families with Japanese heritage living in America, starting before the Great Depression, and the differences that confronted the various members, into and out of World War II, plus the issues they faced when living in Japan. The internment camps for Americans with Japanese heritage after the attack on Pearl Harbor are well known for folks well versed in modern American history, but is it as well known that first generation Japanese immigrants were not only forbidden (before Pearl Harbor) from owning real estate property, they were also prohibited from using their own funds to buy such property for their American citizen offspring who could otherwise legally own property? As discrimination against Japanese Americans was rampant in America, it was just as pervasive, if somewhat differently manifested, for those who ended up living in Japan. The insights offered by the author are well narrated. Unfortunately, after the story line has atomic bombs dropped on Japan and some of the personal side of the devastation is brought out -- I recommend different books for understanding the full impact of that -- the narrative starts to degrade considerably, too often resorting to very general comments about key family members. Someone did well at. Someone got promoted. Someone made lots of money. Someone got more education. Nothing is said about why or how they did well or made money. They just did. What had been a not so unique family representing intricate social and economic dynamics in the not so distant past, becomes little more than the reader going through a family photo album with a third person who doesn't really know many meaningful tales to tell about the photo subjects. All in all, I still recommend the book.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I would give this 4.5 stars. A great read that follows a Japanese/American family as they deal with World War II both in America and in Japan. It is a fascinating look at how brothers were split on both sides, but were never truly split from each other. I loved the social history of both Japan and America during the War, and I feel that the treatment of the Japanese in America is still a history that is too often overlooked. My only criticism is that I felt that the book was too rushed in parts. I would have loved to read more detail in many places.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Well researched account of a Japanese-American family during WW II. Half the family was in Japan and half in the US. This account tells of the suffering, treatment and events for the family in both countries. Interesting look into the US fear of the Japanese-Americans at that time. Shows what could happen with unfound fear of people different than ourselves.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent description of Japanese culture prior to ww2. also the grave injustice that was thrust on them
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Totally gripping. My father in law was a kibei in Japan during the war and this really gave me perspective on his family's experience. I think the story will be of interest to anyone thanks to the author's impressive research and entertaining storytelling.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent! I have a better perspective of the war from the Japanese point of view.