Narratives of Japanese Peruvian internment experiences during World WarⅡ

     Life story research, which focuses on an individual life, serves to interpret narratives through interactions between interviewees and interviewers during interviews. In other words, in analyzing the narrative of an individual who experienced an event, it places importance on paying attention not only to what the interviewee told but also to how the narrative was produced, which makes it possible to describe various experiences of the interviewee and produce richer story about life.

In this paper we examine how life story research is employed in understanding Japanese Peruvian internment experiences. During World WarⅡ, approximately 1,800 Japanese Peruvians were interned in the United States as hostages in exchange for Americans held by Japan. After the war ended, most of them were not permitted to re-enter Peru and had no choice but to either “return” to Japan or “remain” in the United States. Regarding two Nisei (second generation, born in Peru) who experienced internment in a concentration camp in this paper, one has resettled in Japan and the other one in the United States.

     Comparison between two interview data revealed that the historic experience of interment is implicated by postwar life experiences. In other words, recognition and assessment of internment are formed during their lives in each settled land after war and they can be understood only from the life story perspective which comprehensively examines the past from the perspective of present. As the result, it will be possible to provide more various aspects to the public history which objectively records the actual condition of internment.

Finally, based on the report above, we discuss the possibility of the life story research.