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Alien Registration Act
The Alien Registration Act was the foundation for the governments action to identify potential Japanese insiders. These lists were developed by the FBI to track enemy citizens who might put Americans at risk. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was the pivot point from peace talks to war. On this day, all Japanese became potential enemy persons. The shock of Pearl Harbor was fuel for fears on mainland USA, that Japanese could strike anywhere. It was The event which changed million lifes of Japanisse Americans and it was the cause of Henry and Keiko separation. -
Executive Order 9066
President Franklin Roosevelt signed into law Executive Order 9066, which gave the Secretary or War permission to establish areas "from which any or all persons may be excluded as deemed nessesary". This was the specific justification for establishing internment camps.
The document which caused relocation. The act which was the reason why Americans had so negative attitude to the Japanese Americans. -
Japanese Americans Removed
From March 31, 1942 to November 1942, All Japanese peoples in certain zones were removed from the public and put into camps. Officially they were "evacuated" to "assembly areas", which later became known as "Relocation Center". The Okabe family was removed to the temprorary Camp Harmony, that had a big effect on Henry and Keiko. This separation made them miss each other and recognize that they are more than friends. -
Issued Civilian Order #346
This order ended "voluntary relocation" and made it mandatory for anyone, citizen or non-citizen, of Japanese ancestory, to move to a relocation center. Arizona had two relations centers, one in Gila River and one in Poston. -
Opened First "Relocation Center" - Poston, AZ
Arizona becomes the first location for official "Relocation Centers", keeping Japanese people away from Americans in the western USA. As many as 20,000 people were taken to this relocation center. Camps were opened in Arizona, Texas and Idaho. Okabe family was moved to the Camp Minidoka in Idaho. Henry became a man. He missed Keiko and decided to go to Idaho and find her there. -
Italian Aliens Released
On Oct 12 1942, President Roosevelt ordered the release of most Italians from the camps, to regain support of large Italian American populations in the East. Soon after, he ordered the release of Germans as well. Only the Japanese remained in the camps. -
Resettlement Begins
Efforts by the government for "Resettlement" were focused on moving Japanese populations to the Midwest. Familiies were actually given small sums of money to motivate voluntary resettlement. -
Closed the Last "Relocation Center"
The Tule Lake, California site was the final internment camp to be closed. Although most had already been closed by December, 1944, the final camp remained operating for another 15 months.
