2021 Volume 27 Pages 3-17
This article focuses on visits by Japanese and Okinawan immigrants to Prisoner of War (POW) camps to see Japanese and Okinawan POWs who were confined there in the Territory of Hawaiʻi immediately following the end of the Pacific War. Previous studies have focused on one-way exchanges, meaning “giving” or “charity” from immigrants to POWs, mainly from Okinawans in Hawai‘i to Okinawan POWs. However, this paper presents evidence for two-way exchanges between immigrants and POWs. Examples include the activities of the katta-gumi (winning-belief–group) and the participation in the Japanese culture revival movements through orchestra performances, theatrical and dance performances and movie screenings in the context of “sympathy visits.” Changes over time in these visits to POW camps in the immediate aftermath of the war and the level of enthusiasm are also examined as evidence that these visits eventually produced cultural interaction, which was, in part, inspired by the appearance of POWs in Hawai‘i. The state of the change was clearer when Okinawan POWs invited “sympathy visit” groups to their theatric performances. In Hawaiian society immediately following the end of the war, this shared culture of immigrants and POWs also constitutes a type of “end-of-war celebration” with the POW camp functioning as a place where they could actually experience the celebration using. Ironically, however, they also showed the struggles inherent in the effort to create a new type of culture (a set of meanings) on the stages in the POW camps managed by the military authorities.
