An Annotated Bibliography
for When the Emperor Was Divine

The Novel

Otsuka, Julie. When the Emperor was Divine. New York: Anchor Books, 2003.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Main Stacks, Ground Level, Call #: PS 3615 .T88 W48 2003

American Culture in the 1940s

Sickels, Robert. The 1940s (American Popular Culture Through History). Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2004.
Whether you're interested in getting a better idea of food rationing or the exact batting averages of Joe Dimaggio, this book describes the highs and lows of American culture. Particularly relevant is the chapter outlining what it was to be a youth during this period. Includes a timeline of the 40s and tables outlining the cost of living.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Main Stacks, Ground Level, Call #: E 169.1 .S559 2004

Cohn, David L. with an introd. by Sinclair Lewis. The Good Old Days: a history of American morals and Manners as seen through the Sears Roebuck Catalogs. New York: Arno Press, 1976.
The Sears Roebuck Catalog was so essential to American homes of the 1940s. See the innovations that surrounded Americans in their kitchens, closets and home with images from the catalog and an in depth critique. Cohn examines how a catalog became "a social barometer of the countless forces at work" on Americans.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Main Stacks, Ground Level, Call #: E 168 .C67 1976

Bailey, Ronald H. and the editors of Time Life Books. The Home Front: U.S.A. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1977.
Extensive photo essays illustrate the contrast between America's fear and paranoia and its deep sense of patriotism and duty. Images also relate the vibrancy of the era and its monotony and show the important role FDR played in many Americans' lives.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Main Stacks, Ground Level, Call #: E 169 .B155

Dixon, Wheeler Winston, ed. American Cinema of the 1940s: Themes and Variations. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutger Univ. Press, 2006.
The 1940s opened the flood gates for American cinema, generating some of America's most important films including Casablanca and Citizen Kane. Film nourished Americans at home and abroad with an escape from the struggles of their lives while also instilling in them the importance of contribution and consistency. But as the decade wore on, film also reflected the growing mood of pessimism and paranoia that infiltrated the American psyche. This compilation discusses film's many roles in 1940s America.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Main Stacks, Ground Level, Call #: PN 1993.5 .U6 A8574 2005

Roediger, David R. Working Towards Whiteness: How America's Immigrants Became White, the Strange Journey from Ellis Island to the Suburbs. New York: Basic Books, 2005.
Relates the challenges faced by immigrants, even "white" immigrants, when arriving in the United States during the early and mid twentieth century. Roediger describes the factors that contributed to the eventual acceptance of immigrants, ranging from real estate deals to labor movements. An important dimension to understanding the nascent racism Japanese Americans, like all immigrants, faced when coming to America.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Main Stacks, Ground Level, Call #: E 184 .A1 R644 2005

American Media Images of Japanese in Historical Context

Bird, William L. and Harry R. Rubenstein. Design for Victory: World War II Posters on the American Home Front. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1998.
The poster was an invaluable method of communicating, instigating and encouraging support for the war effort. This collection of over 150 WWII posters touches on all aspects of wartime life. The authors discuss how posters were conceived and reveals how the simple, inexpensive poster was an icon in this period of American history.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Main Stacks, Ground Level, Call #: D743.25 .B62

1940 and 1950 (This Fabulous Century). New York : Time Life Books, 1969.
Photos, cartoons, posters and brief essays exhibit the core values and ideologies of the 1940s and how those beliefs shaped work and play.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Main Stacks, Ground Level, Call #: E 161 .T58 T4 v. 5

Daily Life and After

Burton, Jeffery, et al. Confinement and Ethnicity: an Overview of World War II Japanese American Relocation Sites. Seattle: Univ. of Washington Press, 2002.
Describes in intricate detail the fifteen facilities used to confine Japanese Americans during World War II. Includes maps, diagrams, charts and photographs--including those taken by Ansel Adams and Dorothea Lange. Photographs also document the living conditions faced by these citizens. Includes an essay by Eleanor Roosevelt.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Main Stacks, Ground Level, Call #: D 769.8 .A6 C57 2002

Austin, Allan W. From Concentration Camp to Campus: Japanese American Students and World War II. Urbana, Ill.: Univ. of Illinois Press, 2004.
The National Japanese American Student Relocation Council was created to facilitate Japanese American students' move to college campuses away from the West Coast. This private organization enabled more than 4,000 incarcerated students to pursue higher education at a time fraught with pervasive wartime paranoia and racism. Austin's book reveals the students' experience and perception of "assistance" and the outcomes this program produced for these students and for American education.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Main Stacks, Ground Level, Call #: D 769.8 .A6 A94 2004

Fugita, Stephen S. and Marilyn Fernandez. Altered Lives, Enduring Community: Japanese Americans Remember Their World War II Incarceration. Seattle: Univ. of Washington Press, 2004.
Not only does this book present the stories of those incarcerated but also uses data from the first-ever representative survey of a community of Japanese Americans who were imprisoned to examine the consequences the incarceration had on their lives. Social relationship, community structure, marriage, education and military service are some of the aspects that are examined.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Main Stacks, Ground Level, Call #: D 769.8 .A6 F78 2004

History of the Japanese in America

Takaki, Ronald. Strangers From a Different Shore: a History of Asian Americans. Boston : Back Bay Books, 1989.
Presents different Asian experiences in immigration and acceptance once in America. The chapter on Japanese Americans describes their efforts to overcome discrimination in the workplace and in their communities through narrative history, personal recollection and oral history.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Main Stacks, Ground Level, Call #: E 184 .O6 T13

Okihiro, Gary Y. Margins and Mainstreams: Asians in American History and Culture. Seattle : Univ. of Washington Press, 1994.
Examines the meaning of Asian American social history and contends that Asian Americans, along with other minorities, uphold, maintain and advance the ideals of America's founders.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Main Stacks, Ground Level, Call #: E 184 .O6 O38

Internment

Ng, Wendy. Japanese American Internment during World War II: a History and Reference Guide. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2002.
With a variety of materials, this guide will help readers understand the history of internment, the experience of Japanese Americans interned and the interpretation of this action in later years.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Main Stacks, Ground Level, Call #: D 769.8 .A6 N4 2002

Japanese Art

(Don't forget about ArtStor, available through the Library Home Page)

Hirasuna, Delphine. The Art of Gaman: Arts and Crafts from the Japanese American Internment Camps. Berkeley, Calif.: Ten Speed Press, 2005.
Intensely beautiful and disturbing, this book collects images of the creative expressions of Japanese Americans who had little to use for supplies other than scraps. The art truly reflects the Japanese world "gaman": enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Oversize books, Ground Level, Call #: NK 839.3 .J32 H57 2005

Smith, Bradley. Japan: a History in Art. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1964.
Depicting twenty centuries of Japanese art that captures the richness, delicacy and complexity of Japanese life, this expansive collection of the varieties of Japanese art provides detailed texts and historical and artistic chronologies.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Oversize books, Ground Level, Call #: N 7350 .S64

Michener, James A. The Modern Japanese Print: an Appreciation. Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1970.
In 1962, author James Michener gathered woodblock prints by contemporary Japanese artists to broaden recognition of their talent and dedication. The limited edition copies became a collector's item. The reprint reproduced the artist's prints and retained Michener's accompanying text. This introduction to modern Japanese printmaking not only provides the technical detail of their creation but an appreciation for their beauty and intricacy by one of America's most prolific authors.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Main Stacks, Ground Level, Call #: NE 1310 .M62 1970

Japanese and Asian American Literature

Rimer, J. Thomas and Van C. Gessel, eds. Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature: From Restoration to Occupation, 1868-1945. New York : Columbia Univ. Press, 2005.
Includes fiction, poetry, drama and essays from a pivotal time in Japan's history. The text not only reflects changes in Japan's literary movements but also the country's political, social and intellectual climate. Organized chronologically and by genre, this essential source opens the door to a vast body of literature.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Main Stacks, Ground Level, Call #: PL 782 .E1 C55 2005

Basho, Buson, Issa, Shiki, et al. The Four Seasons: Japanese Haiku. Mount Vernon, NY : Peter Pauper Press, 1958.
The haiku is a seventeen syllable poetic form that has been written in Japan for four hundred years. Although short, the haiku is often subtle and complex, fraught with inner meanings. This small collection of poems introduces readers to the beauty of this Japanese poetic genre.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Main Stacks, Ground Level, Call #: PL 884 .F66 1958

NOTE: The Library has numerous works of fiction and poetry by Japanese and Japanese American authors including poetry and prose by Basho and fiction by Nobel Prize Winner Yasunari Kawabata. Assistance in finding these and other books is available at the MIC.

Japanese Culture

de Bary, Wm. Theodore et al. Sources of Japanese Tradition 2nd edition. New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 2001.
This two volume set presents essential readings in Japanese culture in English translation. Primary source readings on history, society, politics, education, philosophy and religion shed light on the development of Japanese civilization in its own terms. Provides unparalleled opportunity to understand how leaders in intellectual, religious and political life looked at the traditions of their ancestors and the world in which they lived.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Main Stacks, Ground Level, Call #: DS 821 .S68 2001, 2 volumes.

"Japanese." Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life. Edited by Timothy Gall. Detroit: Gale, 1997. 328-336.
Wondering about Japanese family life, living conditions, interpersonal relationships, holidays or sports? This encyclopedia entry details the activities and aspects of daily life for the Japanese as well as information about the arts, education, and the value of work to a typical Japanese.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Reference section, Main Level, Call #: GN 333 .W92 1998, v. 3

Encyclopedia of Food and Culture. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003.
Did you know that rice is a metaphor to Japanese culture? Or that food arrangement, known as moritsuke, is considered just as important to the Japanese diner as the food itself? This encyclopedia covers so many aspects of Japanese culture and cuisine, it's impossible to point to just one section. Look up "Japan" in the index of volume 3 to be prepared to find anything you would want to know.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Reference section, Main Level, Call #: GT 2850 .E56 2003

Japan's Place In World Culture

Reischauer, Edwin O. and Marius B. Jansen. The Japanese Today: Change and Continuity. Cambridge, Mass. : Belknap Press, 1995.
Discusses the culture and societal changes among the Japanese from the pre-war period to the modern day. Provides historical perspective of Japanese customs and mindset but elucidates the profound changes that have affected the Japanese in their own country and around the world.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Main Stacks, Ground Floors, Call #: DS 806 .R37 1995

Reingold, Edwin M. Chrysanthemums and Thorns: the Untold Story of Modern Japan. New York : St. Martin's Press, 1992.
In contrast to The Japanese Today, Reingold suggests that despite their profound economic revival and their important place in the global marketplace, the Japanese live in constant struggle between modernity and tradition, the sacred and the profane. Reingold suggests that their struggle for identity demands a deeper understanding of Japan from the rest of the world.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Main Stacks, Ground Level, Call #: DS 822.5 .R36

Japanese Religion

"Japan." Religions of the World: a Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC CLIO, 2002.
Describes Japan's complex religious history and structure, focusing on the multiple organized religions and folk traditions that are integrated by or native to Japan, including Shinto, Buddhism and Christianity.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Reference section, Main Level, Call #: BL 80.3 .R45 2002

Sakashita, Jay. "Japanese Religions." Cambridge Illustrated History of Religions. Edited by John Bowker. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2002. 150-179.
See what Japanese religion is made of with this in depth description of Japanese religion with photographs of temples, statues, pilgrimages, rituals, ceremonies and artifacts.

Where you'll find it at MIC: Reference section, Main Level, Call #: BL 80.2 .C17

Kato, Genchi. A Study of Shinto: the Religion of a Japanese Nation. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1971.
Presents the salient features of Shinto and traces its long history of development and outlines its rituals and practices from ancient to modern times. A scholarly volume that delves into the characteristics that make Shinto unique among world religions.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Main Stacks, Ground Level, Call #: BL 2220 .K19

Japanese Women

Morley, Patricia. The Mountain is Moving: Japanese Women's Lives. New York : New York Univ. Press, 1999.
Drawing on interviews with hundreds of women, Morley describes the post-World War II women in Japanese society as the cornerstone to Japanese economic success with their support of education, marriage and child rearing, elderly care, and volunteerism. This traditional paradigm is described as shifting as Japanese women seek change and empowerment outside their accepted sphere.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Main Stacks, Ground Level, Call #: HQ 1762 .M86

Iwao, Sumiko. The Japanese Woman: Traditional Image and Changing Reality. New York : The Free Press, 1993.
Both Westerners and Japanese men characterize Japanese women as devoted, dependent and deferential. This book looks more carefully at post-World War II Japanese women and reveals a less expected psychology and circumstance for Japanese women. Iwao examines women's dominance in the family, their intense involvement in their children's development, and their hold over male/female relationships that she suggests is something from which American women could learn. Dispelling stereotypes, this book presents a more modern Japanese woman who rose from the ashes of World War II.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Main Stacks, Ground Level, Call #: HQ 1762 .I95 J35

Legal Issues

Hayashi, Brian Masaru. Democratizing the Enemy: the Japanese Internment. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Univ. Press, 2004.
What led the United States government to detain 120,000 Japanese Americans in "assembly centers" throughout the West? This book asserts that there was more to the internment than a reaction to and fear from Pearl Harbor. It not only considers the long term impact the internment had on Japanese Americans but also its impact on governments and disenfranchised people around the world.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Main Stacks, Ground Level, Call #: D 769.8 .A6 H39 2004

Robinson, Greg. By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of Japanese Americans. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 2001.
Looking back at President Roosevelt's policies, papers, letters and diaries, this book explains the crucial role FDR had in making and implementing the interment, despite his efforts to preserve democracy. This book examines not only FDR's constitutional philosophy and leadership style but also takes into account the country's racialist view of Japanese Americans as "immutably foreign and threatenin."
Where you'll find it at MIC: Main Stacks, Ground Level, Call #: D 769.8 .A6 R66

Daniels, Roger. Concentration Camps U.S.A.: Japanese Americans and World War II. New York: Holt Rhinehart and Winston, 1972.
Many Americans later considered the internment as "our worst wartime mistake." This volume refuses to write off this "mistake." Rather, the author considers the role that such powerful figures as President Roosevent, the Secretary of War, the Chief Justice of the United States and others had on this decision. He further proposes that the internment was a direct outgrowth of the American experience and American racism that was fueled by hysteria after Pearl Harbor. Excellent photos of the evacuation and life in the camps.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Main Stacks, Ground Level, Call #: D 769 .A6 D18 1976

Personal Narrative

Inada, Lawson Fusao, ed. Only What They Could Carry: the Japanese American Internment Experience. San Francisco, CA: Heyday Books and the California Historical Society, 2000.
A collection of letters, stories, poems and drawings. These poignant vignettes demonstrate the powerful emotions felt by those inside the camps but also includes stories from those who stayed behind.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Main Stacks, Ground Level, Call #: D 769.8 .A6 O55 2000

Inada, Lawson Fusao.Legends from the Camp poems. Minneapolis, MN : Coffee House Press, 1993.
The selection of poems, "Camp," is vivid in its depiction but after reading the introduction, it is clear that all the poems reflect the Camp in some way. Powerful.
Where you'll find it at MIC: Main Stacks, Ground Level, Call #: PS 3559 .N3 L43 1993