My Research
Historical Fiction requires an extensive amount of research. Here's an insight into the political climate and events depicted in the book.
Japanese American Incarceration
On 19th February 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which deemed that those of Japanese ancestry at home in the United States were a threat; action to remove them from positions of influence and 'sabotage' was soon underway.
120,000 Japanese Americans, mostly in California, were removed from their homes, forced to sell their businesses, and were imprisoned across ten concentration camps - the biggest of which was Tule Lake, located in Modoc County, California. It became synonymous with the egregious treatment of the inmates and much unrest, and was the last camp to shut in March 1946, five months after the war with Japan had officially ended.
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In The Falling Sun, Tule Lake is where the protagonist and narrator, Akira Yamamoto was interned. It is the reason for his quest for answers and for an apology from those responsible.
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In 1988, the Civil Liberties Act offered Japanese Americans a formal apology for their internment, which was finally accepted as a violation of Civil Rights.
Photograph courtesy of National Park Service - Tule Lake Monument
Tule Lake
Tule Lake Concentration Camp stood at 1110 acres, and with a peak population of 18,789, this made it the biggest internment camp set up to house Japanese Americans.
Beyond the miles of barbed wire fences and armed guards was an 800ft bluff, from which most sanitised images of the camp were taken.
Opened May 27th May 1942, the camp began life under WRA (War Relocation Authority) control. By July 1943, after the detrimental mishap of the loyalty questionnaire, Tule Lake became a Segregation Centre for those who had said 'no' to the questions under flak, and who were, subsequently, branded disloyal terrorists and a threat to homeland security.
As one can expect, life was hard - especially when fear had torched the public into an inferno of Japanese resentment and discrimination.
Photograph courtesy of Densho Organisation
Loyalty Questionnaire
In the spring of 1943, the WRA administered a loyalty questionnaire to incarcerated men. The aim was to sieve through those interned and deem who was a potential saboteur and who was not. Those deemed disloyal were punished in detention facilities. Around 6700 men were met with this fate for saying 'no' to any question - two, in particular.
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These were questions 27 and 28. 'Are you willing to serve in the armed forces of the United States on combat duty, wherever ordered?' and 'Will you swear allegiance to the US and defend the US from any foreign attack, and will you foreswear any allegiance to the emperor?'
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Question 27 posed issues of military conscription, as those who said 'no' suspected that 'yes' would enlist them. Question 28 asked incarcerees to renounce an allegiance to the emperor of Japan, when there was no allegiance to foreswear. Many were puzzled and refused to say the answer that they knew the US government wanted out of protest.
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Loyalty questionnaires were also used to determine who should be drafted into the army. 800 of the 1100 men who volunteered were made into the 442nd regiment, one of the most decorated units in American history.
Photograph courtesy of National Park Service - Tule Lake Monument
LIFE In the Camp
Internment camps were self-sustainable and contained everything that a regular town would - schools, hospitals, parks, galleries, barracks, a bakery, a recreation hall - the difference being that they were surrounded by miles of barbed wire fences, and no-one could leave.
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Work was hard but covered a variety of roles to maintain the upkeep of the camp. Many worked in the fields or as mechanics, similar to their lives outside of the camp. It was a strange notion, but life went on. It had to.
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Domestic life was ordinary but uncomfortable, with many barracks being left bare and families divided. Promises of improvement were made but rarely fulfilled.
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Pastimes included reading, drawing, playing table tennis at the recreation halls, and the favourite of many, seashell collecting at Tule lake itself.
Courtesy of Clem Albers, Photographer (NARA record: 8452194) - U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (Public Domain)
Santa Anita Camp
Santa Anita Assembly Centre was the largest of the temporary camps and one of the most volatile. Opened in March 1942, and located at Santa Anita racetrack, Arcadia, the camp was still under construction when the first inmates arrived, meaning that many Japanese Americans were housed in converted stables. These were divided into six apartments, 8 x 20ft for families of two to three. Around twenty-eights inmates shared a stable in conditions so poor that cooking was prohibited in case a fuse blew.
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The peak population was 18,000, and many aspects of the camp could not cope with this high demand. For example, there was one shower per 600 people.
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On August 4th 1942, the camp was brought under martial law due to a riot sparked by a seemingly routine contraband search. Police officers were accused of having robbed personal items and money, causing 2000 protestors to disrupt camp life. Officers were chased and the administration buildings besieged, with the protesters demanding better treatment and living conditions. The military left on August 7th.
Topaz
Topaz Incarceration Camp, located in the Sevier Desert, Central Utah, was a prime example of Japanese American perseverance in the face of an obnoxious institute that was being shown daily that incarceration was egregious and unnecessary. Thousands of inmates purchased war bonds and volunteered to work on local farms to help the war effort, whilst they were rewarded with conditions that were only slight improvements on those at temporary camps, such as Santa Anita.
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During the first winter, due to the harsh desert conditions and lack of resources, many struggled in a bitter frost. Schools were forced to close because of a coal shortage, which meant that heating was reduced, and many inmates preferred to the comfort of the libraries or recreation halls, because their barracks were poorly insulated and without heating. Boisterous sand storms also terrorised the camp.
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Food at Topaz was some of the worst of all the camps. Meat shortages meant that poor quality organ meat was used, and poor soil hindered the inmates' ability to grow vegetable gardens, as they had at other camps to supplement their diets.
Densho Organisation
Founded in 1996, the Densho Organisation is a charity dedicated to preserving the history of Japanese Americans, and focusses heavily on the legacy of Tule Lake Incarceration Camp. They believe (as I do) in the knock-on effect of history and how from the past, we can learn from our mistakes.
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Their website offers a proliferation of material, rich with real case studies from former incarcerees. It is the go-to source if you're as interested in these stories as I am.
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Their mission is to educate, preserve, collaborate, and inspire for equity; to ensure that such an egregious violation of Civil Rights never happens again.
San Francisco
The backdrop to the first part of The Falling Sun.
'A cosmopolitan hive of sleaze, San Francisco was one of the biggest contradictions in the United States. A stew pot of cultures and criminal organisations that fitted together like an untamed wolf in a breadbin. The kind of city where the streets were colourful and bold, but if you looked close enough there was probably blood in that rainbow. A place where harmony was a disjointed form of luck, balancing on the edge of a volcano – rather than a thing obtained by hard work and calculation. It was an accident that it worked.'
An anti-Vietnam war protest - photograph courtesy of FoundSF
San Francisco in 1969
As the quote above suggests, The Golden City in 1969 was a place of turmoil. Gangs ruled the streets and serial killers owned the nights, against an over-stretched police force.
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San Francisco, however, was also the capital of the Avant Garde and Civil Rights movements - especially in 1967, when the 'Summer of Love' brought an influx of young hippies, who gentrified the downtown areas. The price was an unsettled relationship between the old and young; the institute and the free-spirits.
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'Lawrence was unsurprised by Garcia’s story – it summed up San Francisco. Perhaps even the entirety of the country. They were always on the verge of a spark; pure luck had kept them alive.'
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Mayor: Joseph Alioto.
Population: approximately 715,000
A sketch made in 1969 from eye witness accounts of the Presidio Heights murder.
The Zodiac Killer
The Zodiac Killer is an unidentified serial killer who operated in the San Francisco bay area between December 1968 to October 1969 (though, these dates are highly disputed.) It is unclear how many victims he took, but five murders have definitively been attributed to him - though, the number was most likely higher. Uncertainty follows due to copy-cat killers, who seemingly desired a similar slice of fame.
His alias was coined by the various cryptic letters that he sent to the regional newspapers, where he boasted of killing thirty-seven people and claimed to be using their souls as slaves in the afterlife.
The murders were subject to intense media coverage; it is this sensationalism of serial killers that brings much debate and perhaps motivates people to commit such atrocities.
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In The Falling Sun, Officer Lawrence believes that the callout to the warehouse is related to the Zodiac Killer. The young officer dreams of catching him.
Photograph courtesy of The Los Angeles Times
The Occupation of alcatraz island
On November 20th 1969, seventy-nine Native Americans, supported by the Red Power movement and swathes of the youth population, occupied the island of Alcatraz and the former prison, which had stood empty for six years.
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Under the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, all retired federal lands would be returned to the native population. With the prison disused, they reclaimed the island.
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Richard Oakes, leader of the movement, sent the US government an ultimatum, inviting them to use force to remove the protestors, which would show the American people how barbaric their government was.
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After nineteen months of occupation, left without power and fresh water, which had both been cut off by the government, people slowly left the cause. A large government force removed the last fifteen settlers on 11th June 1971, putting the occupation to an end.
December 8th 1969, a xenophobic raid on the Black Panthers - photograph courtesy of Los Angeles Times
Crime in San Francisco
As suggested by the prominence of the Zodiac Killer, San Francisco in the 60s and 70s was riddled with crime. Turf disputes and drug altercations volleyed between rival gangs, and the various Civil Rights Movements and rogue youths caused general disruption to try and force the city into submission. This rarely happened, with the police force fighting back. This turned San Francisco into a battlefield.
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To discuss the major altercations and examples of violence against the police would be too much to contain here, but the avid reader can find a proliferation of stories with a quick search.
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In The Falling Sun, a fictional gang dispute between the fictional White Cobras and Little Saigon gangs creates a colourful backdrop to potential mayor John F. Thorbes' corruption - but many similar real life altercations took place.
The Falling Sun
Alludes to the Wild West that promised the American Dream to many people. Whether that be those looking to strike it lucky in the Gold Rush of 1849, or the homesteaders who settled in their failures, to find the land extremely fertile. The issue was that it created a free-for-all world, where everyone competed to succeed.
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Nobody knew this more than Hamata and Tenshi. In The Falling Sun, they battle to have their dream realised, whilst fending off the obstacles and adversity that stand in their way.
Beginning in 1910, the West depicted in the novel is at the end of its life. The industrial wrath of the modern age has taken its toll. The wild lands have been tamed, the pioneer spirit put to work, and the rise of a New Age has begun.
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'"But in this New World, there’s no loyalty. There’s no passion or love or destiny. The new world is cold and metallic, an' it is run on ambition and greed. It’s built from heartless men who clamber over one-another, on corpses if they need – to reach the next level of the food chain."'
Photograph courtesy the Everett D. Graff Collection, Newberry Library, Chicago
The American West
You've seen it many times before - the lone gunslinger versus the sheriff; the cowboy trekking the plains and being ambushed by Indians; the bar-brawls; the tropes of spaghetti Westerns. The Falling Sun takes a good look at these legends and explores their myth-making.
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The West depicted in this novel focusses on California in San Francisco, Stockton, and the surrounding areas. California was incorporated into the United States in 1848 after a victory at war with Mexico.
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To populate the new land, the US government launched a number of initiatives, and when Gold was discovered in the region, 200,000 migrants crossed from east to west in the hope of striking it lucky, including 25,000 from China. By 1855, the population had grown to 300,000.
Photograph courtesy of Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
Homesteads
Due to the vast expanses of fertile land in the new territories, the US government saw a way to encourage Western migration.
In 1862, the Homestead Act was declared, which made 160 acres of land available to anyone twenty-one or over (excluding Plains Indians) for only $10. By 1867, six million acres had been claimed. Nevertheless, only 26% of this land became cultivated by the settlers, for many found it too arduous or were dominated by the railroad or oil companies.
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Whilst homesteading was promoted as the American Dream and a fulfilment of Manifest Destiny, the reality was difficult and ravaged with plight. The uncultivated soil was tough, and even when success was made, wildfires or locusts could destroy it in a heartbeat.
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By 1910, most land was claimed; even though the acres were cheap, most homesteaders needed $800 to begin cultivation.
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In 1913, the Californian Alien Land Law was passed, preventing those of Japanese ancestry from owning or renting land.
Group of strawberry pickers in a strawberry field in Bell, California, ca.1910 - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Agriculture
Since the first homesteaders arrived, California was always one of the US's major farming states, producing a tenth of all the country's produce. Wheat has been at the forefront, being the second-largest producer, behind Minnesota.
Californian farmers were also some of the most innovative, pursuing new technologies. This pursuit led to a decline in grain quality in the 1890s, as neglect crept in, causing farmers to move towards other crops - namely, fruits and resilient vegetables. By 1910, California emerged as the United States' biggest grape producer. Nevertheless, due to high interest rates, investors did not want to back the production of slow-growing fruit trees, preferring to maintain grain production, which saw a new rise.
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California was also one of the first states to improve irrigation, with an aqueduct built from the San Joaquin River delta to deliver palatable water to millions of acres of land. This improved crop production and sanitation.
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1910 to 1914 marked the Golden Age of American agricultural production.
Chinese immigrants arrive in the United States - courtesy of Time Magazine.
Immigration
As well as the thousands that migrated from the east coast states to the west, many came from other parts of the world to test their luck in the Land of Opportunity. They came to better themselves but were faced with discrimination and laws that made life as difficult as possible.
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In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act banned further immigration for Chinese citizens and declined them American citizenship. In 1907, a Gentleman's Agreement was made with the Japanese government to reduce low-skilled immigration from Japan in return for California's promise to reduce prejudice in schools and other sectors against those of Japanese ancestry. The US did not keep its side of the bargain. It wasn't until 1952, with the McCarran-Walter Act, that laws excluding those of Asian ancestry were eliminated.
Immigration is a complex and hotly debated topic; one that The Falling Sun can barely scratch the surface of. Nevertheless, I believe that I will successfully put my readers into the shoes of those dreamers.
The Rising Sun
The Land of the Rising Sun, a place of hope overshadowed by by the tales of the Western world - especially, of the United States.
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In 1853, American commodore Matthew Perry persuaded Japan to open to the world and become an important, international trade partner with Western powers. Due to the threat of being colonised, Japan saw its destiny as a Great Power of much international influence, and realised that they had to be taken seriously to maintain their independence. With this in mind, Japan fought wars against China and Russia (to great success) and, in 1910, annexed Korea, signalling the beginning of a desire for expansion that would ultimately lead to their involvement in World War Two.
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Immigration from Japan to the United States was respected, thanks to encouragement from the Emperor Meiji, who wanted his subjects to develop wider educations and, therefore, be more powerful for Japan's future.
The Emperor Meiji - courtesy of Britannica.com
Meiji Era
The Meiji Era began with the ascension of Mutsuhito in 1867 after a coup in Kyoto against the last shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu. The era lasted from 1868 to 1912 and marked a period of great change to Japan - namely, one of modernisation and westernisation, as Japan wanted to rival its Western counterparts.
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A more Western-recognised democracy took place of the traditional feudal ruling, as a Constitutional Government was set-up (though, only the wealthy and noble could be elected or voted), with a formal Constitution written in 1889. A national army was created, along with universal education. The capital also changed to Tokyo.
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The Meiji Era saw widespread industrialisation take Japan by storm. This not only burgeoned the Japanese economy and power, but left many regions in poor conditions, for they could not keep up with the spread of progress. Poor sanitation and squalor characterised these areas, doing little (to begin with) to decrease the wealth divide that had existed during the feudal regime. However, as with the Western world, those with 'new money' soon became powerful.
'During the early days of Capitalism's presence in Aisho Delta, my father had witnessed the passion of his own father fade into the greyed rivers. Rivers that filled with purple serpents of dye and smoke, which chugged from the gravestone offices that had been erected on marshy clearings. These became quagmires whenever the rivers overflowed, which, because of the pollution, was constant.
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'If that brutal new world had left Aisho Delta alone, then my father might never have fled. But in the ash of sentimentality, which rose in great columns from the village’s expanding rubble, he had seen a world that he had not wanted to be a part of.'
Aisho Delta
A fictional village in The Falling Sun, home to Hamata Yamamoto; renamed during the Meiji Era to have a more Westernised name, expressed in Katakana - 'Aisho', meaning affection; 'Deruta', meaning 'Delta', where a river branches into other rivers.
The village is located on the flood plains of the multiple rivers running in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture. Due to its geography, fishing is its major export; also, rice production, which is often disrupted by the overflowing rivers and sea that raise the salt content of the water to dangerous levels.
Due to its close proximity to Yokohama, Aisho Delta is heavily transformed by Meji industrialisation. The fishing grounds are dominated by commercial companies who muscle out smaller, traditional fishermen, and the construction of factories and new houses turn the village into a slum, hampered by investments that only line the pockets of the wealthy.
Needless to say, Hamata became disillusioned with his home.
Scenery of Uraga from the Sea Sadahide1863 - courtesy of GoogleArt
Fishing
Japan had always practiced fishing to great extent, but during the Meiji Era, this increased from local, sustainable forms to mass commercialism, thanks to a drive to become as powerful as the West and new technologies purchased from the US and Europe.
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In 1882, Japan Fisheries Association was founded to regulate fishing and create a unified system. As a result, smaller businesses, like in the fictional Aisho Delta, suffered, unable to match the Zaibatsu (monopolies.) Gradually, however, Japan over-exhausted its resources, and programs had to be put in place to nurture them back.
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In 1886, the Fishing Union Regulation was enacted, giving coastal villages ownership of their adjacent waters. This meant that fishermen had to obtain permits and become members of the union in order to fish, making it harder for small businesses.
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In The Falling Sun, Hamata's father faced issues with permits and battling the fishing Zaibatsus that caused overfishing.
Real Events
The Falling Sun references many real historical events .
Here is a timeline of the stories told.
A peace conference between the US Army and the Modoc Tribe failed, resulting in the death of General Canby.
Allensworth was the first exclusively African American settlement in California.
'Ragamuffin Day' refers to a hybrid of Halloween and Thanksgiving. People dress up to celebrate the harvest. Mr. Friston references one in Stockton.
Isshi was the last surviving member of the Yahi Tribe. He came out of hiding and lived at the Museum of Anthropology at the University of California, until his death in 1916.
Bibliography/Recommended Reading
Check out my essay 'An examination as to whether incarceration of Japanese Americans during WW2 was an act of defence or a declaration of particular prejudice'
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General History of the United States
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Christensen, Paul, 'The “Wild West”: The Life and Death of a Myth', Southwest Review, 93:3 (2008) pp310-325
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Churchwell. S, Behold, America, (Bloomsbury: New York, 2018)
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Japanese American Incarceration
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Carlson-Goering. K (2016) Review on ‘American Journalism’, Community Newspapers and the Japanese-American Incarceration Camps: Community, Not Controversy 33(1) Pages 108-109 doi/full/10.1080/08821127.2015.1134984
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Cannady, Shelley, 'Tule Lake Today: Internment and its Legacies', Boom: A Journal of California, 3:1 (2013) pp17-33
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Densho organisation (1996); ‘Japanese American Incarceration and Japanese Internment’; Available at: https://densho.org
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Kamp-Whittaker. A (2020) ‘Kiva’, World War II Japanese American Internment in the American Southwest 86(2) Pages 223-232 doi/full/10.1080/00231940.2020.1747794
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Lau-Ozawa, K. (2018) ‘Dissonant memories of Japanese American incarceration’, International journey of heritage studies, 27(10) doi/full/10.1080/13527258.2018.1534259
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National WW2 Museum New Orleans; ‘Japanese American incarceration’; Available at: https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/japanese-american-incarceration
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National WW2 Museum https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/return-japanese-americans-west-coast-1945
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Pistol, R. (2020) ‘Asian American responses to Donald Trump’s anti-Asian rhetoric and misuse of the history of Japanese American incarceration’, Comparative American Studies an International Journal, 17(4) doi/full/10.1080/14775700.2021.1895038
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Tule Lake committee, History of Tule Lake, Available at: https://www.tulelake.org/history
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Wilson, R. 'Landscapes of Promise and Betrayal: Reclamation, Homesteading and Japanese-American Incarceration', Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 101:2 (2011) pp424-444
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Occupation of Alcatraz Island
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https://charterforcompassion.org/dangerous-memories/the-resistance/san-francisco-1969
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https://www.history.com/news/native-american-activists-occupy-alcatraz-island-45-years-ago
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Los Siete De La Raza
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Homesteading and Californian Agriculture
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https://www.archives.gov/files/publications/prologue/2012/winter/homestead.pdf
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https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/homestead-act
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https://libraries.ucsd.edu/farmworkermovement/essays/essays/history%20of%20farm%20labor.pdf
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Fishing Industry in Japan