English Japanese Internment Vocabs

Issei

1st Generation Japanese immigrants born in Japan who moved to America.

Nisei

2nd Generation Japanese Americans; children of Issei, American born with parents born in Japan.

Sansei

3rd Generation Japanese Americans; children of Nisei, born in America with grandparents born in Japan.

Yonsei

4th Generation Japanese Americans; children of Sansei, great grandparents were born in Japan.

Kibei

Japanese Americans born in the US who were sent to Japan for education and returned before WWII.

Nikkei

General term for all Japanese people living outside Japan, including immigrants and their descendants.

Yellow peril

Racist term used in the 1900s to describe the perceived threat of Japanese immigration as a precursor to invasion.

Euphemism

A word substituted for another that has the same meaning but is more positive/less offensive.

Connotation

The implications or associations of a word, whether positive or negative.

Denotation

The literal meaning of a word.

5th column

People working for a country's enemy through espionage, sabotage, and propaganda.

Alien Land Acts

Laws prohibiting Issei from owning land or working on farms, preventing them from citizenship.

Perpetual foreigner syndrome

The perception of Asian Americans as foreigners regardless of their American citizenship.

Redress and reparations

Acknowledgement and compensation for victims of human rights violations and injustices.