I immediately took a liking to this book because it meshes two of my favorite subjects: English and History. A few years back I read a book titled ‘Snow Falling on Cedars,” which addresses many of the same themes attributed to “When the Emperor.” Reading “Cedars” on its own really introduced things like the strong sentiments of racism in the U.S toward Jap-Americans during and after WWII and the Japanese internment camps. The fact that I hadn’t already been aware of it bothered me a little because I am a huge history buff, and in a sense to where I have a strong desire to need a comprehensive knowledge of all of it in its entirety. They hadn’t covered it in high school, nor had they covered it in any of my few college history courses. It’s pretty scary to think of the government’s censoring abilities. It’s a good thing for literature and journalism to really call to attention and raise awareness to certain things/events that otherwise may just be swept under the rug. A little bit of irony exists too because the U.S. fought in WWII to eliminate oppressive dictators along with their oppressive governments, and tyranny, and despotism etc etc. Then we go about and commit some serious acts of civil rights violations to our own citizens. It was also committed by the administration of one of the United State’s most beloved presidents: FDR.

However, I don’t want to pretend that I intimately know the situation. The rounding up of tens of thousands of innocent Jap-Americans was extremely wrong and in violation of human rights, no doubt about it. December 7^th,  1941- “a day that will forever live in infamy.” On this day, an unprovoked attack by the Japanese killed 2,402 American citizens and wounded another 1,282; this obviously left Americans weary and suspicious of the Japanese living among us. So they assess the threat and their solution becomes these internment camps; a solution decided most likely out of hysteria and paranoia; not the best solution. I see a lot of this stuff just mentioned in the hardware store encounter. It is a very awkward encounter. For two people who have known eachother for so long, the encounter is far from personal, even considering the fact that her family is soon-to-be evicted to an internment camp. Joe Lundy offers what little sympathy he can muster up, which isn’t much; no ‘sorry,’ no ‘this is wrong,’ no nothing. I think this says a lot about precisely how American citizens felt at the time. The mere fact that she was Japanese meant that she was guilty by association. The Joe Lundys would certainly not protest against Japanese relocation because deep down he was upset and betrayed by what happened at Pearl Harbor; he wanted them to pay for it. The woman responds with a “Thank you, Joe.” I think what she is saying here is: “Joe, you know me. You know my family. This has nothing to do with us.” This is her last will and testament.