User Contributed Dictionary

English

Etymology

Proper noun

Nisei

a person born outside of Japan of parents who were born in Japan

Extensive Definition

Nisei (二世 , lit. second generation) are people, or a person, of Japanese ancestry and the first generation to be born abroad. Their parents who emigrated are known as Issei, or first generation; subsequent generations are known as sansei and yonsei. These terms are in common use in countries such as Brazil, the United States, and Canada, where there are significant communities of Japanese immigrants and their descendants.

American Nisei during WWII

During WWII, Americans of Japanese ancestry living in the United States, including the Nisei, were forcibly interned with their parents, because the public opinion feared that they would be disloyal in the war against Japan. It is important to note that the much larger Japanese-American community in Hawaii was not interned, and that no acts of sabotage were ever committed by Japanese Americans in any part of the US.

Most Japanese Americans who fought in WWII were Nisei. The 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team, fighting in the European theatre, became the most decorated unit in U.S. military history for its size and length of service, earning it the nickname the "Purple Heart Battalion".

Americans of Japanese ancestry were generally forbidden to fight a combat role in the Pacific theatre. No such limitations were placed on Americans of German or Italian ancestry who fought against the Axis Powers in Europe. However, about 6,000 Nisei did serve in the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) as linguists and in other non-combatant roles, interpreting captured enemy documents and interrogating prisoners of war (POWs). The initial training facility for the Nisei to prepare for their function was at Camp Savage in Savage, Minnesota. This decision was to locate them in a region where there was less racial prejudice towards the Japanese as compared to the West Coast. MIS linguists translated Japanese documents known as the "Z Plan", which contained Japan's counterattack strategy in the Central Pacific. This information led to Allied victories at "The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot", in which the Japanese lost most of their carrier planes, and the Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines. An MIS radio operator intercepted a message describing Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's flight plans, which led to P-38s downing his plane over the Solomon Islands. General Douglas MacArthur stated, "Never in military history did an army know so much about the enemy prior to actual engagement." General Charles Willoughby, MacArthur's intelligence chief, said, "The Nisei saved countless Allied lives and shortened the war by two years."

The topic of Nisei internment is part of the mandated high school history curriculum of many states, including New York State, New Jersey, and California.

AskDefine | Define nisei