Nikkei in the Pacific Northwest: Japanese Americans and Japanese Canadians in the Twentieth Century

10. In the Matter of Iwao Matsushita: A Government Decision to Intern a Seattle Japanese Enemy Alien in World War II

101 IN THE MATTER OF IWAO MATSUSHITA A Government Decision to Intern a Seattle Japanese Enemy Alien in World War II LOUIS FISET t 6:00 P. M. on December 7,1941, hours after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, two FBI agents from the Seattle field office accompanied by deputies from the office ofthe King CountySheriff, drove to a neighborhood one mile east ofSeattle's Japantown and knocked on the door of a brick bungalow home being rented by Iwao and Hanaye Matsushita . When the man ofthe house appeared in the doorway, FBI agent A. W. Starratt informed him that he was under arrest and that his officers would be making a search of the premises. The Issei couple, immigrants barred from citizenship by federal statute and prohibited from owning land by both Washington state constitution and statute, were powerless to resist. They remained under watch in the parlor while the entire residence was searched for evidence that might turn up. All the couple's possessions and personal effects were examined, including an extensive bilingual library belonging to Iwao, and other effects indicating this was a household of artistic sensibility and cultural sophistication. In addition, a large volume of postage stamps revealed him to be a collecting enthusiast, and five motion and still picture cameras with considerable exposed film showed Agent Starratt they had financial means. These were no ordinary immigrants. The arresting officers confiscated Japanese language letters, postcards, pamphlets, newspaper clippings, handbills, and miscellaneous memoranda that would subsequently be submitted to the FBI'S Technical Laboratory for translation and interpretation. In addition, they impounded eight-five reels of8 mm movie film, numerous local, state, federal, and international maps, memoranda, and two small handwritten volumes of names and telephone numbers that would help determine Iwao's associates.! By 9 P,M., when quiet returned to the house, Hanaye sat alone among 216 FIG. 1.0.1 lwao Matsushita, ca. 1935 lOUIS FISET the remainingscatteredpossessions, fearing for the future. Iwao was on his way to the immigration station on Airport Way, just a few miles from their home, and both were uncertain when they would see one another again. Although she could not have known then, in less than four months Hanaye and seven thousand other Seattle residents of Japanese ancestry would be forcefullyremoved from Seattlebythearmy, andsheand Iwaowouldendure being imprisoned apart for more than two years.2 Similar scenes were repeated many times at the dawn of the U.S. war in the Pacific. Within the first twenty-four hours following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the FBI took into temporary custody 736 Japanese enemy aliens;atforty-eight hoursthe number reached1,291. TheSeattleinlmigration stationjailbulgedwith113JapaneseenemyaliensonDecember16,withMatsushita among them} These arrests followed a blanket warrant issued by the U.S. attorney general under the authority of a presidential proclamation and signed on December 8, 1941.4 That so manyarrests could occurwithin hours after a surprise attack by IN THE MATTER OF .WAO MATSUSHITA 217 Japanese naval forces was the result ofcareful planning and long-time surveillance of Japanese communities throughout the country. Intelligence organizations had been collecting information on the immigrant population since1931, possiblyearlier, following Japan'sincursion into Manchuria. By early1941 dossiers existed on more than two thousand Issei, identifying each ofthem as a potential threat to the nation's security. Individuals were assigned to one ofthreeclassifications in preparedCustodialDetention Lists, which later became known as the "ABC list." Group Alistees were "known dangerous" and demandedintenseobservation. Fishermen with presumed knowledgeofcoastalwaters, religiousleaders, influentialbusinessmen, farmers , and members of proscribed organizations, including Japanese chambersofcommerceand theJapaneseconsulates, fell intothisfirst classification. Group Bsuspects included those believed dangerous but who had not been fully investigated. Individuals on the C list were put on watch because of their pro-Japanese proclivities and propagandist activities. Among the B and C listees were Japanese language teachers, the Kibei Nisei (secondgeneration Japanese who received part of their education in Japan), martialarts instructors, communityservants,travelagents, socialdirectors, and newspaper editors.5 To be a member of a blacklisted organization was sufficient to make the , ABC list. At the outbreak ofthe war in 1941 more than three hundred Japaneseclubs andorganizationsexistedthroughout the UnitedStates. TheOffice of Naval Intelligence identified twenty-two of them to be potentially subversive .6 Matsushita was placed on the Alist because of alleged espionage activities while employed by the trading firm Mitsui Busan Kaisha (Mitsui and Company) and his alleged association with the proscribed Japanese Chamber of Commerce ofTokyo. In the end it...