Feelings at the Memorial

We visited many places during the Portland trip such as colleges, the McLoughlin House, Multnomah Falls and many shopping malls. I really enjoyed this tour. At the Japanese-American Memorial, I learned a lot. There are poems written in English and Japanese.

First, I was moved by the poems. There are 13 stones written in English and Japanese. They use simple, but thoughtful words. One of the poems is

Sure, I go to school

Same as you.

I'm an American

I think this poem was written by a Japanese American who lived in the U.S. They were living in the US as normal citizens , but because they were Japanese American, they were discriminated against. One poem said that the government apologized in 1998. World War Ⅱ was finished in 1948, but the government didn't apologize until 40 years had passed. For the government to apologize about something is really rare, but it took 40 years to apologize. It took too much time.

Second, I read a book called "Weedflower" that was written about life during WWⅡ. The main character and other Japanese Americans had to live in camps far from the Pacific Ocean. The government was worried about Japanese Americans escaping to Japan. Also the US government ordered Japanese Americans to fight in the war, even though they must live in an unfair world. Some detainees enjoyed their life in the camp, but they were not free. America is the land of freedom, but they didn't allow Japanese Americans to be free. It is a sad story that there was discrimination in the U.S. Many Japanese Americans had a hard time during WWⅡ. They had to bear unfair discrimination. I was shocked when I heard the story.

Third, my grandparents experienced WWII when they were young. They said that they were forced to fight for the Japanese emperor. Also they were forced to consider Korea and China as Japanese teritories, so my grandmother still thinks that Korea is below Japan. During the war, they couldn't learn English and they couldn't use English. For example, at a baseball game, they usually used "out"or"safe" but they were not allowed to use any English words. Japanese people couldn't get real information. When I heard about the war, I thought America did bad things to Japan, but Japan also did bad things to Americans and Japanese. The war brought sadness, not happiness. I think I should hand down the story from generation to generation.

All in all, the Japanese American Memorial told us a lot of things about the war that we must not forget. I was moved by the poems, and I realized that war is terrible and it brings unhappiness. I hope that there will be no war in the world in the future.