Unlike Japanese Americans on the mainland, Japanese Americans living in Hawaii during World War II were not incarcerated en masse. The approximately 150,000 Japanese Americans were the largest single ethnic group in Hawaii and constituted more than one third of the territory’s population. Hawaii’s economy and society relied on the work done by Japanese Americans, and business and military leaders decided it was not feasible to incarcerate them all. Hawaii was placed under martial law shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor and most of the Japanese American population was strictly surveilled. About 1,500 Japanese Americans, mostly community leaders and their families, were incarcerated in camps either in the islands or on the mainland.

This image shows Japanese Americans preparing to return to Hawaii after the end of the war. They are in a building at Pier 42 waiting to board the USAT Yarmouth.

Caption information source: “Japs sent to native Hawaii,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, November 8, 1945, page 3.
Written on original envelope: Japanese-Hawaii, (returning)