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Bridge to the Rising Sun

Produced by the Pacific Basin Institute at Pomona College

The Bridge to the Rising Sun: The US Navy’s Japanese Language Program During WWII
The Pacific War began with Japan's surprise air attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. In his widely acclaimed book, John Dower has argued that this Aday of infamy enraged an American nation that was determined to wage a A War Without Mercy against the Japanese. The war was a bloody conflict that was filled with hatred against the evil enemy who had to be exterminated. Among Americans of that day there could be no compassion or forgiveness towards the Japanese. Dower's thesis is that the conflict between Japan and the United States was basically a racial war of mutual hate.

However, if one looks deeper into the human dimensions of the Pacific War one would quickly discover that the American response towards the Japanese was multi-faceted. One particular case in point is the story of the men and women graduates of the U.S. Navy's Japanese Language School which provide a striking contrast to the theory that the war was filled primarily with hatred and contempt for the enemy. Based upon our interviews, we find that the majority of cases, these language officers often expressed their admiration, respect and compassion for the Japanese - from their contacts with their instructors at Boulder to the prisoners of war at frontlines in the Pacific to the common folk during the Occupation.

This is a project about humanity in war. It focuses on two groups of men and women, nearly 140 Japanese-American teachers, and more than 1000 American students who came together at the U.S. Navy Japanese Language School at the University of Colorado, Boulder, between 1942 and 1946. Brought together initially to meet the Navy's pressing need for linguists trained to interact with Japanese as enemies in war, they became bridges to friendship with Japan after the war.