Pamela Rotner Sakamoto is the author of the new book Midnight in Broad Daylight: A Japanese American Family Caught Between Two Worlds. The book looks at the Fukuhara family, who had sons fighting on the American and the Japanese armies in World War II. She is a consultant for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and she teaches at the Punahou School in Honolulu.
Q: At what point did you decide to write the story of the
Fukuhara family, and how long did it take to write and research the book?
A: I met Harry [the son who fought on the American side] in Tokyo in 1994. He eventually told me his
story, over four years. He was in San Jose and I was in Tokyo; he would go to
Tokyo several times a year, and he would call me to have lunch. Slowly, the
story would trickle out.
Part of it may be that he was coming to terms with telling a
story he hadn’t told. He was a career military intelligence colonel and wanted
to be sure he could tell his story to someone he could trust.
I was doing Holocaust Museum work at the time. I was so
fascinated—I was an East Coast Jewish girl raised in the Boston area, and I was
never exposed to the [Japanese-American] internment at school.
I said, in 1998, Harry, this would be an important story on
multiple levels: Japanese-American relations, the Japanese-American story, your
generation, your own legacy for your family….I think you should be thinking about
a book…
Harry was the patriarch of the surviving family. They were
on board immediately, especially [his brother] Frank.
Q: How many years did it take to write the book?
A: I started working on it in late 1998, and I finished the
research in Japan. In 2007 I moved to Honolulu. Harry moved from San Jose to
about five minutes away from me—his children were in Honolulu. I kept
interviewing. I struggled: How am I going to write this?
I decided on a dual narrative…I sold the book as a complete
narrative. I put it away for a year and went forward with an agent, and the
publisher came quickly. The editor and I started working on it in 2014, and it
was published in January 2016.
It was 17 years, but there have been interruptions—moves,
children, jobs, procrastinations, publishing obstacles for new writers. I’m
still standing!
Q: You provide incredible detail into the family’s life in
the 1930s and ‘40s. What did your research consist of, and what did you learn
that particularly surprised you?
A: It was detailed research. I read generally about the
period, and slowly spotlighted, and got more detailed. I did original research
in Japanese archives and American ones, even Australian ones.
What surprised me—I had to separate myth and lore from fact.
This was not a privately published family story. I wanted it to be history
through the lens of one family.
They talked about their dad moving to the U.S., but never
knew when he did. I went through records in Tokyo. His father’s family had
fallen on hard times, and had loaned their name. I couldn’t find Fukuhara, and
one day I found [them under the name] Fukumoto.
It was one of those moments when everything fell into place.
The family was telling the truth, and I also have something to give them—it
gives them affirmation. There were all kind of little discoveries!...
Masako, the surrogate daughter [of Harry’s mother] was a
fabulous source. She mentioned that on that morning [of the Hiroshima bombing]
as they were going back home, they encountered women from the neighborhood.
Those women didn’t survive the blast. That gave me some sense of what a close
call it was.
She told me how many women, but I didn’t know their names. I
was reading unpublished books in the Peace Museum archives, and found
[records]. Everything matched. I could use it…
Q: How common or unusual was the Fukuhara family’s
situation, having brothers fighting in both the U.S. and Japanese armies during
World War II?
A: When I began the book, I realized from talking to Harry
and Frank that there were other families who had a similar situation. It was
not unique. They were even more representative of their generation, but I
didn’t know how common it was. The largest number of Japanese immigrants to the
U.S. was from Hiroshima Prefecture. Many sent their kids back to study…
Since the book is out, I hear from readers weekly, several a
week, who share this story. They’re so glad it’s being told. It is their story.
Q: What have been the reactions overall to the book?
A: I hear daily through my website, people write to
me—[there are] some who are just fascinated by the story. Others are
Japanese-American and it resonates deeply for them. I also get calls at school—students take
messages at the switchboard.
I got a letter, several pages long—[the writer] read it in
two days. He was a retired National Guard sergeant in the first Iraq War. I
knew he wasn’t Japanese-American…
He told me his military background and said he was struck by
Harry’s experiences interrogating prisoners of war in New Guinea, that Harry
regarded them as people.
When he was in Iraq, they would go deep into the desert to
gather POWs, and he was taught to believe one thing about them, but when he was
face-to-face and saw they were just young men and boys, he felt the futility of
war. It was so moving that he reached out.
Q: What do the surviving Fukuhara family members think of
the book?
A: The children of Harry and Frank are alive. They’re
pleased with it. One of the daughters, Pam, was at the launch. She was supposed
to go with me on a [book] trip but could not. She’s thrilled. The older sister,
when I was in California, she and her husband traveled two hours to a reading.
They’re gratified it’s out there, and they’re deeply proud
of their dad. In December, the 500th Military Intelligence Brigade
named ther permanent headquarters Harry Fukuhara Hall. That was a big deal—that
facility was strafed by Japanese Zeroes on Pearl Harbor Day.
He was so legendary in the military intelligence service for
the success of his missions…His family was there, and I was with them.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I still consult for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
During the school year, writers need to work, too, and I am teaching at
President Obama’s high school, Punahou School. I teach 10th grade
Asian history and 12th grade European history. I will continue
teaching.
I would love to write another book. I have to get something
that grabs my attention. This is my first year at Punahou, and I am treading
water with the learning curve. I want to promote this book. In a few years down
the road, I know I’ll get the itch [to write another book].
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: President Obama is going to Hiroshima. I am thrilled
about that, and hoping he knows it wasn’t just Japanese victims of the bomb—I
don’t think he needs to apologize--many people died in Hiroshima, and some were
Japanese-American.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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