Joanne Weise • Joanne's Haiku •

May Sky When prompted to speak about the events of World War II, especially those that took place between the United States and Japan, many people are left without much to say. They know little or nothing about each side’s reasons for entering the war, let alone what aggressive actions each took not only against other nations but against themselves. Edited by Violet Kazue de Cristoforo, May Sky: There is Always Tomorrow is a collection of haiku written by Japanese-Americans during the war. These authors present a unique window through which to analyze the events of 1939-1945, one that makes room for an air of hope regarding an otherwise dismal period in the United States’ relatively short history. Japanese aggression against the United States took shape on December 7, 1941, when the naval base at Pearl Harbor was attacked unexpectedly. Shortly thereafter, in February of 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which stated that all Japanese-Americans having a 1/16 or higher concentration of Japanese blood were to be sent into concentration camps on U.S. soil. Roosevelt’s order was meant to minimize the chances of a Japanese spy returning home with some pertinent war knowledge, especially plans of atomic technology (later used in August of 1945 on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, resulting in over 150,000 civilian casualties). Though each side had its share of victims during World War II, the suffering of the Japanese people is especially horrific, having to be the unwilling first victims to fall by nuclear attack. Friends leave one by one autumn sun sets behind forest -Tojo Fujita The authors in May Sky suffered in their own way, not only in “relocation centers” under-equipped with beds and food, but also with worry about their family members still in Japan, especially those in or near Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Fujita’s haiku presents a very personal feel to her personal experience in concentration camps. She is reminiscing about friends who have come and gone, but leaves the reason to their disappearance up to the reader - perhaps they were “relocated” to another camp, but it was more common to have died as a result to being overworked at the camp. Either way, she seems isolated at the camp, maybe on purpose; after gaining and losing so many friends over and over again, she may wish to remain alone, thus avoiding the pain of broken friendships. All of the haiku within the anthology are of the Kaiko style, which is a bit different than the traditional 5-7-5 Japanese haiku form. The subject matter for Kaiko deal mostly with the explicit description of the author’s own emotions, thus giving the haiku a very personal point of view. Also, these haiku do not follow a set syllable scheme, nor do they require a seasonal element or hint at setting. Since the authors had little constraint as far as what they could or could not write, the haiku emerge beautifully and quite personally, touching the sympathetic hearts of readers as well as binding those with the common experience of surviving a concentration camp together. Both sides laughing not understanding the language face wet with snow -Hisao Fukuda The work never ended at the camps, even when temperatures in the wintertime became icy. Fukuda’s haiku gives a sense of a sort of comradery between the “opposing” sides of the Japanese and the Americans. The U.S. soldier or soldiers seem to be at the camp either unwillingly or solely because they were assigned the job by the government; the Japanese victims feel likewise, having been placed in the camps against their will yet knowing that it is a somewhat necessary evil to endure because of the war. The language barrier prevents the two from intermixing too much, but they still want to; I see some common slapstick humor that has taken place, and the two sides are laughing about it, though they cannot go beyond the laughter because of the language barrier. Even though the two sides in this haiku were at the camp unwillingly, they seemed to do their best in regards to keeping spirits as jovial as possible, given the circumstances. Indeed--festivals of Obon and Independence Day are here for us too -Kyotaro Komuro Not all internments were as “pleasant” as the last haiku. In this one, Komuro seems distraught at being treated sub-human - a common practice in concentration camps. No real setting for the haiku is given, but the three lines make it easy to understand what the speaker is feeling. The speaker seems fed up with being treated poorly - so poorly, in fact, that he mentions festival days that are important to the Japanese culture. He feels disappointed in the U.S. soldiers as well as appalled, as it seems unfathomable that one group could treat the other group as if they did not hold such days to be special to them as well. He also seems to be making a comparison between the Japanese and the Americans, comparing the two cultures by holidays; in this way, the two nations are very much alike, as they are both concerned about holidays like Independence Day. Graves, another, and still another on the ground puddles of water -Yotenchi Agari The haiku in May Sky cover so many different emotions in regards to captivity, worry, life, and death in accurate ways. The audience is given sympathy toward the Japanese-Americans who suffered most on U.S. soil - those held in concentration camps. Each haiku carefully chooses words and phrases to elicit a sympathetic response from the reader, as well as one of shock; though the images and words presented in these haiku are of a shocking nature, they present a reality rarely seen from the World War II era, particularly one of America being an aggressor. While the atomic bombs and concentration camps were horrendous, it seems almost too easy to be able to set these lives aside without any sort of respect for them; bodies of the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki reached casualty numbers so high that bodies were burned, as there just wasn’t enough room to properly bury them all. While the events are tragic, it’s hard for many people to put a human perspective on life if not somehow directly related to their own; though a tragic reality, May Sky helps readers to become more fully aware of the real events of World War II through the insights of real victims.