Artistic Response to War

War:

 –noun

1.Conflict carried on by force of arms, as between nations or between parties within a nation; warfare, as by land, sea, or air 

2.State or period of armed hostility or active military operations

3.Contest carried on by force of arms

4.Active hostility or contention; conflict; contest

5.Aggressive business conflict

6. Struggle

7. Armed fighting, as a science, profession, activity, or art; methods or principles of waging armed conflict

 

*Photos 
are 
visual 
representation ONLY. Song was chosen as the analyzed material

YouTube link: Kenji by Ft. Minor 

Lyricist and vocalist of the song, Kenji, by Ft. Minor, also known as, Mike Shinoda, portrays the struggle faced by Japanese Americans during the World War II conflict. Mr. Shinoda is a third generation immigrant. His grandfather, one of many Japanese immigrants who had crossed the Pacific, came to American in hopes of freedom and prosperity, but instead encountered hostility and oppression in the shadow of Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor. The lyrics tell the story of a typical Japanese-American immigrant named Kenji—“He was 15 when he immigrated from Japan. He worked until he was able to buy respect and build a store.” Kenji wanted the American dream, the pursuit of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness/property. Mike Shinoda portrayed Kenji as a typical, American—“Just a man with a family who owned a store in LA…Bacon and eggs with wife and kids.” Even though Kenji, and many like him, was just as American as any other who’s family had once immigrated to the states, he faced prejudice—“The evil Japanese in our home country will be locked away.” 

During World War II Japanese-Americans were forced to leave their homesteads and move to generic, co-family living facilities called internment camps where soldiers monitored them night and day. Although they loved America and supported American troops—“He had a little garden with vegetables and fruits that, he gave to the troops in a basket his wife made”—Japanese Americans were treated like “Prisoners of war in their own damn country.” After the World War II conflict resolved Japanese-Americans were released from internment camps. They went back to their homes with “Big hopes of a normal life…[but] what they saw made them feel so alone. These people had trashed every room, smashed in the windows and bashed in the doors, written on the walls and the floor [of their homes and their stores] ‘Japs not welcome anymore.’” 

Mike Shinoda wrote Kenji to not only tell the story of the political and militant war of the world during the 1940s, but also of the war on the individual that occurred, and that occurs everyday—Prejudice. Although we do not physically lock specific people-groups away, as Japanese-Americans were locked away during World War II,we lock them away in our thoughts and through our actions. American means “New World,” and although this land may be a bit newer to one than to another, it does not make them any less American.  

Works Cited

• Ft. Minor. Kenji. Machine Shop, Warner Brothers, 2005. MP3 
• Murphy, Sean. “One Nation Under A Groove or, Burn, Baby! BURN!”. 9 September 2010. Murphy’s Law. Word Press 2011. Web. Photograph. 29 April 2011.  <www.bullmurph.com>. 
• Shimada, Margaret. “The War: Bay Area Stories...Utah, 1944.” Photograph. KQED Pressroom. 29 April 2011.  
• The World. “Exposing Japanese-Peruvian WWII internment camps.” 19 February 2011. PRI’s
• The World. BBC, PRI, WGBH. Web. Photograph. 29 April 2011. <www.theworld.org>.
  “War.” Merriam-webster.com. Merriam-Webster, 2011. Web. 29 April 2011.