Sugar production began in Hawaii around 1852. Both sugar and pineapple were grown on large plantations that needed a labor force, thus the plantations recruited foreign workers. Many of these workers were from the Philippines. Workers were treated better than slave labor because the U.S. had passed laws prohibiting restrictive labor contracts, thus when a laborer wanted to quit their job, their boss could not stop them.
Sanford Dole was the son of a missionary in Hawaii. Sanford advocated for the westernization of Hawaii. The Bayonet Constitution was a reform movement that took away much of Kalakaua's power, limited voting rights of natives and nobles and gave more power to westerners living on the islands. Lorrin Thurston was an attorney that created a group called the Committee of Safety that is responsible for overthrowing Queen Lilioukalani and was a key figure in the annexation of Hawaii. Sanford Dole became the President of Hawaii on July 4, 1894. Hawaii was annexed in 1898 by William McKinley who appointed Sanford the governor. James Dole was the cousin of Sanford Dole. James Dole bought Lana'i in 1922 for pineapple production. Americanization brought missions and business. The missions wanted to reach out to the plantation workers who worked under miserable conditions. Yet the businesses did not seem to mind enforcing such difficult labor as long as it produced a profit.
Prompt 9
The Family Game portrays the Japanese family as very goal oriented. The parents in the movie go to great lengths to make certain that their sons are getting a good education and are on a path to getting in the best schools, which will thus lead to the best colleges and good jobs. A good education for the sons is the main focus of the movie. Shigeyuki begins the movie as unmotivated and a rather hopeless case, his parents pay for a tutor to come and work with him and as he begins to rank higher in the class, his parents seemed to regard him more positively.
Just as Shigeyuki and his classmates have found each other's weaknesses and thus are able to control each other to an extent using them to their own advantage, this also seems true within the family unit. The family has a similar way of knowing just the right things to do to get under each other's skin.
The young wife who came over was quite the contrast to Shigeyuki's mother and at first Shigeyuki's mother did not seem to know how to connect with the woman, yet as the film went on, they began talking on the phone and seeing each other more. It seemed that this showed that the good wife/mother's role was in the house and that is why the first meeting between the two was very awkward.
The end of the film and the lives of the characters seems to symbolize that that particular way of thinking is dying. The stay at home mother/wife that was there to serve the men of her house dies which could symbolize a movement of women beyond traditional duties and possibly into the workforce.
Prompt 10
The Japanese take on the bombing of Nagasaki is one of sorrow. For them it is hard to understand why the enemy would make an offensive move on the unsuspecting innocent. Yet the Japanese do not want to bring it up to the Americans because they believe that it would embarass them.
The views of the three generations shown in the movie vary. The oldest generation lived through the bombing, had to deal directly with the devestation and lost many loved ones. The middle generation heard their parents stories but did not have to deal directly with the consequences so it was easier to think of it as an awful event that happened, but is over and it's time to move on. The youngest generation hears the stories from the oldest, yet also gets the middle generation's semi-non interested take. The younger generation thinks that it is terrible that the middle generation is trying to forget the bombing as if it never happened, they believe that the event should be remembered and not be a hidden part of their history.
In the sense of "they" and "us"...
It would seem that "they" would believe that what "they" did to "us" at Pearl Harbor was justified because of the damage that "we" ended up causing them. Yet "we" as Americans speak of the tragedy and let it be known that "they" are responsible while "they" try to refrain from guilting "us."
Prompt 11
Denver refers to the Pacific War as a race war because the conflict brought out the worst sort of racist side of people. Each side thought themselves superior, it wasn't just Americans versus Japanese, it was "white" versus "yellow," wrong versus right.
The primary story encountered at the Arizona Memorial is of the U.S. being attacked by the Japanese. The video shows the men going about their daily tasks, completely unaware of the attack that was about to occur while a group of Japanese fighter planes were headed their way.
The age range and ethnicity of the people visiting the memorial varied greatly. There were older people as well as younger. It would appear that many ethnicities visit the site due to the fact that the pamplet was not only in English but French, German, Japanese, Chinese, etc.
Many people visit the memorial to pay their respects. Yet visitors also go to see the site that so many have heard about, the site in which America was attacked on her own homeland and that is responsible for bringing the United States into WWII.
The site mainly spoke of the Arizona, which is understandable because it met the worst of fates, yet some of its neighbors lie in the water near it and not much of an emphasis is placed on them. The site covers primarily this one event, not the island hopping that is to ensue due to it.
Prompt 12
The Japanese incorporate their aestheticism into religious sites through landscaping, placement of sites near positive energies, etc. The primary site that comes to mind that supports this is the Byodo-In Temple which had ponds, was nestled in a low lying area between mountains, has beautiful archetecture that used no nails in construction, etc. The fact that we were able to take part in the activities belonging to each Japanese religious site, despite not being Buddist shows great tolerance. The Japanese hold the idea that you can be of multiple faiths, even Christian and Buddist, while in Christianity a person belongs to one particular denomination.
Prompt 13
"Nobody" can be a person's name yet can also be nothing when that person comes to realize their own unimportance. A man's life passes just as it is certain that the sun will set everyday.
The falling snow is an uncontrollable act of nature. The fact that when the boy holds out his hand it is covered by the snow shows the relationship of man and nature, through covering his hand in snow, nature is the more powerful of the two.
It can be seen that the Japanese respect natural forces and see their own lives through acts of nature and they show this in the ways in which they use natural elements around their temples.
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