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<p class="MsoNormal">Hello Colleagues and Friends,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This month’s book is Facing the Mountain about experiences of Japanese Americans in World War II.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We plan to meet at 7:00 pm on Wednesday April 6. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We can meet by Zoom or in person at our home. Please let me know your preference by Monday evening.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If we meet at our house we can order dinner. I will send out a menu on Tuesday.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Zoom option will be available for those who do not wish to meet in person or if a majority wishes to meet exclusively by Zoom.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I will distribute the Zoom information on Tuesday.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The questions are attached and below.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">John<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I think these questions are from the publisher.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Facing the Mountain<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">1. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, shocked Americans<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">of all creeds and ethnic backgrounds. Almost universally, Americans understood<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">that America’s entry into the war was now inevitable and that as a consequence<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">their day-to-day lives were about to change in large but unpredictable ways.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">How do you think Japanese Americans’ experience of the attack might have<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">differed from the rest of the American population? How might it have differed<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">from the experience of German Americans and Italian Americans? In what ways<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">do you think most Americans’ reactions to the attack might have been similar or<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">dissimilar to their reactions to the September 1, 2001, attack on the Twin Towers<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">in New York? In what way might Muslim Americans in particular have<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">experienced the 9/11 attack and its aftermath differently from other Americans?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">2. In Hawaii, Kats Miho grew up in a racially stratified society that severely limited<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">opportunities for Asian immigrants and their American children. Hawaii’s<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">plantation system, in particular, allowed a few families to control the lives and<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">livelihoods of many thousands of immigrants who worked in the cane fields.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Similarly, the Shiosaki, Tokiwa, and Hirabayashi families faced systemic<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">anti-Asian discrimination that prevented them from owning land, using certain<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">public facilities, and fully participating in American life.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In what ways do immigrants from other parts of the world face similar obstacles<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">in the United States today? To what extent do Asian immigrants and their<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">descendants, in particular, still face prejudices and obstacles today?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">3. When Kats Miho and the other Japanese American members of the Hawai‘i<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Territorial Guard were told they could no longer serve in the unit, many of them<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">were reduced to tears.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Why do you think they had such a strong emotional response to being removed<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">from the unit? How do you think you might have reacted under similar<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">circumstances?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">4. One of the central themes of Facing the Mountain is the universal importance of<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">home—the consequences of losing one’s home, the human need to create a<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">sense of home wherever one must live, the drive to return home when far away<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">from it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In what specific ways do these concerns with home play out in the lives of the<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">book’s four principal protagonists—Kats Miho, Fred Shiosaki, Rudy Tokiwa, and<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Gordon Hirabayashi? What role does home—the loss of it, the need to create it,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">the drive to return to it—play in the lives of each of them?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">5. As is often the case with immigrants from various parts of the world, the attitudes<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and values of the first generation of Japanese immigrants to arrive in America<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">often come in conflict with the attitudes and values of their American children.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">How and where do these conflicts show up in Facing the Mountain? What roles<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">do they play in shaping the events the story chronicles? Do the same dynamics<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">play a role in your own family history or the family histories of your friends and<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">acquaintances?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">6. In a similar vein, the beliefs, traditions, and values of immigrants sometimes work<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">their way into the mainstream of American thought and strengthen our institutions<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and manner of living in novel ways.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What traditional Japanese beliefs, values, or attitudes, if any, did Kats, Fred,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Rudy, and Gordon carry into the war and into their lives that made them better<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">soldiers and citizens?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">7. The Japanese American families forced from their homes were only allowed to<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">bring with them whatever they could carry to the buses that transported them to<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“assembly centers.” In most cases, this meant abandoning many of their most<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">precious possessions as well as walking away from the source of their<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">livelihoods.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Looking around your home, what would you have taken to camp with you? What<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">would you have done with any family pets? With your car? With your family<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">heirlooms? With your business interests? How would you have explained to your<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">children what was happening? What would you have done about any family<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">members with special needs?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">8. Many of the young Japanese American men who resisted the draft refused to<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">serve so long as their parents and family members were incarcerated in the<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">camps.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In your opinion, was this a reasonable stance to take?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">9. During the war, within the Japanese American community, there was a great deal<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">of controversy over those who refused to serve. In recent years the resistors<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">have come to be seen in a much more positive light—even heroic—by many<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Japanese Americans, as well as by others who are concerned with matters of<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">social and racial equity.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What do you think the legacy of the resisters is?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">10.In a similar vein, the young men who joined the 442nd and the 100th were<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">inarguably courageous as demonstrated by their extraordinary battle record<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">throughout the war, the number of casualties they took, and the number of<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">awards that were eventually conferred on them.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But does courage have other dimensions? What about the actions of someone<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">like Gordon Hirabayashi? How does his courage in violating the curfew and<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">refusing to be incarcerated in a camp stack up against the courage of the Nisei<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">soldiers who served in Europe?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/563930/facing-the-mountain-by-daniel-james-bro">https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/563930/facing-the-mountain-by-daniel-james-bro</a><o:p></o:p></p>
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