Quiet Americans is a digital storytelling project about Japanese American history — stories of injustice, resilience, and resistance. We explore the lessons we’ve learned and the ones we failed to, from the past.
This project is inspired by the life of one Nisei (a second-generation Japanese American) who went from incarceration camps to volunteering for the U.S. Army. He served in the Pacific, worked in post-war Japan as a Military Intelligence Service officer, and later fought in the Korean War. Yet, like so many in his generation, he rarely spoke about it. He carried his story quietly. We’re here to tell these stories, so we never forget.
Latest Stories
Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1907
In 1907, amid rising racial tensions in California, the United States quietly pressured Japan to stop sending laborers. The “Gentlemen’s Agreement” avoided formal legislation, but it set a precedent: immigration would be limited not by equality, but by race.
George Shima
After failing English in Japan, George Shima emigrated to California and became the state’s first Japanese millionaire and “Potato King.”
Aki Kurose
Born in a diverse Seattle neighborhood in 1925, Aki Kurose’s childhood was interrupted by incarceration and discrimination. Those experiences fueled her lifelong work to dismantle segregation, expand access to education, and reshape public schools for the children most often left behind.
Bonner Fellers
Born on February 6, 1896, Bonner Fellers would later help shape the American occupation of Japan. Influenced by the writings of Greek-born author Lafcadio Hearn, he argued that executing the Emperor would ignite resistance and cost countless lives.
Ikeda Mission
In 1864, the Tokugawa shōgunate sent samurai to Europe to shut down foreign trade and restore Japan’s isolation. The mission failed. But for Ikeda Nagaoki, the journey revealed a world Japan could no longer ignore, and helped set the stage for a modern nation to emerge.
Immigration Act of 1917
The Immigration Act of 1917 expanded bans on Chinese and Japanese immigrants and formalized a racial hierarchy in U.S. immigration law — one that shaped who could enter, who was excluded, and who would later be imprisoned.
Trending Stories
Japanese Canadian Incarceration
January 14, 1942 marked the beginning of a seven-year exile for Japanese Canadians. More than 27,000 people were removed, incarcerated, and barred from returning home until 1949.
Lost Battalion
The Lost Battalion rescue remains one of the most extraordinary acts of courage in U.S. military history, carried out by soldiers whose own families were imprisoned back home.
Angel Island Immigration Station
Angel Island Immigration Station opened in 1910 to enforce anti-Asian immigration laws. Asian immigrants were detained, interrogated, and excluded by design, turning immigration enforcement into incarceration decades before WWII.