It took decades to build a thriving Japanese fishing village in Southern California. But it only took the U.S. Government 48 hours to erase it.
April 2, 1942: Civilian Exclusion Order No. 4 gave Terminal Island’s Japanese Americans just two days to leave.
Terminal Island sat nestled between San Pedro and Long Beach — a small stretch of land in Los Angeles Harbor. It was home to a close-knit community of Japanese immigrants and their American-born children, many of whom came from Wakayama Prefecture in Japan.
They were master fishermen, brought to the U.S. for their skill. They built boats, hauled in tuna, mended nets. They raised families. Started businesses. Opened schools.
They even developed a unique local dialect — part Japanese, part English, part pure Terminal Island. It was a world unto itself.
Then came April 2, 1942.
That was the day the U.S. Army issued Civilian Exclusion Order No. 4, which gave the Japanese American residents of Terminal Island just 48 hours to leave.
No trials. No accusations. Just a notice on a wall: “You have two days.”
They were told to pack what they could carry. Some abandoned their homes. Others left behind fishing boats that had taken years to build. Military police roamed the streets. Children cried. Parents kept packing.
Neighbors said goodbye — not knowing it would be forever.
Shortly after the families were forced out, the U.S. Navy bulldozed their homes to the ground. They claimed it was for “security.”
They didn’t just remove the people — they erased the neighborhood.
When the war ended and survivors were finally allowed to return, there was nothing left to return to. No homes. No boats. No village.
What took generations to create was destroyed in two days. Forever.
The crime? Being Japanese.
Terminal Island wasn’t just a community. It was a symbol of what Japanese immigrants had built in America — and how quickly it could all be taken away.
They tried to erase it from history.
But we will not forget.