Japanese American WWII Camp Terminology

During World War II, more than 125,000 people of Japanese ancestry—two-thirds of them U.S. citizens—were forcibly removed from their homes and confined across ten government-run camps. The words we use to describe these sites shape how we remember that history. Choosing accurate terminology is essential for both historical clarity and honoring the experiences of those incarcerated.

WHY TERMINOLOGY MATTERS

Euphemistic language during the war obscured injustice. Words like “evacuation,” “relocation,” and “internment” downplayed the reality that these were racially targeted acts of mass confinement. As the U.S. Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians concluded in the publication Personal Justice Denied (1982–83), such terminology softened the truth of widespread civil liberties violations. Activist Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga put it plainly: “words can lie or clarify.” Using precise language does not distort history—it honors it.

KEY TERMINOLOGY—DEFINING THE TERMS

According to Densho, the following distinctions in WWII camp terminology are essential starting points:

• Forced Removal vs. Evacuation: The government’s use of “evacuation” implied protection from a conflict zone; “forced removal” or “mass exclusion” better reflects the coercive reality.
• Japanese American vs. Japanese: Referring simply to “Japanese” erased the citizenship of the Nisei (U.S.-born). It also overlooks the fact that most Issei (immigrants) had lived in the U.S. for decades but were legally barred from citizenship by the Immigration Act of 1924. They were, in essence, “ABC Americans,” where ABC means “all but citizenship.”
• Incarceration vs. Internment: Historically, “internment” refers to the legal detention of enemy aliens (non-U.S. citizens) during wartime. Because the majority of those held were U.S. citizens, “incarceration” is the more accurate legal and descriptive term.
• Concentration Camp vs. Relocation Center: The government used “relocation center” to sanitize harsh, prison-like conditions. Scholars and survivors prefer “incarceration camp” or “concentration camp” for accuracy.

The Term “Concentration Camp” in Context

Some readers may associate “concentration camp” exclusively with Nazi extermination centers. However, historians distinguish between different types of concentration camps to maintain conceptual precision:

• Incarceration Camps (U.S.): Designed for forced mass confinement of a specific group without trial, but not for extermination (e.g., Manzanar).
• Death/Extermination Camps (Nazi Germany): Built explicitly for mass murder (e.g., Auschwitz-Birkenau).

Japanese American concentration camps were incarceration sites—they were prisons designed for mass confinement, not death camps. Using the term honors the gravity of the civil rights violation of Japanese Americans without suggesting a false equivalency to the Holocaust.

SYSTEMS OF INCARCERATION

While modern scholarship identifies several categories of incarceration, they generally fall into two distinct administrative systems. It is important to note that while these systems operated under different laws and agencies, they often shared detainees as individuals were processed, categorized, and moved based on perceived loyalty or residency status.

1. Confinement of Civilians (WCCA & WRA Operated Facilities)

Target Group: Mass exclusion of West Coast Japanese Americans (primarily U.S. citizens and their families). This system was created under Executive Order 9066 to manage the mass removal of Japanese Americans. Incarceration in this system typically followed a two-stage process involving an administrative hand-off between military and civilian authorities.

• Assembly Centers: Managed by the Wartime Civil Control Administration (WCCA), these were temporary processing centers—often racetracks or fairgrounds—where families were held for weeks or months. Examples: Santa Anita, CA; Tanforan, CA; Portland, OR.
• Concentration Camps / Relocation Centers: Managed by the War Relocation Authority (WRA), these were long-term incarceration sites in remote areas, surrounded by barbed wire and military guards. There was occasionally overlap; for instance, Manzanar and Poston were initially operated as “reception centers” by the WCCA before transitioning to the WRA. Examples: Manzanar, CA; Gila River, AZ; Heart Mountain, WY; Tule Lake, CA.

Under the WRA system, Citizen Isolation Centers served as high-security “prisons within the prison system.” They were designed to remove “dissidents” or those labeled as “troublemakers”—primarily U.S. citizens who resisted confinement or the government’s loyalty questionnaire—from the general camp population. Examples: Moab, UT; Leupp, AZ.

2. Internment of “Enemy Aliens” (DOJ, U.S. Army, & INS Operated Facilities)

Target Group: Selective detention of “enemy aliens” (non-U.S. citizens), including Issei community leaders and some German and Italian nationals. Separate from the mass exclusion of families, the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Army, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) operated a network of camps for those deemed a security risk under the Alien Enemy Control Program.

• Internment and Detention Camps: These facilities ranged from local jails to large, long-term military installations. Unlike the WRA camps, these sites primarily held individuals through specialized hearings rather than mass geographic exclusion. Examples: Santa Fe, NM; Fort Missoula, MT; Fort Lincoln, ND; Lordsburg, NM.

CONCLUSION

The debate over terminology reflects a reckoning with our past. Recognizing the nuance between these camp systems—from the short-term assembly centers to the long-term incarceration camps—offers moral clarity. These were unjust, racially based imprisonment sites, and they deserve to be named and discussed accurately.

BILL STAPLES JR. is a SABR member in Arizona with a passion for researching and telling the untold stories of the “international pastime.” He’s a student of Buddhism who examines Nikkei (Japanese American) Leagues, Negro Leagues, and US-Japan baseball history to explore the themes of civil rights, cross-cultural relations, and globalization. His contributions to the SABR Baseball at Manzanar project are dedicated to his good friend Tetsuo Furukawa (1927-2023), who, at age 15, was incarcerated in Rivers, Arizona. Tets was a pitcher and a poet, who in his later years wrote haikus about his wartime experiences: “Red-laced balls and bats / tribute to barbed wire baseball / lucky we have HOPE.” To see the inspiration for Tets’ haiku, visit Nozomi Park in Chandler, Arizona. To learn more about Bill, visit zenimura.com.

 

SOURCES

Ireichō: The Book of Names, https://ireizo.org/ireicho/

Email correspondence with Dr. Duncan Ryūken Williams, Director, Ireicho, July 8, 2024.

Densho Encyclopedia, https://densho.org/terminology/

Email correspondence with Brian Niiya, Content Director, Densho, October 3, 2025.

Personal Justice Denied, The Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC), 1982–83, https://www.archives.gov/research/aapi/ww2/justice

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Suggested Reading

Primary Government Records & Data

• The Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC). Personal Justice Denied (1982–83). The definitive federal report that concluded Executive Order 9066 was not justified by military necessity but was the result of “race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership.” https://www.archives.gov/research/aapi/ww2/justice
• Ireichō: The Book of Names. A digital and physical record of names (over 125,000) of those of Japanese ancestry incarcerated in WWII camps, classifying sites by administrative function. ireizo.org

Digital Archives & Reference Works

• Densho Encyclopedia. A comprehensive digital resource of the Japanese American incarceration experience. The “Terminology” section is the standard for modern scholarship on accurate historical language. densho.org/terminology
• Densho Digital Archive. Access to over 1,000 oral histories and 10,000 historic photographs and documents related to the incarceration. archive.densho.org

Scholarly Works & Analysis

• Daniels, Roger. Prisoners Without Trial: Japanese Americans in World War II. An essential concise history focusing on the legal and political failures of the era.
• Muller, Eric L. American Inquisition: The Hunt for Japanese American Disloyalty in World War II. A detailed look at the DOJ and WRA loyalty hearings and the “Citizen Isolation Centers.”
• Niiya, Brian (Editor). Encyclopedia of Japanese American History. A seminal reference work providing context on camp administration and terminology.