Meticulously researched and beautifully written, the true story of a Japanese American family that found itself on opposite sides during World War II—an epic tale of family, separation, divided loyalties, love, reconciliation, loss, and redemption—this is a riveting chronicle of U.S.–Japan relations and the Japanese experience in America.
After their father’s death, Harry, Frank, and Pierce … Pierce Fukuhara—all born and raised in the Pacific Northwest—moved to Hiroshima, their mother’s ancestral home. Eager to go back to America, Harry returned in the late 1930s. Then came Pearl Harbor. Harry was sent to an internment camp until a call came for Japanese translators and he dutifully volunteered to serve his country. Back in Hiroshima, his brothers Frank and Pierce became soldiers in the Japanese Imperial Army.
As the war raged on, Harry, one of the finest bilingual interpreters in the United States Army, island-hopped across the Pacific, moving ever closer to the enemy—and to his younger brothers. But before the Fukuharas would have to face each other in battle, the U.S. detonated the atomic bomb over Hiroshima, gravely injuring tens of thousands of civilians, including members of their family.
Alternating between the American and Japanese perspectives, Midnight in Broad Daylight captures the uncertainty and intensity of those charged with the fighting as well as the deteriorating home front of Hiroshima—as never told before in English—and provides a fresh look at the dropping of the first atomic bomb. Intimate and evocative, it is an indelible portrait of a resilient family, a scathing examination of racism and xenophobia, an homage to the tremendous Japanese American contribution to the American war effort, and an invaluable addition to the historical record of this extraordinary time.
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Harry Fukuhara was born in Washington and grew up in the idyllic little town of Auburn, the son of Japanese immigrants on the make. Life was perhaps a bit complicated – an older brother and sister were sent to live in Japan with extended family and never did quite settle back into the rhythm of American life upon their abrupt reentry, for example – but generally good. This changed dramatically when Harry’s father died in the midst of the Great Depression and his mother had to sell everything and move the family to Japan. To Hiroshima, I should add.
Harry hated Japan, longed for America, and finally returned in 1938. The America he encountered was a bit different from the one he’s left, particularly in regards to the treatment of anyone with a Japanese name, and particularly on the West Coast. Yet, as terrible as Harry’s timing may seem, it could have been worse, at least for a Japanese-American who longest for this country: shortly after Harry returned to the U.S., it became much, much more difficult to do so.
And so Harry settled into a somewhat tenuous existence, which he led right up until he was interred – along with his older sister and niece and thousands of other law-abiding Japanese whose crime, of course, was their ethnicity. Here Harry’s story becomes particularly interesting, for despite his anger and bitterness toward his current treatment, he volunteered to serve in the U.S. Army as a translator. Sometimes he interrogated prisoners. Sometimes he deciphered reeking, blood-splattered documents. Sometimes he waded ashore under enemy fire. And in the most improbable way, he encountered an enemy he knew in another life.
This story alone would be book-worthy enough, but while Harry slogged his way through the South Pacific, three brothers found themselves cogs of war in Imperial Japan. To say nothing of the whole atomic bomb bit. And the fact that, after the war, he rose to become one of the highest ranking military officials in Japan, and certainly the highest counterintelligence official.
All of which makes Midnight in Broad Daylight a fascinating – and chilling – read. Pamela Rotner Sakamoto has captured the essence of two cultures, as well as the inexorable march of time and conflict and the political process. She sprinkles a liberal helping of Japanese terminology throughout the book so that the reader, too, is constantly pulled between Japan and America, Japanese and English. Most critically, Sakamoto appears to write without judgment. She presents the issues from multiple vantage points, letting readers feel the individual and collective dilemmas of the time. In that way, this book is similar to Flyboys, in which James Bradley succeeds in creating a wholly objective portrait of the war in the Pacific. There’s no question, though, that Sakamoto’s portrait is more personal, and perhaps more searing. (It is certainly less grisly, which is my only complaint about Bradley’s work.)
Above all, Midnight in Broad Daylight is a book to make the reader think. About the lives each of us has lived, from the stranger on the bus to the neighbor three doors down. About loyalty and resiliency. About how life is so seldom black-and-white, right-and-wrong. About the human lives impacted by government decree, and about how capricious it all is.
(This review was originally published at https://www.thisyearinbooks.com/2016/07/midnight-in-broad-daylight-japanese.html)
This is one of my all time favorite nonfiction books. Heck! It is one of my all time favorite books. It follow a Japanese American family before and during WWII. It is informative and impactful. I think everyone should read it!
Excellent book.
Loved it
Wonderful true story of a Japanese American who was interned during World War II but still loved America. Joined the military and had a remarkable career. Tells of his parents who were in Japan when the bombs were dropped. Tear jerker when he goes back to Japan to hunt for his family.
A glimpse into a time in the USA that many do not talk about and what it is like to be from and live in two very different countries. Eye opening experience reading this
This true story really touched my heart and gave me an inside glimpse of what WW2 was like for Japanese Americans and for the select few Japanese American soldiers. This man was a loyal American his entire life, and his story is truly inspiring! I couldn’t put this book down!
I find it interesting to read about what America did to the Japanese during world war II. It’s not something I studied as a girl.
I very much enjoyed the book. The author related a interesting time in American history that not often told in such a compelling fashion.
Well written, very hard to put down.
as a history book – this book provides fresh insights into the Japanese-American experience during WWII – as a biography on the Fukuhara family – it’s a richly textured – tightly woven biography of a family in the midst of a very real culture clashes – and caught up in international tidal forces
the author Pamela Ratno Sakamoto seems to have a long history with japan despite not seeming to be japanese herself despite her name (as can be seen in youtube interviews with her) – she has a stunning ability to capture moods – from the lazy prewar days near Seattle – to their desperate move to Japan out of financial necessity – to the bitterness of some family members of internment in the US – compared to the harsh life in a Japan just before and during the war with the US by other members – to that ultimate moment that turned Hiroshima into a milestone in history
it will probably be compelling even to those who can’t identify with the family like i can