Midnight in Broad Daylight: A Japanese American Family Caught Between Two Worlds

by Pamela Rotner Sakamoto

There were growing numbers of homeless in Japan, too. The nation had descended into what officials called the “dark valley” of a gripping depression. The overall mood was grim, and the government was beginning to mobilize resources in a lockstep march toward war. The window for hopeful trans-Pacific understanding was closing. By the time a new school year was under way, war would erupt in distant Manchuria. On the evening of September 18, 1931, a group of restive Japanese Imperial Army officers, with the tacit knowledge of their superiors, staged an explosion on the tracks of the South Manchurian Railroad near Mukden, the capital. The railroad was administered by the Japanese government, and the incident provided an excuse for the army to invade Manchuria. The bogus provocation commenced Japan’s “fifteen-year war.” Hiroshima, with its instrumental logistical port, took on a war footing. Katsuji’s deft international exchanges ended abruptly.