The Second World War – most horrified catastrophe triggered by racism and prejudice in world history – resulted from millions of deaths, economic loss, and chaos. The attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, not just altered the flow of the WW2 and the fate of Japanese Canadian and Japanese American.

The attack on Pearl Harbor created trepidation among North American society which ended with relocation and incarceration of Japanese Americans and Japanese Canadians. They were banished from their home and moved to internment camps. Those unfair situations and wounds have remained to people. Some people captivated by past memories, and some people wanted to forget and move on. Among those people, there were people who want to convey their message of not forgetting and speak out their resentment through the different genre.

Joy Nozomi Kogawa, a Japanese Canadian poet, and novelist were one of the people who experienced relocation during WW2. In Joy Kogawa’s novel Obasan, Joy Kogawa portrayed her childhood during WW2 and two different perspectives towards past trauma – keeping silence and speaking out – through two different characters: Aunt Emily and Obasan. Joy Kogawa not just stop after her novel was published, but also continued to speak out for Japanese Canadians and their societies by sending various letters to government and prime minister. Several letters were contained request of welfare for Japanese Canadian and Joy Kogawa’s message of moving on from the trauma, but not forgetting the past. Joy Kogawa is using her ability and the genre of novel to help Japanese Canadian.

George Takei, an American actor, director, and author, also used his talent of acting and the genre of the musical to convey his message. The Broadway musical, “Allegiance” is contained the story of the internment of Japanese Americans by the attack on Pearl Harbor. George Takei was on the stage as the WW2 veteran looking back on his youth: moved to the internment camp with force. Similar to Joy Kogawa’s novel Obasan, “Allegiance” was also inspired by the personal experiences of George Takei and portrayed two different perspectives – moving on and keep living with the past – through two different characters: Kei and Sam. By performing in this musical, George Takei also conveyed his message of moving on from the past trauma but not forgetting the past.

Joy Kogawa and George Takei, these two different people with different background and culture shared similar trauma: relocation of Japanese Americans and Japanese Canadians by Pearl Harbor Attack. They had overcome their past trauma from painful history and chose to speak out to convey their message of not forgetting as much as they could by using their ability and different genre.