Obasan Case

The bombing of Pearl Harbor had just occurred causing the whole continent to be put in a state of shock, even the Japanese Canadians and the Japanese without their Canadian citizenship living in Canada are speechless about what had happened. The first generation of Japanese, the Issei, are feeling "betrayed and ashamed" (pg. 96) of their home country. Before the bombing occurred the Japanese Canadians and Japanese nationalist for years had been experiencing prejudice towards them, which has always been around, but now that the bombing was done by the Japanese the ones living in Canada were subjected to intensified prejudice towards them. Though even in spite of things, the Japanese Canadians believed that the R.C.M.P were on their side because they supposedly say that "they know they had nothing to do with the bombings". They are trying to do what they can by "having faith and standing by" their country and the government that leads it, believing that because they are Canadian they will be protected.

A good modern day example if this would be 9/11. After it was announced that the people responsible for the hijackings, and the crashing of the planes into the Trade Centers were of Muslim dissent, a mass racial prejudice and hatred towards anyone of that race had taken off. Whether they had immigrated to America years before or even born in America, they were still seen as the "enemy aliens".

Not long after the bombing of Pear Harbor occurred the National President of the Imperial Order of Daughters of the Empire said that there was around a hundred thousand Japanese Canadians that are all spies and saboteurs (pg. 98). This of course sent fear and panic across Canada that every Japanese Canadian was a spy, and therefore could by no means be trusted. Even Uncle Dan was arrested for having a drawn up road map (pg. 109), which made the R.C.M.P suspect he was a "spy" and so needed to be arrested, and was taken to the pool (pg. 109). All Japanese Canadians across Canada felt the impact of that statement; it caused what seemingly couldn't get any worse, mass hatred and fear amongst Canadians towards Japanese Canadians whether they are an Issei, Nisei or Sansei. Society's view towards any person of Japanese decent was automatically seen as the enemy. Every time a newspaper came out, or a radio broadcast come on it would always have the word "Japs" screaming at them.

The media was alienating the Japanese anyway that it could, making up lies and stories in order to make it look like the Japanese Canadians were the enemy. There was an article in the newspaper with a picture of a young Nisei boy with a metal lunch box that said he was a spy with a radio transmitter. Even when the stories were proven untrue and protested against, the newspapers would only admit to such things in the classified section in very small print so that no one would be likely to read it. There was a saying now in Canada, even to Japanese that were born in Canada "once a Jap, always a Jap" (pg. 99). Groups such as the "Sons of Canada" (pg. 101) and individual protesters would protest against the Japanese Canadians anyway that they could, making comments that the "British way of life" (pg. 104) was being threatened by the Japanese.

A good modern day example of this would be the way the media in general portrays things that it likes or doesn't like, whether it be the news, internet, magazines or newspaper. It creates this bias on a particular topic