The battle of Betio

Ishmael Chambers lost his arm during the battle at Betio, a tiny island in the Tarawa Atoll in the South Pacific.
The Battle was fought from November 20 - 23, 1943. 35.000 American troups fought against about 4500 Japanese. The Americans thought it was critically important to get a hold of this island in the central pacific. Up to this point, landing with amphibious vehicles hadn't met with a lot of resistance. But this time, the Japanese were very well equipped and prepared for battle. They fought almost to the last men. The US Marines (always more of an elite unit, I think Ishmael was a part of them) lost 1000 men, the US Navy about 700, and more than 3000 were wounded. In the end, the U.S. prevailed because of their overwhelming advantage in manpower and equipment.

The U.S.

Manzanar

Manzanar
Manzanar—the Spanish word for “apple orchard” -> "Apfelplantage"

History
10,000 years ago native americans settled in the valley, today known as Mazanar .
1,500 years ago the Owens Valley Paiute settled there, fished, hunted and conduct agriculture there.
In the 1860´s Miners and Ranchers settled in the valley and about 1,000 Paiutes were forced resettled by the military to Fort Tejon.
In 1929 the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power purchased all land and water rights.
The culture of the village was manly the developing agriculture. The increasing tourism has it termination with the outset of World War II.






For further informations click the link below
Manzanar National Historic Site

Japanese culture part 2

Cuisine

The Japanese have a specific food culture. It is a healthy and delicious fare. The japanese cuisine becomes to be very famous in the U.S., Europe and Australia. Favored foods are: Sushi, Terijaki chicken and Tempura.






Sushi

Japantown, San Francisco

There are three Japantowns in the United States left.San Francisco's Japantown,aka "J-Town" or "Little Osaka" because of a sistership with Osaka. It's the oldest and largest of them.After bombing Pearl Habour,a huge part of the Japanese Population was taken into internment camps.The district remained empty,but the african-american population filled the gap quickly.Some Japanese people returned, as an investment of the japanese government and many companies.The city tried to revive the district as an Japanese quater.Nowadays there are a lot of japanese restaurants, shops and festivals.But it is only a shadow of what it was before the Second World War.


Johanna Kruse & Kai Nohe

Japanese town in San Francisco

The Japanese town of San Francisco is called "J-Town" or "Little Osaka". They call it "Little Osaka" because San Francisco entered a city sister relationship with Osaka (third biggest city of Japan).

It is the biggest Chinatown of the United States and includes 24 blocks. The main thoroughfare is at the post street and is called "dragon's gate", which was built in 1970.

There were 2 catastrophes in the "life" of the Japanese town: World War 2 and a earthquake in 1906. The people who live there say, that the Japanese town that we know is only a shadow of what it was before Wolrd War 2.

In J-Town, there live nearly 80.000 people, so it is the biggest Japanese community outside of Asia.
Even in bad times, there come very much tourists to Chinatown. Even more than to the Golden Gate Bridge.
"If you walk along the bush street, you will feel like being in Honk Kong. Espeacially when you see the McDonalds sing with Japanese signs next to it." Thats what most of the tourists say about the Chinatown of San Francisco.

Japanese culture

Visual arts
Painting: the brush is a traditional writing tool and the pictures often show the nature.
You can also often see calligraphy in their pictures ( calligraphy= writing in italic lines).
Traditional Japanese sculptures: mainly settled on the subject of Buddhist images.
Ukiyo-e ( pictures of the floating world): is a genre of woodcuts and illustrated books.
Ikebana (living flower): is the Japanese art of flower arrangements.
Performing arts: are for exemple the four traditional theatres from Japan which are noh, kyogen, kabuki and bunraku.
Architecture: traditional architectures are seen at temples and
castles, with traditional gardens.
Clothes: The traditional Japanese clothes are the Kimonos
("something one wears")



Made by Denise, Silke and Judith

Manzanar - Japanese incernment camp in California

Ansel Adams a photographer who is famous for his nature pictures also took pictures at the Manzanar camp.