University of Chicago

During the Meiji and Taisho periods (1868-1925), the Japanese government often sent students to the University of Chicago. These students brought the expertise they gained at the university back to Japan and contributed to Japan's development.¹ In the early 1900s, the University of Chicago invited the Waseda University baseball team to Chicago, and the two universities began to interact through baseball. Waseda University's school color, maroon, is said to be derived from the school color of the University of Chicago.²

However, when World War II broke out and high tensions between Japan and the U.S. emerged, the University of Chicago refused to admit Japanese Americans. This was because the campus was used to train soldiers and the Manhattan Project, a top-secret project to create an atomic bomb.¹ The project was successful and led to the creation of the atomic bombs that killed more than 200,000 people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.³ The restriction of Japanese American applicants continued even as the war progressed and more Japanese American people moved to the south side of Chicago.⁴

From May 1942 to September 1944, over 180 Japanese Americans were subjected to admission restrictions based on racial grounds by the government and the university. Most of them were not admitted, but the university would accept a small number of Japanese Americans on the condition that they obtain government permission. This admission process was very complicated and could take up to two years.⁵ In a letter written on October 4, 1943, Vice President Emery T. Filbey commented on the restrictions of the admission of Japanese Americans as follows.

“Officers of this University regret the introduction of this limitation upon its freedom to accept students and seriously doubt that it is wise or just. The University has acceded to it because, if it wishes to do its part in wartime research, it was given no real choice in the matter.”⁴

Members of this program would like to thank Librarian Ayako Yoshimura and the University of Chicago Library for explaining the university facilities and showing us various materials for our program.

The university's correspondences at the time and other information can be found at the following link.
Nikkei South Side: Japanese and Japanese Americans in Hyde Park and its Vicinity, curated by Ayako Yoshimura
https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/collex/exhibits/nikkei-south-side-japanese-and-japanese-americans-hyde-park-and-its-vicinity/

Footnote

1. Ayako Yoshimura, “Nikkei South Side: Japanese and Japanese Americans in Hyde Park and Its Vicinity,” The University of Chicago Library, Accessed July 17, 2023, https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/collex/exhibits/nikkei-south-side-japanese-and-japanese-americans-hyde-park-and-its-vicinity/.  
2. Ayako Yoshimura, “Waseda-UChicago Baseball Exchange,” Nikkei South Side: Japanese and Japanese Americans in Hyde Park and Its Vicinity, The University of Chicago Library, Accessed July 17, 2023, https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/collex/exhibits/nikkei-south-side-japanese-and-japanese-americans-hyde-park-and-its-vicinity/wasedauchicago-baseball-exchange/. 
3. Louise Lerner, “The First Nuclear Reactor, Explained,” University of Chicago News, University of Chicago Office of Communications, Accessed December 17, 2023, https://news.uchicago.edu/explainer/first-nuclear-reactor-explained#atomicbomb. 
4. Eric Langowski, “Education Out of Incarceration,” Nikkei South Side: Japanese and Japanese Americans in Hyde Park and Its Vicinity, The University of Chicago Library, Accessed July 17, 2023, https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/collex/exhibits/nikkei-south-side-japanese-and-japanese-americans-hyde-park-and-its-vicinity/education-out-forcible-internment/. 
5. Eric Langowski, “‘Deemed Inadvisable’ The University’s Wartime Treatment of Japanese American Applicants,” Nikkei South Side: Japanese and Japanese Americans in Hyde Park and Its Vicinity, The University of Chicago Library, Accessed July 17, 2023, https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/collex/exhibits/nikkei-south-side-japanese-and-japanese-americans-hyde-park-and-its-vicinity/deemed-inadvisable-the-universitys-wartime-treatment-of-japanese-american-applicants/.