Threat of Japanese Attack

Wartime stereotyping was widespread in popular journals and magazines. Some were accounts of Japanese produced propaganda, while others were imaginative descriptions of a potential attack. Even health officials adapted advisories and equated good health with good defenses against the enemy.

The U.S. military created an internment camp in the Canal Zone just days after the Pearl Harbor attack. Fearing potential espionage and sabotage, they collaborated with various Latin American countries to gather people of Japanese ancestry. Up until that point, these individuals were community members and neighbors.

One true threat that was never realized was an attack by the I-400, a submarine specifically designed by Japan to bomb the Canal. The submarine was commissioned to carry and launch a bomber plane upon surfacing.