Tokyo Boyz

The Tokyo Boys was a Japanese American gang founded in Manzanar Concentration camp during World War II. They were split into three groups/ranks, The Kibei Boys (Japanese-Americans from Japan), Issei Boys (1st generation Japanese-Americans), and the Nisei Boys (2nd generation Japanese-Americans).

Tokyo Boyz

Founded	1942
Founding location	Manzanar, California, United States
Years active	1942 – 1996
Territory	Manzanar, and in later years, San Francisco, California
Ethnicity	Japanese Americans
Membership	~200 During Internment, over 500 post Internment
Criminal activities	murder, arms trafficking, extortion, loan sharking
Allies	Jackson-Side Wah Ching

History

During World War II, then current American president Franklin D. Roosevelt passed Executive Order 9066 which infamously criminalized the being of any Japanese person or person of Japanese ancestry, and forcefully relocated all Japanese and Japanese-Americans into concentration camps, and stripped them of American Constitutional Rights. The most infamous of these camps was Manzanar, where over 100,000 Japanese Americans were jailed. Due to the cruel, unfair, and harsh conditions, a group of rebellious Japanese youths and adults quickly formed a gang. At first there was a power struggle between other gangs in the camp, however, after the Manzanar Riots, almost all gangs united into the Tokyo Boys a.k.a. Manzanar Black Dragons.^{[1][citation needed]}

Throughout the lifetime of the camp, The Tokyo Boys were not involved in high-level crimes, but rather trivial offenses such as stealing extra rations and harassing non-Japanese prisoners.

Post-Manzanar History

After the Japanese-Americans were released from Manzanar, many went to California to work legally and reintegrate into American society. However, due to the time period (1940s-1950s), many Japanese Americans couldn't find work, and even if they could, it wouldn't be enough to support themselves and their families. This combined with the scars of internment and rampant racism has caused many Japanese-Americans to this day remain under the poverty line in places along the West Coast (California, Nevada, and Oregon). Due to their socio-economic position, many members of the Tokyo Boys continued their lifestyle of crime after their release, however, as time progressed, so did the severity of their crimes.^[1]

References

1. Rachel Schreiber (May 10, 2012). "Online Exclusive: Gangs and the Internment". Hyphen Magazine. Retrieved April 16, 2019.