Post-War Changes in OpinionOn January 2nd, 1945, the camps were officially closed. The material damage was serious enough, with millions of dollars of property confiscated, but the psychological effects made the most permanent changes. A trend notably observed by psychologists, sociologists, and others who studied the camps was the erosion of traditional Japanese values. The traditional society of Japan could not function in a crowded, bare, and all too public environment. Over the course of the war children were increasingly less likely to eat with their families, or even at their own barrack. Adults found it even more difficult to adjust to poorer food and an unfamiliar desert climate. Problems like these contributed to numerous riots of varying intensity through the camps, particularly the Manzanar Riot. A total of seven were shot in riots or escape attempts from all the camps, but many more were injured. Japanese culture was also affected in Religious areas. As the internment progressed many relief groups sent aid to the camps, a majority of which were Roman Catholic missionaries, causing large percentages of Japanese to eventually convert.
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As time passed, the Japanese began to re-assimilate into society, and war-time considerations faded, more thought from all sides was put into the camps which, during the war, were seen as too unimportant a subject to deal with. Many former internees set up memorials and committees dedicated to the preservation of the camps' cultural legacy. Eventually the camps would become another factor in the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement and perhaps did more to challenge anti-Japanese sentiment than anything else. The moral debate is still ongoing, with both sides arguing for the ethical and/or constitutional backing of their respective opinions, but an awareness of the effects of such a massive political action, (the cultural and linguistic changes as well as population shifts over hundreds of miles), benefits anyone who attains it. The Internment Camps are now a permanent American Legacy.