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NOTE: Repatriation ~ well over 60% of the JAs were American citizens. I suppose you could repatriate them by sending them home to Washington, Oregon and California.

Back when I researched this subject in depth I was surprised to learn that only Japanese aliens were interned during WWII. It was they who were offered the option of repatriation. Thousands opted for it.

American citizens of Japanese ethnicity were "asked" to move away from the West Coast, and if they could not find a place to go they were housed in "relocation camps" from which they could come and go at will.

I also know many on-line sources do not acknowledge the distinctions between internment and repatriation.

They weren't ASKED. They were ordered to report to specific places.

As far as being offered an option of repatriation, the US made a deal with latin American countries to ACCEPT all their Japanese as detainees here.

We even had Canadian Japanese held as detainees. Didn't matter what their citizenship was ~

The vast majority of detained Japanese-Americans were American citizens. The vast majority of detained Germans were German citizens.

The US population at the time had at least 35 million people who KNEW they had German ancestry ~ Harry Truman had German ancestry. Arguably so did Roosevelt although I think the Germans cleverly tricked the Dutch into accepting that particular province way back in the Dark Ages.

You are referring to a subgroup ~ KIBEI ~ these were people who may have been born in the US but who returned to Japan for education and then got caught there for the war's duration. Or, they may be people who managed to return to the US before the war, but who ended up in Posten camp where many renounced their citizenship.

There is a single number of 5,000 out there regarding the number of Japanese-American citizens held by Japan through the war, and that will show up sometimes as the number of KIBEI ~ which is erroneous.

There were a few thousand Kibei. Most of them ended up staying in the US once Japan sent them "back home" to America. Some then went back to Japan having stronger ties there ~ many of them having married, or who had elderly relatives to care for.

Be very careful of the discussions of Kibei. Everything has been said about them that can be said.

The one thing for certain is that NO SERIOUS AMOUNT of repatriation of Japanese to Japan or Americans to the USA from Japan occurred in WWII. ALL the agreements are 1946 or later ~ WHICH IS AFTER THE WAR.

Think about it ~ we were sinking every Japanese ship we could find. They were sinking all our ships. What boat would you put those deportees on?