Japanese air attacks on the Mariana Islands 27 in preparation for operations against Japan itself. The USAAF bases in the Mariana Islands were within range of a number of Japanese air bases in the Pacific. These included Wake Island to the east, Truk and the Gilbert and Marshall Islands to the southeast, Woleai to the south and Yap to the southwest. To the north the Japanese had air bases in the Nampo Shoto chain of islands and Bonin Islands, which included three airstrips on Iwo Jima. Several of the minor islands in the Mariana chain also remained in Japanese hands, and there were airfields on Rota and
Internment of Japanese Americans or sent them to the United States for internment. Brazil also restricted its Japanese Brazilian population. Although Japanese Americans in Hawaii comprised more than one third of the population, businessmen resisted their being interned or deported to mainland concentration camps, as they recognized their contributions to the economy. In the hysteria of the time, some mainland Congressmen (Hawaii was only a U.S. territory at the time, and did not have a voting representative or senator in Congress) promoted that all Japanese Americans and Japanese immigrants should be removed from Hawaii but were unsuccessful. An estimated 1,200 to 1,800 Japanese nationals