In Chapters 12 and 13, Guterson describes life on San Piedro immediately following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Ishmael and Hatsue had been carrying on a secret romance for four years, but during their senior year, before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hatsue was beginning to verbalize to Ishmael her doubts about their liaison. Hatsue believed that her actions in this life affected future lives, and she seemed certain that she would suffer for her deceitful ways; however, Hatsue was not so distraught that she stopped seeing Ishmael.
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the islanders of San Piedro were divided, with the majority of the Caucasians taking an "us versus them" stance. The "us," of course, were Americans, who were against the Japanese. The day after the bombing, Ishmael's father reported in two separate articles that "the island's Japanese community pledged their loyalty to the United States," and he emphasized in his editorial the need to remain calm.
This editorial closed with another major theme of Snow Falling on Cedars: "prejudice and hatred are never right and [are] never to be accepted by a just society." Yet justice, especially during wartime, is difficult at best. Arthur Chambers tried to balance the news he printed by pointing out the positive things that the members of the island's Japanese community did for the United States, and he was accused of showing favoritism. Subscribers and advertisers alike began to cancel their affiliation with the San Piedro Review, though Arthur was confident that he and the paper could survive without them.
