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History of Japanese Americans

Japanese American history is the history of Japanese Americans or the history of ethnic Japanese in the United States. People from Japan began immigrating to the U.S. in significant numbers following the political, cultural, and social changes stemming from the 1868 Meiji Restoration. Large-scale Japanese immigration started with immigration to Hawaii during the first year of the Meiji period in 1868.[1][2]

Japanese Day parade in Seattle, during the Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition of 1909

Japanese American history before World War II edit

Immigration edit

There is evidence to suggest that the first Japanese individual to land in North America was a young boy accompanying Franciscan friar, Martín Ignacio Loyola, in October 1587, on Loyola's second circumnavigation trip around the world. Japanese castaway Oguri Jukichi was among the first Japanese citizens known to have reached present day California (1815),[3] while Otokichi and two fellow castaways reached present day Washington state (1834).[4]

Japan emerged from isolation following Commodore Matthew Perry's expedition to Japan, where he successfully negotiated a treaty opening Japan to American trade. Further developments included the start of direct shipping between San Francisco and Japan in 1855 and established official diplomatic relations in 1860.[5]

Japanese immigration to the United States was mostly economically motivated. Stagnating economic conditions causing poor living conditions and high unemployment pushed Japanese people to search elsewhere for a better life. Japan's population density had increased from 1,335 per square ri in 1872 to 1,885 in 1903, intensifying economic pressure on working class populations.[6]: 26  Rumors of better standards of living in the "land of promise" encouraged a rise in immigration to the US, especially by younger sons who (due in large part to the Japanese practice of primogeniture) were motivated to independently establish themselves abroad.[7] Only fifty-five Japanese were recorded as living in the United States in 1870, but by 1890 there had been more than two thousand new arrivals.

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 had a significant impact for Japanese immigration, as it left room for 'cheap labor' and an increasing recruitment of Japanese from both Hawaii and Japan as they sought industrialists to replace Chinese laborers.[5] "Between 1901 and 1908, a time of unrestricted immigration, 127,000 Japanese entered the U.S."[5]

The numbers of new arrivals peaked in 1907 with as many as 30,000 Japanese immigrants counted (economic and living conditions were particularly bad in Japan at this point as a result of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–5).[6]: 25  Japanese immigrants who moved to mainland U.S. settled on the West Coast primarily in California.[5]

Anti-Japanese sentiment edit

Nonetheless, there was a history of legalized discrimination in American immigration laws which heavily restricted Japanese immigration. As the number of Japanese in the United States increased, resentment against their success in the farming industry and fears of a "yellow peril" grew into an anti-Japanese movement similar to that faced by earlier Chinese immigrants.[8]

Increased pressure from the Asiatic Exclusion League and the San Francisco Board of Education forced President Roosevelt to negotiate the Gentlemen's Agreement with Japan in 1907. It was agreed that Japan would stop issuing valid passports for the U.S. This agreement was intended to curtail Japanese immigration to the U.S., but Japanese women were still allowed to immigrate if they were the wives of U.S. residents. Prior to 1908, about seven out of eight ethnic Japanese in the United States were men. By 1924, the ratio had changed to approximately four women to every six men.[9] Japanese immigration to the U.S. effectively ended when Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1924, which banned all but a token few Japanese people.

The ban on immigration produced unusually well-defined generational groups within the Japanese American community. Initially, there was an immigrant generation, the Issei, and their U.S.-born children, the Nisei Japanese American. The Issei were exclusively those who had immigrated before 1924. Because no new immigrants were permitted, all Japanese Americans born after 1924 were—by definition—born in the US. This generation, the Nisei, became a distinct cohort from the Issei generation in terms of age, citizenship, and English language ability, in addition to the usual generational differences. Institutional and interpersonal racism led many of the Nisei to marry other Nisei, resulting in a third distinct generation of Japanese Americans, the Sansei.[5]: 27–46 [6]: 25 [10][page needed]

It was only in 1952 that the Senate and House voted one the McCarran-Walter Act, which allowed Japanese immigrants to become naturalized U.S. citizens. But significant Japanese immigration did not occur again until the Immigration Act of 1965, which ended 40 years of bans against immigration from Japan and other countries.

Farming edit

 
Japanese American farmer in Mountain View, California.

Japanese-Americans have made significant contributions to agricultural development in Western-Pacific parts of the United States.

Similar to European American settlers, the Issei, the majority of whom were young adult males, immigrated to America searching for better economic conditions and the majority settled in Western Pacific states settling for manual labor jobs in various industries such as ‘railroad, cannery and logging camp laborers.[5]: 30 [6]: 27  The Japanese workforce were diligent and extremely hardworking, inspired to earn enough money to return and retire in Japan.[6]: 26–27  Consequently, this collective ambition enabled the Issei to work in agriculture as tenant farmers fairly promptly and by "1909 approximately 30,000 Japanese laborers worked in the Californian agriculture".[6]: 25  This transition occurred relatively smoothly due to a strong inclination to work in agriculture which had always been an occupation that had been looked upon with respect in Japan.

Progress was made by the Issei in agriculture despite struggles faced cultivating the land, including harsh environment problems such as harsh weather and persistent issues with grasshoppers. Economic difficulties and discriminating socio-political pressures such as the anti-alien laws (see California Alien Land Law of 1913) were further obstacles. Nevertheless, second-generation Nisei were not impacted by these laws as a result of being legal American citizens, therefore their important roles in West Coast agriculture persisted[6]: 29  Japanese immigrants brought a sophisticated knowledge of cultivation, including knowledge of soils, fertilizers, skills in land reclamation, irrigation, and drainage. This knowledge combined with Japanese traditional culture respecting the soil and hard work, led to successful cultivation of crops on previously marginal lands.[11]: 75 [12] According to sources, by 1941 Japanese Americans "were producing between thirty and thirty-five per cent by value of all commercial truck crops grown in California as well as occupying a dominant position in the distribution system of fruits and vegetables."[6]: 26 

The role of Issei in agriculture prospered in the early twentieth century. It was only in the event of the Internment of Japanese Americans in 1942 that many lost their agricultural businesses and farms. Although this was the case, Japanese Americans remain involved in these industries today, particularly in southern California and to some extent, Arizona by the areas' year-round agricultural economy, and descendants of Japanese pickers who adapted farming in Oregon and Washington state.[13][page needed] Agriculture also played a key role during the internment of Japanese Americans. World War II internment camps, were located in desolate spots such as Poston, in the Arizona desert, and Tule Lake, California, at a dry mountain lake bed. Agricultural programs were put in place at relocation centers with the aim of growing food for direct consumption by inmates. There was also a less important aim of cultivating 'war crops' for the war effort. Agriculture in internment camps was faced with multiple challenges such as harsh weather and climate conditions. However, on the most part the agricultural programs were a success mainly due to inmate knowledge and interest in agriculture.[11]: 77–79 [14] Due to their tenacious efforts, these farm lands remain active today.[13][page needed]

By the 1930s the ethnic Japanese population living in Seattle had reached 8,448, out of a total city population of 368,583[15] meaning that, "Japanese were Seattle’s largest non-white group, and the fourth-largest group behind several European nationalities."[15] Prior to World War II, Seattle's Nihonmachi had become the second largest Japantown on the West Coast of North America.[16] East of Lake Washington, Japanese immigrant labor helped clear recently logged land to make it suitable to support small scale farming on leased plots.[17]: 11, 31  During the 20th century, the Japanese farming community became increasingly well established. Prior to World War II, some 90 percent of the agricultural workforce on the "Eastside" was of Japanese ancestry, also 90% of produce sold at the Pike Place market in Seattle were from the Japanese-American farms from Bellevue and the White river valley.[17]: 155 

Internment edit

 
Posted Japanese American Exclusion Order
 
Juneau High School valedictorian John Tanaka received his diploma at a special graduation ceremony at the school's gymnasium in Juneau, Alaska in April 1942 prior to his internment. He was unable to attend actual graduation the next month due to evacuation orders.

During World War II, an estimated 120,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese nationals or citizens residing in the United States were forcibly interned in ten different camps across the US, mostly in the west. The Internment was a "system of legalized racial oppression" and was based on the race or ancestry rather than activities of the interned. Families, including children, were interned together. Each member of the family was allowed to bring two suitcases of their belongings. Each family, regardless of its size, was given one room to live in. The camps were fenced in and patrolled by armed guards. For the most part, the internees remained in the camps until the end of the war, when they left the camps to rebuild their lives.[18][10]

World War II service edit

 
Rohwer Director Ray Johnston congratulates George Kiwashima on his decision to volunteer in the United States Army, while Captain John Holbrook and two other Japanese-American volunteers look on.

Many Japanese Americans served with great distinction during World War II in the American forces.

Nebraska Nisei Ben Kuroki became a famous Japanese-American soldier of the war after he completed 30 missions as a gunner on B-24 Liberators with the 93rd Bombardment Group in Europe. When he returned to the US he was interviewed on radio and made numerous public appearances, including one at San Francisco's Commonwealth Club where he was given a ten-minute standing ovation after his speech. Kuroki's acceptance by the California businessmen was the turning point in attitudes toward Japanese on the West Coast. Kuroki volunteered to fly on a B-29 crew against his parents' homeland and was the only Nisei to fly missions over Japan. He was awarded a belated Distinguished Service Medal by President George W. Bush in August 2005.

The 442nd Regimental Combat Team/100th Infantry Battalion is the most highly decorated unit in U.S. military history. Composed of Japanese Americans, the 442nd/100th fought valiantly in the European Theater. The 522nd Nisei Field Artillery Battalion was one of the first units to liberate the prisoners of the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau. Hawaiʻi Senator Daniel Inouye was a veteran of the 442nd. Additionally the Military Intelligence Service consisted of Japanese Americans who served in the Pacific Front.

On October 5, 2010, Congress approved the granting of the Congressional Gold Medal to the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the 100th Infantry Battalion, as well as the 6,000 Japanese Americans who served in the Military Intelligence Service during the war.[19]

Post–World War II and redress edit

In the U.S., the right to redress is defined as a constitutional right, as it is decreed in the First Amendment to the Constitution.

Redress may be defined as follows:

n. 1. the setting right of what is wrong: redress of abuses. 2. relief from wrong or injury. 3. compensation or satisfaction from a wrong or injury.[20]

Reparation is defined as:

n. 1. the making of amends for wrong or injury done: reparation for an injustice. 2. Usually, reparations. compensation in money, material, labor, etc., payable by a defeated country to another country or to an individual for loss suffered during or as a result of war. 3. restoration to good condition. 4. repair.[20]

The campaign for redress against internment was launched by Japanese Americans in 1978. The Japanese American Citizens' League (JACL) asked for three measures to be taken as redress: $25,000 to be awarded to each person who was detained, an apology from Congress acknowledging publicly that the U.S. government had been wrong, and the release of funds to set up an educational foundation for the children of Japanese American families. Eventually, the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 granted reparations to surviving Japanese-Americans who had been interned by the United States government during World War II and officially acknowledged the "fundamental violations of the basic civil liberties and constitutional rights" of the internment.[21]

Under the 2001 budget of the United States, it was decreed that the ten sites on which the detainee camps were set up are to be preserved as historical landmarks: "places like Manzanar, Tule Lake, Heart Mountain, Topaz, Amache, Jerome, and Rohwer will forever stand as reminders that this nation failed in its most sacred duty to protect its citizens against prejudice, greed, and political expediency".[22]

Timeline edit

 
The Hilo Japanese Immigrant's Assembly Hall. Built in 1889, today located in Meiji-mura museum, Japan.

There is evidence to suggest that the first Japanese individual to land in North America was a young boy accompanying Franciscan friar, Martín Ignacio Loyola, in October 1587, on Loyola's second circumnavigation trip around the world.[citation needed]Tanaka Shōsuke visited North American in 1610 and 1613. Japanese castaway Oguri Jukichi was among the first Japanese citizens known to have reached present day California (1815).[23] Otokichi and two fellow castaways reached present day Washington state (1834).[24]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Easton, Stanley E.; Lucien Ellington. "Japanese Americans". In Thomas Riggs (ed.). Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America. Vol. 2 (3rd ed.). Farmington Hills, Michigan: Gale. pp. 537–554. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  2. ^ Matray, James I. (2003). "Japanese Americans". In Stanley I. Kutler (ed.). Dictionary of American History. Vol. 4 (3rd ed.). Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 462–465.
  3. ^ Frank, Sarah (2005). Filipinos in America. Minneapolis, Minn.: Lerner Publications Co. ISBN 9780822548737. OCLC 57311848.
  4. ^ Tate, Cassandra (2009-07-23). "Japanese Castaways of 1834: The Three Kichis". HistoryLink.org. from the original on 2016-06-10. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (2000) [1982, 1983 (Vols. I & II, 1st Ed.); 1997 (2nd Ed., 1st printing)]. Personal Justice Denied: Report of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians. Foreword: Tetsuden Kashima (2nd ed.). Washington, D.C.; Seattle: Civil Liberties Public Education Fund; University of Washington Press. ISBN 9780295802343. OCLC 774403173.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Iwata, Masakazu (January 1996). "The Japanese Immigrants in California Agriculture". Agricultural History. 36 (1): 25–37. JSTOR 3740395.
  7. ^ Neiwert, David (2005). Strawberry Days. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 25. ISBN 978-1403967923.
  8. ^ Anderson, Emily (8 October 2020). "Anti-Japanese exclusion movement". Densho Encyclopedia. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  9. ^ Hoobler, Dorothy; Thomas Hoobler (1995). The Japanese American Family Album. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 34. ISBN 0-19-512423-5. OCLC 31604512.
  10. ^ a b Muller, Eric L. (2007). American Inquisition: The Hunt for Japanese American Disloyalty in World War II. Chapel Hill, N.C.: The University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9780807831731. OCLC 86110062.
  11. ^ a b Lillquist, Karl (Winter 2010). "Farming the Desert: Agriculture in the World War II–Era Japanese-American Relocation Centers". Agricultural History. 84 (1). JSTOR 40607623.
  12. ^ Graff, H. F. (April 1949). "The Early Impact of Japan upon American Agriculture". Agricultural History. 23 (2): 110–116. JSTOR 3740925.
  13. ^ a b Ingram, W. Scott (2004). Robert Asher (ed.). Japanese Immigrants. Immigration to the United States. New York: Facts on File. ISBN 9780816056880. OCLC 55847483.
  14. ^ "Telling Our Stories: Japanese Americans in the San Fernando Valley, 1910's–1970's". CSUNAsianAmericanStudies. 28 June 2021. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  15. ^ a b Lee, Shelley Sang–Hee (2011). Claiming the Oriental Gateway: Prewar Seattle and Japanese America. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. pp. 46–47. ISBN 978-1-4399-0215-8.
  16. ^ "Seattle Chinatown Historic District". U.S. National Park Service. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  17. ^ a b Neiwert, David (2005). Strawberry Days: How Internment Destroyed a Japanese American Community. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781403967923. OCLC 57429025.
  18. ^ Nagata, D. K.; Kim, J. H. J.; Wu, K. (January 2019). "The Japanese American Wartime Incarceration: Examining the Scope of Racial Trauma". American Psychologist. 74 (1: Racial Trauma: Theory, Research, and Healing): 36–48. doi:10.1037/amp0000303. PMC 6354763. PMID 30652898. NIHMSID: NIHMS1007724.
  19. ^ Steffen, Jordan (October 6, 2010). "White House Honors Japanese American WWII Veterans". Los Angeles Times.
  20. ^ a b . 2002. Archived from the original on 17 October 2002. Retrieved 14 September 2023. Citing:
    • Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary (Special Second ed.). New York: Random House. 1996. pp. 1617 and 1632.
  21. ^ . Archived from the original on 2012-01-17.
  22. ^ Tateishi, John; William Yoshino (Spring 2000). "The Japanese American Incarceration: The Journey to Redress". Human Rights. 27 (2): 11. JSTOR 27880196.
  23. ^ Schodt, Frederik L. (2003). Native American in the Land of the Shogun: Ranald MacDonald and the Opening of Japan. Stone Bridge Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-1-880656-77-8.
  24. ^ Tate, Cassandra (2009-07-23). "Japanese Castaways of 1834: The Three Kichis". HistoryLink.org. from the original on 2016-06-10. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  25. ^ Van Sant, VE., 'Pacific Pioneers: Japanese Journeys to America and Hawaii, 1850–80'(2000)
  26. ^ Jones, Terry.,The Story of Kanaye Nagasawa(1980), pp. 41–77
  27. ^ A Digest of Constitutional and Synodical Legislation of the Reformed Church in America, Board of Publication of the Reformed Church in America, 1906
  28. ^ Imai, Shiho. "Gentlemen's Agreement". Densho. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
  29. ^ "Edmonston Maryland: A Bridging Community". Retrieved 2020-01-11.
  30. ^ Mary Granfield (6 August 1990). "Hiroshima's Lost Americans". People. Time, Inc. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  31. ^ "Kaufering IV – Hurlach – Schwabmunchen". Kaufering.com. 19 January 2008. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
  32. ^ USHMM photos of Waakirchen with 522nd FA BN Nisei personnel and rescued prisoners
  33. ^ "Milestones for Women in American Politics | CAWP". Cawp.rutgers.edu. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
  34. ^ "Congressional Gold Medal Presented to Nisei Soldiers of World War II". United States Mint. 2011-11-02. Retrieved 2020-05-30.

Text of the Immigration Act of 1907

Further reading edit

  • Vol. 93: "Present-Day Immigration with Special Reference to the Japanese" (January 1921). Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, pp. 1–232. JSTOR i242682. Issue with twenty-four articles by experts, mostly about California.
  • Chin, Frank. Born in the USA: A Story of Japanese America, 1889–1947 (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002).
  • Hosokawa, Bill (October 1, 2005). Colorado's Japanese Americans: From 1886 to the Present. University Press of Colorado. ISBN 9780870818110.
  • Conroy, Hilary, and Miyakawa T. Scott, eds. (1972). East Across the Pacific: Historical & Sociological Studies of Japanese Immigration & Assimilation. Essays by scholars.
  • Daniels, Roger. Asian America: Chinese and Japanese in the United States Since 1850. U of Washington Press, 1988.
  • Daniels, Roger. Concentration Camps, North America: Japanese in the United States and Canada during World War II (1981).
  • Daniels, Roger. The Politics of Prejudice: The Anti-Japanese Movement in California and the Struggle for Japanese Exclusion (2nd ed. 1978)
  • Daniels, Roger, et al. eds. Japanese Americans: From Relocation to Redress (2nd ed. 1991)
  • Ichioka, Yuji. "Amerika Nadeshiko: Japanese Immigrant Women in the United States, 1900-1924," Pacific Historical Review Vol. 49, No. 2 (May, 1980), pp. 339–357. JSTOR 3638905.
  • Ichioka, Yuji. "Japanese Associations and the Japanese Government: A Special Relationship, 1909–1926," Pacific Historical Review Vol. 46, No. 3 (Aug. 1977), pp. 409–437. JSTOR 3637504.
  • Ichioka, Yuji. "Japanese Immigrant Response to the 1920 California Alien Land Law," Agricultural History Vol. 58, No. 2 (Apr. 1984), pp. 157–178. JSTOR 3742992.
  • Matsumoto, Valerie J. Farming the Home Place: A Japanese American Community in California, 1919–1982 (1993)
  • Modell John. The Economics and Politics of Racial Accommodation: The Japanese of Los Angeles, 1900–1942 (1977)
  • Niiya, Brian, ed. (2001). Encyclopedia of Japanese American History: An A-to-Z Reference from 1868 to the Present.
  • Takaki, Ronald (1998). Strangers from a Different Shore (2nd ed.).
  • Wakatsuki Yasuo (1979). "Japanese Emigration to the United States, 1866–1924: A Monograph". Perspectives in American History 12: 387–516.

history, japanese, americans, japanese, american, history, history, japanese, americans, history, ethnic, japanese, united, states, people, from, japan, began, immigrating, significant, numbers, following, political, cultural, social, changes, stemming, from, . Japanese American history is the history of Japanese Americans or the history of ethnic Japanese in the United States People from Japan began immigrating to the U S in significant numbers following the political cultural and social changes stemming from the 1868 Meiji Restoration Large scale Japanese immigration started with immigration to Hawaii during the first year of the Meiji period in 1868 1 2 Japanese Day parade in Seattle during the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition of 1909 Contents 1 Japanese American history before World War II 1 1 Immigration 1 2 Anti Japanese sentiment 2 Farming 3 Internment 4 World War II service 5 Post World War II and redress 6 Timeline 7 See also 8 References 9 Further readingJapanese American history before World War II editMain article Japanese American life before World War II Immigration edit There is evidence to suggest that the first Japanese individual to land in North America was a young boy accompanying Franciscan friar Martin Ignacio Loyola in October 1587 on Loyola s second circumnavigation trip around the world Japanese castaway Oguri Jukichi was among the first Japanese citizens known to have reached present day California 1815 3 while Otokichi and two fellow castaways reached present day Washington state 1834 4 Japan emerged from isolation following Commodore Matthew Perry s expedition to Japan where he successfully negotiated a treaty opening Japan to American trade Further developments included the start of direct shipping between San Francisco and Japan in 1855 and established official diplomatic relations in 1860 5 Japanese immigration to the United States was mostly economically motivated Stagnating economic conditions causing poor living conditions and high unemployment pushed Japanese people to search elsewhere for a better life Japan s population density had increased from 1 335 per square ri in 1872 to 1 885 in 1903 intensifying economic pressure on working class populations 6 26 Rumors of better standards of living in the land of promise encouraged a rise in immigration to the US especially by younger sons who due in large part to the Japanese practice of primogeniture were motivated to independently establish themselves abroad 7 Only fifty five Japanese were recorded as living in the United States in 1870 but by 1890 there had been more than two thousand new arrivals The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 had a significant impact for Japanese immigration as it left room for cheap labor and an increasing recruitment of Japanese from both Hawaii and Japan as they sought industrialists to replace Chinese laborers 5 Between 1901 and 1908 a time of unrestricted immigration 127 000 Japanese entered the U S 5 The numbers of new arrivals peaked in 1907 with as many as 30 000 Japanese immigrants counted economic and living conditions were particularly bad in Japan at this point as a result of the Russo Japanese War of 1904 5 6 25 Japanese immigrants who moved to mainland U S settled on the West Coast primarily in California 5 Anti Japanese sentiment edit Main article Anti Japanese sentiment in the United States Nonetheless there was a history of legalized discrimination in American immigration laws which heavily restricted Japanese immigration As the number of Japanese in the United States increased resentment against their success in the farming industry and fears of a yellow peril grew into an anti Japanese movement similar to that faced by earlier Chinese immigrants 8 Increased pressure from the Asiatic Exclusion League and the San Francisco Board of Education forced President Roosevelt to negotiate the Gentlemen s Agreement with Japan in 1907 It was agreed that Japan would stop issuing valid passports for the U S This agreement was intended to curtail Japanese immigration to the U S but Japanese women were still allowed to immigrate if they were the wives of U S residents Prior to 1908 about seven out of eight ethnic Japanese in the United States were men By 1924 the ratio had changed to approximately four women to every six men 9 Japanese immigration to the U S effectively ended when Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1924 which banned all but a token few Japanese people The ban on immigration produced unusually well defined generational groups within the Japanese American community Initially there was an immigrant generation the Issei and their U S born children the Nisei Japanese American The Issei were exclusively those who had immigrated before 1924 Because no new immigrants were permitted all Japanese Americans born after 1924 were by definition born in the US This generation the Nisei became a distinct cohort from the Issei generation in terms of age citizenship and English language ability in addition to the usual generational differences Institutional and interpersonal racism led many of the Nisei to marry other Nisei resulting in a third distinct generation of Japanese Americans the Sansei 5 27 46 6 25 10 page needed It was only in 1952 that the Senate and House voted one the McCarran Walter Act which allowed Japanese immigrants to become naturalized U S citizens But significant Japanese immigration did not occur again until the Immigration Act of 1965 which ended 40 years of bans against immigration from Japan and other countries Farming edit nbsp Japanese American farmer in Mountain View California Japanese Americans have made significant contributions to agricultural development in Western Pacific parts of the United States Similar to European American settlers the Issei the majority of whom were young adult males immigrated to America searching for better economic conditions and the majority settled in Western Pacific states settling for manual labor jobs in various industries such as railroad cannery and logging camp laborers 5 30 6 27 The Japanese workforce were diligent and extremely hardworking inspired to earn enough money to return and retire in Japan 6 26 27 Consequently this collective ambition enabled the Issei to work in agriculture as tenant farmers fairly promptly and by 1909 approximately 30 000 Japanese laborers worked in the Californian agriculture 6 25 This transition occurred relatively smoothly due to a strong inclination to work in agriculture which had always been an occupation that had been looked upon with respect in Japan Progress was made by the Issei in agriculture despite struggles faced cultivating the land including harsh environment problems such as harsh weather and persistent issues with grasshoppers Economic difficulties and discriminating socio political pressures such as the anti alien laws see California Alien Land Law of 1913 were further obstacles Nevertheless second generation Nisei were not impacted by these laws as a result of being legal American citizens therefore their important roles in West Coast agriculture persisted 6 29 Japanese immigrants brought a sophisticated knowledge of cultivation including knowledge of soils fertilizers skills in land reclamation irrigation and drainage This knowledge combined with Japanese traditional culture respecting the soil and hard work led to successful cultivation of crops on previously marginal lands 11 75 12 According to sources by 1941 Japanese Americans were producing between thirty and thirty five per cent by value of all commercial truck crops grown in California as well as occupying a dominant position in the distribution system of fruits and vegetables 6 26 The role of Issei in agriculture prospered in the early twentieth century It was only in the event of the Internment of Japanese Americans in 1942 that many lost their agricultural businesses and farms Although this was the case Japanese Americans remain involved in these industries today particularly in southern California and to some extent Arizona by the areas year round agricultural economy and descendants of Japanese pickers who adapted farming in Oregon and Washington state 13 page needed Agriculture also played a key role during the internment of Japanese Americans World War II internment camps were located in desolate spots such as Poston in the Arizona desert and Tule Lake California at a dry mountain lake bed Agricultural programs were put in place at relocation centers with the aim of growing food for direct consumption by inmates There was also a less important aim of cultivating war crops for the war effort Agriculture in internment camps was faced with multiple challenges such as harsh weather and climate conditions However on the most part the agricultural programs were a success mainly due to inmate knowledge and interest in agriculture 11 77 79 14 Due to their tenacious efforts these farm lands remain active today 13 page needed By the 1930s the ethnic Japanese population living in Seattle had reached 8 448 out of a total city population of 368 583 15 meaning that Japanese were Seattle s largest non white group and the fourth largest group behind several European nationalities 15 Prior to World War II Seattle s Nihonmachi had become the second largest Japantown on the West Coast of North America 16 East of Lake Washington Japanese immigrant labor helped clear recently logged land to make it suitable to support small scale farming on leased plots 17 11 31 During the 20th century the Japanese farming community became increasingly well established Prior to World War II some 90 percent of the agricultural workforce on the Eastside was of Japanese ancestry also 90 of produce sold at the Pike Place market in Seattle were from the Japanese American farms from Bellevue and the White river valley 17 155 Internment editMain article Internment of Japanese Americans nbsp Posted Japanese American Exclusion Order nbsp Juneau High School valedictorian John Tanaka received his diploma at a special graduation ceremony at the school s gymnasium in Juneau Alaska in April 1942 prior to his internment He was unable to attend actual graduation the next month due to evacuation orders During World War II an estimated 120 000 Japanese Americans and Japanese nationals or citizens residing in the United States were forcibly interned in ten different camps across the US mostly in the west The Internment was a system of legalized racial oppression and was based on the race or ancestry rather than activities of the interned Families including children were interned together Each member of the family was allowed to bring two suitcases of their belongings Each family regardless of its size was given one room to live in The camps were fenced in and patrolled by armed guards For the most part the internees remained in the camps until the end of the war when they left the camps to rebuild their lives 18 10 World War II service editMain article Japanese American service in World War II Further information Military history of Asian Americans Japanese Americans See also List of Japanese American servicemen and servicewomen in World War II nbsp Rohwer Director Ray Johnston congratulates George Kiwashima on his decision to volunteer in the United States Army while Captain John Holbrook and two other Japanese American volunteers look on Many Japanese Americans served with great distinction during World War II in the American forces Nebraska Nisei Ben Kuroki became a famous Japanese American soldier of the war after he completed 30 missions as a gunner on B 24 Liberators with the 93rd Bombardment Group in Europe When he returned to the US he was interviewed on radio and made numerous public appearances including one at San Francisco s Commonwealth Club where he was given a ten minute standing ovation after his speech Kuroki s acceptance by the California businessmen was the turning point in attitudes toward Japanese on the West Coast Kuroki volunteered to fly on a B 29 crew against his parents homeland and was the only Nisei to fly missions over Japan He was awarded a belated Distinguished Service Medal by President George W Bush in August 2005 The 442nd Regimental Combat Team 100th Infantry Battalion is the most highly decorated unit in U S military history Composed of Japanese Americans the 442nd 100th fought valiantly in the European Theater The 522nd Nisei Field Artillery Battalion was one of the first units to liberate the prisoners of the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau Hawaiʻi Senator Daniel Inouye was a veteran of the 442nd Additionally the Military Intelligence Service consisted of Japanese Americans who served in the Pacific Front On October 5 2010 Congress approved the granting of the Congressional Gold Medal to the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the 100th Infantry Battalion as well as the 6 000 Japanese Americans who served in the Military Intelligence Service during the war 19 Post World War II and redress editMain articles Japanese American life after World War II and Japanese American redress and court cases In the U S the right to redress is defined as a constitutional right as it is decreed in the First Amendment to the Constitution Redress may be defined as follows n 1 the setting right of what is wrong redress of abuses 2 relief from wrong or injury 3 compensation or satisfaction from a wrong or injury 20 Reparation is defined as n 1 the making of amends for wrong or injury done reparation for an injustice 2 Usually reparations compensation in money material labor etc payable by a defeated country to another country or to an individual for loss suffered during or as a result of war 3 restoration to good condition 4 repair 20 The campaign for redress against internment was launched by Japanese Americans in 1978 The Japanese American Citizens League JACL asked for three measures to be taken as redress 25 000 to be awarded to each person who was detained an apology from Congress acknowledging publicly that the U S government had been wrong and the release of funds to set up an educational foundation for the children of Japanese American families Eventually the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 granted reparations to surviving Japanese Americans who had been interned by the United States government during World War II and officially acknowledged the fundamental violations of the basic civil liberties and constitutional rights of the internment 21 Under the 2001 budget of the United States it was decreed that the ten sites on which the detainee camps were set up are to be preserved as historical landmarks places like Manzanar Tule Lake Heart Mountain Topaz Amache Jerome and Rohwer will forever stand as reminders that this nation failed in its most sacred duty to protect its citizens against prejudice greed and political expediency 22 Timeline edit nbsp The Hilo Japanese Immigrant s Assembly Hall Built in 1889 today located in Meiji mura museum Japan There is evidence to suggest that the first Japanese individual to land in North America was a young boy accompanying Franciscan friar Martin Ignacio Loyola in October 1587 on Loyola s second circumnavigation trip around the world citation needed Tanaka Shōsuke visited North American in 1610 and 1613 Japanese castaway Oguri Jukichi was among the first Japanese citizens known to have reached present day California 1815 23 Otokichi and two fellow castaways reached present day Washington state 1834 24 1841 June 27 Captain Whitfield commanding a New England sailing vessel rescues five shipwrecked Japanese sailors Four disembark at Honolulu however Manjiro Nakahama stays on board returning with Whitfield to Fairhaven Massachusetts After attending school in New England and adopting the name John Manjiro he later became an interpreter for Commodore Matthew C Perry 1850 Seventeen survivors of a Japanese shipwreck are saved by the American freighter Auckland off the coast of California In 1852 the group is sent to Macau to join Commodore Matthew C Perry as a gesture to help open diplomatic relations with Japan One of them Joseph Heco Hikozo Hamada goes on to become the first Japanese person to become a naturalized American citizen 25 1861 The utopian minister Thomas Lake Harris of the Brotherhood of the New Life visits England where he meets Nagasawa Kanaye who becomes a convert Nagasawa returns to the U S with Harris and follows him to Fountaingrove in Santa Rosa California When Harris leaves the Californian commune Nagasawa became the leader and remained there until his death in 1932 26 1866 Japanese students arrive in the United States supported by the Japan Mission of the Reformed Church in America which had opened in 1859 at Kanagawa 27 1869 A group of Japanese people arrive at Gold Hills California and build the Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony Okei becomes the first recorded Japanese woman to die and be buried in the United States 1882 The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 This arguably left room for agricultural labor encouraging immigration and recruitment of Japanese from both Hawaii and Japan 5 30 5 30 1884 The Japanese grants passports for contract labor in Hawaii where there was a demand for cheap labor 5 30 1885 On February 8 the first official intake of Japanese migrants to a U S controlled entity occurs when 676 men 159 women and 108 children arrive in Honolulu on board the Pacific Mail passenger freighter City of Tokio These immigrants the first of many Japanese immigrants to Hawaii have come to work as laborers on the island s sugar plantations via an assisted passage scheme organized by the Hawaiian government 1886 The Japanese government legalizes emigration 1893 The San Francisco Board of Education attempts to introduce segregation for Japanese American children but withdraws the measure following protests by the Japanese government 1900s Japanese immigrants begin to lease land and sharecrop 1902 Yone Noguchi publishes The American Diary of a Japanese Girl the first Japanese American novel 1903 In Yamataya v Fisher Japanese Immigrant Case the Supreme Court held that Japanese Kaoru Yamataya was subject to deportation since her Fifth Amendments due process was not violated in regards to the appeals process of the 1891 Immigration Act This allowed for individuals to challenge their deportation in the courts by challenging the legitimacy of the procedures 1906 The San Francisco Board of Education orders the segregation of Asian students in public schools 28 1907 The Gentlemen s Agreement of 1907 between United States and Japan results in Japan ending the issuance passports for new laborers Anti Asian race riots took place in San Francisco took place in May 1908 Japanese picture brides enter the United States 1913 The California Alien Land Law of 1913 bans Japanese from purchasing land whites felt threatened by Japanese success in independent farming ventures 1924 The federal Immigration Act of 1924 banned immigration from Japan 1927 Kinjiro Matsudaira becomes the first Japanese American to be elected mayor of a U S city town of Edmonston Maryland 29 1930s Issei become economically stable for the first time in California and Hawaiʻi 1941 Attack on Pearl Harbor Imperial Japanese forces attack the United States Navy base at Naval Station Pearl Harbor in Honolulu Japanese American community leaders are arrested and detained by federal authorities 1942 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066 on February 19 beginning Japanese American internment Over the course of the war approximately 110 000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived on the West Coast of the United States are uprooted from their homes and interned 1942 Japanese American soldiers from Hawaiʻi form the 100th Infantry Battalion of the United States Army in June 1942 Subsequently the battalion fights in Europe beginning in September 1943 http encyclopedia densho org 100th 20Infantry 20Battalion 1944 Ben Kuroki became the only Japanese American in the U S Army Air Forces to serve in combat operations overseas both in the European Theater then in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II 1944 The U S Army 100th Battalion merges with the all volunteer Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team that was formed with men from Hawaii and the continental U S http encyclopedia densho org 442nd 20Regimental 20Combat 20Team 1945 Thirty thousand Japanese Americans were in Japan unable to return to the United States since the nations were at war 30 1945 The only Nisei unit of the U S Army in Bavaria assists in both the liberation of some of the satellite camps of Dachau 31 and by May 2 halts the Dachau Austria death march saving hundreds of prisoners 32 1945 By war s end the 442nd Regimental Combat Team is awarded 18 143 decorations including 9 486 Purple Hearts becoming the most decorated military unit in United States history 1947 Wally Kaname Yonamine plays football for the San Francisco 49ers 1947 Wataru Misaka plays basketball for the New York Knicks 1952 The McCarran Walter Act eliminates race as a basis for naturalization allowing Issei to become US citizens 1952 Tommy Kono weightlifting Yoshinobu Oyakawa 100 meter backstroke and Ford Konno 1500 meter freestyle each win gold medals and set records during the Summer Olympics in Helsinki 1957 Miyoshi Umeki wins the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress 1957 James Kanno is elected as the first mayor of California s Fountain Valley 1959 Daniel K Inouye is elected to the United States House of Representatives becoming the first Japanese American to serve in Congress 1962 Minoru Yamasaki is awarded the contract to design the World Trade Center becoming the first Japanese American architect to design a supertall skyscraper in the United States 1963 Daniel K Inouye becomes the first Japanese American in the United States Senate 1965 Patsy T Mink becomes the first woman of color in Congress 1971 Norman Y Mineta is elected mayor of San Jose California becoming the first Asian American mayor of a major U S city 1972 Robert A Nakamura produces Manzanar the first personal documentary about internment 1974 Fujio Matsuda becomes the first Asian American president of a major American university as president of the University of Hawaiʻi 1974 George R Ariyoshi becomes the first elected Japanese American governor in the State of Hawaiʻi 1976 S I Hayakawa of California and Spark Matsunaga of Hawaiʻi become the second and third U S Senators of Japanese descent 1977 Michiko Miki Gorman wins both the Boston and New York City marathons in the same year It s her second victory in each race 1978 Ellison S Onizuka becomes the first Asian American astronaut Onizuka was one of the seven astronauts to die in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986 1980 Congress creates the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians to investigate internment during World War II 1980 Eunice Sato becomes the first Asian American female mayor of a major American city when she was elected mayor of Long Beach California 33 1983 The Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians reports that Japanese American internment was not justified by military necessity and that internment was based on race prejudice war hysteria and a failure of political leadership The Commission recommends an official Government apology redress payments of 20 000 to each of the survivors and a public education fund to help ensure that this would not happen again 1987 Charles J Pedersen wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his methods of synthesizing crown ethers 1988 President Ronald Reagan signs the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 apologizing for Japanese American internment and providing reparations of 20 000 to each former internee who was still alive when the act was passed 1992 The Japanese American National Museum opens in Little Tokyo Los Angeles 1992 Kristi Yamaguchi wins the Olympic gold medal and her second World Championship title in figure skating 1994 Mazie K Hirono is elected Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii becoming the first Japanese immigrant elected state lieutenant governor of a state Hirono later is elected in the U S House of Representatives 1996 A Wallace Tashima is nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and becomes the first Japanese American to serve as a judge of a United States court of appeals 1998 Chris Tashima becomes the first U S born Japanese American actor to win an Academy Award for his role in the film Visas and Virtue 1999 U S Army General Eric Shinseki becomes the first Asian American to serve as chief of staff of a branch of the armed forces Shinseki later served as Secretary of Veterans Affairs 2009 2014 2000 Norman Y Mineta becomes the first Asian American appointed to the United States Cabinet He serves as Secretary of Commerce from 2000 to 2001 and Secretary of Transportation from 2001 to 2006 2008 Yoichiro Nambu wins the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on quantum chromodynamics and spontaneous symmetry breaking 2010 Daniel K Inouye becomes the highest ranking Asian American politician in U S history when he succeeds Robert Byrd as President pro tempore of the United States Senate 2011 The Nisei Soldiers of World War II Congressional Gold Medal was awarded in recognition of the World War II service of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team the 100th Infantry Battalion and Nisei serving in the Military Intelligence Service on November 2 2011 34 2014 Shuji Nakamura wins the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics for the invention of efficient blue light emitting diodes 2018 Chief Justice Roberts in writing the majority opinion of the Supreme Court in Trump v Hawaii effectively repudiates the 1944 decision Korematsu v United States that had upheld the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066 See also editHistory of Asian Americans History of Japan Japanese diaspora Nisei Baseball Research ProjectReferences edit Easton Stanley E Lucien Ellington Japanese Americans In Thomas Riggs ed Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America Vol 2 3rd ed Farmington Hills Michigan Gale pp 537 554 Retrieved 14 September 2023 Matray James I 2003 Japanese Americans In Stanley I Kutler ed Dictionary of American History Vol 4 3rd ed Charles Scribner s Sons pp 462 465 Frank Sarah 2005 Filipinos in America Minneapolis Minn Lerner Publications Co ISBN 9780822548737 OCLC 57311848 Tate Cassandra 2009 07 23 Japanese Castaways of 1834 The Three Kichis HistoryLink org Archived from the original on 2016 06 10 Retrieved 2020 06 24 a b c d e f g h i Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians 2000 1982 1983 Vols I amp II 1st Ed 1997 2nd Ed 1st printing Personal Justice Denied Report of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians Foreword Tetsuden Kashima 2nd ed Washington D C Seattle Civil Liberties Public Education Fund University of Washington Press ISBN 9780295802343 OCLC 774403173 a b c d e f g h Iwata Masakazu January 1996 The Japanese Immigrants in California Agriculture Agricultural History 36 1 25 37 JSTOR 3740395 Neiwert David 2005 Strawberry Days Palgrave Macmillan p 25 ISBN 978 1403967923 Anderson Emily 8 October 2020 Anti Japanese exclusion movement Densho Encyclopedia Retrieved 14 September 2023 Hoobler Dorothy Thomas Hoobler 1995 The Japanese American Family Album New York Oxford University Press p 34 ISBN 0 19 512423 5 OCLC 31604512 a b Muller Eric L 2007 American Inquisition The Hunt for Japanese American Disloyalty in World War II Chapel Hill N C The University of North Carolina Press ISBN 9780807831731 OCLC 86110062 a b Lillquist Karl Winter 2010 Farming the Desert Agriculture in the World War II Era Japanese American Relocation Centers Agricultural History 84 1 JSTOR 40607623 Graff H F April 1949 The Early Impact of Japan upon American Agriculture Agricultural History 23 2 110 116 JSTOR 3740925 a b Ingram W Scott 2004 Robert Asher ed Japanese Immigrants Immigration to the United States New York Facts on File ISBN 9780816056880 OCLC 55847483 Telling Our Stories Japanese Americans in the San Fernando Valley 1910 s 1970 s CSUNAsianAmericanStudies 28 June 2021 Retrieved 14 September 2023 a b Lee Shelley Sang Hee 2011 Claiming the Oriental Gateway Prewar Seattle and Japanese America Philadelphia Temple University Press pp 46 47 ISBN 978 1 4399 0215 8 Seattle Chinatown Historic District U S National Park Service Retrieved 14 September 2023 a b Neiwert David 2005 Strawberry Days How Internment Destroyed a Japanese American Community New York Palgrave Macmillan ISBN 9781403967923 OCLC 57429025 Nagata D K Kim J H J Wu K January 2019 The Japanese American Wartime Incarceration Examining the Scope of Racial Trauma American Psychologist 74 1 Racial Trauma Theory Research and Healing 36 48 doi 10 1037 amp0000303 PMC 6354763 PMID 30652898 NIHMSID NIHMS1007724 Steffen Jordan October 6 2010 White House Honors Japanese American WWII Veterans Los Angeles Times a b Reading Legacies of Internment Redress 2002 Archived from the original on 17 October 2002 Retrieved 14 September 2023 Citing Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary Special Second ed New York Random House 1996 pp 1617 and 1632 Civil Liberties Act of 1988 Archived from the original on 2012 01 17 Tateishi John William Yoshino Spring 2000 The Japanese American Incarceration The Journey to Redress Human Rights 27 2 11 JSTOR 27880196 Schodt Frederik L 2003 Native American in the Land of the Shogun Ranald MacDonald and the Opening of Japan Stone Bridge Press p 59 ISBN 978 1 880656 77 8 Tate Cassandra 2009 07 23 Japanese Castaways of 1834 The Three Kichis HistoryLink org Archived from the original on 2016 06 10 Retrieved 2020 06 24 Van Sant VE Pacific Pioneers Japanese Journeys to America and Hawaii 1850 80 2000 Jones Terry The Story of Kanaye Nagasawa 1980 pp 41 77 A Digest of Constitutional and Synodical Legislation of the Reformed Church in America Board of Publication of the Reformed Church in America 1906 Imai Shiho Gentlemen s Agreement Densho Retrieved June 21 2020 Edmonston Maryland A Bridging Community Retrieved 2020 01 11 Mary Granfield 6 August 1990 Hiroshima s Lost Americans People Time Inc Retrieved 7 January 2015 Kaufering IV Hurlach Schwabmunchen Kaufering com 19 January 2008 Retrieved 6 July 2012 USHMM photos of Waakirchen with 522nd FA BN Nisei personnel and rescued prisoners Milestones for Women in American Politics CAWP Cawp rutgers edu Retrieved 2017 03 16 Congressional Gold Medal Presented to Nisei Soldiers of World War II United States Mint 2011 11 02 Retrieved 2020 05 30 Text of the Immigration Act of 1907Further reading editVol 93 Present Day Immigration with Special Reference to the Japanese January 1921 Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science pp 1 232 JSTOR i242682 Issue with twenty four articles by experts mostly about California Chin Frank Born in the USA A Story of Japanese America 1889 1947 Rowman amp Littlefield 2002 Hosokawa Bill October 1 2005 Colorado s Japanese Americans From 1886 to the Present University Press of Colorado ISBN 9780870818110 Conroy Hilary and Miyakawa T Scott eds 1972 East Across the Pacific Historical amp Sociological Studies of Japanese Immigration amp Assimilation Essays by scholars Daniels Roger Asian America Chinese and Japanese in the United States Since 1850 U of Washington Press 1988 Daniels Roger Concentration Camps North America Japanese in the United States and Canada during World War II 1981 Daniels Roger The Politics of Prejudice The Anti Japanese Movement in California and the Struggle for Japanese Exclusion 2nd ed 1978 Daniels Roger et al eds Japanese Americans From Relocation to Redress 2nd ed 1991 Ichioka Yuji Amerika Nadeshiko Japanese Immigrant Women in the United States 1900 1924 Pacific Historical Review Vol 49 No 2 May 1980 pp 339 357 JSTOR 3638905 Ichioka Yuji Japanese Associations and the Japanese Government A Special Relationship 1909 1926 Pacific Historical Review Vol 46 No 3 Aug 1977 pp 409 437 JSTOR 3637504 Ichioka Yuji Japanese Immigrant Response to the 1920 California Alien Land Law Agricultural History Vol 58 No 2 Apr 1984 pp 157 178 JSTOR 3742992 Matsumoto Valerie J Farming the Home Place A Japanese American Community in California 1919 1982 1993 Modell John The Economics and Politics of Racial Accommodation The Japanese of Los Angeles 1900 1942 1977 Niiya Brian ed 2001 Encyclopedia of Japanese American History An A to Z Reference from 1868 to the Present Takaki Ronald 1998 Strangers from a Different Shore 2nd ed Wakatsuki Yasuo 1979 Japanese Emigration to the United States 1866 1924 A Monograph Perspectives in American History 12 387 516 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title History of Japanese Americans amp oldid 1209583526, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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