In A Different Mirror by Ronald Takaki’s tenth chapter Pacific Crossings he talked about the Japanese immigrants entering in American soil. Like every other group, their purpose to come to America was for a better life and away from overbearing economic hardships. Unfortunately, the Japanese were instead faced with long hours, racial discrimination and low wages. On page 260, “Monica found that the Japanese were not welcome in America. She heard whites call her father “shorty” and “Jap” (Takaki 260). Even the second generation Japanese, painfully noticed, were denied a claim to the land of their birth. As stated in the chapter, the Japanese had a stronger and a more organized central government.
Because of this, they had a greater opportunity and settling in and finding employment in Hawaii where they found work in the Sugar Cane Fields. Later, the Japanese migrated to California where they found acceptance in the farming industries. The Japanese acquired four methods in order to obtain land for farming. The methods being contract, share, lease and lastly ownership. The majority of Japanese felt that by cultivating the Californian land they too would become American. Eventually, the Japanese found them selfs wanting to establish their families permanently in America and pushed their children to do so as well.
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It basically was an arranged set up by parents of these Japanese children, later becoming a tradition. Japanese women were entering the wage earning force by number and likely to be literate, unlike the Chinese women. Japanese women were 60% of the industrial laborers in the ethnic group. Also mentioned were their working conditions and their mistreatment. I found this all very weird how women were only allowed to move to America based off which son they had
The conditions the Japanese Americans were put through were horrible and everyone deserves to be treated equally. The worst part was the persecution of numerous innocent people because they did nothing wrong. The outbreak of hysteria was a big part of them being thrown into camps because the government thought they were working with Japan. In the Internment Camps and Salem Witch Trials people had no evidence and were treated unfairly, making them similar even though it was two different time
...ilroad and mining companies had depended on cheap Chinese labor for the majority of their profits and were still unwilling to pay higher wages to white American workers. These businesses increasingly depended on Japanese immigrants to replace the prohibited Chinese workers. As the Japanese came, the Americans told the same story that they had with the Chinese. They were once again arguing that the Japanese were taking their jobs and not absorbing the American culture. The United States took action yet again, by creating an informal treaty with Japan, restricting Japanese immigration to the U.S.
Only residents living in California, Oregon, and Washington were subject to internment, while most Japanese were left alone in Hawaii. Japanese were interned on the west coast because they lived near the ocean, so why not in Hawaii, a region much closer to Japan, and surrounded by ocean? The only plausible reason could be that in Hawaii, the Japanese made up about 40% of the population. In other words, they were nearly the majority. Whereas on the west coast, there were only about 120,000 out of the millions of the total population (Relocation and Incarceration). They were more influential in Hawaii due to the fact that they made-up a large portion of the region’s workforce. Relocating that many people would hurt the economy, and slow down production during war. That wasn’t the case on the west coast. The Japanese were an overwhelming minority which meant that they would be easy to replace in the workforce. Removal on the west coast was definitely racially motivated. When you don’t have much experience with a group of people it is a lot easier to group them all into one bubble. The Japanese on the west coast were subject to negative stereotypes, and their small numbers prevented them from having a voice in their communities to defend themselves. Hawaii housed a much larger Japanese population by percentage, so it was easier for them to speak out, and be recognized as vital to the community. Those on the west coast were not so familiar with the Japanese, only with stereotypes. This created tension causing a higher demand for removing them from the west
A large number of Japanese initially migrated to Hawaii in the late 18th and early 19th century as a result of enormous boom in Hawaiian sugar industry. They also entered California as domestic and unskilled labourers. In course of time they acquired land or built businesses. Native born Japanese population grew rapidly and by 1930 were said to exceed those born in Japan by eighty percent.
Asian Americans were viewed as one of the minority groups. During the period of early 1920s, the number of Asian immigrants rose. As many Asian women married aliens for naturalized citizenship. Also, Asians were took over white jobs, causing hatred and social unrest. Therefore, a series of strict and harsh immigration laws targeted to Asians and therefore many Asians women faced a lot of social issues such as discrimination, gender identity and their precarious civic status in a vulnerable society before and during 1920s. For instances. The immigration Act of 1921 and 1924 were introduced and it created another restriction on immigration by forming a stricter quota system. The main purpose of The Acts was to guarantee that they would never qualify for land ownership or naturalization. Meanwhile, in 1922, the Supreme Court declared that Japanese were ineligible for citizenship. Until the Immigration Act of 1924, all Asians were denied to entry the United States. Under the harsh restrictions, many Asians did not receive equal education opportunities and they usually worked as unskilled laborer. Most Asian women, including merchants’ wives worked in shops, canneries, laundries and maintaining the home in the United States. Moreover, they worked as prostitution and paid with copper pennies. However, since many restrictions targeted Asians, they suffered from the
Inevitably, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, that began World War II, Japanese-Americans were frowned upon and stereotyped because of their descent. However, Japanese immigrants contributed to economic expansion of the United States. Whites resented the Japanese immigrants, but reaped economic profit from the Japanese-American residents’ discipline and hard work. Japanese-Americans of this time seem to be attacked; however, they choose to uphold their disconnection with the rest of the Americans. Many Japanese felt they had superiority over Americans, creating tension and disconnection.
The life in camps was a bitter experience for the Japanese community as it presented them with some of the harsh things to cope with. This brought tectonic changes to their relationships specially the gender relations, for instance, between 1908 and 1924, many of Japanese women; that is, over 33,000 immigrants entered the United States with various reasons. The “Gentlemen’s Agreement” of 1908 limited access of Japanese laborers into the country, although it authorized immigration of wives, parents, and children of laborers already staying in the United States. Altogether, the immigration Act (1924) eliminated immigration of Japanese altogether.
In 1924 the US passed the Immigration Quota act, this law restricted the amount of immigrants entering from areas of Europe and prohibited entry to Indians, Chinese and Japanese. When this law was passed Japan was furious, the Japanese Times and Mails said, “The senate passed with an overwhelming majority, an amendment they know is the most humiliating one to the Japanese race”.The Japanese felt not only humiliated but angered, they would not let America get away with discriminating against their race and as stated in Japanese Times and Mails , “And the event cuts the Japanese mind deep, a wound that will hurt and rankle for generations and generations”. Japan did not take the Immigration Quota Act of 1924 lightley and most likely held it against the US, making it one of the possible reasons Pearl Harbor was
When forced to relocate, Japanese Americans were not guaranteed the protection of their property, as a result, they were forced to sell much of their possessions at low prices. One postwar study estimates that Japanese Americans lost $347 million from loss of income and property. Forced relocation was carried out thoroughly, to an absurd degree, almost akin to Jim Crow laws. People who were a little as 1/16th Japanese or previously unaware of their Japanese heritage were subjected to “evacuation.” Even Japanese American infants were not spared, being taken from both foster homes and orphanages.
Kashima, Tetsuden. "Japanese American Internees Return 1945-1955: Readjustment and Social Amnesia." The Phylon Quarterly 41 (2) (1980): 107- 115.
Even before the attack on Pearl Harbor, there was still tension between Japanese-Americans and other United States citizens. Laws like the “Gentlemen’s Agreement,” a way of restricting Japanese immigration, was put into place in 1908 in fear of a “future Japanese ‘takeover’” (Hata and Hata, 7). After the attack on Pearl Harbor, growing hysteria filled the country and Japanese-Americans feared for their future. About a year later, Franklin D. R...
After the end of World War I in 1919, a group of thirty Japanese settled in San Joaquin Valley, California making their ethnic community in Cortez. Despite the Alien Land Law of 1913, which prevented Asians from purchasing land or leasing it for more than three years, most of the families were able to establish fruit orchards in large land areas. It is this community that the author of the book conducted her research.
14. Yanagisaka, Sylvia Junko Transforming the Past: Tradition and Kinship Among Japanese Americans, Stanford University Press, 1985.
The U.S. government thought all Japanese-Americans were a national threat. In order to feel safe in the United States, all Japanese-Americans were ordered to evacuate their homes, sell all their items for low prices, leave their whole life behind, some were even separated from some of their family members, and were taken to camps across the nation. Once, at the camps they were obligated to check in, get a number, assigned a bunk, and required to stay within the barbwire camp. Japanese-Americans weren’t criminals, yet they were treated like they were. The Oceania government treated their citizens the same way as prisoners.
The major difference in Chinese versus Japanese immigrants would be the number of Japanese woman laborers emigrating to Hawaii and to the United States. Japanese women accounted for a significant percentage of the Japanese work force.