History 3208: History of Immigration, Ethnicity, and Nativism
Professor Peter Catapano

Immigration from Japan

Key Terms: Meiji Restoration, Gentlemen's Agreement, "picture brides," Issei, Nisei, "pidgin English"

Commodore Perry Meeting the Imperial Commissioners at Yokohama
Image from Perry, Matthew Calbraith. Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan. Washington: A.O.P. Nicholson, 1856.

I. The Opening of Japan (Takaki, pp. 246-7) (map)
  • Matthew Perry sails into Tokyo Bay (1853)
  • Meiji Restoration (1868)
    • militarization
    • industrialization
II. Pushes and Pulls (Takaki, pp. 247-50)
  • Industrialization in Japan
  • Higher wages in Hawaii and the US
 III. Why did so many Japanese women immigrate?
  • Government promoted female immigration
  • Family Culture in Japan
  • Picture Brides
  • Woman had been wage earners
  • No opposition to woman traveling
  • Younger sons and wives less obligated to parents
  • Hawaiian government preferred men with families

IV. Japanese Immigration to Hawaii (Takaki, pp. 252-66; Daniels, pp. 250-58)
  • In 1890, many immigrated to Hawaii to work sugar and pineapple plantations
  • Part of a multi-ethnic workforce
  • Banned from skilled labor in 1904
    • reserved for US citizens and those eligible for citizenship
  • Japanese strike of 1909
    • From sojourner to settler? Why?
  • Being Nisei in Hawaii

Japanese workers in Hawaii, 1900





Shig Osawa Sewing School in Seattle posed for a graduation photograph, August 10, 1924 (Special Collections, UW, Social Issues Files Cc, neg. 11532)
V. Japanese Immigration to California (Takaki, pp. 266-76; Daniels, pp. 250-58)  (nps)
  • After 1898, many Japanese emigrated from Hawaii to West Coast
  • Soon direct immigration to West Coast cities
  • Concentration mostly in California
  • Met with Anti-Asian sentiment
  • By 1900s, Japanese engage in agricultural labor--many acquire farmland
    • contract, share, lease and ownership
    • part of agricultural boom in California
  • Gentleman's Agreement (1907)
    • Japanese government refused to issue passports
    • Family reconciliation allowed, many more women immigrate


VI. Japanese American Life in the US before World War II (Takaki, pp. 378-85; Daniels, pp. 302-06)
  • By 1940, two-thirds of Japanese-Americans were native born citizens
  • Japanese military attacks Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941
  • Japanese population placed under suspicion
    • Media attacks on Loyalty
    • Farm interests begin their criticism
    • Politicians demand removal of Japanese
  • Japanese Internment during World War II
    • Executive Order 9066 (lange) (manzanar)
    • The Reasons Why
    • Resistance to Internment
    • Aftermath - Reparations Debate of the 1980s

updated 4/8/08