History of Japanese Immigration

The start of the great period of Japanese immigrantion  to the United States was in the 1880s. Japanese people dreamed of a better life and more opportunities. They left their homeland seeking for peace, stability and prosperity.People from Japan began migrating to the U.S. in significant numbers following the political, cultural, and social changes stemming from the 1868 Meiji Restoration. After the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 that was output on the United States, Japanese immigrants were sought by industrialists to replace the Chinese immigrants. By 1900 the demand for additional mining, railroad, and farm labor brought a stream of young Japanese males to the Western United States. 

From 1885 through 1894, over 28,000 Japanese migrated to Hawaii,  Many Japanese migrated to Hawaii because the sugar industry had caused an economic boom in the state. By 1900, almost half of all Japanese immigrants in the United States lived in Hawaii, making more than half of Hawaii's population. The majority of these immigrants were mainly farmers and laborers.  After making money in the sugar industry or in Hawaii, many of them would return to their home country, Japan. 

Life wasn’t easy for Japanese immigrants. They struggled to make lives for themselves. Most Japanese immigrants were put to work chopping and weeding sugar cane on vast plantations, many of which were far larger than any single village in Japan. The workday was long, the labor exhausting, and, both on the job and off, the workers' lives were strictly controlled by the plantation owners. The Japanese immigrants practiced a wide range of religions. They practiced different types of Buddhism, Christianity, or Shinto. The majority of Japanese immigrants practiced Mahayana Buddhism. Some of the other forms of Buddhism that the immigrants practiced include Jodo Shinshu, Jodo Shu, and Zen. Living in Hawaii was better than living in the mainland,  for which is one of the main reasons why the Japanese immigrants stayed there. Japanese immigrants didn't encountered problems with the Americans but their rising advancement and success were seen as a menace threatening the living standards of American workers, businessmen, and American society in general. The Japanese community's ability to overcome great hardships and succeed made them targets of envy and prejudice by many white Americans. Anti-Japanese sentiment grew throughout communities in the West, particularly in California. Tensions, prejudice and hatred towards the Japanese grew stronger after Pearl Harbor's attack. 

Immigration is a very serious matter. People risk their lives seeking for a better one for them to be able to sustain themselves along with their families. They come to the United States thinking that they will finally have the life that they have always dreamed of, but what they encounter with is a very different side of the story. I personally don't see immigration as a bad thing and I don't think people should see it as such either. Learning about Japanese immigration has made me see life from another point of view. Now I feel blessed for being American and of having the life that for some may be the best.

Japanese arriving at Immigration Stations
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