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Japanese people's migration to the Americas started with migration to Hawaii in the first year of the '' Meiji Era '' in 1868. The total of the migrant population is about 1 million. About 750,000 people emigrated before World War II , and about 250,000 emigrated after the war. But, in late years the number of person who emigrate from Japan is very small. According to the Association of Nikkei & Japanese Abroad, there are an estimated 2.5 million Nikkei people living in their adopted countries other than Japan, many of them in Brazil and United States , in 2000. They have participated in the many fields, and made contributions to economic and social development in their adopted countries. And they have played an important role in promoting mutual understanding and progress in the friendly relationships between Japan and their adopted countries. The largest communities are in the Brazil (mainly São Paulo and Paraná ) and United States (mainly Hawaii and the West Coast ). There are also sizable communities in Argentina , Australia , Canada , Mexico , Peru , and other.
The term , usually refers to people who live outside Japan , who either emigrated from Japan or are descendants of a person who emigrated from Japan. TIMELINE The history of Japanese Americans begins in the mid nineteenth century.
IMMIGRATION 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 . Particularly after the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 , Japanese immigrants were sought by industrialists to replace the Chinese immigrants. In 1907 , the " Gentlemen's Agreement " between the governments of Japan and the U.S. ended immigration of Japanese workers (i.e., men), but permitted the immigration of spouses of Japanese immigrants already in the U.S. The Immigration Act Of 1924 banned the immigration of all but a token few Japanese. 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 . 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 U.S. This generation, the Nisei, became a distinct cohort from the Issei generation in terms of age, citizenship, and 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 . Significant Japanese immigration did not occur until the Immigration Act Of 1965 ended 40 years of bans against immigration from Japan and other countries. The Naturalization Act Of 1790 restricted naturalized U.S. citizenship to "free white persons," which excluded the Issei from citizenship. As a result, the Issei were unable to vote, and faced additional restrictions such as the inability to own land under many state laws. Japanese Americans were parties in two important Supreme Court decisions, Ozawa V. United States ( 1922 ) and Korematsu V. United States ( 1943 ). Korematsu is the origin of the " Strict Scrutiny " standard, which is applied, with great controversy, in government considerations of race since the 1989 Adarand decision. In recent years, immigration from Japan has been more like that from Western Europe ; low and usually marriages between U.S. citizens and Japanese. The number is on average 5 to 10 thousand per year, and is similar to the amount of immigration to the U.S. from Germany . This is in stark contrast to the rest of Asia, where family reunification is the primary impetus for immigration. Japanese Americans also have the oldest demographic structure of any ethnic group in the U.S.; in addition, in the younger generations, due to intermarriage with whites and other Asians, part-Japanese are more common than full Japanese, and it appears as if this physical Assimilation will continue at a rapid rate. INTERNMENT See Also: Japanese American internment One of the darkest parts of American history were the Japanese American internment camps; an estimated 120,000 Japanese were sent to eleven different camps across the US, mostly in the west. During World War II , Japanese Americans were Interned in special camps. Americans of Japanese ancestry living in the western United States, including the Nisei, were forcibly Interned with their parents and children (the Sansei Japanese American s) during WWII. Despite the treatment, many Japanese Americans served in World War II in the American forces. The 442nd Regimental Combat Team/100th Artillery 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 even as many of their families remained in the detention camps stateside. The 100th was one of the first units to liberate the Nazi extermination camp at Dachau. Hawaii Senator Daniel K. Inouye is a veteran of the 442nd. Additionally the Military Intelligence Service consisted of Japanese Americans who served in the Pacific Front. 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 in the West Coast. Several Japanese Americans have started cases against the U.S. government against their internment, which dragged on for decades. FARMING Japanese Americans have made significant contributions to the agriculture in the western United States, particularly in California and Hawaii. Nineteenth century Japanese immigrants introduced sophisticated irrigation methods that enabled cultivation of fruits, vegetables, and flowers on previously marginal lands. While the immigrants prospered in the early 20th century, many lost their farms during the internment, although Japanese Americans remain involved in these industries today, particularly in southern California. Detainees irrigated and cultivated lands nearby the World War II internment camps, which were located in desolate spots such as Poston , in the Arizona desert, and Tule Lake, California , at a dry mountain lake bed. These farm lands remain productive today. REFERENCES Text of the Immigration Act of 1907 FURTHER READING Encyclopedia of Japanese American History: An A-to-Z Reference from 1868 to the Present. Ed. Brian Niiya. Updated Edition. New York: Facts on File, Inc, 2001. Chin, Frank. Born in the USA: A Story of Japanese America, 1889-1947. Lanham and others: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 2002. Takaki, Ronald. Strangers from a Different Shore. Updated and Revised Edition. New York: Back Bay Books-Little, Brown, 1998. SEE ALSO |
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