Asian Americans Part 6

The Meiji Restoration and Japanese Immigration

Push and Pull Factors, and Means

• modernization after the Meiji Restoration (1868) (opening trade for the US)

• end of isolationism, before that Japanese could not travel or emigrate, now its even favored

• modernization → industrialization → inflation, modern tax and struggle for farmers, women sold into prostitution, younger sons left without land, without property, many people were/became landless

• many emigrants were Outcasts (Burakumin) and even the new laws should have protected them, social prejudice etc remained

• Going to Amerika (US, Canada, Hawaii): jobs, opportunities, farming etc

• “Hawai’i Netsu” (emigration fever) - even became a trend, not just necessity

• “Yobiyose” (called immigration, chain immigration) - Workers already abroad “called” relatives or wives

Meiji Restoration (1868-1912)

• Japan was closed off to foreign influence during the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate, 1603-1867

• opening trade for the US, growing US influence

• Emperor system based on Western monarch

• Industrialization, import of Western technology, Education and culture, Military strength, National wealth

• The end of the class system (Samurais are not on top anymore)

• Meiji emancipated the outcasts, however, the former attitudes still prevailed

Meiji Japan (factors)

These are the forces shaping life after 1868:

• Industrialization

• New taxes

• Conscription (forced military service)

• Western education and technology

• Abolition of class system (on paper)

Context:
Meiji Japan looked powerful from the outside, but everyday life became harder for farmers and workers.

Commodore Matthew Perry

An American naval officer.

• Arrived in Japan in 1853

• Represented U.S. military and economic power

• Forced Japan to open ports to trade (Black Ships → unless “what”)

The “Black Ships”

What Japanese people called Perry’s fleet.

• Black, steam-powered warships

• Loud, smoky, terrifying

• Symbolized Western dominance

Context:
They shattered Japan’s illusion of safety and made isolation impossible.

Tokugawa shogunate (bakufu)

Japan’s military government from 1603–1867.

• Ruled by shoguns (Tokugawa family), not the emperor

• Strict class system

• Japan was closed to the outside world

Bakufu literally means the shogun’s government.

Context:
The Tokugawa shogunate kept peace but failed to adapt. Its collapse led directly to the Meiji Restoration.

Japanese class system

A rigid social hierarchy under Tokugawa rule:

1. Samurai

2. Farmers

3. Artisans

4. Merchants

5. Outcasts (burakumin)

Context:
Your birth decided your entire life. Mobility was nearly impossible.

Burakumin

A socially discriminated group.

• Considered “unclean”

• Often did leatherwork, slaughtering, executions (anything with the dead, based on profession)

• Legally freed during Meiji era

Context:
Even after legal equality, burakumin faced strong social prejudice. Emigration offered escape from stigma.

Japanese Emigration (data)

Large-scale movement abroad.

• 1885–1924: about 380,000 Japanese emigrants

• ~200,000 to Hawaiʻi

• ~180,000 to mainland U.S.

“Dekasegi” (Sojourners)

Temporary migrant workers.

• Intended to earn money

• Planned to return home

• Mostly young men

“Hawai’i Netsu” (emigration fever)

Mass excitement about leaving Japan.

• Stories of wealth abroad

• Word-of-mouth spread quickly

Context:
Emigration became a social trend, not just a necessity.

“Yobiyose” (called immigration)

• Workers already abroad “called” relatives or wives

• Helped build stable communities

• chain immigration

“Amerika”

A general term used by Japanese migrants.

• Included Hawaiʻi, the U.S., and Canada

• Not distinguished clearly at first

Gannen Mono (“first-year people”, 1868)

The “first-year people”.

• First official group of Japanese contract laborers to Hawaiʻi

• Left in the first year of Meiji rule

Context:
They marked the beginning of modern Japanese emigration.

Wakamatsu group (1869)

A failed agricultural colony in California.

• 1869: Wakamatsu group, Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Colony founded in Coloma (Gold Hill), CaliforniaGrew tea and silk

• One of the earliest Japanese settlements in the U.S.

Context:
Shows early experimentation with overseas settlement.

Picture brides

Women who migrated through arranged marriages.

• 1908–1920

• Married men they had never met, using photographs

Context:
They made permanent Japanese American communities possible by creating families.

Plantation Hawaii

Hawaiʻi’s economy centered on sugar.

• Required massive labor

• Attracted Asian workers

Context:
Japanese migrants became essential to Hawaiʻi’s economic transformation.

Sugar Plantations (plantation hierarchy)

Highly controlled labor system:

• Owner

• Manager

• White foremen (lunas)

• Workers called by numbers

Context:
Plantations resembled military discipline and enforced racial hierarchy.

First Sino-Japanese War, 1894-1895

Japan defeated China.

• Gained Taiwan

• Asserted dominance in East Asia

Context:
Japan emerged as a modern imperial power.

Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905)

Japan defeated Russia.

• Shocked the Western world

• First Asian nation to defeat a European power

Context:
Boosted Japanese nationalism and affected how Japanese immigrants were perceived abroad.

Nikkei

People of Japanese descent living outside Japan.

• Includes immigrants and their descendants

Context:
This term emphasizes diaspora, not just nationality.

Japanese American generations: Issei (1st), Nisei (2nd), Sansei (3rd), and Yonsei (4th)

• Issei: first generation, born in Japan

• Nisei: second generation, born in the U.S.

• Sansei: third generation

• Yonsei: fourth generation

Nihonmachi (Japantowns)

Japanese ethnic neighborhoods.

• Businesses

• Schools

• Cultural centers

Context:
Japantowns offered protection, community, and economic survival in a hostile society.