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Japanese Immigration To America

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In the 1880s, due to Imperial Japan’s struggling transition from the feudal era to the modern era, Japanese immigrants were flooding into the West coast of America. Fearful of the rising number of Japanese immigrants, Americans would proceed to try and eradicate the “yellow peril” which leads to prejudicial exchanges and racist encounters with the newly immigrated Japanese. These encounters would drastically affect the growing Japanese-American community, momentarily stunting their growth and progression in cultural activities, and ultimately lead to their internment during World War II. The early experience of the Japanese immigrants greatly shaped the early relationship between native-born Americans and the Japanese immigrants. The sailors on the ships were crude and rude to the immigrants, greatly shaping the way the Japanese viewed white people. Japanese immigrants also had to endure many hardships during the two week voyage (Takami, Web) from Japan to America. The passenger ships for large scale immigration were notorious for having damp holds, lice-infested beds, poor ventilation, and nearly inedible food (Takami, Web). Since it was many immigrant’s first time sailing long term on a ship, seasickness was a common ailment. …show more content…
A majority of the immigrants were students, young men who were trying to avoid Japan’s military draft, unemployed veterans of Russo-Japanese War, and second and third sons who were not able to inherit money or land (Minoru, 1). A great majority of the immigrants came from rural areas in Japan, such as Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, and Okayama prefectures (Takami, Web). The general plan for most of the men who first came to America was to get a job and get rich before sailing back to Japan and retiring early (“Picture Brides”,

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