Japanese Immigrant Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Japanese Immigrant - Essay Example As per the Census 2000, the Japanese Americans comprise for 7.77% of the Asian-American population and 0.28% of the US population. Like other ethnic minorities, the Japanese too had to struggle to establish themselves in the United States economically, educationally, socially, religiously and politically. This paper will discuss the patterns of Japanese immigration, the developments, the history and the changes that took place over the years. It will also discuss the reasons for Japanese immigration to America and their initial experience. Among the first to arrive from Japan in 1869 were the settlers with The Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony, according to the Brown Foundation Journal (2000). They carried with them mulberry trees, silk cocoons, tea plants, and bamboo roots. COHORTS (1999), a publication of the Stanford Geriatric Education Center, describes that thousands of young Japanese male laborers came from Hawaii and Japan in 1885 to work on railroads, to pick fruit and vegetables for canneries, or to work in industries such as logging, mining, and meatpacking. ParkNet (2004) further clarifies that the first group arrived under the leadership of John Schnell. Initially, a group of Japanese were picked up from the streets of Yokohama and shipped to Hawaii. These were found to be unsatisfactory after which they developed systematic recruitment process. Based on the Census 1870, ParkNet quotes that out of 55 Japanese in the United States, 33 were in California and 22 in Gold Hill. The 1880 Census showed 148 Japan ese in the United States including 48 in California. According to ParkNet these could have been either students or those who had left Japan illegally as the laborers were not allowed to leave their country until after 1884. In 1884, the Japanese government and the Hawaiian sugar plantations signed an agreement to allow labor migration. In 1890, 2038 Japanese resided in the United States out of which 1114 lived in California. ThinkQuest, an