Stuart Bibeau
February 28, 2014
Period #4
Japanese Migration to Hawai’i
Demographics
Date
Migrants
Between 1865 and 1894

Mostly men

Work on plantation projects such as
farming sugar cane,
Women Migrants

Called the Issei generation

Women came over in second
generation of migration, called Nisei
women

Men chose their wives based on
photos from homeland

families to form,

majority of Hawaiians were Japanese
in 1923, almost forty percent of the
population
Faith

Either Shinto or Buddhist in faith, but
blended in with the native population
and the Chinese workers that also
migrated
Customs

Boy and girls days, eating sushi, taking
shoes off before entering a house, and
summer bon dances
Factors of Immigration
Pull Factors

Sugar plantation owners offered three
or five year contracts to work in fields
earn a steady job
Push Factors

Financial crisis in Japan in the 1880’s,
which forced Japan to adopt a new
currency and the Bank of Japan,

Focused on industrialization, not as
many famers had jobs

Working conditions horrible in
factories
Migration
Worker Contracts/Life in Hawaii

Workers signed three to five year
contracts

Only men initially came over, became
permanent when women and brides
were selected to come over and marry
workers
Consequences
Political

Japanese subject to the United States’s
Japanese discrimination laws of the
National Origins Act and the Asian
Exclusion act, Issei could not be
registered as citizens

Japanese were allowed to return in
“Gentleman’s agreement,” but could
not send more workers to United
States
Economically

Hawaii had an increase in the effective
production of sugar cane and other
crops, so big companies made many
profits

Increase local trade dealing with sugar
cane

Japan was able to increase trade of
domestic objects such as tea with
overseas market of Japanese

Business men make money of finding
plantation workers
Religiously
Shinto and Buddhism was mixed with native
polytheistic beliefs of Hawaiians
Socially

Japanese became the majority of the
people living in Hawaii by 1923

Fought successfully with native
Hawaiians in army groups in World
War I
Artistic

Hawaii began to adopt the Japanese
customs of boys and girls days with
common themes of dragons and fires

Shinto and Buddhist art honoring
spirits in both faiths
Reactions
Migrant Reactions

Workers were exhausted and
disgusted with the hard work, and tried
to escape their work contracts, or left
as soon as their contract expired

Others fell in love with the country,
and moved to the mainland United
States full time

Majority of workers, however, worked
on these contracts and did not move
around much.

Saw pictures of Japanese women, and
brought them over to marry them and
start a family

In 1923 almost forty percent of the
population was Japanese
Hawaiian Reactions

Hawaiian businessmen that made
money off of sugar cane production
profited from the Japanese workers

Native Hawaiian population became a
minority of the population.

Disconcerted with the Japanese.

Political change in power of the queen
and government under the Bayonet
Constitution

United States began to run Hawaii
after purchasing Hawaii.

Follow United States immigration laws
that discriminated against the
Japanese and feelings towards
Japanese turned

Gentleman’s Agreement, which
prevented further Japanese
immigration, and the National Origins
Act and Asian Exclusion Act, which
specifically stated how many
immigrants from Japan, were allowed
in the country.

The Japanese did not entirely
intermingle with the native Hawaiian
population. 95% of Japanese school
aged children had to go to school in
buildings set aside for Japanese
education, not intermingling with the
local population.

In the 1920’s, many Japanese began to
move back home or to the mainland
United States.
Works Cited
"Immigration." Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2014.
<http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Immigration/>.
"Japanese - Hawaii - Immigration...- Classroom Presentation | Teacher Resources - Library of
Congress." Japanese - Hawaii - Immigration...- Classroom Presentation | Teacher Resources Library of Congress. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Mar. 2014.
<http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immig
ration/japanese2.html>.
"Japanese and When They Settled in Hawaii." Japanese and When They Settled in Hawaii. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2014. <http://hawaiiguide.com/origins/japan.htm>.
"Japanese History: Meiji Period." Japanese History: Meiji Period. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2014.
<http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2130.html>.
"Japanese Laborers Arrive -Hawaii History - Short Stories." Japanese Laborers Arrive -Hawaii
History - Short Stories. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2014.
<http://www.hawaiihistory.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ig.page&PageID=299>.