Changes

Though workers who returned from Hawaii spoke of the tough conditions, they also brought back with them considerable earnings, and began to buy small plots of land, and to build themselves nice houses. The numbers of Okinawans in Hawaii grew quickly therafter, with 262 arriving in [[1904]], 1,233 in [[1905]], and an astonishing 4,467 in [[1906]], a number which represented the peak of Okinawan immigration. More than 8,500 Okinawans were resident in the Territory of Hawaii by [[1908]]. A number of factors contributed to the desire to emigrate from Okinawa, including the hope for sizable earnings to send home or to return with; draft dodging; and the economic recession caused by the excessive cost to the nation of fighting the [[Russo-Japanese War]] (1904-05).

Though workers who returned from Hawaii spoke of the tough conditions, they also brought back with them considerable earnings, and began to buy small plots of land, and to build themselves nice houses. The numbers of Okinawans in Hawaii grew quickly therafter, with 262 arriving in [[1904]], 1,233 in [[1905]], and an astonishing 4,467 in [[1906]], a number which represented the peak of Okinawan immigration. More than 8,500 Okinawans were resident in the Territory of Hawaii by [[1908]]. A number of factors contributed to the desire to emigrate from Okinawa, including the hope for sizable earnings to send home or to return with; draft dodging; and the economic recession caused by the excessive cost to the nation of fighting the [[Russo-Japanese War]] (1904-05).

The following span of sixteen years or so (1908-1924) has come to be known as the ''yobiyose jidai'', or "era of calling over," with Okinawans already resident in the islands summoning their families to come and join them; the [[Gentlemen's Agreement]] signed between Japan and the United States in [[1907]] limited immigration to those whose relatives were already living in the US (and to a few other similar sets of circumstances, including those who had already previously immigrated to the US and were simply returning, and those who owned land in the US, which applied to extremely few).

The following span of sixteen years or so (1908-1924) has come to be known as the ''yobiyose jidai'', or "era of calling over," with Okinawans already resident in the islands summoning their families to come and join them; the [[Gentlemen's Agreement]] signed between Japan and the United States in [[1907]] limited immigration to those whose relatives were already living in the US (and to a few other similar sets of circumstances, including those who had already previously immigrated to the US and were simply returning, and those who owned land in the US, which applied to extremely few).