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==Early Negotiations and Contract Laborers==

==Early Negotiations and Contract Laborers==

The first Japanese to settle in Hawaii did so in [[1868]], and have come to be known as the ''[[gannenmono]]'', that year being the first year (''gannen'') of the [[Meiji period]]. They did so without authorization from the [[Meiji government]], however, and so most accounts of Japanese immigration to the islands identify it as beginning in earnest in [[1885]], with the ''kan'yaku imin'' (官約移民), or "contract laborers," who came to Hawaii and worked on the plantations under contracts legally recognized by the Japanese government. These contracts were, initially at least, not seen as part of any formal agreement between the governments of Japan and Hawaii, but rather as voluntary agreements, on a personal or individual basis, between the immigrant and [[Robert Walker Irwin]], the Kingdom of Hawaii's official representative in Japan. The first contracts, and immigrant journeys, came as the result of lengthy negotiations, stretching back as early as [[1860]], though with negotiations truly beginning in earnest in [[1881]]. One of the key final steps in establishing this officially authorized system of contracts & immigration came in September [[1884]], when Irwin brought to Japan a contract proposal, a $40,000 line of credit, and a list of employers in Hawaii seeking to hire Japanese laborers. In December of that year, the Japanese [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs]] distributed "Information Regarding Emigration" pamphlets throughout the country, explaining conditions in Hawaii, and the details of the labor contracts and emigration process. Contract laborers were to be provided with free transportation to Hawaii, $9/month in wages ($6/mo for wives) plus $6/month food allowance (+$4 for wives, +$1/mo per child, up to two children). Workers were also provided with homes, medical care, and firewood, and were promised low prices on rice. Contracts were for three years, working 26 days of the month, 12 hours a day in a mill or 10 hours a day in the fields. One-quarter of the worker's earnings, however, was to be automatically deducted and held back, placed by the Japanese Consul into a Hawaiian bank account, to accumulate interest and be used to pay for workers' return voyages to Japan.

The first Japanese to settle in Hawaii did so in [[1868]], and have come to be known as the ''[[gannenmono]]'', that year being the first year (''gannen'') of the [[Meiji period]]. They did so without authorization from the [[Meiji government]], however, and so most accounts of Japanese immigration to the islands identify it as beginning in earnest in [[1885]], with the ''kan'yaku imin'' (官約移民), or "contract laborers," who came to Hawaii and worked on the plantations under contracts legally recognized by the Japanese government. This authorized pattern of immigration only began after a lengthy series of negotiations; complaints on the part of the ''gannenmono'' against the harsh conditions contributed to Japanese hesitance to agree to authorized immigration, and to Japanese desires to ensure that Japanese immigrants to Hawaii would enjoy at least a modicum of income, safety, and quality of life.

 

These contracts were, initially at least, not seen as part of any formal agreement between the governments of Japan and Hawaii, but rather as voluntary agreements, on a personal or individual basis, between the immigrant and [[Robert Walker Irwin]], the Kingdom of Hawaii's official representative in Japan. The first contracts, and immigrant journeys, came as the result of lengthy negotiations, stretching back as early as [[1860]], though with negotiations truly beginning in earnest in [[1881]]. One of the key final steps in establishing this officially authorized system of contracts & immigration came in September [[1884]], when Irwin brought to Japan a contract proposal, a $40,000 line of credit, and a list of employers in Hawaii seeking to hire Japanese laborers. In December of that year, the Japanese [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs]] distributed "Information Regarding Emigration" pamphlets throughout the country, explaining conditions in Hawaii, and the details of the labor contracts and emigration process. Contract laborers were to be provided with free transportation to Hawaii, $9/month in wages ($6/mo for wives) plus $6/month food allowance (+$4 for wives, +$1/mo per child, up to two children). Workers were also provided with homes, medical care, and firewood, and were promised low prices on rice. Contracts were for three years, working 26 days of the month, 12 hours a day in a mill or 10 hours a day in the fields. One-quarter of the worker's earnings, however, was to be automatically deducted and held back, placed by the Japanese Consul into a Hawaiian bank account, to accumulate interest and be used to pay for workers' return voyages to Japan. All told, Japanese laborers in Hawaii in the first decade of formal immigration (1885-1894) earned on average $15/month, a considerable step up from the $4/mo earned on average by the ''gannenmono'', in the period prior to any government oversight or policies.

Irwin is said to have expected to recruit around 600 workers in his first efforts; he received 28,000 applications. Over the next ten years, 26 journeys carried 29,000 Japanese to Hawaii. The first was in [[1885]], aboard the ''[[City of Tokio]]'', which carried 944 workers, roughly half of whom were from [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs|Foreign Minister]] [[Inoue Kaoru|Inoue Kaoru's]] home prefecture of Yamaguchi. Laborers were recruited through formal government announcements, word of mouth, ads in the newspapers, and, from 1900 onwards, guidebooks advertising employment in Hawaii. Those seeking to enter into a labor contract applied through their local offices and received formal permission from their prefectural government and passports from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; they then traveled to Yokohama at their own expense, where they met with a representative of the Hawaiian government to sign the contract. They underwent medical examinations in both Yokohama and Honolulu, at either end of a 10-14 day sea voyage, and after a period of quarantine in Honolulu, signed contracts with individual plantation owners through the Hawaiian Bureau of Immigration.

Irwin is said to have expected to recruit around 600 workers in his first efforts; he received 28,000 applications. Over the next ten years, 26 journeys carried 29,000 Japanese to Hawaii. The first was in [[1885]], aboard the ''[[City of Tokio]]'', which carried 944 workers, roughly half of whom were from [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs|Foreign Minister]] [[Inoue Kaoru|Inoue Kaoru's]] home prefecture of Yamaguchi. Laborers were recruited through formal government announcements, word of mouth, ads in the newspapers, and, from 1900 onwards, guidebooks advertising employment in Hawaii. Those seeking to enter into a labor contract applied through their local offices and received formal permission from their prefectural government and passports from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; they then traveled to Yokohama at their own expense, where they met with a representative of the Hawaiian government to sign the contract. They underwent medical examinations in both Yokohama and Honolulu, at either end of a 10-14 day sea voyage, and after a period of quarantine in Honolulu, signed contracts with individual plantation owners through the Hawaiian Bureau of Immigration.

A [[Convention of Japanese Immigration]] signed in [[1886]] established various formal protocols and procedures for the immigration process, and provided for certain rights and protections for the laborers. Some of these rights (suffrage, ability to become naturalized Hawaiian citizens) were severely weakened or nullified by the Bayonet Constitution which was forced upon the Hawaiian monarchy by white businessmen the following year. The Convention was also revised in that year, and later revised again, to require laborers to pay out of their already meager incomes to help cover the costs of their transportation, medical care, and the like guaranteed to them by the Convention.

A [[Convention of Japanese Immigration]] signed in [[1886]] established various formal protocols and procedures for the immigration process, and provided for certain rights and protections for the laborers. Some of these rights (suffrage, ability to become naturalized Hawaiian citizens) were severely weakened or nullified by the Bayonet Constitution which was forced upon the Hawaiian monarchy by white businessmen the following year. The Convention was also revised in that year, and later revised again, to require laborers to pay out of their already meager incomes to help cover the costs of their transportation, medical care, and the like guaranteed to them by the Convention. Though the fees were initially quite high, in the end, workers in this period earned on average $12.50 per month.

In the first ten years of immigration, from 1885-[[1894]], twenty-six boat trips brought a total of nearly 30,000 Japanese to Hawaii. The second ship to arrive, the ''Yamashiro Maru'', which came to Hawaii on June 17, 1885, brought 988 or 989 people, most of them from Hiroshima and Kumamoto. The first Japanese Consul General to Hawaii, [[Ando Taro|Andô Tarô]], came on the third ship, the ''City of Peking'', in February [[1886]]. Other ships which carried contract labors to Hawaii in the first ten years included the ''Wakanoura Maru'', ''Takasago Maru'', ''Omi Maru'', ''Sagami Maru'', and ''Miike Maru'', most of which made the trip multiple times.<ref>For a breakdown of the number of immigrants on each of these voyages, see Odo and Sinoto, 43.</ref>

In the first ten years of immigration, from 1885-1894, twenty-six boat trips brought a total of nearly 30,000 Japanese to Hawaii. The second ship to arrive, the ''Yamashiro Maru'', which came to Hawaii on June 17, 1885, brought 988 or 989 people, most of them from Hiroshima and Kumamoto. The first Japanese Consul General to Hawaii, [[Ando Taro|Andô Tarô]], came on the third ship, the ''City of Peking'', in February [[1886]]. Other ships which carried contract labors to Hawaii in the first ten years included the ''Wakanoura Maru'', ''Takasago Maru'', ''Omi Maru'', ''Sagami Maru'', and ''Miike Maru'', most of which made the trip multiple times.<ref>For a breakdown of the number of immigrants on each of these voyages, see Odo and Sinoto, 43.</ref>

Certain portions of the emigration process were managed by private companies in Japan since the earliest days, and even though the Convention of 1886 expanded the Japanese government's responsibilities in overseeing immigration to Hawaii, the burden of administrative work associated with the process led to the Japanese government turning over operations of much of the initial stages of the application and selection process to private companies beginning in 1894.<ref>The most major of these companies are listed on Odo and Sinoto, 44.</ref> These companies charged the emigrants a variety of fees, and also earned commissions from railroads, steamships, inns, and other agencies working with the emigrants, in order to make their profits. By this time, selection criteria became somewhat more selective; agents sought to recruit chiefly men from farming families (who therefore had the experience and physical ability), ages 20-30, excluding those obligated to military service, or those who sought to go to Hawaii with their children but without their wives. These private immigration companies dominated the process for about ten years, until [[1905]], when the Foreign Office cracked down on them for their unfair practices; from that time until the end of Japanese immigration to the US in 1924, the Japanese government handled immigration matters directly, without any private companies collecting fees or commissions.

Certain portions of the emigration process were managed by private companies in Japan since the earliest days, and even though the Convention of 1886 expanded the Japanese government's responsibilities in overseeing immigration to Hawaii, the burden of administrative work associated with the process led to the Japanese government turning over operations of much of the initial stages of the application and selection process to private companies beginning in [[1894]].<ref>The most major of these companies are listed on Odo and Sinoto, 44.</ref> These companies charged the emigrants a variety of fees, and also earned commissions from railroads, steamships, inns, and other agencies working with the emigrants, in order to make their profits. By this time, selection criteria became somewhat more selective; agents sought to recruit chiefly men from farming families (who therefore had the experience and physical ability), ages 20-30, excluding those obligated to military service, or those who sought to go to Hawaii with their children but without their wives. These private immigration companies dominated the process for about ten years, until [[1905]], when the Foreign Office cracked down on them for their unfair practices; from that time until the end of Japanese immigration to the US in 1924, the Japanese government handled immigration matters directly, without any private companies collecting fees or commissions.

==Annexation and the end of contract labor==

==Annexation and the end of contract labor==

The annexation of Hawaii by the United States in July [[1898]] brought with it the end of contract labor, since this was illegal under US law. Now freed from their contracts and free to move elsewhere, many Japanese did so, in the hopes of finding better paying jobs or better living conditions otherwise. Between 1901 and 1907, more than 50,000 Japanese left Hawaii for Seattle and San Francisco.

The annexation of Hawaii by the United States in July [[1898]] brought with it the end of contract labor, which was outlawed by the US government in 1900. Now freed from their contracts and free to move elsewhere, many Japanese did so, in the hopes of finding better paying jobs or better living conditions otherwise. Between 1901 and 1907, more than 50,000 Japanese left Hawaii for Seattle and San Francisco. Japanese plantation workers in Hawaii at this time earned on average $15-18.50 per month.

 

In [[1907]], however, a US Presidential Order banned Japanese from moving from Hawaii to the mainland United States. The following year, in response to nativist and anti-Japanese sentiment among Americans on the West Coast, the US and Japanese governments entered into an informal agreement, known as the Rout-Takahira [[Gentlemen's Agreement]], which further restricted Japanese immigration to the United States. Only Japanese who had previously already emigrated to the US, and their immediate relatives, could now enter the country. This sparked the birth of the phenomenon of "picture brides," in which Japanese men in the US married women from Japan, based only on their photo, or other limited information, enabling the woman to then emigrate to the US. Japanese plantation laborers held a major strike for the first time in [[1909]], and in 1913, California put into place restrictions on Japanese ownership of land. The Japanese sugar plantation workers formed their first labor union in 1919, and held their second major strike, this time alongside Filipino workers, the following year. In 1921, the local government in Hawaii imposed restrictions on Japanese language schools in the islands, against which the Japanese community filed a lawsuit, claiming the law to be unconstitutional. Meanwhile, the Pan-Pacific Newspaper Conference held a discussion between anti-Japanese groups, and Japanese supporters, on the subject of the possibility of Japanese assimilation into American society. The average wage for Japanese plantation workers in Hawaii was around $20/month at this time.

==Asian Exclusion Act==

==Asian Exclusion Act==

This early period of Japanese immigration to Hawaii (and the rest of the United States) came to an end in 1924, as the US Congress passed the Asian Exclusion Act,  which barred East Asians from immigrating to the country. By that time, however, there were already over a quarter million ''issei'' (immigrants) and ''nisei'' (US-born children of immigrants) in the United States; roughly half of these lived in Hawaii.

This early period of Japanese immigration to Hawaii (and the rest of the United States) came to an end in 1924, as the US Congress passed the Asian Exclusion Act,  which barred East Asians from immigrating to the country. By that time, however, there were already over a quarter million ''issei'' (immigrants) and ''nisei'' (US-born children of immigrants) in the United States; roughly half of these lived in Hawaii.

==References==

==References==