Japanese schools in Hawaii

The first Japanese schools in Hawaii were established in 1895-1896, roughly ten years after the beginning of formal Japanese immigration to Hawaii.

Most of the Japanese who came to Hawaii as contract laborers in the 1880s-1890s intended to remain only for a few years, for the length of their contract, and then to return home to Japan. In the end, roughly 75% either returned to Japan or relocated to the mainland United States. Thus, it was of great importance to these issei (first-generation immigrants) that their children be well-prepared to re-integrate into Japanese society, and the Japanese education system, upon their return. Among those who intended to settle in Hawaii, too, there was surely a strong desire to have their children raised knowing the language, history, and customs of the culture from which they came. Thus, schools were eventually established where children were taught not only Japanese language, but Japanese culture, customs, and morals, and the history of Japan and of the Japanese community in Hawaii.

Though banned for a time in the 20th century, many Japanese-language schools operate today in Hawaii, educating children of Japanese and non-Japanese descent alike in Japanese language, customs, and the like.

Japanese children in public education in Hawaii

There were more than 100 children among the 944 Japanese who arrived in Hawaii aboard the City of Tokio in 1885, the first group of official Japanese immigrants.

Out of nearly 9000 children enrolled in Hawaiian public schools in 1888, 54 are recorded as Japanese. Roughly a decade later, roughly 260 Japanese children were enrolled. These numbers increased dramatically in the ensuing decades, as the Japanese population grew. There were around 1,500 Japanese enrolled in public schools in Hawaii in 1900, more than 7,000 in 1910, and nearly 26,000 - representing roughly half the student body - in 1924.

Meanwhile, a survey of Japanese immigrant adults and children both in 1896 found that 69 percent of men and 25 percent of women were literate in Japanese, while another 285 men and 28 women could read and write in English, and 68 men and 6 women were literate in Hawaiian.

References

• Franklin Odo and Kazuko Sinoto, A Pictorial History of the Japanese in Hawaii 1885-1924, Bishop Museum (1985), 127.