Changes

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.

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]]. 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.

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>

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==

==References==

==References==

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

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

[[Category:Meiji Period]]

[[Category:Meiji Period]]