Japanese Americans

1. Who were they?

1.1. Japanese Americans are Americans who are fully or partially of Japanese descent, especially those who identify with that ancestry, along with their cultural characteristics.

1.2. They started immigration to the United States in 1868 to Hawaii. Following the Chinese exclusion act of 1882, Japanese immigrants where widely sought out by industrialists to replace the Chinese immigrants.

1.3. At First there where mostly men who came down to work in plantations

1.4. After a while women started to come down to become the wives of these men. They came down as picture brides.

2. Why did they come to the United States?

2.1. In 1886, Hawaii and Japan signed a labor convention that lead to a large number of Japanese contract workers in Hawaii.

2.2. Japanese people came tho the United States for better living and work. Others came to start a new life with possible better opportunities.

2.3. In the early 1900s most woman brought to the United States where picture brides. Picture brides where mostly marriages arraigned by parents. They would travel to meet their partner overseas knowing nothing but only a what they looked like from a picture.

2.4. They also came down to revive better educations from American school.

3. Experience in America

3.1. During WWII Japanese Americans were forced to movie into concentration camps to protect Americans citizens. About 117,000 Japanese Americans were affected by this.

3.2. The increasing rise of Japanese Americans in the United States led to the rise of the anti-Japanese movement in 1906

3.3. This led to a number of bills and acts that banned Japanese from coming to the United States or limited there immigration.

3.4. Most started off as plantation workers and that was tough for them. Their monthly wage was $4. They would work 10 hour shifts 7 days a week to make that.

3.5. Japanese Americans were and still are strongly discriminated agents in America.

4. Current reality in the United States

4.1. Back then we could easily point out and describe Japanese American areas and neighborhoods. In todays America Japanese communities have become complex, dispersed and diverse.

4.2. Japanese Americans live and thrive all over the United States. There is Japanese living in all 50 states in America.

4.3. Japanese Americans are considered to be in the top 3 most successful racial group.

4.4. Even though they have been here and lived in the United States for some time now, they are still being discriminated agents till this day.

5. Common stereotypes

5.1. Many white Americans, particularly white Americans, think of American people as “model minority” because of their reputation of hard work and their high level of education.

5.2. Considered to be good technicians but not aggressive enough to occupy top managerial and leadership positions.

5.3. Anti Asian graffiti can be found at top universities where some white students voice jealousy and resentment towards Asian Americans academic success.

5.4. Japanese who worked on farms or in factories where considered “unintelligent” because of their lack of English and comprehension even though they worked hard.

5.5. Old newspapers and comic strips would draw them differently and exaggerated what they looked like, also calling them “yellow people” “chinks” and many other discriminating names. They are still called some of these names till today.