Why Did the Japanese Immigrants Come to America?

As of 2010, Japanese Americans are the sixth largest group in the United States, and there are approximately 1,200,000 Japanese Americans in the country. As of the 2000 census, the majority of these individuals lived in California and Hawaii.

There are a number of motivating reasons why the Japanese wanted to leave Japan. Many of the reasons were due to their fears for safety. Japan was in turmoil:

• Japan was having difficulty transitioning into a modern economy.

• This created a large amount of unemployment and bankruptcy throughout the country.
• Japan's economic downfall resulted in a number of civil riots.
• Some individuals, especially individuals with families, immigrated to leave this dangerous atmosphere and to ensure their family was safe.

Many Japanese began immigrating to Hawaii in 1868 because the sugar industry had caused an economic boom on the islands. The majority of these immigrants were mainly farmers and laborers. As of 1900, almost half of all Japanese immigrants in the United States or the U.S. territories lived in Hawaii.

A considerable amount of these immigrants eventually returned to Japan. After making money in the sugar industry or in Hawaii, they would return to their home country.

Religion Practiced by the Japanese Immigrants

The Japanese immigrants practiced a wide range of religions. They practiced different types of Buddhism, Christianity, or Shinto.

Many Japanese immigrants practiced Mahayana Buddhism. Some of the other forms of Buddhism that the immigrants practiced include Jodo Shinshu, Jodo Shu, and Zen. 

Immigration Act of 1924

Immigration basically stopped from Japan to Hawaii when the Immigration Act of 1924 became effective. The Act made it difficult for individuals to move from Japan to the United States because it limited the number of individuals who could migrate to a country. The Act:

• Dictated that only 2% of the current population of people from that country in the United States could immigrate to the country
• Excluded the immigration of Asians to the United States

The Immigration Act of 1965 removed these bans, and individuals from Japan could once again migrate to the United States.

Internment Camps in the United States

One of the most embarrassing and disturbing procedures that Japanese Americans had to endure was the internment camp during World War II. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, Japanese Americans were regarded as dangerous and untrustworthy. Individuals felt that the Japanese Americans might even be spies living in the United States.

Responding to this fear, the United States sent the Japanese Americans to internment camps throughout the country. There were a total of eleven different internment camps, and approximately one hundred and twenty thousand Japanese Americans were sent to these camps.

The internment was authorized by Franklin Delano Roosevelt when he signed an Executive Order allowing military commanders to designate certain zones for Japanese Americans to remain in. The U.S. Census Bureau provided confidential neighborhood information to the government to assist in the internment. Even when the issue of internment was brought before the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court supported the constitutionality of the camps. The camps lasted until the end of World War II.

Since World War II, the United States has realized that the camps were a mistake. In 1988, Congress passed a legislation which apologized for the internment. President Ronald Reagan then signed this legislation into law.

Reparations for the behavior of the United States were issued, and over one billion dollars was disbursed to Japanese Americans who had suffered internment, or were heirs of individuals who went to internment camps.