[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 94 (Thursday, June 7, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E796]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HONORING THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARRIVAL OF THE GANNENMONO
______
HON. COLLEEN HANABUSA
of hawaii
in the house of representatives
Thursday, June 7, 2018
Ms. HANABUSA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the 150th
anniversary of the arrival of the gannenmono, the first Japanese
immigrants to Hawaii.
On June 20, 1868, the first Japanese immigrants to Hawaii landed in
Honolulu harbor. The Hawaiian government had asked its consul in Japan,
Eugene Van Reed, to recruit contract laborers for work in the sugar
cane fields. Though the original intent was to gather 350 immigrants,
Van Reed succeeded in recruiting only 148 immigrants, of which 6 were
women. These became the original gannenmono, or ``first year people,''
so named because they emigrated on the first year of the Meiji
Emperor's reign. Van Reed had secured permission from the Shogunate
government for the gannenmono to depart, but the new Meiji government
declined to reconfirm these passports, forcing the migrants to depart
illegally.
Work and life on the plantations proved to be difficult for the
gannenmono. Many of them were craftsmen and displaced samurai
unfamiliar with agricultural labor. Conditions on the plantations were
also harsh. Work was both tedious and monotonous, living conditions
were poor, the pay was hardly sufficient and disproportionately lower
for Japanese workers than for laborers of other ethnic groups, and the
plantation overseers were often physically abusive. When the Japanese
government heard that its citizens were being mistreated, it recalled
the gannenmono. However, about 100 of the original group chose to
remain in Hawaii, where they settled and intermarried with the locals.
For the next seventeen years, the Japanese government refused to
endorse any policy of organized immigration to Hawaii.
However, the need for cheap labor on the sugar cane plantations and
the declining Native Hawaiian population made the need for Japanese
immigrants ever more urgent. In 1881, King David Kalakaua visited Japan
during his world tour and made an appeal to the Meiji Emperor for
Japanese immigration to Hawaii and closer ties between the two
countries. Negotiations over immigration led the Hawaiian government to
promise increased wages and improved working conditions for Japanese
workers in future contracts. The first contract labor immigrants from
Japan arrived in Hawaii in 1885, beginning a new wave of Japanese
immigration. In 1884, the Kingdom of Hawaii reported 116 residents of
Japanese descent in its census. By 1900, the Territory of Hawaii
recorded over 60,000 people of Japanese descent, most of whom were
unskilled male laborers.
Unfortunately, the arrival of Japanese immigrants triggered
xenophobic sentiments among those concerned with labor competition and
racial purity, leading the United States federal government to restrict
Japanese immigration. These nativist movements were strongest in
California, where many Japanese and Asian immigrants settled. Under the
Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907, the United States promised not to impose
any immigration restrictions if Japan ended its emigration programs.
However, the Immigration Acts of 1924 codified the suspension of
Japanese immigration by ending immigration of all aliens ineligible for
citizenship--a de facto ban on Asian immigration not lifted until the
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952.
Immigration was just the first of many challenges Japanese Americans
faced. The Japanese immigrants had difficulty integrating into local
communities due to persistent prejudice and systemic hostility by
neighbors and local, state, and federal governments. During the Second
World War, over a hundred thousand Japanese Americans, the majority of
whom were United States citizens, were forcibly relocated and
incarcerated due largely to the mistaken notion that they would be more
loyal to Japan than to the United States. Even today, stereotypes of
Japanese Americans as perpetual aliens persist, even if the United
States is the only country most Japanese Americans have ever known and
called home.
This anniversary of the arrival of the gannenmono reminds us of the
difficult histories of Japanese American immigration and, in a broader
sense, the immigration of other racial, ethnic, and religious groups to
the United States. In examining our public discourse on immigration
today, we see that we do not live in a unique moment in our country's
history. Too often in our past have we closed our doors to those
seeking a better future in the United States. Even after settling here,
these immigrants often face prejudice and other challenges in
integration. Yet, through their many sacrifices, perseverance, and
resilience, through their hard work to earn their stead in America,
they became Americans. Ours is a country not of a single race,
ethnicity, language, or culture, but of shared values and beliefs. We
are united by our common faith in democracy, confidence in equal
justice, and aspirations for a better future. No one today can dispute
the positive impact the Japanese American community has made on
American life and society.
A hundred and fifty years ago, a small ship of immigrants seeking new
lives set sail from their homes for a far-away land. For the vast
majority of us in the United States today, this is how our stories and
those of our ancestors begin. By learning and remembering the histories
of Japanese Americans and other communities that immigrated to this
country, we become wiser in crafting our national attitudes and
policies towards those seeking better futures for themselves and their
families in America today. We must be an example for future generations
to act wisely and honorably, informed by our own history as a country.
Mr. Speaker, I ask my distinguished colleagues to join me in honoring
the gannenmono and remembering their story today.
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