[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.

                          ____________________