Land of Dreams, Land of Troubles

Paper Summary:

This paper explores the end of the Meiji period in Japan and the beginning of the country's modern period (1867-1912), which ultimately led to Japanese seeking their fortunes in the West, especially the United States. It traces the history of these immigrants, their impact on the economy, and the pitfalls they encountered in the form of racism and discriminatory laws. This anti-Japanese feeling reached its peak in 1941 with the Japanese invasion on Pearl Harbor and the internment of all Japanese-Americans on the West Coast of the United States. The paper also looks at how the American government has since awarded reparations to those interned and how descendants of Japanese immigrants fare today in American society.

From the Paper:

"While many Japanese back in Japan initially waxed enthusiastic about the United States and its culture, the feeling in America was hardly mutual. As was typical of majority White America's relations with Non-Whites, Japanese immigrants were scorned, and their culture denigrated. First, the United States had passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. This was followed by restrictive measures against the Japanese. As Californians and other West Coast White Americans clamored to stop the flow of Japanese to their region, the American Government relied on a rather ingenious and disingenuous clause in its commercial treaty with Japan to staunch the flow of Japanese Labor by refusing to issue permits for their travel to the Mainland. The Japanese, along with the Chinese, were called the "Yellow Peril," their competition for American jobs and resources keeping these jobs and resources from "real" Americans."

More papers on Land of Dreams, Land of Troubles:

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