The Making of Asian America: A History

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2015

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Introduction, Part 1, Chapters 1-2

Part 2, Chapters 3-4

Part 2, Chapters 5-6

Part 2, Chapters 7-9

Part 3, Chapters 10-12

Part 4, Chapters 13-14

Part 4, Chapters 15-16

Part 5, Chapter 17-Epilogue

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Part 2, Chapters 5-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 2: “The Making of Asian America During the Age of Mass Migration and Asian Exclusion”

Chapter 5 Summary: “Japanese Immigrants and the ‘Yellow Peril’”

During the Edo period, Japan largely remained closed to the world and only traded with China and the Netherlands. Emigration was banned until 1858, after US Commodore Matthew C. Perry arrived in Japan and opened that country through gunboat diplomacy. In the late 19th century, Japanese immigration to the US occurred for socioeconomic reasons, such as population growth, and overlapped with the Chinese counterpart.

The Issei, first-generation Japanese Americans, “tried to become American while also maintaining strong connections to Japan” (109). Many Japanese farmers got recruited to work in Hawaii on sugar plantations, while others went to the continental US. As was the case with China, most immigrants were young men whose intention was to return. When settling in the US in the early 20th century, Japanese men used matchmakers of the yobiyose (“called immigrant”) system to find wives. Like the Chinese, the photographs sent to their prospective wives in Japan were sometimes enhanced, and their social status was exaggerated.

Unlike the Chinese, Japanese immigrants were usually processed swiftly at Angel Island. However, their lives were filled with “hard, endless work” in Hawaii (114). Japanese women had to work to help their husbands, take care of the household and children, and even cook for the other laborers. Strikes motivated by unfair labor conditions and low pay linked to racial discrimination were common. For instance, the Great Strike of 1909 involved 7,000 participants (115). The Japanese also worked in mines, on railroads, and on farms on the West Coast. By 1910, the Japanese farmers of California produced a significant number of local crops. In 1907, however, President Teddy Roosevelt banned foreigners from entering the mainland US from its territorial possessions through an executive order to limit Japanese immigration.

First-generation Japanese maintained ties to their homeland but also assimilated. Second-generation Japanese, Nisei, were generally completely assimilated and felt American. However, they were not fully accepted and were perceived as an “Oriental” problem (120). Alien Land Laws prevented them from purchasing land. A 1922 Ozawa v. United States Supreme Court case was unsuccessful in obtaining naturalization for a Japanese immigrant, Takao Ozawa: “The court found that Ozawa was ‘in every way eminently qualified under the statutes to become an American citizen,’ except for his race” (121). Nonetheless, the Japanese formed their own associations, educating their communities and challenging discrimination.

In many ways, their plight was linked to the concept of “Yellow Peril,” which came from an 1895 painting of the same name commissioned by Kaiser Wilhelm II about the perceived threat to Europe from the East. In this framework, China was viewed as “backward,” while Japan was viewed as a modern, industrialized competitor. Popular books like Lothrop Stoddard’s The Rising Tide of Color Against White World-Supremacy (1920) about “colored peril” mimicked this sentiment (130).

Such ideological backing translated into racially-motivated violence against the Japanese, too, such as the attacks linked to the anti-Japanese movement in San Francisco in 1906-1907. The Japanese-Korean Exclusion League (Asiatic Exclusion League) emerged on the West Coast and inspired their ideological counterparts in Canada’s British Columbia. The violence prompted the North American governments to negotiate with Japan to limit immigration—a voluntary Gentlemen’s Agreement (1908). The 1924 Immigration Act, “a result of decades of activism” by the nativists, ultimately banned Asian immigration and introduced quotas for Eastern and Southern Europe (134). Following the US, countries like Canada and Brazil also limited Japanese immigration.

Chapter 6 Summary: “‘We Must Struggle in Exile’: Korean Immigrants”

Between 1910 and 1945, Korea was a colony of the Japanese Empire and its protectorate from 1905. In this way, “Japanese colonialism in Korea affected every aspect of Korean immigration” (137). The question of Korean independence was central to Korean diaspora communities abroad. Japanese annexation introduced harsh policies to the Korean peninsula, such as using the secret police and buying up Korean property. By the time of the annexation, “Koreans suffered from heavy taxes and unemployment” (138).

In other ways, however, “Korean immigrants shared many of the same experiences and challenges that Chinese and Japanese faced while working and living in Hawai’i, continental US, and Mexico” (137). Like other East Asians, Koreans were scouted by labor recruiters, crossed the ocean, and worked in the same industries as their counterparts. In the continental US, for instance, they “helped turn California agriculture into a multimillion-dollar business in the twentieth century” (144). Koreans also faced the same racial discrimination, for instance, at the hands of the Japanese-Korean Exclusion League.

The majority-male immigrants were attracted to the promise of high wages, good housing, and medical care. After working on Hawaiian sugar plantations, some transferred to other industries such as restaurants, or launched their own laundries and stores. The Korean men also relied on the picture-bride system to ship Korean women to them. These women were allowed to leave as an exception even after Japan banned Korean emigration. In many cases, the young women were deceived by touched-up photographs of men at a much younger age, posing in front of other people’s houses and cars. Some women left, but others stayed. They were expected to work for wages and take care of all the housework and children.

The Korean community in the US relied on its own organizations, such as the Korean National Association (1909), Korean-language newspapers, and churches. Such communal support was “a source of strength and a center of national activity” for the stateless Koreans in the face of Japanese colonialism (145). After Japan’s annexation of Korea, the Korean National Association in the US conceived of itself as “the only legitimate official agent of all Korean residents” (147). The Paris Peace Conference (1919), however, rejected Korea’s independence. The March First Movement gathered a million Koreans at home, which Japan suppressed “with brutal violence” (148).

Chapters 5-6 Analysis

In general, Chapters 5 and 6 examine the lives of Japanese and Korean immigrants in the US and Canada. Lee describes the formation of their émigré communities focused on supporting the members of each group. These communities included organizations, such as the Korean National Association, religious institutions, and newspapers.

Like the Chinese, the Japanese and Koreans also faced Yellow Peril attitudes and exclusion leagues targeting them. Unlike the Chinese, who were perceived as “backward,” the Japanese were viewed as a modern industrial competitor of Europe, the US, and Canada. Japan’s late 19th-early 20th-century military victories against China and Russia, respectively, appeared to prove the Japanese threat in the eyes of Japanese immigration opponents. This section features three key themes: Asian Immigration in the Framework of Race, Gender, and Class, The Impact of Immigration Law on Asian Americans, and Empire, Colonialism, and Asian Immigration.

Race, sex/gender, and class affected Japanese and Korean immigrants in ways similar to the Chinese. At first, labor migration was primarily male. These men generally could not marry local women due to anti-miscegenation laws. As a result, the Japanese and Koreans also relied on the picture-bride system to import wives to Hawaii and the US mainland. Some misrepresented their age, appearance, and socioeconomic status.

As a result of both capitalism and the mistreatment of immigrants, labor conditions for both Asian men and women were poor, including low pay, for instance, on Hawaiian plantations. Women both worked and took care of their domestic duties and children: “The bitterness and disappointment were deep and enduring” (142). The socioeconomic conditions that pushed the Japanese to emigrate were also poor: The general push-pull dynamic for emigration-immigration that Erika Lee described in the Introduction is relevant here.

Lee’s focus on immigration laws shows the way that they shaped the entire Asian American immigrant experience. The US legal decisions also set precedents for other countries like Canada. At times, the US and Canada acted in tandem, as was the case with the 1908 Gentleman’s Agreements with Japan to prevent Japanese labor immigration. This agreement is also a contrast to Chinese Exclusion because for the Japanese government agreed to it.

The 1920s represented the pinnacle of Asian Exclusion in the realm of immigration law. Takao Ozawa lost his Supreme Court case in 1922 and failed to become a naturalized US citizen purely on racial grounds. His case demonstrates the way thousands of Japanese first-generation immigrants who wanted to live and work in the US were unable to obtain full citizenship rights. This legal ban further exacerbated their situation when they were forcibly removed and incarcerated during World War II as a “military necessity.” In addition, the author demonstrates the direct relationship between the 1924 Immigration Act that banned Asian immigration and the success of years of nativist activism and the anti-Asian atmosphere in the US and Canada. Overall, immigration law played a significant role in the lives of Asian Americans.

Finally, the Empire, Colonialism, and Asian Immigration theme shows the effects of Japanese imperialism on Koreans. Being a Japanese colony between 1910 and 1945 placed independence at the forefront of Korean thinking, both domestically and in immigrant communities in the Americas. At the same time, Japanese and Korean immigrants faced similar discrimination in the US and Canada. Indeed, the Japanese-Korean Exclusion League targeted both without differentiating between these groups. Since Korea was a colony, Korean Americans wanted the Korean National Association to act as their only representative rather than being perceived as Japanese subjects. The fact that Korea failed to gain independence at the 1919-1920 Paris Peace Conference also shows that the Europeans and Americans paid little attention to the question of self-determination outside of Europe. Overall, imperialism and colonialism remained key factors for Asian Americans in this era.