The Japanese in the Monterey Bay Region (1997 book)

The Japanese in the Monterey Bay Region: A Brief History. This book by Sandy Lydon was published in 1997 by Capitola Book Company. Important points:

• This is, by necessity, a regional history. Looking at the Japanese (or any other immigrant group) only in Santa Cruz County would present an inaccurate picture.
• Immigration from Japan began after 1887, 35+ years after the first Chinese immigrants.
• Chapter 1 compares/contrasts the Chinese and Japanese immigrants:
  • Chinese culture emphasized an adult male's loyalty to the entire extended family, whereas a Japanese man's primary loyalty was to his own immediate family, and/or to a family-like enterprise or organization.
  • Most Chinese immigrants were young males who were intended to bring their families over as soon as they earned enough money to pay for their passage, but few were able to do so before the 1882 cutoff.
  • Japanese immigrants initially moved into the same roles previously filled by Chinese immigrants as the supply of Chinese laborers stopped after the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
  • Japanese immigrants strove to adopt American language, clothing, behavior and customs; Chinese were more insular, preferring to remain separate and distinct from Americans.
  • Japanese immigrant entrepreneurs were willing to partner with non-Japanese in business ventures.
  • Despite attempts to assimilate, Japanese immigrants fell victim to the same xenophobic restrictions on citizenship and immigration that limited the Chinese-American population.
  • The population of Japanese-ancestry residents in the Monterey Bay region peaked in 1930 at 4.6% of the total. The Chinese immigrant population had peaked at about 6% of the regional total in 1890.
  • After 1924, Japanese immigrants were ineligible for citizenship until 1952.

Chapters 2 & 3 talk about conditions and events in Japan during the late 1800s and up to 1907:

• • Japanese immigration began when Japan ended its ban on emigration in 1887. Demand for an alternative source of Asian immigrant labor in our region had been growing because the 1882 law stopped immigration from China.
  • The Japanese government offered more support for emigrants than China did, and took more responsibility for their good behavior. One example of the latter was a successful effort by the Japanese government to crack down on dishonest Japanese labor contractors in the US.
  • The Japanese government was proactive in negotiations with the US government in efforts to combat anti-Japanese-immigrant sentiments.
  • In 1907 Japan stopped issuing all passports to laborers, including through Hawaii. Immediate families of those already in the US were excepted.

In later chapters Lydon divides the Japanese immigrant experience into four eras:

• "Era of the First Families: 1907 to 1925". Most new immigrants during this period were women and children - families of the laborers already present. Japanese Associations were established in Salinas, Monterey, Watsonville, and Santa Cruz (serving the smallest of the four regional populations). The Santa Cruz Japanese Association was located in the Farmers Exchange building. Bulkhead Street laundry owner "Masaya" Tan led the group. The era ended when Japanese immigration was halted completely by the US government in 1924.
• "Nisei Generation: 1925-1940". A sizable population of US-born children of immigrant parents, known as nisei.
• "War Years: 1940 to 1945". Japanese families in coastal areas were profoundly affected by their forced relocation to remote camps far from the coast. One of those nisei children, Jeanne Wakatsuki, later wrote of her experiences during that time in Farewell to Manzanar.
• "Second Beginning: 1945 to 1996". As post-war Japan was converted into a US ally, the fortunes of Japanese Americans gradually rose as well.
  • Santa Cruz County History Journal Number 8 includes the story "Nobu Tanimura's Camera" (page 165), describing how one nisei father spent years after 1945 working to recover the camera that was confiscated from him in 1941.