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Did you know?There was once a law to stop Asians from entering the United States.
TakeawaysThe Japanese American community has kept itself to the coasts mostly geographically.Gender and race were great issues in the United States.There are little to no Asians in the US government.
America is a unique place with a broad spectrum of different groups of people from all around the world. Today people are identified by their original roots and the fact that they are American, for example the Asian Americans. More specifically, the Japanese Americans.
Japanese people had not entered the United States until later in out country’s history. Most were brought in as workers during the 1800s. Some Japanese were used in the sugar plantations of Hawaii. Others were sent to California to be workers.
Japanese were not given an easy time, when they first appeared in this country. But they were found to be strong workers and humble people. They were mostly on the side of society but never outcasts till World War II. "On February 19, 1942 President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 which allowed military authorities to exclude any group of people from any region without trial or hearings for reasons of "military necessity." E.O. 9066 provided the legal authority behind the mass removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast.” (Le) This had horrible effects on the Japanese community. They were constantly being watched and revoked by society for a period of time. Some were even sent to detainment camps, so they could be watched closely by the government. The Japanese American internment refers to the forcible relocation of approximately 112,000 to 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans, 62 percent of whom were United States citizens, from the west coast of the United States during World War II to hastily constructed housing facilities called War Relocation Camps in remote portions of the nation's interior. But after the war had ended and time progressed things began to settle down.
A second wave of immigrants from Japan had decided to join the United States . “Beginning in the 1980s, we have been one of the fastest growing immigrant groups here in the United States. ” (Le) They as a community had seen the opportunities of the United States and settled in. “Japanese-Americans as a group have confounded earlier expectations that they would form an indigestible mass in American society.” ( http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-78001)
The Japanese Americans community has kept itself to the coasts mostly geographically. They were brought here to work, and most of them stayed there and started families. This is why California is one of the most populated areas for Japanese Americans in the United States. The east coast also has large amounts of Japanese. Mostly in the northeast such states as New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Most popularly known are the China towns found in California and New York. However Japanese Americans can also be found in every state in the country.
Japanese respect and love for family is a key factor that kept this community of people strong. “In fact, it is often hard to distinguish between distinct cultural values and the norms of family congregations in the Japanese-American Christian community. The family is at the center of the Japanese-American way of life. Devotion to parents, elders, and the extended family, including the faith community, is a cherished value.” (Le)
Japanese are known for their unique ethnicity. This has been very noticed in the United States and not always excepted. Their ethnicity makes them a unique attribution to this now diverse culture blended country. They bring a special race, class, ideology and even religion to America.
Gender and race were once also a great issues in the United State. Women were seen as prostitutes due to the little knowledge of our country. They had only known of the prostitution of woman from business men and the way women were portrayed in American movies and their race was seen as an outcast. Their race was found hard to understand. They were white but yet different. They were looked upon as very strange and were kept as outsiders. But today things have changed. Japanese Americans are seen for their individuality and accepted by all. Most of their stereotypes have lifted and they are seen in a positive light.
Japanese religion has been accepted in the United States. Shinto’s and Buddhist’s are seen as humble and respectful religions. These religions have even been publicized in popular culture and by celebrities. But overall these religions remain a very minor fraction of the other dominating religions in the United States
Now Japanese Americans are looked at in a new and positive light. They are also seen as a very smart race. Japanese Americans do attribute a high number of college grads compared to other races. “Asian Americans, especially the Japanese communities, have the highest college degree attainment rate, rates of having an advanced degree (professional or Ph.D.), median family income, being in the labor force, rate of working in a "high skill" occupation (executive, professional, technical, or upper management), and median Socioeconomic Index (SEI) score that measures occupational prestige.”(Le)
One flaw that is still found in the U.S for Asians is that they are not represented as well as they should be in the government. “Their representation in the government does not reflect of high citizenship numbers in the U.S. Japanese people definitely want to get involved in the politics of the U.S. so that they can finally see themselves as true citizens of the United States.” (Le) But as time progresses and with the more college graduates that appear, there will be a boom of Japanese Americans to appear in the government. There soon will be representation for them as there is for other races.
The Japanese community has effected many changed in our popular culture as well. Japanese restaurants have become “hot spots”. “For the Japanese-American community, this is only magnified by the strong devotion to the artistry of good food, and the Japanese traditions of generous hospitality. There can be an almost competitive value placed on bringing the best possible dishes to church functions.” (Le)
Movies with more Japanese themes have been recently filmed. About the lives of the geishas (Memoirs of a Geisha) and Samurai (The Last Samurai) . Movie from Japan are even getting redone in American movies, especially their horror genre. Then of course is the Anime crazy that swept our cultures youth.
“In recent years, many Japanese American fiction writers, particularly women, have received a lot of attention and recognition for their work. Even back in the 1970s, Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior won the prestigious National Book Critics Circle Award. But you might say that this current wave of Japanense American literature began to flourish, at least from the perspective of non-Asians at large, with the critical and popular success of Amy Tan's Joy Luck Club as both a novel and later as a motion picture.: (Le) Japanese Americans have added many great popular culture attributes the United States. They will probably continue as an influence in our culture, since now they are a part of it.
Without the Japanese entering the United States, thing would be a lot different. Japanese Americans bring a great number of things to the United States. The Americans might not have started out with a great relationship with the Japanese immigrants who came here. They were often given a rough time. However, they have stepped up and become the group to compete with. They are the highest group to go to college, they have made an impact to our country with its culture. The balance between their culture and American culture has really worked well for them as a whole. Japanese Americans have added a lot to our country and still are. American would not be the same without Japanese Americans adding to the greatness of the country. The identity of America alone would be significantly different.
Bibliography
Le, C.N. 2005. "The Model Minority Image" Asian-Nation: The Landscape of Asian America. <http://www.asian-nation.org/model-minority.shtml> (December 4, 2005).
Le, C.N. 2005. "Socioeconomic Statistics & Demographics" Asian-Nation: The Landscape of Asian America. <http://www.asian-nation.org/demographics.shtml> (December 4, 2005).
"United States." Encyclopedia Britannica. 2005. Encyclopedia Britannica Premium Service. 5 Dec. 2005 <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-78001>.
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