Why are there so many Japanese people in Hawaii?

Today, about 14% of Hawaii’s population has Japanese ancestry. This makes this ethnic group the second largest in Hawaii. This is due in part to the 900 Japanese immigrants that arrived in Hawaii on February 8, 1885. These immigrants came looking for better financial opportunities and quickly found Hawaii’s sugar cane plantations. The Japanese were considered the earliest migrants to come to Hawaii.

There soon became a growing resentment toward numbers of foreign laborers, especially in California. This unrest soon turned into the passage of The Immigration Act of 1907, which then stated that the duty of the President to refuse entry to citizens of any foreign government. During World War II citizens of Japanese descent had a very difficult time and were unable to volunteer in active military service. Many Japanese had to prove their allegiance to their country by assisting with defense jobs.

Since that time new laws have erased racial discrimination and they identify with the Hawaiian American way of life. The Japanese presence in Hawaii can be paid tribute to the young male laborers who worked on the sugar cane fields.  

Writer : Anne Pinkerton