"Pacific Crossings"

Takaki’s "Pacific Crossings" explains the movement of the Japanese to America and how it was different from that of the Chinese and other immigrants.

The writing explains how the Japanese movement into America especially between the years of 1885 and 1924 was increasingly common and a major dream of many still in Japan. They could make much more money in the U.S., even up to as much as their own governors made. As most immigrants were initially men, more women began to emigrate to America, as Japan wanted to uphold their national honor and avoid any occurrences of prostitution, gambling, or drunkenness in America (like that of the Chinese) to their best effort. In addition, the receiving countries also played a role in the number of women that were allowed to come into America, especially for means of working alongside their husbands to improve production as well as to be helpful in the labor field. The employers in America who did take these immigrants of both sexes were “systematically developing an ethnically diverse labor force in order to create divisions among their workers and reinforce management control” and avoid any action of strikes or upheaval. Over a period of time there were a large variety of different nationalities involved in the labor force in order to “straighten out the Japs” and ensure that they would be on good behavior, as well as not complain about wages or treatment. Despite the belief that the Japanese were compliant and just kept quiet, they had their share of revolt and protest to the harsh conditions that their employers bestowed on them.

One part of this reading that I do not understand is why the employers of these various nationalities found it necessary to cause problems between the foreigners in the first place. If they were doing their work and producing enough to meet their needs plus some, then why was there a need for tantalizing the Japanese workers and turning other nationalities against them. If anything, one would think that this would spite the workers to work at a less productive pace and maybe even move back to Japan. I believe that there could be other means of pursuing cooperation than violence and attempts to avoid any nationalities forming a bond. This was clearly to show their sense of power, which is admitted in “Pacific Crossings,” that, “To strengthen their authority over their ethnically diverse work force, planters stratified occupations according to race.”

I like this article in that normally one doesn’t really hear a lot about Japanese expansion into the U.S. and how this became such a powerful movement. I was not aware of the oppression the Japanese received soon after they were considered a threat to the employers and whites. I find it hard to believe that they were not allowed to form bonds with other nationalities or have any sense of control over their work or production. I also find it interesting how women of Japanese origin were encouraged to come to America, as one would think that, if anything, they would be discouraged.