Did you leave Japan to make a name for yourself?
According to his profile in "The Centennial History of Japanese Americans in the United States," his father, Matsujiro, left his newborn son, Shinichi, and his wife in Hiroshima in the year Shinichi was born (1900) and went to America. It is only a matter of speculation, but it is likely that he intended to go there to earn money.
"The area where the Kato family lived used to be farmland, and the Kato family also owned land. Matsujiro went to America, I think it was because he was trying to make it big. There were many people like that, and my uncle (Shinichi) even took me to visit some of the people who had returned after being successful," says Shinichi's nephew, Yoshida Junji.
Heading overseas at once
Looking back at the history of Japanese people traveling abroad, the Treaty of Peace and Amity between the United States and Japan (1854) ended the long period of isolation, and Japanese people were finally able to travel abroad. They traveled to a variety of countries and regions, including Hawaii, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Australia, and Southeast Asia.
Many emigrated to study, to make a living, or in the hope of making a fortune. Some emigrated as crew members on foreign ships, others, like John Manjiro, ended up emigrated after being cast away at sea. There were also unscrupulous individuals who abducted women for the purpose of prostitution, or who kept such women and ran brothels for them.
The first example of a group of people who emigrated of their own volition were the "Gannenmono," who emigrated to Hawaii to work on sugarcane farms in 1868 (the first year of the Meiji era). After that, nearly 30,000 people migrated to Hawaii from Japan between 1885 and 1894 as "official immigrants" under an agreement between Japan and the Hawaiian government, which needed farm laborers.
However, as many private immigration companies appeared and began to mediate immigration between the receiving side and the Japanese, "contract immigration," in which an advance payment was made and the number of years of employment was decided, became the norm. This was banned by the US as being inhumane, and instead individual immigration via immigration companies became the norm.
Peaked in 1900
At first, the majority of people travelling to the US mainland were international students, many of whom were struggling to earn a living while working, but the number of migrant workers who came to the US under the pretext of studying abroad also increased. As the number of migrant workers increased, migration began in earnest.
Those who arrived in America first found work through the help of their compatriots, relatives, or through connections with fellow countrymen who could help them find work. There were a variety of jobs available for those who were hired as laborers. They worked on farms, railroad construction sites, fish processing plants, lumber mills, mines, gardens, and in foreign families, and some even used the money they earned to run grocery stores or hotels, or start businesses dealing in art.
There is no clear figure for how many Japanese people went to America as so-called immigrants, but there are some estimates. In "Japanese Emigrants for Work" (by Suzuki Joji, Heibonsha), "the number of immigrant passports issued to America" is given. This number is based on the "(Japanese) Imperial Statistical Yearbook" and indicates the number of passports issued for "agriculture/fishery, artisans, and employment/employment." However, it is said that "this number does not include people who re-entered the country, and does not include those under the age of 15 who were listed on their parent's passport, so it is not a strict figure for immigrants."
According to this table, the total number of people emigrated to the United States in 1882 (Meiji 15) was 60, of which 17 were for the purpose of working. Ten years later, in 1892 (Meiji 25), this number increased to 2,344 and 1,552, respectively, and further peaked at 10,562 and 7,142 in 1900 (Meiji 33).
Meanwhile, America began to take measures to severely restrict foreign immigration, such as banning the immigration of the poor and other socially undesirable people, and anti-Japanese movements also surfaced, so the number of Japanese immigrants increased rapidly and then began to decline. Then, in 1908, the Gentlemen's Agreement between the United States and Japan limited immigrants from Japan to repeat visitors and close relatives. Furthermore, the new Immigration Act of 1924 made it impossible for people to immigrate to America.
From Hiroshima, the "immigrant prefecture"
Shinichi Kato's father, Matsujiro, moved to California in 1900, right when the number of Japanese travelers was at its peak. It is likely that many of his fellow Hiroshima natives left Hiroshima Prefecture for other countries at that time.
It is well known that Hiroshima is an "immigration prefecture." In 2015, the Hiroshima Prefectural Archives held a special exhibition titled "From Hiroshima to the World - History and Present of Emigrants." According to the archives, "Hiroshima Prefecture is the number one immigrant prefecture in Japan, having produced many overseas immigrants for over 100 years. The number was 109,893 people both before and after the war, followed by Okinawa Prefecture with 89,424 people and Kumamoto Prefecture with 76,802 people (number of immigrants according to the JAICA Yokohama Overseas Migration Museum)."
Also, looking at the cumulative totals from 1899 (Meiji 32) to 1937 (Showa 12), Hiroshima Prefecture had the most immigrants by prefecture with 96,181 people, followed by Okinawa Prefecture with 67,650, Kumamoto Prefecture with 67,323, Fukuoka Prefecture with 50,752, and Yamaguchi Prefecture with 45,050. (From "Japanese History Libretto: Japanese Who Crossed the Sea" (by Okabe Makio, Yamakawa Publishing))
The archives further explains the immigrants from Hiroshima Prefecture:
"Full-scale overseas emigration from Hiroshima Prefecture began with the first government-contracted immigration to the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1885 (Meiji 18). From this point on, the destinations of immigrants gradually expanded to North America, Central and South America, and the Oceania Pacific region.
Initially, most immigrants were migrant workers who went abroad to work for a certain period of time at high wages and brought the money they earned back to their home town (remittances), and many of them did not intend to settle in their destinations. However, there were also people who chose to become permanent residents rather than return to their home countries, and later on, there were also immigrants who aimed to settle down from the start.
As Yoshida said, Kato Matsujiro also went to America alone as a migrant worker, riding the wave of this "great migration" that could be called a boom.
(Titles omitted)
© 2021 Ryusuke Kawai
