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There is aJapanese American and a Japanese national population inSan Francisco and theSan Francisco Bay Area. The center of the Japanese and Japanese American community is in San Francisco'sJapantown.
Japan had maintained an official policy of isolation from Europe and most of its colonies since 1639, and emigration was strictly controlled. However, in the years that followed CommodoreMatthew C Perry's 1854 arrival, Japan underwent a great social transformation, and for many Japanese, the U.S. became a model for military power and a desirable way of life.[1]
After the Meiji Restoration in 1868, Japan's rapid urbanisation and industrialisation brought about great social disruption and agricultural decline. Farmers were evicted and workers were left employed by foreign competition, they looked more and more for a better life outside the islands of their homeland. As Japanese wages decreased, and word of a booming U.S. economy spread, the lure of the United States became difficult to resist.[1]
The first Japanese immigrants arrived inSan Francisco Bay in 1869.[2] Initially, Japanese immigrants moved to the edge ofSan Francisco's Chinatown and theSouth of Market neighborhood.[3]
Asian American Studies professorYuji Ichioka estimated that there were around 300 Japanese "school boys"—immigrants who are working to earn their education in the United States—living in San Francisco in 1885.[4]
Following theSan Francisco Earthquake in 1906, the Japanese community relocated to the city's present dayJapantown in theWestern Addition, and also theSouth Park neighborhood.[3] In 1900 there were 90 Japanese businesses. By 1909 this figure increased to 545.[2]
After the earthquake, theSan Francisco Board of Education passed a regulation requiring that Japanese American students attend separate,racially specificschools. This local action led to an international dispute, following the vigorous objections of the Japanese government. The result of the dispute was theGentlemen's Agreement of 1907, which greatly restricted the flow of Japanese nationals to the United States.[5]
San Jose's Japantown was founded due to the need of combining comradeship and resources to survive as immigrants in the United States. Initially, it was known asHeinlenville between Jackson and Taylor east of Sixth Street.[incomprehensible] However, John Heinlen offered his own property for the new location after the city's second Chinatown burned to the ground under mysterious circumstances. Despite outrage from the general public, Mr Heinlen built a new Chinatown entirely of brick. He then rented these buildings to the Chinese at very low rates.[6]
DuringWorld War II, San Francisco saw the largest and oldest enclave of Japanese outside of Japan,Japantown, completely empty out its ethnic Japanese residents as a result ofExecutive Order 9066 that forced all Japanese of birth or descent in the United Statesto be interned. By 1943 many large sections of the neighborhood remained vacant due to the forced internment.
Following the war, some Japanese Americans returned, followed by new Japanese immigrants as well as investment from the Japanese Government and Japanese companies. However, many did not return to the neighborhood and instead settled in other parts of the city, or out to the suburbs altogether. This was further exacerbated by the city's efforts to rejuvenate the neighborhood initiated byJustin Herman in the Western Addition in the 1960s through the 1980s.[7]
Civil rights attorneyWayne M. Collins, who worked many prominent cases on behalf of members of the Japanese American community, both lived and worked in San Francisco[8] until his death in 1974. Among his clients wereFred Korematsu,Iva Toguri D'Aquino, and Japanese American renunciants from theTule Lake War Relocation Center.
The Japanese population of the South Bay is diverse, and many have mixed-race backgrounds due to the growing trend of inter-racial marriages. According to a study conducted byJapanese American Citizens League, between 2000 and 2009, the mixed race Japanese population inSan Jose grew by 27.3%, while the monoracial Japanese population declined.[9]
TheFukuin Kai opened in 1877. The bookSan Francisco's Japantown stated that this was believed to be the first Japanese organization in the United States.[2]
TheSan Francisco Japanese School (SFJS) is aJapanese Ministry of Education (MEXT)-designatedweekend Japanese school serving the area. The school system, headquartered in San Francisco, rents classrooms in four schools serving a total of over 1,600 students as of 2016; two of the schools are in San Francisco and two are in theSouth Bay. For elementary students it operates out of the A.P. Giannini Middle School in San Francisco andThe Harker School Blackford Campus inSan Jose. For junior high school and high school students it operates out ofLowell High School in San Francisco and the J.F. Kennedy Middle School inCupertino.[10]
MEXT also defines the Grossman Academy Japanese Language School as an official weekend school.[11] The academy has its offices inFremont and its classes are held inPalo Alto.[12]
Saniku Gakuin in Japan has an affiliated weekend Japanese school, the Saniku Gakuin Japanese School in Santa Clara, California (三育学院サンタクララ校San'iku Gakuin Santakurara Kō). It holds its classes at Latimer Elementary School inSan Jose.[13]
Kinmon Gakuen (金門学園) is a Japanese language school in San Francisco, established in 1911.
Two San Francisco Unified School District elementary schools offer Japanese language and culture bilingual education - Clarendon Alternative Elementary School andRosa Parks Elementary School.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.The University of Maryland and JACL report said the overall Japanese American population in the greater San Jose area increased by 3,588 persons, or 10.8 percent, between 2000 and 2009. The report further states that the mixed-heritage population increased by 1,555 persons (27.3 percent) while single-race Japanese Americans have declined ... The Nikkei population in the South Bay continues to grow, but as new demographics among Japanese Americans emerge, the growth does not appear to be clear-cut. Shin-Nikkei and mixed-race Japanese Americans are growing in number while the "traditional" single-race Japanese Americans are waning.
Media related toJapanese American internment processing in San Francisco at Wikimedia Commons
