Thursday, May 6, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Newspaper Article
Hawaii Times
Japanese population in Hawaii
April 20th, 1910
Green, Dillon
Japanese immigrants have been coming to the Hawaiian Islands since 1885 and there population is steadily increasing even today. The Japanese started coming to the islands in 1885 and by 1894 they had a population of about 28,000 a majority of them being single men. Then in 1899 plantation workers began looking for laborers so the sent out for around 26,000 more Japanese workers (again the majority was mostly men). After asking plantation owner gorge smith why he originally sent for workers from off island, he simply replied,” to get workers off island was easier and cheaper than getting the locals to cooperate.”
Shin Yoshida of Maui said,” I like the work here but I believe it gives me the same chance at succeeding as I had when I lived in Japan.” another worker, Haru Yamamoto of Honolulu said,” life in the field gets boring with no one to spend it with”. From these statements it can be seen that their lives have been affected in many ways one in which is being lonely. To solve this problem Japanese plantation workers began to work for and save their money so that they may send off to Japan for a wife to have on the island with them in which doubled their population by 1903.
With this increase in population the Japanese population it is no shock that by this year’s latest count there is an estimated 79,675. The increase in Japanese population throughout Hawaii is continuing to grow and is thought to continue to grow throughout the years. There is no doubt that the Japanese will become a great part of our culture.
Haiku's
Journals
November 19th, 1911 – I’m so excited. Finally I get to meet him in person. It’s been a year of writing and there is a ship here to bring me to the Hawaiian Islands and meet him. We are planning to get married and he sounds so perfect. He says that he is prepared to give me a better life with him and it just sounds so perfect. Oh, how I long to see him. I’m sure the pictures don’t give him enough credit and he just sounds so sweet. The strange thing is there are quite a few other ladies here waiting to board the ship and the crewmen say there are more to come. Just how many people are coming on this voyage with us? The crewmen have a list as they are calling names on who is to board the ship and at this moment the only thing I can seem to think is what if they don’t call my name to board.
January 4th, 1912 – it seems like forever. I’ve been on this boat for a month and sixteen days and there are still a few more days left of voyage at the least. I still haven’t got over my see sickness yet and the captain said that the amount of time left for this voyage depends on the weather. The weather has been good up till today. It always seems to be sunny sometimes with a few clouds but not really anything to worry about, but today was different the clouds seem darker and it looks like there should be a storm ahead. I’m worried about what might happen. What if out voyage gets cut short and we can’t make it through the storm. I asked the captain about it and said the same thing but there seemed to be a little shake in his voice which makes me unsure.
January 16th, 1912 - the storm is long gone and the island is getting closer. The beaches are within view and you can see the beaches. The beaches look nice and you can see all of the faces full of anticipation. The boat seems to be moving fast towards the shore as I scan the faces for anyone that seems vaguely like the pictures my fiancé had sent me with the letters we had exchanged but none seemed to do justice. We finally pulled up and started to unload. All the other women went running off to their fiancés with joy but I couldn’t seem to find mine. After a few minutes of waiting a man around the age of 35 came up and asked me if I was Izumi Tanaka. I said yes and asked him how he knew my name. When he replied that he was Ryuu Nakamuru I almost fainted. This is not the 21 year old man I had agreed to marry.
April 28th, 1912 – I hear them in the fields fallowing close behind me and they sound like they are catching up. Why did I choose to run away? This seems like such a stupid mistake now. Before I decided to leave the other girls that worked on the plantation with me tried to convince me that Ryuu wasn’t such a bad guy but I didn’t see how. Ryuu was not the guy I had thought to marry in more ways than one and now that we are married I see that his age was not his only lie. I had to get away I thought. If only I could reach the ocean I would be fine. The only thing was I couldn’t see where the ocean was. Back at the house I could see it but now within the fields all I could see was sugar cane. I can still hear them gaining but I just don’t know what to do. I don’t know which direction to turn and now I’m afraid I don’t know what will happen to me if I get caught.
