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On December 7, 1941, the Japanese Imperial Navy bombed the U.S. Pacific Fleet at a naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. More than 2,300 Americans were killed, and many ships and airplanes were destroyed. This action prompted President Franklin Roosevelt to declare war on Japan. Within hours of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested many prominent members of Japanese-American communities along the West Coast. A day later, on December 8, 1941, the U.S. officially declared war on Japan. The Japanese living in the U.S. and those of Japanese ancestry were removed from their homes and placed in internment camps without a trial or hearing. In order to prove their loyalty, many Japanese Americans joined the military and helped to staff and run the bases on the Hawaiian mainlands. INSET: INTERNMENT CAMPS.

Japanese emigration to the U.S. nearly came to a halt during the 1920s. In 1921, several anti-Japanese land laws were passed in California and Washington. On May 21, 1921, a law was passed that put limitations on the number of immigrants who could enter the U.S. from different countries. Japanese was one of the ethnic backgrounds singled out for exclusion. As a result of the prejudice and discrimination that immigrants faced on a daily basis, the Issei and Nisei created another economy and culture besides that of their white American counterparts. The Issei were loyal to the Japan-owned stores, and many sent their children to Japanese-run segregated schools. In fact, some Issei did not believe in the American education system and sent their children to Japan for schooling. The Nisei were different from most children because they lived in two worlds. The Nisei wanted to fight against the racism and prejudice that they were experiencing from white people, so they organized many clubs and organizations with this aim in mind. They created the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), a civil rights group that fought to ensure that no immigrants' rights were violated and that all people were treated fairly.

Japanese immigrants arriving in the mainland U.S. faced all sorts of problems. The teens who hoped to study in U.S. schools and universities often had to take jobs as domestic servants and go to school at night. The students were not the only ones having problems. Some Japanese immigrants were tricked into signing labor contracts that did not pay or deliver what the worker was promised. Most of the first jobs that the Japanese immigrants took in the U.S. were as migrant farm workers. They lived in railroad cars and moved from place to place. They got jobs helping to harvest crops and then moved on to the next farm. Some Japanese lost all their belongings when crops failed, but many more became successful farmers. Many Californians were jealous of the success that the Japanese experienced. Their feelings of jealousy were an important motivation behind the Alien Land Act, which was passed by the California State Legislature in 1913. The Act prohibited "aliens ineligible for citizenship" from purchasing land or leasing it for a period longer than three years. INSET: SCHOOLBOYS.

The first Japanese immigrants in Hawaii worked mainly on sugarcane plantations. Once a laborer arrived on a plantation, he or she usually signed a contract that bound them to work for a period of time — usually three years. The contracts set the wages and amount of time a worker would stay at a particular job. Each worker had to wear an identification number on a brass tag with which they were identified. The bosses were cruel and whipped anyone not working fast enough. Furthermore, the Japanese were being paid less than Puerto Rican or Portuguese workers. This angered many of the Issei. However, despite all these unfair conditions the Japanese worked hard for the plantation owners, and more and more immigrants began to settle in Hawaii. The hard work and skill of the Japanese in Hawaii was not limited to plantation work. Many of the Japanese immigrants also found work with the fishing industry. However, Hawaii was not the only place these new immigrants settled. Many made their homes in West Coast cities in the United States, and some made homes in Mexico and Canada. INSETS: JAPANESE EMIGRATION COMPANIES;THE GENTLEMEN'S AND LADIES' AGREEMENTS.

Most people who thought about immigrating during the 19th century believed that there were economic and social opportunities in North America that were not available to them in their native lands. Japanese thought that in North America you could work and, in a few years, save enough money to live comfortably for the rest of your life back home in Japan. A majority of the Japanese immigrants were males between the ages of 15 and 39 who hoped to start a business, earn money, and then return home wealthy. It was not easy to emigrate. The Japanese government screened potential emigrants at quarantine, or isolation, stations. Before an emigrant received a passport, he or she had to be tested for syphilis, hookworm, trachoma and other illnesses. After the decision was made to go to North America and a passport was granted, a long, slow, and hazardous journey lay ahead. Most of the first Japanese emigrants went to Hawaii to work on sugarcane plantations, where the pay was supposed to be high. Other immigrants found their way to West Coast states like California and Washington, where they worked as migrant workers, moving from farm to farm.

Unlike many countries, which consist of a large landmass, Japan is made up of nearly 3,000 islands. Before people began emigrating from Japan to North America, the island nation had isolated itself from the rest of the world. For over 250 years, the leaders of Japan shut off the country to foreign trade and influence by closing its shipping ports so that ships from other nations could not enter Japan. The Edo government of Japan also made it against the law for people to read foreign books and learn about other religions, customs, or beliefs. The government did not want anyone or anything to challenge traditional Japanese values, such as obedience and harmony, especially within the family unit. Japan might have remained isolated even longer were it not for the U.S. Navy. In 1853, U.S. naval officer Commodore Matthew C. Perry arrived in Edo Harbor. He had a letter from U.S. president Millard Fillmore. The letter requested permission for American ships to stop at Japanese ports for supplies.

Ethnic diversity is one of the most striking characteristics of the American identity. In the U.S. the Bureau of the Census officially recognizes 122 different ethnic groups. Population of North America has grown by leaps and bounds, starting with the American Indian tribes and nations and increasing with the arrival of the European colonial migrants who came to these shores during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since then, millions of immigrants have come to America from every corner of the world. It was not so easy to become part of America's culture. The most striking changes occurred among the children of immigrants, whose hopes and dreams were different from those of their parents. They began breaking away from the Old World customs, perhaps as a reaction to the embarrassment of being labeled "foreigner." Today, the pride that Americans have in their ethnic roots is one of the abiding strengths of both the U.S. and Canada.

The Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) was founded in 1929 to address issues of discrimination against the Issei and Nisei in the U.S. The JACL was established to fight primarily for the civil rights of Japanese Americans but also for the benefit of other immigrants. Although still a small, California-based organization, the JACL was one of only a few organizations in the 1920s and 1930s willing to challenge the racist policies of the state and federal governments. The true test of the JACL came in the 1940s when Japan attacked the U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor and launched America into World War II. During the war, the JACL continued its efforts to ensure some measure of protection and comfort for Japanese Americans imprisoned in government detention camps. The organization argued for and won the right of Japanese Americans to serve in the U.S. military, resulting in the creation of a segregated unit, the famous 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which joined with the 100th Battalion from Hawaii and became the most highly decorated unit in U.S. military history, despite having only served in combat for a little over a year in the European theater of the war.

This article presents a list of books that can be referred for further reading on Japanese Americans.

A glossary of terms used in the book 'Japanese Americans' is given in this article.

This article presents information about famous Japanese Americans. Leo Esaki was the winner of the 1973 Nobel Prize for Physics for his work on electron tunneling theories. Harvey Itano won the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Medical Achievement Award for his outstanding contributions to research on sickle cell anemia, a disease that targets African Americans. George Takei played Sulu in the 'Star Trek' series on television and in films. Ronald Takaki was a Pulitzer Prize nominee for his work on 'A Different Mirror,' 'Iron Cages: Race and Culture in the 19th Century.' He is the Caldecott Award-nominated writer of the children's books Crow Boy, Umbrella, and Seashore Story. She is an attorney, the founder of a multicultural children's book publishing company, and author of Ashok by Any Other Name and Char Siu Bad Boy.

This article presents information about contributors of the book 'Japanese Americans.' Barry Moreno has been librarian and historian at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum and the Statue of Liberty National Monument since 1988. He is the author of 'The Statue of Liberty Encyclopedia,' which was published by Simon&Schuster in October 2000. After graduation from California State University at Los Angeles, where he earned a degree in history, he joined the National Park Service as a seasonal park ranger at the Statue of Liberty; he eventually became the monument's librarian. In his spare time, Barry enjoys reading, writing, and studying foreign languages and grammar. Jennifer M. Contino is a freelance writer for several magazines, including 'Sequential Tart,' 'Wizard,' 'Comicology,' and 'In Power.' She has a teaching degree in elementary education and also works with abused children as a mental health worker.

This article presents information related to photographs that appear in the book 'Japanese Americans.'

This article presents statistics of the number of people of Japanese descent living in the U.S.

This article presents a list of Web sites that can be referred for further information related to Japanese Americans. The official Web site of the U.S. Bureau of the Census contains information about the most recent census taken in 2000. The Web site for Canada's Bureau of Statistics, includes population information updated for the most recent census in July 2001. The Web site for the Japanese-American Network is designed to exchange information about Japanese Americans — art, culture, community, history, news, events, social services, and other issues.