Social History of Japanese Fishermen in North America: Commercial Fishing and Transpacific Community Formation, 1890-1948

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25884059
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Historical studies in general
• Research Institution: Sophia University
• Principal Investigator: KONNO YUKO 上智大学, 言語教育研究センター, 講師 (10707623)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-08-30 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 移民史 / 漁業史 / 日米関係 / 日系人研究

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This historical research focused on Japanese immigrant fishermen in pre-World War II North America, and particularly looked at the history of community formation on Terminal Island in Los Angeles, California. It further explored the issue of the anti-Japanese movement as it related to the exclusion of Japanese fishermen from the public waters of California. Through both quantitative and qualitative methods, I examined the ways in which immigrants maintained ties with their home villages, cooperated or conflicted with rival ethnic fishermen, and forged a new identity as Terminal Islanders that survived the war and the internment. I also delved into legal and personal documents to explain different motives behind the anti-Japanese movement, and how the Japanese as a community responded to such hostility. The overall findings of the research illustrate the formation of a unique, transpacific Japanese American community, and help to bridge a gap between immigration and emigration studies.

Free Research Field

歴史学