Japanese Women

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Recommended: Immigrant women in the 20th century

Young Japanese immigrant women migrated to California around the 20th century. Many migrated to California to join families that were already established in the state, while others came with their husbands to start a new life in California. Some Japanese women followed their husbands, fulfilling their family responsibilities by being good wives. These Japanese women encountered hardships as compared to other American women because of their ethnicity, new lifestyles such as, keeping their traditional Japanese culture, while assimilating into Californian culture and the fact that they were a minority group. Three particular Japanese immigrant women have shared part of their stories with an interview that discusses their experiences in the “Old Country” and their experiences within California. These first-hand experiences showed California’s diversity and the importance of the transitions that occurred for California and women within the state; such as being solemnly caregivers to having the ability to study, work, while caregiving for their family. This allows one to view the variety of roles women “could obtain” and the false illusions that came with causing the struggle within their lives. They discuss their lives in California including: duties as women, their social life, education, and the working opportunities they were able to obtain. Japanese immigrant women had to put their dreams aside and follow the traditional female archetype within California because of their old traditional customs in Japan and the obstacles they experienced in California, which allowed them to fulfill their traditional Japanese culture within another country, but not accomplish a Californian lifestyle because they were following their Japanese custom...

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...Social Forces 85, no. 4 (June 2007): 1713-1734.

Romero, Mary. “Nanny Diaries and Other Stories: Immigrant Women’s Labor in the Social Reproduction of American Families.” Revista De Estudios Sociales no. 45 (January 2013): 186-197.

Roos, Patricia A., and Joyce F. Hennessy. “Assimilation or Exclusion? Japanese and Mexican Americans in California.” Sociological Forum 2, no. 2 (Spring 1987): 278-304.

Sakai, Tamao (interview), 1980, Stockton Immigrant Women, MSS 239, 2, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library.

Sakamoto, Taylor. “The Triumph and Tragedies of Japanese Women in America: A View Across Four Generations.” History Teacher 41, no. 1 (November 2007): 97-122.

Weinberg, Sydney Stahl. “The Treatment of Women in Immigration History: A Call for Change.” Journal of American Ethnic History 11, no. 4 (Summer 1992): 25.

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