1. JAPANESE AMERICA
By 1940, 127,000 Japanese Americans lived on the West Coast (94,000 in California) and 158,000 lived in Hawaii. Of those, one-third were Issei (ee-say), first generation in the United States, and nearly two-thirds were American citizens by birth. During the first half of the 20th century, California experienced a wave of anti-Japanese prejudice fueled by labor and farm competition that resulted in laws, policies, and organizations that discriminated against the Japanese and other Asians.
“I recall the woman in the house where this sign was erected, used to try and spit on me as I passed by her going to school. There was one time because of these taunts…that I didn’t want to go to school.”
- ORAL HISTORY EXCERPT, JUDGE JOHN AISO
Aiso served as the Director of the 1st MIS Language School, Presidio of San Francisco

2. 1869
First immigrants to the continental United States arrive in San Francisco, California, eventually establishing the Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Colony at Gold Hill (Coloma), California. The grave of “Okei,” one of the members of the colony, commemorates the site.
Pictured: Family Crest and members of the Wakamatsu Colony
Photo courtesy of Gold Hill-Wakamatsu Colony Foundation
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3. 1894
San Francisco’s grand Midwinter Fair features an extravagant Japanese Tea Garden, with Makoto Hagiwara as proprietor with master builder Shinshichi Nakatani. Japanese Tea is served alongside a confection, and the San Francisco “fortune cookie” is born.
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4. Fuji Athletic Club, 1903
Baseball became a popular sport with the Japanese in America, especially the American born Nisei.

5. 1910
The Angel Island Immigration Station opens.
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Pictured above: The arrival of the ship Shinyo Maru at Angel Island from Japan
Pictured left: Picture brides arrive at Angel Island

6. Community Picnic, circa 1910
Community picnics were large, eagerly-awaited events. The community exuded a spirit of cooperation and made room for new members.