‘First year people’ left a rich legacy

In today’s polarized times and overheated debate over immigration, it’s too easy to lose sight of the myriad ways that immigrants have enriched and benefited American society. In Hawaii, unlike other more-homogeneous places, the “us” versus “them” labels are harder to apply — and that’s thanks to the great diversity that was seeded over many generations by wave upon wave of immigrant laborers brought in from Asia and Europe to toil in Hawaii’s sugar and pineapple plantations.

This week, some of that important history and learning lessons received prominent attention, part of a yearlong celebration of the 150th anniversary of Gannenmono, the first group of Japanese immigrants to the isles. One major highlight has been the visit of Prince Akishino, the second son of Japan’s Emperor Akihito, and his wife, Princess Kiko, in a show of reciprocal respect that underscores the enduring bond between Japan and Hawaii. The royal couple’s first official visit to the U.S. has brought prestige to the yearlong Gannenmono anniversary, and their busy week concludes today with a planned visit to the Hawaii Okinawa Center.

In June 1868, the Gannenmono — the so-called “first year people” who left their homeland in the first year of Japan’s Meiji Era — arrived in Honolulu Harbor after 33 days at sea from Yokohama. The ragtag group of 149 — mostly men but also six women and a few children — were contract laborers for Hawaii’s burgeoning sugar industry; they were critically needed. The labor shortage was due to a decimated Native Hawaiian population and restrictions against Chinese laborers.

Within three years, though, harsh and abusive working conditions had many of the group returning to Japan, and some going on to the U.S. mainland; only 50 stayed. But it was these 50 who stayed, dispersed over four islands, who perservered and rooted families here, trailblazing the way for future immigrants from Japan.

Those later waves, of course, would be the celebrated issei — the mass of contract laborers who came from 1885 to 1924 — who established themselves here. They gave way to the second-generation, American-born nisei who, in turn, famously helped shaped 20th-century Hawaii in wartime via the 100th Battalion/442nd Regiment, and beyond via politics, business, labor and other aspects of civic life.

The hard work, success and influence of Japanese immigrants in Hawaii cannot be understated. At their peak in 1920, they comprised 43 percent of Hawaii’s population. Since then, 2010 Census Bureau figures show Japanese-Americans to be over 22 percent of Hawaii’s population, and state statistics this year show residents of Japanese ancestry remain the state’s third-largest ethnic group.

The Gannenmono, and immigrants like them who strike out into the unknown in search of better lives, embody the bedrock principles that make America great — and it is a major aspect that seeded Hawaii’s unique “melting pot” that thrives today.

Hawaii is the most mulicultural state in our United States, thanks to the pioneering immigrants who came to toil in fields and ranches from faraway places such as Japan, China, Europe and the Philippines, followed by their progeny generations later as industrious community contributors.

This multiculturalism and global understanding is Hawaii’s abiding source of pride and inspiration, which residents here continue to extend via our welcoming “aloha spirit.” The 150th anniversary of the Gannenmono, as does every such commemoration, reminds us of our immigration history — how it shaped modern Hawaii and why inclusion, not exclusion, is so highly valued.