INTERMARRIAGE AMONG JAPANESE-AMERICANS.   Term Paper ID:26487 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Examines history, incidence, legal, social & personal effects of Japanese-Amer. women marrying non-Japanese-American men.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Examines history, incidence, legal, social & personal effects of Japanese-Amer. women marrying non-Japanese-American men. Paper Introduction: Intermarriage is one sign of the assimilation of a foreign population in their new country. Such marriages, however, often encounter numerous difficulties, from discrimination to cultural tensions between the husband and wife. Racial intermarriage involves the added difficulty of different racial backgrounds, which also create instances of discrimination and problems fitting into the community. The marriages of Japanese women and American men constitute one such intermarried population facing particular problems and issues. When the Japanese started arriving in the United States in the 1890s, anger about the Chinese was simply transferred to the newcomers, and the focus of hostility and agitation against the Japanese was in California, as had been the case with hostility toward the Chinese. This was also where most of the continental Japan Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. The Issei were first-generation immigrantswho came to America prior to the Oriental Exclusion Act of 1924, withalmost half arriving before 191 . O'Brien (1991). As with certain other ethnic groups, most of the Japanese who came toAmerica in the early years were male, and very few Japanese women cameduring the 188 s and 189 s. Ethnic Americans. More recent arrivals -- and there have been many in recent years as Japanese companies havestarted divisions in this country -- tend to show more traditionallyJapanese family structures. Many of the women I haveobserved seem more "Americanized" than Japanese. Within two decades, however, many youngJapanese males began bringing over wives so that the turn of the centurysaw the beginning of Japanese female immigration, which continued until theJapanese government curtailed it in 192 . A unique institution supported this shift in immigration, theJapanese "picture-bride" practice. However, she notes that it is more of anadvantage for a male than a female because the Japanese still preferdealing with men in a one-to-one business relationship. They wereisolated, while the modern Japanese woman is not isolated at all andinstead fits well in the modern business world where women participatefully. "Historical Overview" (1999). and D.J. They were mostly bornhere, they have attended school here, and they work here. Intergenerational differences for the ratioof intermarriage are significant, and statistics showing an increase in thenumber of outmarriages among the Sansei reflects a reduction in prejudiceand discrimination after World War II (Fugita and O'Brien, 1991, 131-132).Intermarriage for this population has been shown to have a weakening effecton ethnic community involvement. Such marriages, however, often encounter numerousdifficulties, from discrimination to cultural tensions between the husbandand wife. http://www.inrp.org/english/overview.htm. Oneof the chief arguments against the Japanese was that they were"nonassimilable," and picture-brides provided additional evidence of thefact of Japanese segregation. They were scattered acrossthe country, though a large number settled in the South. International Nikkei Research Project. Prejudice and discrimination against the Japanese in general hasextended to Japanese women married to American men and often to the men inthese marriages as well and to their children. Such discrimination wasonce common everywhere, as the internment of the Japanese in World War IIshows. When the Japanese started arriving in the United States in the 189 s,anger about the Chinese was simply transferred to the newcomers, and thefocus of hostility and agitation against the Japanese was in California, ashad been the case with hostility toward the Chinese. Traditionally, Japanese women have outmarried at ahigher rate than Japanese men. The United States Industrial commission reported in19 1 that the Japanese were "far less desirable" than the Chinese, andfurther stated: They have most of the vices of the Chinese, with none of the virtues. They tended tolive an isolated existence, and they seldom had contact with JapaneseAmerican individuals or communities: These marriages helped establish the stereotype held by many White Americans about the ideal coupling of Asian women with White men and a host of other exotic stereotypes that plague relations between Whites and Asians to this day (Spickard, 1996, 141). However, this situation has largely changed in America today,especially in the larger cities where mixed marriages are more common andwhere circumstances facing such married couples are quite different fromthose that once faced such couples in the South. Perhaps, among other things, this may indicate that those who inmarry have more traditional values, including those pertaining to economic success (Fugita and O'Brien, 1991, 139-14 ). Japanese-American women do not defer to their husbands any more thanCaucasian women. "Issei: the first women." Civil RightsDigest, 48-53. The marriages of Japanese women andAmerican men constitute one such intermarried population facing particularproblems and issues. and D.M. Until 1948, anti-miscegenation laws prevented intermarraige for theJapanese in America. The immigration of Japanesewomen made the Japanese-American family unit possible and produced a secondgeneration. Japanese American ethnicity.Seattle: University of Washington Press. They underbid the Chinese in everything, and are as a class tricky, unreliable, and dishonest (Dinnerstein and Reimers, 1982, 51). This was also wheremost of the continental Japanese lived, there being another majorpopulation in Hawaii. References Dinnerstein, L. Racial intermarriage involves the added difficulty of differentracial backgrounds, which also create instances of discrimination andproblems fitting into the community. Fugita, S.S. Divorce rates for Japanese women marriedto American men are higher than for Japanese married to other Japanese,perhaps because of the looser community ties that result (Fugita andO'Brien, 1991, 14 ). Most were ineligible for Americancitizenship, and in many states they were forbidden from owning land.Other groups were born in America and were known as Nisei (second-generation) or Sansei (third generation). Intermarriage is one sign of the assimilation of a foreign populationin their new country. (1974, Spring). They also havefew ties to the Japanese-American community beyond their immediate family.Only one of the four I have observed speaks any Japanese at all, and shelearned the language in part from an older relative and in part fromattending classes in order to work in the business world, where knowledgeof Japanese is an advantage. Intermarriage has also been shown to have aneconomic component: Even when age and educational attainment are controlled for, intermarraige has a positive association with income. This seems to be true among Japanese-American womenmarried to Japanese-American men as well, assuming that both were born andraised in this country and are not recent arrivals. Anumber of the Japanese women married to American men would be issei of adifferent sort, Japanese war brides brought home by soldiers after WorldWar II ("International Nikkei Research Project," 1999). New York: Twayne. Spickard, P.R. The Japanese community has made clear distinctions among thegenerations based on origin. Neither of the partners to theunion would meet before the wedding in this system, but the bride wasenabled to get a visa once she had been accepted by the man in America.This system added to the anti-Japanese feeling in the U.S., however. Most single men either returned toJapan to find wives, an expensive and difficult proposition, or theyadopted the practice of selecting picture-brides, which developed out ofthe tradition of the arranged marriage. Another reason intermarriage rates have increasedover time is that the Japanese American community as a whole has becomemore assimilated, which has meant moving into Caucasian neighborhoods andassociating with majority group members to a much greater degree (Fugitaand O'Brien, 1991, 59). Japanese Americans. They held American citizenshipbecause they were born on American soil, and most had been educated inAmerican schools and had been indoctrinated wit democratic principles. (1996). The Nikkei are fully American, as noted, andare not at all in the same position as the Japanese war brides who foundthemselves in a different country with different customs. Reimers (1982). The practice was condemned by fanatics as animmoral social custom antithetical to American Christian ideals (Gee, 1974,48-49). Observation of Japanese women married to or dating American men inrecent years shows that the stereotype is false. New York:Harper & Row. Gee, E. The war brides in the 195 s married members of the American occupationforces in Japan during the American occupation and the Korean War, andthere were tens of thousands of such brides. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.