ThoughtGallery.org > The Making of Japanese New York

The Making of Japanese New York

Scholars know surprisingly little about the history of the Japanese in New York City, or the East Coast in general. At the turn of the last century, most emigres from the Pacific island left for America’s west coast or Hawaii. But in his new book Distant Islands, Daniel H. Inouye provides a richly detailed study of the groups which settled in Gotham between 1876 and the late 1930s, who ultimately made the city one of the largest foreign capitals for Japanese life in the world. Using a wealth of primary sources—oral histories, memoirs, newspapers, government documents, photographs, and more—Inouye tells the stories of the business and professional elites, mid-sized merchants, small business owners, working-class families, menial laborers, and students that made up these communities. Unlike the nikkei on the West Coast, Inoyue argues, there was relatively weak ethnic cohesion and solidarity among Japanese immigrants, stratified by class like the Germans and other emigres in New York City.











When: Mon., Sep. 21, 2020 at 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Where: Graduate Center, CUNY
365 Fifth Ave.
212-817-7000
Price: Free
Buy tickets/get more info now
See other events in these categories:

Scholars know surprisingly little about the history of the Japanese in New York City, or the East Coast in general. At the turn of the last century, most emigres from the Pacific island left for America’s west coast or Hawaii. But in his new book Distant Islands, Daniel H. Inouye provides a richly detailed study of the groups which settled in Gotham between 1876 and the late 1930s, who ultimately made the city one of the largest foreign capitals for Japanese life in the world. Using a wealth of primary sources—oral histories, memoirs, newspapers, government documents, photographs, and more—Inouye tells the stories of the business and professional elites, mid-sized merchants, small business owners, working-class families, menial laborers, and students that made up these communities. Unlike the nikkei on the West Coast, Inoyue argues, there was relatively weak ethnic cohesion and solidarity among Japanese immigrants, stratified by class like the Germans and other emigres in New York City.

Buy tickets/get more info now