Growing Up in Little Tokyo

Abstract

The first wave of Issei, which included Sue’s father, came to the United States between 1885 and 1924.¹ Following the pattern of single young men who left Japan to work on Hawaiian sugar plantations, some moving later to mainland United States,² Sue’s father, Gonhichi Kunitomi, emigrated from Okayama prefecture in Japan to Hawaii on a passport dated September 14, 1898, on a three-year contract to work as a farm laborer on a Hawaiian plantation.³ The Japanese came to the United States for the same reasons as other immigrants, for economic opportunity. Japanese, however, sought short-term economic gain so they could return home and live with no financial worries.⁴