Except from “Wei, William. Asians in Colorado: a History of Persecution and Perseverance in the Centennial State. University of Washington Press, 2016″ (Pg. 152).
“Like the Chinese before them, the Japanese usually worked in unskilled, undesirable occupations that required hard physical labor. And like the Chinese, they also encountered enmity. Though Japanese experienced problems similar to those of Chinese in Colorado, the shared experience produced little unity between them. Instead of developing some degree of pan-Asian solidarity, which might have been useful in confronting enemies who clamored for the exclusion of all Asians from America, an interethnic acrimony arose between the two groups.”
As many Japanese immigrants came west due to new laws being enforced by the Japanese government that took land from the peasants, the Japanese and Chinese soon came into close contact in a vastly different culture. The Meji Government’s tax reform took the land from the peasants leaving them with no property and no reason to remain in Japan. After coming to America, and specifically Colorado to rebuild their legacy, the Japanese came into close contact with the Chinese who had left China for similar reasons to the Japanese. The above excerpt discusses how the Japanese came for work and money, taking any jobs that they could get. Often times these jobs were “unskilled, undesirable occupations that required hard physical labor”. That did not matter for them, what mattered was pursuing a better life than they had left behind in Japan.
The Japanese and also the Chinese experienced many hardships in Colorado. Being extremely far from Japan (and China) the cultures were vastly different in Colorado. The Japanese immigrants were looked down upon by many of the Europeans who gave them little to no respect. The Japanese and Chinese came from different but fairly similar cultures but for the two groups of immigrants it did not matter. They were very much separate from each other and did not get along very well. The asians dealt with a large amount of hardship from many Europeans who wished to rid the country of all. However the cultures clashed and unity was not found. This desire for their own cultural success excluding the other immigrants drove the two apart making life difficult on both the Japanese and the Chinese. The Japanese came looking for a better life full of opportunity but that opportunity was far down the road do the constant oppression of all asians in Colorado. It is intriguing to think about how things could have been different, had the Japanese and Chinese united and worked together toward this life of opportunity.
History of Immigration 
I think it is interesting how cultural differences can almost be left behind, or forgotten by the vast majority when there is a relocation. For the Japanese and Chinese migrants, they were very much different groups but from an ignorant American perspective these groups shared stereotypical similarities and were most likely lumped together. I wonder if this could have been one reason for tension between Chinese and Japanese migrant groups?
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Interesting post. I think that they definitely could have united to better reach their shared goals.Why do you think they didn’t? Do you think it had anything to do with the stereotypes of the Americans? It seems that they let those stereotypes control their relations with each other. Do you think that they did?
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Andy, another great blog post! Interestingly enough I chose to do a similar excerpt, and I could not agree with you more. I think it is human nature to group one another based on certain criteria, but I think it is a shame that in history many of these groupings are based particularly on race. I really liked your section regarding the history of both countries working together and what that could have looked like. Two thumbs up!
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