9781422277454

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Getting Here

Words to Understand mainland a continent or the main part of a continent, rather than an offshore island or peninsula prefecture in Japan, the word for a political division much like a state proxy a person who has authority to act for another I n the 1880s, Hawaii was not yet a US state. Still, much of its economy was con- trolled by powerful US-based businesses, including many large fruit and sugar plantations. The managers of the plantations often sent agents to Japan to recruit young men to come work there. Because of economic and social upheaval in their own country, many agreed to immigrate, signing labor contracts that strongly favored the business owners. Life on the plantations could be hard. The work day was long and toiling in the hot sunwas exhausting. The housing provided by the companieswas often cramped and dirty. Still, Japanese immigrants persevered, and by 1898, whenHawaii became a US territory, there were almost 60,000 Japanese living on the Hawaiian Islands.

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