Japanese Immigrants in the Laundry and Restaurant Businesses

Conclusion

Japanese women in the United States were often disappointed by what they found in the communities. They were gone from their friends and families and had to deal with both sexism and racism, so it wasn’t always the most welcome place. Some women decided to go back to Japan because of this lack of a comfortable culture. But many stayed and worked hard, both in their chosen jobs and in improving the community through the spread of Japanese culture. Both Tsui and Nami are examples of young women who came to the United States in order to find a better life and start a family. While it’s clear that Nami put down roots in California, as she had children that she raised to adulthood in the state, less is known about Tsui. Her story ends as it begins, in a crowded apartment in California with a newborn baby in hand, ready to deal with the situation that life has thrown her.

Learning the details of these women’s lives was incredibly interesting. I have so many questions about why Nami lived in a hotel or how Tsui happened to be roommates with so many people working in the humanities. It’s unfortunate that there isn’t much documentation apart from travel, census, birth, and death. I feel as though I’m missing a lot of steps and I’m not telling their stories in a just way, only repeating the interesting nuggets that make sense in a certain context. Both women had similar circumstances, in that they were picture brides, but they lived completely different lives. Tsui was about ten years younger than Nami at the time of immigration. She left her family in Japan just barely out of her teens, while Nami was a grown adult. Tsui also had a child much sooner than Nami, putting down roots as soon as she could have, but it seems that Nami’s life was a bit more chaotic. I feel as though I’ve had a truer glimpse into the individual lives of Japanese immigrants and I’ve learned a lot about the service industries as well.

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