Dr. Hiromi Monobe (Doshisha University)　

“Japanese American Community and Second Generation Issues in Hawaii Between the Wars”

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The "Second Generation Problem" was a major concern in Hawaii's Japanese community during the interwar period. Issei leaders implemented various measures to address the various issues facing Hawaii-born Nisei, including education, employment, marriage, and political participation. This presentation focused on the employment issue and detailed the "return to farming" movement promoted by Takie Okumura. Okumura urged Nisei to acquire homesteads and become independent farmers, rather than becoming sugar plantation laborers like the Issei. He believed this would not only enable Nisei to become economically independent, but also change the plantation-centered industrial structure and contribute to the "democratization" of Hawaii. However, the enactment of land laws favoring Native Hawaiians and the Great Depression limited the success of the return to farming movement.