美国对早期日本移民的排斥及其因应(1885—1908)

The Rejection of Early Japanese Immigrants in the United States and Its Response(1885—1908)

明治维新后日本传统社会解体,其国民出现了一股海外移民潮,其中相当一部分移民到美国。在日本人连续移民美国伊始,以加利福尼亚州为主的美国西部诸州便开始了对日本移民的歧视与排斥。他们利用此前排斥华人移民的诸种话语,在美国西部掀起排日高潮,排日暴力言行时有出现。排日者要求国会通过类似《排华法》的排日立法,以达到禁止日本移民进入美国的目的。然而,与羸弱清廷不同的是,当时的日本通过甲午战争和日俄战争的胜利,已然成了新兴的帝国,确立了世界大国地位。美国联邦政府为了顾及日本尊严,不过分激怒日本,说服日本自行通过向劳工禁发护照的形式来禁止劳工移民。其结果便是美日两国在1907年达成的《君子协定》。

After the disintegration of traditional Japanese society following the Meiji Restoration,a wave of overseas immigration occurred among its citizens,a significant portion of which immigrated to the United States.From the beginning of the successive immigration of Japanese to the United States,the western states of the United States,mainly California,began to discriminate against and reject Japanese immigrants.Using the same rhetoric that had been used to exclude Chinese immigrants,they started a wave of anti-Japanese activities in the western United States,and violent anti-Japanese rhetoric and actions occurred.The exclusionists demanded that Congress pass anti-Japanese legislation similar to the Chinese Exclusion Act in order to prohibit Japanese immigrants from entering the United States.However,unlike the weak Qing Government,Japan had already become a new empire and established itself as a world power through its victories in the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War.The U.S.federal government persuaded Japan to prohibit labor immigration by banning the issuance of passports to laborers,in order to take into account Japan's dignity and not to anger Japan too much.The result was the Gentlemen's Agreement between the United States and Japan in 1907.