Hawaii Emigration Departure Day

What Is Hawaii Emigration Departure Day?

Every January 27th is also "Hawaii Emigration Departure Day" (ハワイ移民出発の日, Hawai Imin Shuppatsu no Hi) in Japan. On January 27, 1885, the steamship "City of Tokio" departed Yokohama carrying 944 Japanese emigrants — men, women, and children — bound for Hawaii on the first official government-contracted emigration (官約移民, kan'yaku imin). This departure marked the beginning of official, organized Japanese emigration to Hawaii and the start of what would become the largest Japanese diaspora community in the Western world.

The First Hawaii Emigrants

The 1885 emigration was organized under a formal agreement between the Japanese and Hawaiian governments, negotiated partly in response to Hawaii's need for plantation labor following the end of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. The 944 emigrants — recruited primarily from rural prefectures including Yamaguchi, Hiroshima, and Fukuoka — signed three-year labor contracts to work on Hawaii's sugar plantations. The journey took approximately three weeks, and the emigrants arrived in Honolulu on February 8, 1885, where they were assigned to plantations throughout the islands.

Building Hawaii's Japanese Community

The 1885 emigrants were the first wave of what would eventually become Hawaii's largest single ethnic group. Over the following decades, tens of thousands of Japanese immigrants arrived in Hawaii, building communities, establishing temples and community organizations, and transforming Hawaiian society. Their American-born children — the Nisei generation — became American citizens and played major roles in Hawaiian politics, culture, and society. Japanese Americans remain the largest ethnic group in Hawaii, with deep roots in every aspect of island life.

The Broader Japanese American Story

The Hawaii emigrants of 1885 were the precursors of the broader Japanese American community that would grow across the United States. The story of Japanese Americans — including the WWII internment of Japanese Americans on the U.S. mainland (though not in Hawaii), the extraordinary military service of the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team, and the eventual redress movement — is one of the most significant chapters in American immigration history.

Fun Facts

• Issei and Nisei: Japanese immigrants to Hawaii and the U.S. are called "Issei" (一世, "first generation"); their American-born children are "Nisei" (二世, "second generation"); grandchildren are "Sansei" (三世). These generational terms remain in use in Japanese American communities today.
• 442nd Regiment: The 442nd Regimental Combat Team — composed primarily of Japanese American Nisei volunteers — became the most decorated unit in U.S. military history for its size and length of service, fighting in Italy and France during WWII while their families were interned in U.S. concentration camps.