Japanese Cabinetmakers Arrive in Seattle for A.-Y.-P. Exposition Despite Labor Exclusion Laws
Ten skilled Japanese workmen are granted special entry to build the Japanese exhibit, highlighting the complex intersection of immigration policy and international spectacle.
Seattle — The Japanese steamship Tosa Maru, on arrival Saturday from the Orient, brought to Seattle the first of the Japanese exhibit to the A.-Y.-P. Exposition. Ten skilled cabinetmakers were landed here to carry out plans of Japanese architecture. The Japanese workmen were permitted by the immigration officers to enter the country with the presentation of concessions setting aside conditions of recent treaties regulating the admission of Japanese laborers. They will be returned to Japan as soon as their work at the exposition is concluded.
“The Japanese workmen were permitted by the immigration officers to enter the country with the presentation of concessions setting aside conditions of recent treaties regulating the admission of Japanese laborers.”
This 1909 episode illustrates how immigration laws have long been bent for economic and cultural showcases, while excluding laborers. Today, debates over temporary visas and skilled worker admissions continue to shape who is welcome and under what conditions.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.