Sea of opportunity : the Japanese pioneers of the fishing industry in Hawaiʻi

__Sea of Opportunity: The Japanese Pioneers of the Fishing Industry in Hawaii__ is a part historical and a part ethnographic study of Japanese fisheries in Hawaii from the late nineteenth century to contemporary times. When Japanese fishermen arrived in Hawaii from coastal communities in Japan, mainly Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, and Wakayama, they brought fishing techniques developed in their homeland to the Hawaiian archipelago and adapted them to new circumstances. Within a short period of time, they expanded the local fisheries into one of the pillars of Hawaii's economy. Unlike most of the previous works on Japanese immigrants to Hawaii, which focus on sugarcane plantations, this breakthrough book is the first comprehensive history of Japanese as fishermen. Original in its conception and research, the book begins with the early accomplishments of Japanese fishermen who advanced into foreign waters and situates their activities in the contexts of both Japan and Hawaii. Skillfully using sources in various languages, the author complicates the history of Japanese immigration to Hawaii by adding an obvious yet forgotten transoceanic agent—fishermen. Instead of challenging the notion of a land-based history of the local Japanese people in Hawaii, Ogawa tactfully shifts the focus by showing us that one of the earliest Japanese communities was made up of fishermen, whose pre–World War II success was a direct result of the growing plantation communities. She argues that their mobility enabled fishermen to retain homes on different shores much more easily than their farmer counterparts, but the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor affected both groups just the same. The postwar efforts to reconstruct Hawaii's fishing industry included transformation of its ethnic environment from Japanese domination into one that was supported by multiethnic groups. The arrival of Okinawan fishermen was critical in this development and reveals a complex cultural and political relationship between Hawaii, Okinawa, and Japan. Personal interviews conducted by Ogawa give these fishermen a chance to recount their often difficult transoceanic stories in their own language. Their unflappable entrepreneurship and ability to survive in different waters and lands parallel the experiences of many immigrants to Hawaii. Ogawa reminds readers of the reality of overfishing in Hawaii and what it means to the fishing communities whose sustenance relies heavily on the sea.

What motivates people to become involved in issues and struggles beyond their own borders? How are activists changed and movements transformed when they reach out to others a world away? This adept study addresses these questions by tying together local, national, regional, and global historical narratives surrounding the contemporary Japanese environmental movement. Spanning the era of Japanese industrial pollution in the 1960s and the more recent rise of movements addressing global environmental problems, it shows how Japanese activists influenced approaches to environmentalism and industrial pollution in the Asia-Pacific region, North America, and Europe, as well as landmark United Nations conferences in 1972 and 1992.

Japan's experiences with diseases caused by industrial pollution produced a potent "environmental injustice paradigm" that fueled domestic protest and became the motivation for Japanese groups' activism abroad. From the late 1960s onward Japanese activists organized transnational movements addressing mercury contamination in Europe and North America, industrial pollution throughout East Asia, radioactive waste disposal in the Pacific, and global climate change. In all cases, they advocated strongly for the rights of pollution victims and people living in marginalized communities and nations - a position that often put them at odds with those advocating for the global environment over local or national rights. Transnational involvement profoundly challenged Japanese groups' understanding of and approach to activism. Numerous case studies demonstrate how border-crossing efforts undermined deeply engrained notions of victimhood in the domestic movement and nurtured a more self-reflexive and multidimensional approach to environmental problems and social activism.

The book will appeal to scholars and students interested in the development of civil society, social movements, and environmentalism in contemporary Japan; grassroots inter-Asian connections in the postwar period; and the ways Asian countries and their citizens have shaped and been influenced by global issues like environmentalism.

Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Note on Names Introduction 1. Passage to Hawai‘i: The Development of a Fishing Culture in Japan since Ancient Times 2. Japanese Fisherman Enter Hawaiian Waters: The Formative Years of Commercial Fishing in Hawai‘i and the Rise of the Japanese, from 1899 to the Early 1920s 3. The Heyday of the Japanese Fishing Industry in Hawai‘i 4. Surviving the Dark Days 5. The Reconstruction and Revitalization of Fisheries after World War II 6. Okinawa and Hawai‘i Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index Passage to Hawaiʻi: the development of a fishing culture in Japan since ancient times Japanese fisherman enter Hawaiian waters: the formative years of commercial fishing in Hawaiʻi and the rise of the Japanese, from 1899 to the early 1920s The heyday of the Japanese fishing industry in Hawaiʻi Surviving the dark days The reconstruction and revitalization of fisheries after World War II Okinawa and Hawaiʻi. This text presents a part historical and a part ethnographic study of Japanese fisheries in Hawaii from the late nineteenth century to contemporary times. Unlike most of the previous works on Japanese immigrants to Hawaii, which focus on sugarcane plantations, this breakthrough work is the first comprehensive history of Japanese as fishermen.