Japan and Washington State have come a long way in the past 100+ years, both in terms of trade volume and human relations. In 1880, the first Japanese resident in Washington was recorded by the census. In the beginning, Japanese came from Oregon to Washington and the Japanese population in Washington gradually expanded. During World War II, Japanese-Americans were ordered to evacuate Washington, and the 1950 census shows a drastic drop of Japanese descent number only about 60-70% of the prewar Japanese population returned to Washington after their wartime evacuation. Nevertheless, the local Japanese community has steadily grown over the past 50 years. Today, about 35,000 Japanese-Americans live in this state.

In the meantime, scholars of Executive Order 9066 and the incarceration of Japanese Americans have often passed over the wartime removal and confinement of Japanese Canadians.  Yet a study of the many principal similarities and differences in the experiences of Japanese ancestry persons across the 49th parallel is not only intriguing in itself but provides a greater and more balanced perspective on a number of questions relating to the treatment of ethnic groups in both countries. Perhaps most importantly, a comparative analysis of the two treatments reveals the character of law, society, and race relations in the two countries.  How do we explain the contrasts and what does it inform us about the basic nature of the two countries?

Guest Speakers: Greg Robinson, Associate Professor, Universite du Quebec, A Montreal,Canada
Masako Iino, Professor and President, Tsuda College, Tokyo, Japan

When: 7:00 to 9:00 PM, February 26, 2010 (Please join the speakers in the foyer of Kane Hall for light refreshments and conversation.)

Where: Kane Hall, Room 120, University of Washington

Sponsors: University of Washington American Ethnic Studies Department; the Consulate-General of Japan in Seattle; and the University of Washington Canadian Studies Program, Jackson School for International Studies.
Co-Sponsors: University of Washington Libraries; Seattle University School of Law, Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality; Japanese American Citizens League, Seattle Chapter; Japan-America Society of the State of Washington

For details, please visit our site and see attached:

http://www.seattle.us.emb-japan.go.jp/culture/100205Iino_Lecture.htm