Japan and the California Problem

"Japan and the California Problem" by T. (Toyokichi) Iyenaga examines the complicated difficulties experienced by Japanese immigrants in California during the early 1900s. It highlights the problems caused by racism and laws about who could immigrate. It connects the opening of Japan to the West with the westward expansion of America, and it explains how those events connect to cultural clashes. The core argument is that economic competition and misunderstandings between cultures caused problems regarding integration. The authors question why Eastern and Western cultures cannot live together peacefully despite the fact that they are tied together.