Long Description

Nineteenth century trade did little to expedite the Japanese dining appeal outside the island of Japan. The first Japanese restaurant in the western hemisphere was located in San Francisco in 1887. Soon thereafter, Los Angeles became the center of Japanese food culture in North America. This culminated in a quarter where businesses, markets and approximately 40 restaurants known as Little Tokyo were located in Los Angeles’ Chinatown. The first Japanese arrived in Fresno County in the 1880’s and 1890’s. Because of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 it had created a shortage of farm workers so most of the Japanese were welcomed to fill in for the Chinese. After seeing the success of the Japanese people many laws were instituted to try to restrict them, but this just helped motivate them to work harder and better their conditions. Most of them started as farm workers, then began to serve as their own contractors and began underbidding the competition. Then after the first decade many moved from the laboring-class to the land-owning class.