Asian American History
Storyboard Text
- Japan is from now on to begin industrialization, and to trade with the United States!
- True to my mother's words we were able to last a while longer. I was able to be raised well for a farming village. However it wouldn't last forever. Eventually our land was starting to be seized since we didn't have "document ownership of our property".
- Our story starts in 1868, when Commodore Mathew Perry of the United States Navy came to Japan. Us Japanese didn't understand what trade with the United States would entail. Yet we could not object as it was thrust upon us...
- There's so many opportunities for production here.
- [It's time for you to get going son. There is nothing left for you here. The future of our family depends on your properity across the ocean
- [But this is sacred land, you can't possibly build here]
- The Meiji Restoration is what it was called. It brought about great social disruption and agricultural decline to Japan. Farmers were forced to leave their land, and workers were left jobless by foreign competition.
- The people of Japan had to begin speeding up their industrialization to catch up with their potential threats. There was much importation of Western technology in order to do so
- [What will we do? There's only so much farming our village can do compared to what the Americans are brining]
- [Do not worry so much, there is still land to farm. We will have time to figure something out. Or our son will.
- My family at the time were struggling to adapt to such changing times. The village we lived in were heavily reliant on farming to sustain ourselves...
- [Okay father, I'll take Misoto (my wife) and my child to the United States]
Over 30 Million Storyboards Created