By: History.com Editors

1843

First Japanese immigrant arrives in the U.S.

History.com Editors

Published: March 26, 2021

Last Updated: February 18, 2025

Called the U.S.'s first ambassador to Japan, a 14-year-old fisherman by the name of Manjiro is considered America's first Japanese immigrant, arriving in the country on May 7, 1843, by way of a whaling ship.

According to the National Endowment of the Humanities, the boy and his crew were caught in a violent storm, with their ship eventually washing up on a desert island 300 miles away from their coastal Japanese village. Rescued five months later by an American whaling ship, Manjiro was adopted by American Capt. William Whitfield, who renamed him John Mung and brought him back to the states to his home in Massachusetts.

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Manjiro eventually returned to Japan, where he was named a samurai and worked as a political emissary between his home country and the West, the NEH reports.

According to the National Museum of American History, it was about 20 years later, in the 1860s, when groups of Japanese immigrants began arriving in the Hawaiian islands, where they worked in sugarcane fields. From there, many relocated to California, Washington and Oregon.

From 1886 to 1911, the Library of Congress adds, 400,000-plus Japanese women and men immigrated to America, particularly to Hawaii and the West Coast. In commemoration of Manjiro’s early arrival, Congress, in 1992, established May as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

Timeline

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1763

Ottawa Chief Pontiac’s Rebellion against the British begins

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1824

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 debuts

On May 7, 1824, Ludwig van Beethoven’s ninth and final symphony debuts at Vienna’s Theater am Kärntnertor. Having lost his hearing years earlier, the celebrated composer nonetheless “conducts” the first performance of his Ninth Symphony, now widely considered to be one of the greatest pieces of music ever written. Having established himself as one of […]

1896

Serial killer H.H. Holmes is hanged in Philadelphia

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1915

German submarine sinks Lusitania

On the afternoon of May 7, 1915, the British ocean liner Lusitania is torpedoed without warning by a German submarine off the south coast of Ireland. Within 20 minutes, the vessel sank into the Celtic Sea. Of 1,959 passengers and crew, 1,198 people drowned, including 128 Americans. The attack aroused considerable indignation in the United […]

An illustration of the sinking of the British ocean liner RMS Lusitania, torpedoed by German U-boat U-20 off the old head of Kinsale, Ireland.

1945

Germany surrenders unconditionally to the Allies at Reims

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1954

French defeated at Dien Bien Phu

In northwest Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh’s Viet Minh forces decisively defeat the French at Dien Bien Phu, a French stronghold besieged by the Vietnamese communists for 57 days. The Viet Minh victory at Dien Bien Phu signaled the end of French colonial influence in Indochina and cleared the way for the division of Vietnam along […]

1960

Leonid Brezhnev becomes leader of the USSR

Leonid Brezhnev, one of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev’s most trusted proteges, is selected as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet—the Soviet equivalent to the presidency. This was another important step in Brezhnev’s rise to power in Russia, a rise that he later capped by taking control of the Soviet Union in 1964. Brezhnev […]

1984

Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange win $180 million settlement

On May 7, 1984, seven chemical companies, including Dow and Monsanto, agree to pay $180 million to thousands of Vietnam veterans exposed to the chemical herbicide Agent Orange during the war. Lawyers for the two sides announced the surprise out-of-court settlement on the day jury selection was to begin in the case. U.S. military forces […]

1994

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1998

Daimler-Benz announces purchase of Chrysler Corp.

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2004

Marine biologist Richard Thompson coins the term “microplastics”

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Citation Information

Article title
First Japanese immigrant arrives in the U.S.
Website Name
History
Date Accessed
March 25, 2025
Publisher
A&E Television Networks
Last Updated
February 18, 2025
Original Published Date
March 26, 2021

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