th him in Hood River, Oregon. The brothers began a concentrated effort to live out the American Dream.
Japanese American immigrants, unlike members of any other ethnic group in America, developed a name for each generation in the new land. Masuo and others who were born in Japan are called issei, the first generation. Complex immigration laws designed to encourage the arrival of cheap labor also prevented non-whites from becoming citizens. Anti-Asian sentiment soon set immigration quotas that kept out Japanese men (their wives could still come to America, since the men might otherwise seek wives from among the general population), but the issei were a small, distinct group. They could not become citizens, and they could never pass for Americans since they would always look different from European immigrants arriving at the same time.
The second generation, the nisei, born in the United States, automatically became citizens. Masuo married a woman from his native village by proxy, after a long correspondence, and she travelled to America to join him. Their nine children were all born as American citizens; the first daughter died young, and the oldest son, Kay, committed suicide when he was 17, guilt-ridden over a minor family indiscretion. The other seven children grew to adulthood, each one finding distinctive ways to balance his or her Japanese heritage, membership in the family, and individuality as Americans.
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