1. Of the 154,802 Japanese in California in 1908 who cultivated land, 94,008 came from the southern and western prefectures of Hiroshima, Wakayama, Fukuoka, and Kumamoto. Yosaburo Yoshida, "Sources and Causes of Japanese Emigration," The Annals 34:2 (September 1909): 161.

2. The honseki system was originally codified in the seventh century with a Kosekiho * (household registry law) as a comprehensive means to assess and tax the population. The practice continued with various alterations and modifications, depending on who was in power. In 1872, the Meiji government established the system designating the family as the legal unit, then in 1898 passed the Kosekiho * as a supplement to the Civil Code. Family members were listed in the koseki (household registry) with their relationship to the head of the family. When a son married, his wife's name was added to his koseki and deleted from the koseki of her family of birth. Each family's koseki, which contained information about honseki, was placed with the ken or fu administrative office. The system was a means of identification and gave state sanction to the family as the unit of management, unity, and control.

3. Legally, under the 1872 koseki law, if an individual lived away from his or her honseki for ninety days or more, a notice of temporary residence had to be filed with the government offices in the new area. Three types of temporary residence notices were supposed to take care of every conceivable contingency. However, this system could not work unless all persons moving from their honseki filed notices each time they moved. Individual neglect rendered it a less-than-foolproof system. Census-taking was based on honseki counts and was tabulated from the records in government administrative offices until 1920, when the National Census Act was passed. As late as 1914, the government used the temporary residence notices to readjust population figures. Ito * Shigeru, "Senzen nihon no toshi seicho * " (Japan's prewar urban growth), Nippon rodokyokai^{[ *]} zasshi 24:7 and 8 (July and August 1982), 26-34, 23-37.

4 . Tokyoshi^{[ *]} tokei^{[ *]} nenpyo^{[ *]} , 1924.

5. Gluck, Japan's Modern Myths , 33 and 159.

6. Ryokenkafu shutsugan ni yosuru^{[ *]} zaigaikokan^{[ *]} hakkyu^{[ *]} kakushu shomeishokofu^{[ *]} jinmeihyo^{[ *]} (List of persons issued official certificates by overseas consular offices for passport applications), Nyuyoku^{[ *]} no bu (New York section), 2 vols., 1912-1924, RG 3.8.2.283, DFMJ.

7. Although the "miscellaneous" category included merchants and dealers as well as laborers and farmers, merchants and dealers made up only 2.5 percent. Kessner, The Golden Door , 33-34.

8. Wakatsuki, "Japanese Emigration," 489.

9. Ichihashi, The Japanese , 73.

10. Kosekiho^{[ *]} ni yori zaigaihonpojin^{[ *]} shotodokesho sono honsekichi kosekiri e sotatsu^{[ *]} no ikken (Documents concerning notices filed by citizens abroad to be sent to household registry officials in registered famly domicile areas according to honseki registry law), Nyuyoku^{[ *]} soryojikan^{[ *]} toriatsukai no bu (New York Consulate General Section), 43 vols., 1909-1921, RG 3.8.7.21, DFMJ. The New York Consul General recorded 756 births, deaths, marriages, or divorces of 533 citizens. The reports listed each citizen's name, honseki, type of notice (birth, death, etc.), name of new entry, and in the case of some births, name, gender, and ranking of child (first, second, etc.).

11. Ryokenkafu shutsugan ni yosuru^{[ *]} zaigaikokan^{[ *]} hakkyu^{[ *]} kakushu shomeishokofu^{[ *]} jinmeihyo^{[ *]} (List of persons issued official certificates by overseas consular offices for passport applications), Nyuyoku^{[ *]} no bu (New York section), 1912-1924, 2 vols., RG 3.8.2.283, DFMJ. Information sent to the Foreign Ministry included name, honseki, date of certificate, imin/hi-imin category, reason for certificate (travel, readmission, bringing relatives or employees), and the name of the person being brought to the U.S.

12. Mizutani, Nyuyoku^{[ *]} nihonjin hattenshi .