Issei

American  

[ees-sey] / ˈisˈseɪ /

Or issei

noun

Issei, plural issei plural

1. a Japanese person who immigrated to the U.S. or Canada after 1907 and was not eligible until 1952 for citizenship.

2. any Japanese immigrant to the U.S.

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Issei
  plural
• issei
  plural

Etymology

Origin of Issei

1935–40; < Japanese, equivalent to is first + sei generation (earlier it-sei, it-seĩ < Middle Chinese, equivalent to Chinese yì one + shēng birth)

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Issei issei

Some Little Tokyo businesses that served Issei and Nisei — Japanese immigrants and their American-born children — have closed or are struggling, while others have found a way to evolve and thrive.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 2024

Some of the Issei, first generation Japanese immigrants, and Nisei kept their experience in the camps a secret as they didn't want to pass on painful memories to the next generations.

From BBC ● Feb. 20, 2022

But with alien land laws spreading, Issei leaders agreed to take Ozawa’s case to the top.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 18, 2021

I’d also include Issei Ogata for Scorsese’s Silence; the film may be flawed, but he is note-perfect.

From The Guardian ● Jan. 29, 2017

Like so many Issei, he had, for better or worse, run his own businesses, been his own man for too long to tolerate the idea of working for someone else.

From "Farewell to Manzanar" by Jeanne Houston

The Japanese village centered on the issei, first-generation immigrants, who were master fishers who left imperial Japan in search of work on the West Coast in the early 1900s.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2024

The FBI thought they had the right sort of man — a first-generation issei immigrant who was bilingual, could write in English and was held in high esteem in the community.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 16, 2023

Johns says he and other issei artists were left out of the notion of a Northwest School of art, which Callahan had helped form with his writing during the war.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 16, 2021

He started again after some time, in an abstract style not seen in his previous work, with the support of younger issei artist Paul Horiuchi.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 16, 2021

For the issei, or the first generation of Japanese immigrants to come to the U.S., farming became the biggest economic foundation, especially in California.

From MSNBC ● Mar. 20, 2016