Issei

American  

[ees-say] / 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.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Issei
  plural
• issei
  plural

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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)

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Issei issei

The Tokyo-based company plans to establish a U.S. office within the next year that will initially focus on data collection and research and development, Turing Chief Executive Issei Yamamoto said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

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

In the early 1950s, Harry, with other Issei, founded Rose’s Frozen Shrimp Co. in downtown Los Angeles — selling wholesale frozen fish sticks and Mexican shrimp.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 30, 2019

They were important for all of us, but especially for the Issei.

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 two first-generation immigrants — known in the Japanese diaspora as issei — eventually married.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2023

Hori says others have noted how “unusual” it is for Johnson, who is not of Japanese descent, to be the keeper of a structure that houses so much of the nisei and issei experience.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 27, 2022

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

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

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