ABSTRACT
As Japanese immigrants were settling on the land, California enacted the 1913 Alien Land Law. The law itself avoided direct reference to the Japanese. The institution to which Japanese farmers could turn was the Yokohama Specie Bank, with branches in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Designed to plug up the loopholes in the 1913 law, the 1920 California Alien Land Law had the undisguised purpose of driving Japanese farmers out of California agriculture. The Japanese Agricultural Association had solicited the assistance of the Japanese Association of America. The Japanese Association of America surveyed the landholdings of Japanese farmers in Northern California. The Central Japanese Association of Southern California supported the bonus test cases as a last legal straw to prevent tenant farmers from being relegated to the status of laborers. In November 1924 the Japanese Association of America published Matsumoto's report in which he concluded that Georgia, particularly its delta region, and Florida were ideal.
