1881 - Hawaiian King Kealakekua visits Japan during his world tour.

1882 - United Chinese Society established in Honolulu.

1885 - The Meiji government officially sanctions the emigration of 30,000 Japanese to Hawaii as contract laborers. They arrive between 1885 and 1894.

1886 - Chinese immigration to Hawaii ends.

1895 - Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association (a group of Euro-American plantation owners from the U.S. mainland) is formed.

1900 - Organic Act makes all U.S. laws applicable in Hawaii, thus ending contract labor in the islands and Japanese plantation workers thereupon begin going to the mainland.

1903 - Japanese plantation workers engage in first organized strike in Hawaii.

American planters start immediately bringing in Koreans to replace the militant Japanese. In a brief window between 1903-1905, approximately 7,000 Koreans immigrate to Hawaii. But when Japan establishes a protectorate over Korea in 1905, Japan ends Korean emigration to Hawaii in 1905.

1903 - The Koreans already in Hawaii form the Korean Evangelical Society and Korean Episcopal Church, while compatriots form the Korean Methodist Church and the Mutual Assistance Society in San Francisco.

1908 - Hankuk Puin Hoe, the first Korean women's organization, forms in San Francisco, California. And while Korean emigration to Hawaii is ending in 1905, Koreans in San Francisco are promoting Korean language, education, church activities and Korean solidarity.

1909 - In Hawaii, Koreans form Korean Nationalists Association.

1909 - 7,000 Japanese plantation workers strike major plantations on Oahu for four months.

1910 - Japan annexes Korea.

1911 - Japanese Association of Oregon is formed in Portland.

1913 - Japanese Northwest Association in America is formed in Seattle.

1913 - The California Alien Land Act, aimed at Japanese farmers, prohibit "aliens ineligible for citizenship" from buying land or leasing it for longer than three year; further restrictions are added in 1921 and 1923. These land restrictions are not repealed until 1948.

1917 - U.S. passes Immigration Act of "barred zones," mapping the world so as to prohibit immigration of laborers from virtually all of Asia, except Japan.

1921 - The Japanese government voluntarily ends female emigration to the United States because of American hostility to "picture brides."

1922 - Ozawa vs. United States interprets Japanese aliens as ineligible for U.S. citizenship through naturalization.