Nakahama Manjiro First Japanese American

In 1841, 14-year-old fisherman Nakahama Manjiro and his four friends were shipwrecked on the uninhabited island of Torishima in the Pacific. After months stranded, the American whaleship John Howland rescued them and carried the group to Honolulu. Manjiro's companions stayed there, but he continued with the ship and traveled on to Fairhaven, Massachusetts. When he arrived on the U.S. mainland in 1843, he became the first recorded Japanese person to land in the continental United States.

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