Wanderlust World Wanderlust World The Gentlemen's Agreement was an informal diplomatic understanding between the United States and Japan in 1907-1908, designed to ease tensions over Japanese immigration. Unlike a formal treaty, it relied on mutual goodwill and executive actions rather than legislative ratification.
By 1900, over 100,000 Japanese immigrants resided in the U.S., concentrated in California. Rising anti-Japanese sentiment, exacerbated by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake—after which Japanese immigrants were unfairly blamed—led to discrimination and violence. Japan dispatched Baron Chinda Sutemi to negotiate, and President Theodore Roosevelt, seeking to preserve bilateral relations, agreed to talks.
Japan agreed to stop issuing passports to laborers intending to work in the U.S., except for those joining family members or engaging in non-labor activities. In return, the U.S. pledged to curb discrimination against Japanese residents and allow those already present to remain, though new family immigration was restricted.
The agreement successfully reduced Japanese immigration and improved relations until 1924, when the Immigration Act of 1924 effectively ended it by banning Asian immigration. The U.S. and Japan formally abrogated the agreement in 1952 as part of the post-World War II peace treaty.