In
Japanese, "first generation." In the
United States, it refers to first generation
immigrants from
Japan, often to men that arrived between
1880 and
1924. (Mostly men until
1908, and then mostly women until 1924.) Anti-Japanese sentiment ended legal
immigration to the U.S. with the 1924 immigration bill signed by
Calvin Coolidge.
Compare with Nisei, Sansei, Nikkei.