This book is an interdisciplinary collection of essays on the society and cultures of twenty-first century Japanese transnationals: first-generation migrants (Issei), and their descendants who were born and grew up outside Japan (Nikkei); and Japanese nationals who today find themselves living overseas. The authors-international specialists from anthropology, sociology, history, and education-explore how individual and community cultural identities are deeply integrated in ethnic and economic structures, and how cultural heritage is manifested in various Japanese transnational communities. These papers use individual cases to tackle the bigger issues of personal identity, ethnic community, and economic survival in an internationalized global world. This book, then, offers new perspectives on the anthropology, sociology, history, and economics of an important, though largely under-reported, transnational community. While previous studies have focused on a few specific and well-known cases-for example, the World War II internment of Japanese Americans and their attempts at redress, Japanese agriculture workers in Brazil, or temporary "returnee" dekasegi workers-this book examines Japanese transnationalism from a broader perspective, including Japanese nationals living overseas permanently or temporarily, and Europeans of Japanese ancestry who have recently rediscovered their Japanese roots. Besides looking at Japanese and Nikkei migrants in North and South America, this volume examines some little-explored venues such as Indonesia, Spain, and Germany. The connections among all these Japanese transnational communities-real or imagined are explored ethnographically and historically. And instead of simply focusing on social problems resulting from racial discrimination-and the political actions involved in implementing or fighting it-this volume offers more nuanced dialogue about the issues involved with Japanese transnationalism, in particular how ethnic identity is formed and how Japanese transnational communities have been created, and re-created, all over the world. Also, while until now less attention has been paid to fitting the Japanese case into a larger theoretical framework of globalization and migration studies, the papers presented here-along with a detailed theoretical introduction-attempt to rectify this.

DIVA multidisciplinary study of the transnational cultural identity of Brazilian nationals of Japanese descent and their more recent attempts to re-settle in Japan./div

Japanese Diasporas examines the relationship of overseas Japanese and their descendents (Nikkei) with their home and host nations, focusing on the political, social and economic struggles of Nikkei. Frequently abandoned by their homeland, and experiencing alienation in their host nations, the diaspora have attempted to carve out lives between two worlds. Examining Nikkei communities and Japanese migration to Manchuria, China, Canada, the Philippines, Singapore and Latin America, the book compares Nikkei experiences with those of Japanese transnational migrants living abroad. The authors connect theoretical issues of ethnic identity with the Japanese and Nikkei cases, analyzing the hidden dynamics of the social construction of race, ethnicity and homeland, and suggesting some of the ways in which diasporas are transforming global society today. Presenting new perspectives on socio-political and cultural issues of transnational migrants and diaspora communities in an economically intertwined world, this book will be of great interest to scholars of diaspora studies and Japanese studies.

DIVAnalyzes the experiences of a generation of Japanese-Brazilians in Sao Paulo during the most authoritarian period of military rule in order to ask questions about ethnicity, the nature of diasporic identity, and Brazilian culture. /div

Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Preface -- Introduction -- 1. Setting the Stage -- 2. Emigration from Japan -- 3. The Frontier Period -- 4. The Settlement and Family Periods -- 5. Cultural Interaction and Ethnic Development -- 6. Early Voluntary Associations -- 7. Later Voluntary Associations -- 8. World War II: Can Community Survive? -- 9. The Evacuees Arrive -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

After the introduction of the "long-term resident" visa, the mass-migration of Nikkeis (Japanese Brazilians) has led to roughly 190,000 Brazilian nationals living in Japan. While the ancestry-based visa confers Nikkeis' right to settlement virtually as a right of blood, their ethnic ambiguity and working-class profile often prevent them from feeling at home in their supposed ethnic homeland. In response, many have converted to Pentecostalism, reflecting the explosive trend across Latin America since the 1970s. Jesus Loves Japan offers a rare window into lives at the crossroads of return migration and global Pentecostalism. Suma Ikeuchi argues that charismatic Christianity appeals to Nikkei migrants as a "third culture"--one that transcends ethno-national boundaries and offers a way out of a reality marked by stagnant national indifference. Jesus Loves Japan insightfully describes the political process of homecoming through the lens of religion, and the ubiquitous figure of the migrant as the pilgrim of a transnational future.