A pic showing Japanese immigrants in Brazil. Their great-grandchildren would be called Yonsei Nikkeijin |
Some information beforehand: The official term for someone from the Japanese diaspora is Nikkeijin (日系人). Of course, this term includes all Japanese immigrants or else, the Issei (一世、first generation of Japanese immigrants) as well as their descendants, whether if they're
- Nisei (二世、second generation),
- Sansei (三世、third generation),
- Yonsei (四世、fourth generation)
- or, if not, Gosei (五世、fifth generation).
Also, the half-Japanese people grown up overseas (海外育ちのハーフ 、Kaigai sodachi no hāfu) are included among the Nikkeijin.
In the year 2017, there were 3,800,800 Nikkeijin in total most of whom live in the Western Hemisphere.
And let us assume that some people among the Japanese diaspora would move to Japan - for whatever reason, as it can sometimes happen. Theoretically, it'd be a simple thing for a Nikkeijin integrating within the Japanese society there and merge into the population, as it'd be the case for practically all other diasporas as well. However, the Nikkeijin are de facto treated in Japan as foreigners, as they ain't socialized in the Japanese way.
Therefore, let's take a closer look at all that and even much more.
In the following, I'm gonna elaborate the three countries having a propotionally significant number (and NOT the MOST significant number) of Nikkeijin but also additionally,
- what differentiates the Japanese diaspora in generell from almost any other diaspora
- and why they face particular difficulties in terms of reintegration in Japan, if they wanna move there.
Without further ado, let's get started:
The Japanese diaspora in Germany
According to the Federal Statistic Office of
Germany (in German: Statistisches
Bundesamt), everyone who hasn’t
the German citizenship or who have at least one parent not having the German
citizenship is considered as a person with migration background. To be exact,
the following people are included in this definition:
- foreigners regardless of if they came as immigrants or not,
- naturalized people regardless of if they came as immigrants or not,
- ethnic German resettlers, e.g. Russian Germans (i.e. Russians of German ancestry)
- well as those groups’ descendants having had the German citizenship since birth.
The street sign of the Immermann Street (in German and in Japanese) being located in the Japan Town in Duesseldorf |
Anyways, as for the Japanese diaspora in Germany, the vast majority of them live in Duesseldorf where's a Japan Town (aka Little Tokyo) being located near the Duesseldorf Main Station. This again is the only Japan Town in existence in that form within in the entire German country. Many Japan lovers from all of Germany come to visit Duesseldorf, just for the sake of that Japan Town and include this in their day trips or multi-day trips. In said Japan Town, there's practically everything a Japan lover's heart could wish for: Japanese restaurants (the rāmen restaurants like, e.g. Takumi and Naniwa as well as the sushi restaurants Okinii and Maruyasu, among others), Japanese cafés or else Japanese-inspired cafés (e.g. Tenten Coffee), Japanese grocery stores, Japanese book stores (like Takagi Books which sells stationaries as well) - you name it!
Besides, the Japan Day (日本デー) takes place on the Rhine Promenade in Duesseldorf once a year
mostly in May. The very first time it took place was 2001. Only in the years 2020 and 2021, it was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But in this day, it has taken place again at Saturday, the 2022/5/21.
As its name implies, the Japan Day is a cultural event with everything about Japan. There're not only street food and beverage stands but also many things related to the Japanese popular culture. A lot of manga/anime/games fans from all over Germany come partially traveled from far away in order to be in the middle instead of thereby.
The Japanese diaspora in the US
As per definition by the Migration Policy Institutes which was founded 2001, the term "immigrant" includes everyone having a permanent stay in the USA without having being born there in the first place. It includes naturalized people, permanent residence (keyword: "Green Card"), foreign students or people having a work visa, refugees, asylum seekers but also people who don't have a legal residence status.
But let's go on with it: The English term for Americans of Japanese descent is Japanese Americans and the Japanese term is Nikkei Amerikajin (日系アメリカ人). Especially in South California, many of them live there.
Pics of the US-American Japantown Little Tokyo |
In the frames of said Immigration Act, a Japan Town was established in Los Angeles as well. To be exact, the Japan Town is located in the LA disctrict Little Tokyo (yes, that's really the district's name). It's also known as Little Tokyo Historic District and moreover, similar to the Japan Day in Duesseldorf in Germany, there's an annual Japanese cultural event as well but with a one-week duration and taking place always in August: the Nisei Week.
The Japanese diaspora in Brazil
As for Brazilians of Japanese ancestry, the English term is Japanese Brazilians and the Japanese term Nikkei burajirujin (日系ブラジル人). Additionally, they're the largest part of the entire Japanese diaspora, this has a significant, historical background. To be exact, the migrations flows having occured since 1868, I elaborate them right now:
In the beginning, the first Japanese immigrants of said migration flows emigrated to Hawaii and were succeeded by those who emigrated to the Philippines, to Australia and Brazil, among others. However, the emigration to South America (especially Brazil) is most interesting in this context, as they were kinda "new countries" back then. Either way, North America and South America were called the New World at that time.
The course for the emigration way to Brazil was set by the Japanese-Brazilian Friendship Contract having come into effect 1859. It had been favored by the boom of the coffee industry in South Brazil and as for subsidy, it was provided by private employment agencies provided (移民会社, imingaisha).
Some of the Japanese coffee farmers in Brazil |
In Brazil, there was one additional thing: In the 1880s, the slavery in Brazil was abolished and therefore, slack labor had to be "exported". Since the work on the coffee plantation in São Paulo was taying work, it de facto replaced the abolished slavery. Despite people with prior experience in terms of agriculture were required, it wasn't the case for all Japanese immigrants that they have the pursuant expertise.
Furthermore, the Japanese diaspora's dominance in Brazil suited as alternative for those people of the Japanese emperor family who weren't firstborn. Even after the Japanese emperor family has been nerfed 1946, the succession was still based on the individual succession, i.e. the firstborn is always the heir of the throne unless regulated otherwise. But meanwhile, the individual succesion within the Japanese emperor family is more more, hence, second-bornd, third-borns etc. can be throne successors as well. For instance, just on 2020/11/8, the crown price Akishino (秋篠宮) who's the younger brother of the current emperor Naruhito (徳仁) having been in office since 2019 has become whose throne successor.
Now, let me get back to the migration flows from Japan: Remarkable in this context of the Japanese immigrants, there was a high concentration of those from South Japan, mostly from Okinawa.
Eventually, there were 200,00 Japanese emigrants until the Pacific War's outbreak.
However, since the 1980s, there's an observable trend as follows:
Many Brazilians of Japanese descent move to Japan. But concerning this, as a matter of fact, the contemporary issue is the difficulty in terms of re-integration in Japan. With that in mind, let's go to the following pet peeve concerning the Nikkeijin who wanna emigrate to Japan, i.e., why it's not that easy as it seemly sounds.
Initial question: Why the Nikkeijin cannot be integrated properly in the Japanese society?
As already mentioned before, the Japanese diaspora ain't to be imagined the way it is the case with other diasporas (e.g. the Moroccan diaspora, Turkish diaspora, Bosnian diaspora, Mexican diaspora or Italian diaspora), i.e. that the latter groups can go slumming in their "homeland" in an undercover way or else that they're considered by the locals straight away, despite of some differences in terms of socialization.
At this point, I give you an example from my life. To be exact, from myself who's a German of Moroccan descent:
Everytime when I'm in Morocco for vacation, the locals consider me as of their kind, even though they recognize I'm from Germany. They most likely notice it immedialety when you're a Vakānsiya.
Excursus: Vakānsiya (ڤَكَانْسِيَ) is a term being used for people of the Moroccan diaspora. Even though not bing an official term like Nikkeijin, it had already become prevailent, within Morocco and outside of Morocco as well.
Anyways, as for the Nikkeijin, it's a different story: Precisely because they ain't socialized in the Japanese way, they've do deal with wattles, as they move to Japan and when they're wanna be integrated in the Japanese society and wanna work in Japan as well. Just for the reason that they don't look like foreigners (外国人、Gaikokujin), they ain't awarded any perks of being a foreigner. Therefore, it can be their undoing if they don't put their Tatemae (建前、literal meaning: masquerade) and instead of this, give vent to their true feelings (本音、honne, the term being used for the total opposite of the Tatemae), for instance.
Significant differences between Japan and Overseas in terms of socialization can be noticed in Half-Japanese people (hāfu), since they're counted among the Japanese diaspora as well, as mentioned in the beginning - providing they're grown up overseas. But additionally elaborating the differences between hāfu grown-up in Japan (日本育ちのハーフ 、Nihon sodachi no hāfu) and hāfu grown-up in Overseas (海外育ちのハーフ 、Kaigai sodachi no hāfu) would only go beyond the scope of this article.
All in all, the Japanese diaspora can be considered as an unparalleled diaspora. The first-generation Nikkeijin might be able to go slumming without any problems, if they were in Japan. However, it's more difficult for all second-generation-onwards Nikkeijin, particularly since Japanese people having grown up in Japan and Japanese people having grown up Overseas are poles apart in terms of socialization.
Now, I'd be interested in knowing if you've been aware about this Japanese diaspora related aspect beforehand or else, if you've had realized it before. And to those among you who've foreign roots: Everytime when you're on vacation on your "homelands", have you also realized that you're far different from the locals in terms of socialization? Don't hesitate writing it in the comments.
PS: Among the scholars of the Japanese studies, there's a certain individual who predominately deals with the Japanese Brazilians: It's Peter Bernardi who lectures at the Heinrich Heine University in Duesseldorf and presently doctorates.
Here, you can go to a third-party article for further reading, to be exact, from the official blog of the Institute of Modern Japanese Studies (but unfortunately, only in German) which refers to Peter Bernardi's researches:
- „Die japanische Art Brasilianer zu sein“: Über Arbeitsmigration und japanische Identität in Brasilien (literal meaning: "The Japanese way of being a Brazilian": About Labor Migration and the Japanese Identity in Brazil)
Here are also some additional videos concerning Japanese Americans having already moved to Japan and what's like living there for them (Both videos are in English):
- Being Japanese American in Japan (from YouTube channel Nobita from Japan)
- 2nd Gen vs. 4th Gen Japanese-Americans (from YouTuber Barrett Ishida)
PPS: Here you can go to my other articles from the "Culture Studies"-rubric: