The Japanese in Latin America: on the uses of diaspora

Abstract

AbstractInternational migration only began to affect Japan in the late nineteenth century, but since then there have been three waves of emigration, two of them customarily regarded as diasporas. Recent discussions of the concept of diaspora have highlighted a tendency for the broadening of the definition to encompass many different migratory situations. This article considers the debate over the characteristics of diaspora and examines a set of five criteria for a definition that can be used, among other things, to distinguish diaspora from immigrant settlement and transnationalism. These criteria are then set against the case of the first Japanese diaspora which led to the establishment of significant communities of Nikkeijin in the Americas from the 1890s to the 1970s. The Nikkeijin are shown to be a model diasporic group, except for a lack of transnational contacts within the diaspora. The paper also considers further theoretical propositions concerning the evolution of ‘homeland’ society views of the diaspora. It is shown that these may have considerable importance in determining any ‘return’ migration that may occur. In the Japanese case, the migration of Nikkeijin to Japan since 1990 has been problematic. Constructions of the continuing Japanese‐ness of the diaspora population have been contested, and differences rather than similarities have been stressed. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.