Abstract
Latin America has the largest Japanese community outside Japan, both first-generation migrants and their descendants. The exact numbers are impossible to determine, but best estimates suggest that well over 1 million are living in Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Paraguay, Bolivia, and a few other countries. These ethnic Japanese have not only been successfully integrated into the socio-economic mainstream of the local societies, but they have also racially mingled in many countries. The latest and most dramatic example of this successful integration was the election of Alberto Fujimori as president of Peru. Fujimori has now focused international attention on the Japanese immigrant population, but it has long been important both for Japan and for the recipient Latin American nations.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
Japan’s modem migration policy is detailed in Yasuo Wakatsuki and Jōji Suzuki, Kaigai ijū seisaku shiron (Historical Survey of Emigration Policies) (Tokyo: Fukumura Shuppan, 1975).
The history of early migration is best documented in Toraji Irie, Hōjin Kaigai, Hatten Shi (History of Japanese Migration Abroad), 2 vols., 1938 (Reprint, Tokyo: Hara Shobō, 1981).
Toraji Irie, “History of the Japanese Migration to Peru,” Hispanic American Historical Review 31, 3 and 4 (1951) and 32, 1 (1952)
C. Harvey Gardiner, The Japanese and Peru, 1873–1973 (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1975); and Amelia Morimoto, Los inmigrantes japoneses en el Perú (Lima: Universidad Nacional Agraria, 1979).
Francisco Diaz Covarrubias, Viaje de la comisión astronómica mexicana al Japón para observar el tránsito del planeta Venus por el disco del sol el 8 de diciembre de 1874 (Mexico City: Imprenta de C. Ramino y Ponce de León, 1876).
These works cover most of the important aspects of Japanese migration to Mexico: Nihonjin Mekishiko, Ijūshi Hensan Iinkai, (ed.), Nihonjin Mekishiko ijūshi (History of Japanese Migration to Mexico) (Tokyo: Raten Amerika Kyōkai, 1971)
María Elena Ota Mishima, Siete migraclones japoneses en México, 1890–1978 (Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 1982)
Nichiboku Kōryūshi, Hensan Iinkai, (ed.), Nichiboku kōryūshi (History of Japanese-Mexican Relations) (Tokyo: P.C. Shuppan, 1990).
For the best accounts of Japanese migration to Brazil, see Hiroshi Saitō, Burajiru no Nihonjin (The Japanese in Brazil) (Tokyo: Maruzen, 1960)
Tomoo Handa, Imin no seikatsu to rekishi (History of Japanese Immigrants’ Life in Brazil) (São Paulo: Centro de Estudos Nipo-Brasileiros, 1970)
Tomoo Handa, (ed.), Burajiru Nihon imin shi nempyō (A Chronological Table of the History of Japanese Migration to Brazil) (São Paulo: Centro de Estudos Nipo-Brasileiros, 1976)
Burajiru Nihonimin, Nanajūnenshi Hensan Iinkai, (ed.), Burajiru nihonintin nanajūnenshi (A History of Seventy Years of Japanese Migration to Brazil) (São Paulo: Brajiru Nihon Bunka Kyōkai, 1980).
Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chūnambei shokoku ishokumin hōki (Immigration and Colonization Laws of Latin American Countries) (Tokyo: Gaimushō, 1935). Kunimoto addresses the subject in detail; see Iyo Kunimoto, “Emigración japonesa y sentimiento anti-japonés en America Latina de la época de preguerra,” Latin American Studies (University of Tsukuba), No. 6 (1983).
John J. Finan, “Latin America and World War II,” in H. E. Davis, J. J. Finan and F. T. Peck, (eds.), Latin American Diplomatic History: An Introduction (Barton Rouge: Louisiana State University, 1977); U.S. Office of Inter-American Affairs, The Americas Cooperate for Victory and Peace (Washington. DC: Office of Inter-American Affairs, n.d.).
Kaigai Ijū Jigyōdan, (ed.), Kaigai ijū Jigyōdan jūnen shi (Ten Years History of the Japanese Agency for Overseas Migration) (Tokyo: Kaigai Ijū Jigyōdan, 1973). See also Yasuo Wakatsuki and Jōji Suzuki, Kaigaiseisaku shiron (Historical Survey of Emigration Policies) (Tokyo: Fukumura Shuppan, 1975).
Sanpauro Jinbunkagaku Kenkyūjo, Nikkeijin jinkō chōsa kekka (Preliminary Report of the Population Survey of Brazilians of Japanese Origin) (São Paulo: Centro de Estudos Nipo-Brasileiros, 1989).
Hiroshi Saitō, (ed.), Burajiru ni okeru Nihonjin no kōken (Japanese Contributions to Brazil) (Tokyo: Kokusai Kyōryoku Jigyōdan, 1978).
Nihonjin Boribia, Ijūshi Hensan Iinkai, (ed.), Nihonfin Boribia ijūshi (History of Japanese Migration to Bolivia) (Tokyo: Raten Amerika Kyokai, 1970); Alcides Parejas Moreno, Colonia japonesa en Bolivia (La Paz: Colegio de Don Bosco, 1981); and Iyo Kunimoto, Un pueblo japonés en la Bolivia tropical (Santa Cruz: Casa de la Cultura, 1990).
C. Harvey Gardiner, La politica de inmigración del dictador Trujillo: estudio sobre la creación de una imagen hurnanitaria (Santo Domingo: Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Urena, 1979).
Nihonjin Aruzenchin, Ijūshi Hensan Iinkai, (ed.), Nihonjin Aruzenchin ijūshi (History of Japanese Migration to Argentina) (Tokyo: Raten Amerika Kyōkai, 1971).
Kaigai Ijū (Emigration Abroad), No. 506 (Tokyo: Kokusai Kyōryoku Jigyōdan, 1990) p. 13.
Kaigai Nikkeijin Kyōkai, Nikkeijin honpo shūrō jittai chōsa hōkokusho (Report of the Survey on Working Conditions of the Japanese—Latin Americans in Japan) (Tokyo: Kaigai Kyōryoku Jigyōdan, 1992).
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1993 Barbara Stallings and Gabriel Székely
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kunimoto, I. (1993). Japanese Migration to Latin America. In: Stallings, B., Székely, G. (eds) Japan, the United States, and Latin America. St Antony’s/Macmillan Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-13128-0_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-13128-0_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-13130-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-13128-0
eBook Packages: Palgrave Economics & Finance CollectionEconomics and Finance (R0)