Some say that overseas migration, which began in earnest in the Meiji era, did not achieve the results that had been expected. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese emigrated to North and South America before the war, but that number was less than 1% of Japan's total population, and far more people went to the Americas from Europe. Despite unfavorable trade conditions, partly due to the national colonial policy, Meiji Japan's industrial reforms and other developments in the domestic market led to an improvement in the quality of life. Some agricultural regions prospered considerably from the silkworm industry, and manufacturing and commerce also grew, so society maintained a certain degree of stability. As a result, the population increased and expectations rose. However, not all of society became prosperous, and peasant uprisings occurred in poor rural areas, especially during the Meiji era. Many people had no choice but to choose to emigrate overseas or to Hokkaido.
Japan placed as much or even more of a priority on migration to Hokkaido than on overseas migration. In preparation for Imperial Russia's advance into Sakhalin and Ezochi (later Hokkaido), the government had already been promoting administrative surveillance and development since the end of the Edo period, and it was only with the Meiji government that full-scale development of Hokkaido began. Many of the people were from the Tohoku and Hokuriku regions, and tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of people migrated to Hokkaido every year, exceeding one million in 1901. Migration to Hokkaido continued during the Taisho period, with the population reaching 2.3 million in 1920 and increasing to 3.2 million by 19401. It is not widely known that this internal migration was greater than the number of Japanese who emigrated to Asia or North and South America.
Following Japan's defeat in the war, it was occupied by the Allied forces from September 1945, but immediately after regaining sovereignty in 1952, migration to South America, including Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, and Paraguay, began. Although the numbers were limited, just under 70,000 people headed for South America (including Brazil), and approximately 90,000 emigrated or re-migrated to the United States and Canada.2
Another thing we must not forget is that after the war, approximately 3 million civilians and roughly the same number of disarmed military personnel returned to Japan from Asia as "repatriates." Some repatriates, particularly from Manchuria, later emigrated or relocated to South America and other places. And from Okinawa, the battlefield, many people emigrated, starting with relatives in Argentina and Peru, and then to Bolivia and Brazil. In the 1950s, the Okinawa Settlement was formed in eastern Bolivia, with 3,229 people settling there.3
I have translated hundreds of family registers into Spanish, and occasionally I come across people of Japanese descent whose ancestors were born in prewar Manchuria, Taiwan, or the Korean peninsula. These people are often unaware of their history, and have been asked why the names of those countries and places that are not Japanese appear in their records. It is because of the prewar and wartime circumstances described above. The immigrants at that time probably did not talk much about their past to their children. Having escaped from a defeated Japan, they may have been doing their best to carve out a new life for themselves in a new land.
About 20 years after the postwar chaos, the Tokyo Olympics were held and the Shinkansen bullet train was opened between Tokyo and Osaka. From the 1960s to the 1970s, Japan entered a period of unprecedented high economic growth, and in no time it became the second largest economic power in the world. Japanese people who had emigrated overseas were astonished by Japan's continued economic growth, improved infrastructure, expanding markets, and improving standards of living, and some must have regretted their decision to emigrate.
And the national policy of overseas migration officially ended in 1973. At that time, travel expenses were still quite high. For example, a round-trip ticket from Buenos Aires to Haneda was equivalent to 750,000 yen, which was equivalent to 2,000 dollars (1 dollar is 360 yen), so it was not easy to return to Japan, let alone travel abroad at one's own expense. After the Plaza Accord in 1985, 1 dollar became 240 yen, and two and a half years later, the yen appreciated to 120 yen, ushering in the bubble period. Due to the strong yen, many large companies began to own assets overseas, and it was finally easier for Japanese people to travel abroad. On the other hand, domestic production bases faced a labor shortage to meet the demand of the global economy, and Japanese descendants in South America began to attract attention as workers.
In 1990, the Immigration Control Act was revised, and after that, a large number of Japanese descendants began coming to Japan. At its peak in 2008, 390,000 people were residing in Japan (310,000 were Brazilian and approximately 60,000 were Peruvian). However, after the Lehman Shock and the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, many returned to their home countries, and as of the end of 2016, the number has stabilized at 230,000 (170,000 Brazilians and 47,000 Peruvians).
Looking back at history, we can see that Japanese people have made various footprints and achievements all over the world. 2018 marks the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first group of Japanese immigrants in Hawaii. To commemorate this, the Convention of Japanese People Overseas, which is held every year in Tokyo, will be held in Honolulu in June. In addition, the Pan American Convention of Japanese People, which is held every two years, has been decided to be held in San Francisco, California in 2019. This looks like a great opportunity for Japanese people in Central and South America to learn more about Japanese people in North America.
Notes:
1. In 1920, Japan's total population was 56 million, but 20 years later, in 1940, it had increased to 72 million, and the social and economic pressures of population growth were considerable.
2. During the war, a large number of children of overseas emigrants (many of whom acquired Japanese citizenship) were left behind in Japan, and immediately after the war ended they tried to return to the United States and other countries.
3. Soon after the settlement, many Japanese were forced to relocate to Argentina or Brazil due to unknown fevers, river floods, and poor harvests, and currently just under 1,000 Japanese people live in the settlement. The three settlement areas cover a vast area of 47,000 hectares (470 square kilometers) and produce a variety of crops. Most of the residents are from Okinawa Prefecture.
References:
1) Harumi Befu, "Chapter 1: The History and Diversity of the Global Spread of Japanese and Japanese-Americans," in Japanese-Americans and Globalization: North America, South America, and Japan, edited by Rain Ryo Hirahayashi, Akemi Kikumura-Yano, and Fames A. Hirabayashi, translated by the Immigration Research Group, Jinbun Shoin, 2006.
2) Hiroyuki Shiode, "Introduction: Japanese Immigration and Colonization in the Modern Asia-Pacific Region," in Political History of Border Crossers: Japanese Immigration and Colonization in the Asia-Pacific Region, Nagoya University Press, 2015.
© 2017 Alberto J. Matsumoto
