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Americans in Japan

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Americans in Japan
Regions with significant populations
Osaka, Sapporo, Sendai, Nagoya, Yokohama, Fukuoka, Tokyo
Languages
Japanese • American English

Americans in Japan (在日アメリカ人/在日米国人, Zainichi Amerikajin / Zainichi Beikokujin) are immigrants from the United States to Japan and their descendants. Immigration began after the 1854 Convention of Kanagawa, under which Commodore Matthew C. Perry forced Japan to open to international trade.[1] As of 2011, Americans formed 2.4% of the total population of registered foreigners in Japan, with 49,815 U.S. citizens residing there, according to the statistics of Japan's Ministry of Justice. This made them the sixth-largest group of foreigners; they had formerly been the fifth-largest, but were surpassed by Peruvians in 2000.[2]

History

The first Americans to come to Japan actually predated Perry by nearly six decades. In 1791, two merchant vessels from Massachusetts, the Lady Washington and the Grace, landed at Kushimoto, near Osaka, under the pretense that they were taking refuge from a storm. They began negotiations with Japanese authorities there about the potential of opening trade, but made no headway, and departed after eleven days.[1]

Especially prior to World War II, it was a common practice for issei Japanese Americans to send their nisei children to Japan for education. Known as Kibei (帰米), they often found themselves the subject of discrimination from their classmates in Japan during their studies; upon their return to the United States, their Japanese American peers also derided them as "too Japanesey" for their alleged authoritarian mindset and pro-Japanese militarist sympathies.[3][4]

Health issues

Americans in Japan overall had similar pattern of mortality to Americans at large, according to one 1986 study; however, American women in Japan showed a somewhat elevated propensity to strokes.[5]

Notable individuals

This is a list of current and former American citizens whose notability is related to their residence in Japan.

See also

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References

  1. ^ a b Mitarai, Shoji, An Exploration of the History of Cross-cultural Negotiation: The First U.S.-Japan Trade Negotiation before Commodore Perry's Arrival, Working Papers, Social Science Research Network, retrieved 2008-04-11
  2. ^ 平成１９年末現在における外国人登録者統計について (About the statistics of registered foreigners at 2007 year-end) (PDF), Japan: Ministry of Justice, June 2008
  3. ^ Takahashi, Jere (1998), Nisei/Sansei: Shifting Japanese American Identities and Politics, Temple University Press, pp. 65–84, ISBN 1-56639-659-X
  4. ^ Yamashiro, Masahiro (1995), 帰米二世―解体していく「日本人」, Gogatsu Shobo, ISBN 4-7727-0222-9
  5. ^ Kono, Suminori; R. Isa, Abdul; Ogimoto, Itsuro; Yoshimura, Takesumi (1987), "Cause-Specific Mortality among Koreans, Chinese, and Americans in Japan, 1973-1982", International Journal of Epidemiology, 16 (3), Oxford University Press: 415–419, doi:10.1093/ije/16.3.415, PMID 3667040
  6. ^ Lewis, Ferd (2006-07-02), "Akebono", Honolulu Advertiser, retrieved 2007-05-25
  7. ^ Kawakami, Kenjiro (2002). "William R. Gorham (1888-1949) and Japanese Industry". International Conference on Business & Technology Transfer. Retrieved 2013-05-08.

Further reading

  • Black, J. S. (1988), "Work role transitions: A study of American expatriates in Japan", Journal of International Business Studies, 27 (9): 277–293
  • Mateu, Milagros, "Reflexivity as a Facilitator to Adjusting to a New Culture: American Expatriates in Japan", Journal of Learning, 12 (12): 55–62, retrieved 2008-04-11
  • Yamakawa, Ryuichi (1992), "The applicability of Japanese labor and employment laws to Americans working in Japan", San Diego Law Review (29): 175–201
  • Yamashita, Sayoko (July 1996), "Ethnographic Report of an African American Student in Japan", Journal of Black Studies, 26 (6), Sage Publications: 735–747, doi:10.1177/002193479602600605, JSTOR 2784863
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