Americans in Japan
Regions with significant populations | |
---|---|
Tokyo, Osaka, Sapporo, Sendai, Nagoya, Yokohama, Fukuoka | |
Languages | |
Japanese • English |
Americans in Japan (在日アメリカ人/在日米国人, Zainichi Amerikajin / Zainichi Beikokujin) comprise people from the United States residing in Japan and their descendants. Larger numbers of Americans began going to Japan after the 1854 Convention of Kanagawa, under which Commodore Matthew C. Perry forced Japan to open to international trade.[2] As of 2012, Americans formed 2.4% of the total population of registered foreigners in Japan, with 51,321 U.S. citizens residing there, according to the statistics of Japan's Ministry of Justice.[3] This made them the sixth-largest group of foreigners; they had formerly been the fifth-largest, but were surpassed by Peruvians in 2000.[4]
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.[2] Another early American resident of Japan who predated Perry's arrival was Ranald MacDonald (1824–1894), a man of Scottish and Chinook descent, and the first to teach the English language in Japan.
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.[5][6]
Health issues
Americans in Japan overall had a similar pattern of mortality to Americans at large, according to one 1986 study; however, American women in Japan showed a somewhat elevated propensity toward strokes.[7]
Education
American international schools in Japan:
Schools for dependents of U.S. military personnel:
Notable individuals
This is a list of current and former American citizens whose notability is related to their residence in Japan.
- Tarō Akebono (born Chad Haakeo Rowan), first foreign-born sumo wrestler ever to reach Yokozuna rank[8]
- Billy Blanks, fitness guru and martial artist
- Thane Camus, television personality
- Dante Carver, actor
- Kent Derricott, television personality
- Leah Dizon, singer and model
- Marty Friedman, guitarist and TV personality
- William Gorham, early-to-mid 20th century engineer[9]
- Patrick Harlan, television personality, better known as "Pakkun"
- Daniel Kahl, television personality
- Donald Keene, Japanologist, scholar, teacher, writer, translator and interpreter of Japanese literature and culture, who is now a naturalized citizen of Japan
- Carolyn Kawasaki, model and television personality
- Bernard Krisher, Journalist, publisher and philanthropist. First to interview Tenno Showa (Emperor Hirohito) in a one-on-one interview in 1975.
- Konishiki Yasokichi (born Saleva'a Fuauli Atisano'e), former sumo wrestler and the first foreign-born wrestler to reach ozeki rank
- Tony László, freelance journalist, activist, and leading character of My Darling is a Foreigner manga series and movie
- Dave Spector, TV commentator
- Takamiyama Daigorō (born Jesse James Wailani Kuhaulua), former sumo wrestler and the first foreign-born wrestler to win the top division championship
- Hikaru Utada, singer
- Walter Tenney Carleton, International businessman and founding director of NEC
See also
- Japan-United States relations
- Occupation of Japan
- Gaijin, the Japanese term for foreigners
References
- ^ "Table 10.1 Registered Foreigners by Nationality: 1950-2006" (PDF). Ministry of Justice, . Annual Report of Statistics on Legal Migrants. National Institute of Population and Social Security Research. 2008. Retrieved December 11, 2012.
- ^ 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
- ^ "Table 10.1 Registered Foreigners by Nationality: 1950-2006" (PDF). Ministry of Justice, . Annual Report of Statistics on Legal Migrants. National Institute of Population and Social Security Research. 2008. Retrieved December 11, 2012.
- ^ 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
- ^ Takahashi, Jere (1998), Nisei/Sansei: Shifting Japanese American Identities and Politics, Temple University Press, pp. 65–84, ISBN 1-56639-659-X
- ^ Yamashiro, Masahiro (1995), 帰米二世―解体していく「日本人」, Gogatsu Shobo, ISBN 4-7727-0222-9
- ^ 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
- ^ Lewis, Ferd (2006-07-02), "Akebono", Honolulu Advertiser, retrieved 2007-05-25
- ^ 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