Why are there Overseas Chinese and Overseas Indians, but no 'Overseas Japanese'? (2)
I am writing the continuation of this article based on the insightful comment I received from Kusamakura-san.
Comment: 'I have also been curious about the term 'Nikkyo' (Overseas Japanese) for a long time. Even though the potential is there, it never becomes a major force that spans the globe, does it?'
Answer: It is unnatural for Japanese people to call themselves the 'Tokyo Wakyo Association' within Japan, and the explanations regarding Overseas Chinese and ethnic Chinese on Wikipedia are also inaccurate. Although there is no strict definition, before explaining 'Wakyo' (Overseas Japanese), one must at least understand the concepts of 'Luoye Guigen' and 'Luodi Shenghen'.
Overseas Chinese In order to understand the concept, it is essential to grasp the importance of 'Luoye Guigen' and 'Luodi Shenghen' beyond business networks. The former means returning to one's homeland after achieving success abroad, while the latter means taking root in the place of migration.
Michio Takakura, who published the 'Nikkei Journal' in Paraguay, also spoke about the concept of Wakyo and ran for the House of Councillors representing Japanese people living abroad, but he was not elected. His argument aimed at establishing overseas electoral districts and enhancing the voting rights of Japanese citizens living abroad.
Comment: 'I lived in Europe for quite a long time, but I feel that Japanese people have a tendency to group together immediately, and I don't think they are easily assimilated.'
Answer: Wherever I go in the world, I have always avoided socializing with Japanese people and have conducted business only with local people. However, as you pointed out, the average Japanese person tends to form groups immediately, whether in European countries or anywhere else in the world. This is similar to the phenomenon where programming beginners use the hashtag '#ConnectWithProgrammingBeginners' to try to connect with other beginners. To succeed in business overseas, one should not choose amateurs who have only been abroad for a few years, but rather local people who deeply understand the local culture, and select experts in the target field as business partners, directors, or employees.
Regarding the point mentioned in the previous article that 'Japanese immigrants tend to assimilate into society relatively early, especially in North American and European countries,' the ease of Japanese people's adaptation to life abroad becomes clear when compared to Overseas Chinese living in Islamic countries or Muslims living in India and China. Overseas Chinese continue to have a strong attachment to the Chinese New Year and Chinese cuisine even while living abroad, and Muslims who have migrated to non-Islamic countries strictly observe Ramadan and Halal food.
However, it is extremely rare for Japanese people who have moved abroad to insist on taking time off until the third day of the New Year in accordance with the Japanese New Year, or to claim that miso soup cannot be called miso soup unless it is made with freshly cooked rice for breakfast and a blended miso using bonito and kelp dashi, with ingredients like tofu, seaweed, and green onions, or to insist that besides miso soup, pickled plums, pickled daikon, natto, grilled salted salmon, and dried seaweed are essential for breakfast.
In areas with many Japanese descendants like Los Angeles, Japanese supermarkets are well-stocked and most Japanese ingredients are available, but in other regions, it is common to use local ingredients. The general Japanese view is that people who cannot get used to foreign food and lifestyle habits are not suited for life abroad. In other words, except for cases like the overseas expansion of Japanese restaurants, the conclusion is that if you cannot assimilate into life abroad, you should return to Japan.
I received a comment from Ookami-san saying, 'There is no Nikkyo, but there are things like the ⚪︎⚪︎ Japanese Association. But their financial power seems weak.' The term Nikkyo (日僑) is Chinese, and it refers to Japanese overseas migrants (Nikkei), such as first, second, third, and fourth-generation Japanese descendants.
This concept of 'which generation' is important for understanding the characteristics of Japanese overseas communities. The timing of full-scale overseas migration from Japan varies by country, but after the period of national isolation from 1639 to 1854, the 35 'Enomoto immigrants' who went to Mexico in 1897 are considered the beginning of organized overseas migration by Japanese people. Since then, many Japanese immigrants and their descendants have lived in Brazil (South America), the United States (North America), Canada (North America), and Peru (South America), in that order, and some have also migrated to places like Paraguay (South America). Recently, there is a situation where fourth and fifth generations are mixed. In this way, the concept of continuing to leave descendants abroad is similar to the 'Luodi Shenghen' of the Overseas Chinese.
People from the third generation onwards often marry local people in their new countries, and may be half or quarter Japanese. The scope of being recognized as Nikkei is subtle as it involves issues of identity, but there are currently about 3.5 million Nikkei people in the world, and due to their large numbers, Japanese language schools and Japanese schools are operated. There is a Japanese community called Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, and until the collapse of the bubble economy in the early 1990s, supermarkets, souvenir shops, and restaurants were operated by Nikkei people or Japanese capital. However, after the bubble burst, many shops in Little Tokyo changed to Korean capital.
I have digressed, but many Nikkei people involved in agriculture and trade have achieved great success. However, it is rare for them to easily sell the land and businesses that they have worked hard to develop over several generations since immigrating to Japanese people who have arrived in recent years. For example, for a restaurant that has been serving Japanese food in Little Tokyo for a century, a recently arrived Japanese food franchise is merely a competitor.
The transformation of Little Tokyo is partly due to one shop in the community being sold at a high price to a Korean-American because there was no successor. After that, the sale of kimchi and Korean products began centered on that shop, and Little Tokyo gradually turned into 'Little Seoul,' and the Japanese brands of surrounding shops were lost. As a result, many Little Tokyo shop owners let go of shops that had been passed down for generations and moved to Gardena or Torrance to form new Japanese communities. A common mistake many Japanese people make abroad is to rely on or trust Japanese people they meet just because they can speak Japanese. How dangerous this behavior is can be easily understood from experience within Japan. For example, in Japanese companies, management and employees speak Japanese, have undergone background checks, and belong to the same company, so in theory, everyone should be trustworthy. However, in reality, even within the same workplace, there are those who betray others and those who cannot be trusted. Considering this reality, it is clear that it is reckless to trust Japanese people or Nikkei people met abroad just for that reason.
Overseas Chinese, Overseas Indians, and other diaspora communities and networks serve as credit checks for strangers who cannot be trusted. The biggest reason I am trusted all over the world is that I have earned a good reputation in diaspora networks of various races in North America, ASEAN countries, China, India, the Middle East, and African countries.
The international network I utilize includes a network of martial artists who interact regardless of race or type of martial art. This is common to a wide range of genres, not limited to martial artists, such as artists, magicians, musicians, architects, and computer programmers. In any field, if you disseminate information in English rather than Japanese and have international achievements, that skill and credit will be accepted all over the world. I myself still frequently write international academic papers in English, and the fact that the content of my papers has been consistent for the past several decades is also a very important factor in gaining trust.
Rintaro Takechi