Mariko Iijima

Professor

English Studies

Most Japanese labor overseas migrants in the Meiji period migrated to regions dominated by white racism: North America, South America, and the Pacific Islands. In these destinations, numerous labor migrants were embedded in a complex racial structure within a multiethnic society and faced various forms of discrimination. Nevertheless, Japanese migrants valued by plantation owners and employers for their inexpensive and efficient labor were favorably accepted. The increasing Japanese population accompanied by the formation of families in their destinations, however, led to anti-Japanese sentiments and movements in the host society, and from the 1920s, Japanese immigration was restricted or banned, particularly in North America.

Although undoubtedly Japanese overseas migrants suffered from structural and social racism based on white supremacy, the experiences of Okinawan migrants indicate that white racism was not necessarily the only source of discrimination. Migrants from Okinawa, where was incorporated as a Japanese prefecture in 1872, were subjected to discrimination by their counterparts from mainland Japan because of differences in language, culture, and appearance. Thus, the discriminatory experience of Okinawan migrants suggests that overseas Japanese immigrants were not monolithic and that the peripheral nature of Okinawa in the Japanese empire was reconstructed within Japanese migrant communities.

Finally, this paper focuses on Japanese re-migrants, revealing that they were the link between overseas immigration destinations and the Japanese imperial colonies. The agricultural experience and skills they acquired at their destinations supported the development of agricultural industries in Japanese colonies such as Taiwan and Manchuria, but also encouraged the establishment of a racist system that effectively controlled racially diverse workers and local residents. Thus, overseas Japanese migrants were closely connected to the development of agricultural, economic and racial system of the Japanese Empire.