Americans in Japan

Americans in Japan

The community of Americans in Japan (Japanese: 在日アメリカ人/在日米国人) began to form after the 1854 Convention of Kanagawa, under which Commodore Matthew C. Perry forced Japan open to international trade.citation|last=Mitarai|first=Shoji|title=An Exploration of the History of Cross-cultural Negotiation: The First U.S.-Japan Trade Negotiation before Commodore Perry's Arrival|series=Working Papers|publisher=Social Science Research Network|accessdate=2008-04-11|url=http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=602701] As of 2004, Americans formed 2.4% of the total population of registered foreigners in Japan, with 51,851 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. [citation|publisher=Ministry of Justice|location=Japan|title=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)|date=June 2008|url=http://www.moj.go.jp/PRESS/080601-1.pdf|format=PDF]

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.

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 nihongo|"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. [citation|last=Takahashi|first=Jere|title=Nisei/Sansei: Shifting Japanese American Identities and Politics|pages=65-84|publisher=Temple University Press|date=1998|isbn=156639659X] [citation|title=帰米二世―解体していく「日本人」|last=Yamashiro|first=Masahiro|date=1995|isbn=4772702229|publisher=Gogatsu Shobo]

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. [citation|last=Kono|first=Suminori|last2=R. Isa|first2=Abdul|last3=Ogimoto|first3=Itsuro|last4=Yoshimura|first4=Takesumi|title=Cause-Specific Mortality among Koreans, Chinese, and Americans in Japan, 1973-1982|journal=International Journal of Epidemiology|volume=16|issue=3|date=1987|publisher=Oxford University Press|url=http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/16/3/415]

Notable

*Debito Arudou
*Akebono Taro
*J. R. Sakuragi

ee also

* Ethnic issues in Japan
* Occupation of Japan
* Japan-United States relations

References

Further reading

*citation|title=Work role transitions: A study of American expatriates in Japan|journal=Journal of International Business Studies|volume=27|issue=9|pages=277-293|last=Black|first=J. S.|date=1988
*citation|title=Reflexivity as a Facilitator to Adjusting to a New Culture: American Expatriates in Japan|last=Mateu|first=Milagros|journal=Journal of Learning|volume=12|issue=12|pages=55-62|url=http://ijl.cgpublisher.com/product/pub.30/prod.1158|accessdate=2008-04-11
*citation|last=Yamakawa|first=Ryuichi|date=1992|title=The applicability of Japanese labor and employment laws to Americans working in Japan|journal=San Diego Law Review|issue=29|pages=175-201
*citation|title=Ethnographic Report of an African American Student in Japan|last=Yamashita|first=Sayoko|journal=Journal of Black Studies|volume=26|issue=6|date=July 1996|pages=735-747|publisher=Sage Publications|url=http://www.jstor.org/pss/2784863|accessdate=2008-04-11


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Japan Society (New York) — Founded in 1907, Japan Society is a nonprofit, nonpolitical organization that brings the people of Japan and the United States closer together through understanding, appreciation and cooperation. Society programs offer opportunities to experience …   Wikipedia

  • Americans in Hong Kong — 美國人在香港 美国人在香港 MC Jin Total population 60,000 (2009) Languages American English …   Wikipedia

  • Japan — • Called in the language of the country Nihon or Nippon (Land of the Rising Sun), and Dai Nihon or Dai Nippon (Great Japan), situated north west of the Pacific Ocean and east of the Asiatic continent Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006.… …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Japan–Thailand relations — Japan Thailand relations span a period from the 17th century to the present. Contacts had an early start with Japanese trade on Red seal ships and the installation of Japanese communities on Siamese soil, only to be broken off with Japan s period …   Wikipedia

  • Japan during World War I — Japan participated in nihongo|World War I|第一次世界大戦|Daiichiji Sekai Taisen from 1914 to 1917, as one of the major Entente Powers, played an important role in securing the sea lanes in South Pacific and Indian Oceans against the Kaiserliche Marine.… …   Wikipedia

  • japan — japanner, n. /jeuh pan /, n., adj., v., japanned, japanning. n. 1. any of various hard, durable, black varnishes, originally from Japan, for coating wood, metal, or other surfaces. 2. work varnished and figured in the Japanese manner. 3. Japans,… …   Universalium

  • Japan — /jeuh pan /, n. 1. a constitutional monarchy on a chain of islands off the E coast of Asia: main islands, Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku. 125,716,637; 141,529 sq. mi. (366,560 sq. km). Cap.: Tokyo. Japanese, Nihon, Nippon. 2. Sea of, the… …   Universalium

  • Japan–United States relations — The relationship between Japan and the United States of America is one of very close economic and military cooperation coupled with extensive cultural exchange.Historical backgroundThe earliest interactionsThe indirect exchange of trade goods… …   Wikipedia

  • Human rights in Japan — Japan This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Japan …   Wikipedia

  • Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910 — This article is about the 1910 treaty. For the 1907 treaty, see Japan Korea Annexation Treaty of 1907. Japan Korea Annexation Treaty Japanese name Kanji 日韓併合条約 …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”