Japanese diaspora

The Japanese diaspora and its individual members, known as Nikkei (Japanese: 日系, IPA: [ɲikkeː]) or as Nikkeijin (Japanese: 日系人, IPA: [ɲikkeꜜːʑiɴ]), comprise the Japanese emigrants from Japan (and their descendants) residing in a country outside Japan. Emigration from Japan was recorded as early as the 15th century to the Philippines, but did not become a mass phenomenon until the Meiji period (1868–1912), when Japanese emigrated to the Philippines and to the Americas. There was significant emigration to the territories of the Empire of Japan during the period of Japanese colonial expansion (1875–1945); however, most of these emigrants repatriated to Japan after the 1945 surrender of Japan ended World War II in Asia.

According to the Association of Nikkei and Japanese Abroad, about 4 million Nikkei live in their adopted countries. The largest of these foreign communities are in Brazil, the United States, the Philippines, China, Canada, and Peru. Descendants of emigrants from the Meiji period still maintain recognizable communities in those countries, forming separate ethnic groups from Japanese people in Japan. The largest of these foreign communities are in the Brazilian states of São Paulo and Paraná. There are also significant cohesive Japanese communities in the Philippines, Peru and in the American state of Hawaii. Nevertheless, most emigrant Japanese are largely assimilated outside of Japan.

As of 2024^[update], the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported the five countries with the highest number of Japanese expatriates as the United States (413,380), Australia (104,141), China (97,538), Canada (77,294), and Thailand (70,421).

The term Nikkei, from the Japanese word nikkei (日系; lit. "of Japanese lineage"), is often used to refer to Japanese people who emigrated from Japan and their descendants. These groups were historically differentiated by the terms issei (first-generation Nikkei), nisei (second-generation Nikkei), sansei (third-generation Nikkei) and yonsei (fourth-generation Nikkei). In this context emigration refers to permanent settlers, excluding transient Japanese abroad, although the term may not strictly relate to citizenship status. The Japanese government defines Nikkei people as foreign citizens with the ability to provide proof of Japanese lineage within three generations. On the other hand, in the United States and some other places where Nikkei people have developed their own communities and identities, first-generation Japanese immigrants with Japanese citizenship tend to be included if they are involved in the local community.

The Japanese American National Museum, based upon a collaborative project that involved more than 100 scholars from 10 countries, has defined Nikkei as follows:

We are talking about Nikkei people - Japanese emigrants and their descendants who have created communities throughout the world. The term Nikkei has multiple and diverse meanings depending on situations, places, and environments. Nikkei also include people of mixed racial descent who identify themselves as Nikkei. Native Japanese also use the term Nikkei for the emigrants and their descendants who return to Japan. Many of these Nikkei live in close communities and retain identities separate from the native Japanese.

Japanese emigration to the rest of Asia was noted as early as the 15th century to the Philippines; early Japanese settlements included those in Lingayen Gulf, Manila, the coasts of Ilocos and in the Visayas when the Philippines was under the influence of Srivijaya and Majapahit Empire. In 2009, Japanese and Filipino archaeologists, from the Sumitomo Foundation-funded Boljoon Archaeological Project conducted by the University of San Carlos with the National Museum of the Philippines, discovered ancient Japanese pottery that is believed to have been in existence since the early 1700s. The ancient Japanese pottery that was discovered there has proven that there was trading activity between Japan and Cebu Island Philippines going back to the 16th century. In the 16th century the Japanese settlement was established in Ayutthaya, Thailand and in early 17th century Japanese settlers were first recorded to stay in Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). A larger wave came in the 17th century, when red seal ships traded in Southeast Asia and Japanese Catholics fled from the religious persecution imposed by the shōguns and settled in the Philippines, among other destinations. Many of them also intermarried with the local Filipina women (including those of pure or mixed Chinese and Spanish descent), thus forming the new Japanese-Mestizo community. In the 16th and 17th centuries, thousands of traders from Japan also migrated to the Philippines and assimilated into the local population. In the 15th century AD, shimamono tea-jars were bought by the shōguns to Uji in Kyoto from the Philippines by merchants such as Luzon Sukezaemon which was used in the Japanese tea ceremony. In the latter half of the 16th century the Portuguese Empire purchased and sold on Japanese slaves.

From the 15th through the early 17th century, Japanese seafarers traveled to China and Southeast Asia countries, in some cases establishing early Japantowns. This activity ended in the 1640s, when the Tokugawa shogunate imposed maritime restrictions which forbade Japanese from leaving the country and from returning if they were already abroad. This policy would not be lifted for over two hundred years. Travel restrictions were eased once Japan opened diplomatic relations with Western nations. In 1867, the bakufu began issuing travel documents for overseas travel and emigration.