Japanese and Nikkei at Home and Abroad: Negotiating Identities in ...

Dissimilar experiences and historical memories have created different social boundaries between Nikkei and Japanese in the eyes of the current Nikkei generation. The creation of a Nikkei identity without connections to Japan is not the desire of all Nikkei, however. Some Latin American Nikkei are hesitant to detach themselves from Japan. These people have a strong sense of nostalgia about an imaginary home—one largely created in their own minds—in an imaginary Japan. This Japan is the one they grew up hearing about from their parents or grandparents. Others wish to maintain an economic connection with Japan.

Stanlaw (chapter 11) and Okamura (chapter 4) claim that ethnic identity is a very local phenomena rather than a universal one becausepeople create relationships with others through their everyday experiences and communication in a particular location or space. One example would be the pre–World War II and post–World War II Japanese transnational migrants and their children, who hardly associate with each other. These two groups have different ethnic associations. The former created relationships based on their wartime experiences and the redress movement. But the latter group of Japanese transnationals have migrated for different reasons—economic or social status. As Stanlaw mentions, the postwar Japanese migrants are usually either chzai-in (Japanese salaried men who are sent abroad by their corporations), students, or wives of Americans.

After studying children of Japanese descent at Japanese supplementary schools in Düsseldorf, Germany, Okamura concludes that although supplementary schools follow the curriculum planned by the Japanese national educational system, instructors need to adjust the curriculum depending on local children's levels and needs. In Düsseldorf, regardless of children being holders of Japanese passports, they often do not know Japan well or have sufficient Japanese language competence to follow instruction to the same depth or at the same level as students back in Japan.

As another example, Creighton points out that Nikkei from different nations are creating new Nikkei ethnic identities using the images of their own host nations. By holding conferences, the Pan AmericanNikkei Association (PANA) entertains Nikkei from other nations, organizes local sightseeing tours, serves local food, and presents local music