Alexandra Perez
Professor Borges
Modern Latin History
Spring 2021
Diaspora and Identity
Mieko Nashida, in her book Diaspora and Identity, tries to focus on the history of Japanese Brazilians in Japan and Brazil and their experiences. Mieko Nashida provides stories of Nikkei, who are Brazilians of Japanese descent. Through repeated migrations between Japan and Brazil, these Brazilians of Japanese are dispersed between Brazil and Japan. The information in this book is narrations of Brazilians of Japanese experiences who emigrated from Japan to Brazil to go and work as laborers (Nishida, Mieko, 10). These Brazilians of Japanese emigrated from the year 1908; they migrated to Japan in 1989 (Nishida, Mieko, 12). Their main reason for their migration back to Japan is to work in manual work in the industries and factories in Japan and other works that required labor. Mieko Nashida shows the stories of Japanese Brazilians are diverse and many, and they are constantly emerging day by day. Overall, the main argument of the book Diaspora and Identity is that it is impossible to change the identity of people who live in diaspora far away from their culture and their way of living. These people will remain to their native identity no matter what.
The book Diaspora and Identity consists of seven chapters where the ideas are organized chronologically by generation. Nashida experiences or encounters six types or categories of Japanese Brazilians. First immigrants who are known as essei to the second and the third war immigrants. The second immigrants were referred to as Nisei, and the third was referred to as sansei. According to the book, Nashida tries to show that it is tough to alter the identity or culture of people living in the diaspora. She says that these people will remain to their identity for who they are as they share the exact common ancestral origin.
In addition, people will always stick to their culture regardless of how difficult stacking to one’s culture from another country where life is different from their own culture. The author narrates different stories from the Japanese Brazilian experiences, which shows how the characters involved were devoted to embracing their culture even from a different country. Also, Nashida discusses the challenges in the individuals involved in the emigration from Japan to Brazil. Nashida bases her arguments on Brazilian culture, which is understandable as she belongs to the Brazilian culture. Mieko states intermarriages as one of the hazards involved in maintaining the culture of the Japanese Brazilians.
Consequently, Nashida starts her book by narrating a Japanese Brazilian woman, Tizula Yamasaki which she claims was the first Japanese Brazilian woman to direct a motion picture or a film (Adachi, Nobuko, 196). Tizula Yamasaki directed a film known as Gaijin, which means foreigners. The movie, Gaijin mainly talked about the gender inequality of the Japanese people living in Brazil. On the release of her film, Tizula Yamasaki was not only ignored, but also, she was attacked and criticized that she had ashamed the Japanese people living in Brazil. Mieko Nashida sympathizes with her for being criticized and mocked by the people who claim that she was shaming the people of Japan living in Brazil. From Nashida sympathizing with Tizula, we can find that one of the key issues in the book, Diaspora, and identity directly resonates with that in the movie, Gaijin. The key issue that can be deduced from the book and the movie is that they focus on the Japanese Brazilian volume in Japan and Brazil.
Moreover, two key issues that are deduced in the book is the choice of marriage partners by the Japanese Brazilian community. Nashida says that the first generation hoped for their children’s ethnic and endogamy. Nashida finds expectations based on gender that encapsulated women in the community that has immigrated. Women began to appreciate and accept marriage more compared to men. Women started marrying men with the same social, economic status as them, but they were not Japanese Brazilians. Women remained single if they did not find a suitable or good marriage partner for themselves, and their parents supported them and expected care from their daughters. On the other hand, men did not marry women according to their socio-economic class or background and race.
Consequently, social class is a critical aspect of the book since it extensively relates to the subject of identity. Nashida describes attaining social class status similar to the whites, where one can access white-collar or professional jobs through intermarriages (Lesser, Jeffrey, 1710). The author uses the word whitening to show this process of acquiring or attaining higher social status, same as the whites, which had many advantages. Nashida also says that this process cannot be directed as some of the youth categorized as the third generation regarded themselves as wholly Brazilians. These youths also avoid making friendships with other Japanese to avoid racism from the Brazilians.
Furthermore, racism is another key aspect that can be deduced from the book Diaspora and Identity. Nashida shows that some of the Japanese Brazilians living in Brazil ended up identifying themselves as Brazilians to avoid racism from the Brazilian people. These people also avoided making friends with the other Japanese Brazilians showing us that they feared racism from the people of Brazil. Besides, the fear of identifying themselves with other Japanese Brazilians shows that the Brazilian people hated the Japanese Brazilian community that lived in Brazil. Also, the fact that Japanese Brazilian women were required to whiten their children shows racism. To avoid it is through intermarriages for the children to become whiter and get suitable professional jobs.
From the narrations of the experiences of the Japanese Brazilian community, there are some significance or importance that can be deduced from these stories of experiences. Firstly, from the narration of the Gaijin movie, which Tizula Yamasaki created, we can deduce that fight for gender inequality by women is a significant aspect of empowerment of all people in the society (Higuchi, Naoto, 346). From the book, it is clear that the Japanese living in Brazil were facing gender inequality where women were regarded as the weaker gender, and they were not prioritized. Tizula Yamasaki came out boldly and tried to fight this, but she was mocked and attacked for shaming the Japanese community that lived in Brazil.
Consequently, from the experiences narrated in Nashida’s book, Diaspora and Identity, it is significant is fighting racism in both Brazil and Japan. There was racism between the Japanese Brazilians who lived in Brazil and Japan. Meiko Nashida narrates stories of Japanese Brazilian women and how they avoided racism. Japanese Brazilian women become appreciative and accepted intermarriages to avoid racism which they faced from the Brazilians.
Another significant aspect that can be deduced from the narrations of experiences of Japanese Brazilian community people is that there were intermarriages between these two groups of the community. Both women and men appreciated intermarrying with the people of the other community to avoid the racism that they faced from their fellow Brazilians. In addition, intermarrying is also significant as it helped both the communities to create more bonds between themselves and started having good relationships with each other.
Conclusively, as discussed in Meiko Nashida’s book, Diaspora and Identity, it is evident that Japanese Brazilians living in both Brazil and Japan face a lot of challenges from their experiences which are extensively discussed in Nashida’s book. In addition, these experiences narrated in the book have a lot of significant aspects to Japanese Brazilians as they lead to gender equality, stopping racism and, intermarriages.
Works Cited
Adachi, Nobuko. “Diaspora and Identity: Japanese Brazilians in Brazil and Japan by Mieko Nishida.” The Americas 76.1 (2019): 193-196.
Higuchi, Naoto. “DIASPORA AND IDENTITY: Japanese Brazilians in Brazil and Japan. By Mieko Nishida.” Pacific Affairs 92.2 (2019): 345-347.
Lesser, Jeffrey. “Mieko Nishida. Diaspora and Identity: Japanese Brazilians in Brazil and Japan.” (2018): 1710-1711.
Nishida, Mieko. Diaspora and Identity: Japanese Brazilians in Brazil and Japan. University of Hawaii Press, 2017.
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