Nikkeijin
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| About 3,600,000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Brazil
|
1,600,000 |
 United States
|
1,404,286 |
 China
|
127,282 |
 Philippines
|
120,000 |
 Canada
|
109,740 |
 Peru
|
103,949 |
 Germany
|
70,000 |
 Argentina
|
65,000 |
 United Kingdom
|
63,011 |
 South Korea
|
58,169 |
 Australia
|
54,830 |
 Thailand
|
67,424 |
 Mexico
|
35,000 |
 France
|
30,947 |
 Singapore
|
27,525 |
 Hong Kong
|
27,429 |
 Malaysia
|
22,000 |
 Micronesia
|
20,000 |
 Indonesia
|
14,720 |
 New Zealand
|
14,118 |
 Bolivia
|
14,000 |
 India
|
8,398 |
 New Caledonia
|
8,000 |
 Italy
|
7,556 |
 Paraguay
|
7,000 |
 Belgium
|
6,519 |
 Marshall Islands
|
6,000 |
 Sweden
|
5,235 |
 Palau
|
5,000 |
 Macau
|
4,200 |
 Switzerland
|
4,071 |
 Uruguay
|
3,456 |
 Colombia
|
3,000 |
 Russian Federation
|
1,700 |
 Pakistan
|
1,500 |
 Qatar
|
1,000 |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Ryukyuan diaspora | |
|
^ note: The population of naturalized Japanese people and their descendants is unknown. Only the number of the permanent residents with Japanese nationality is shown, except for the United States, where ancestral origin is recorded independent of nationality. |
|
The Japanese diaspora, and its individual members known as Nikkei (日系) or Nikkeijin (日系人), are the Japanese emigrants from Japan and their descendants that reside in a foreign country. Emigration from Japan was recorded as early as the 12th century to the Philippines, but did not become a mass phenomenon until the Meiji period, when Japanese began to go to the Philippines and the Americas. There was also significant emigration to the territories of the Empire of Japan during the colonial period; however, most emigrants repatriated to Japan after the surrender of Japan and the end of World War II in Asia.
According to the Association of Nikkei and Japanese Abroad, there are about 2.5 million nikkei living in their adopted countries. The largest of these foreign communities are in Brazil, the United States, China, the Philippines,Canada, and Peru. Descendants of emigrants from the Meiji period still hold recognizable communities in those countries, forming separate ethnic groups from Japanese people in Japan.
Nikkei is derived from the term nikkeijin (日系人) in Japanese, used to refer to Japanese people who emigrated from Japan and their descendants.Emigration refers to permanent settlers, excluding transient Japanese abroad. These groups were historically differentiated by the terms issei (first-generation nikkeijin), nisei (second-generation nikkeijin), sansei (third-generation nikkeijin), and yonsei (fourth-generation nikkeijin). The term Nikkeijin may or may not apply to those Japanese who still hold Japanese citizenship. Usages of the term may depend on perspective. For example, the Japanese government defines them according to (foreign) citizenship and the ability to provide proof of Japanese lineage up to the third generation - legally the fourth generation has no legal standing in Japan that is any different from another "foreigner." On the other hand, in the US or other places where Nikkeijin have developed their own communities and identities, first-generation Japanese immigrants tend to be included; citizenship is less relevant and a commitment to the local community becomes more important.
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Wikipedia