"Japanese Diasporas" highlights the relationships of overseas Japanese and their descendents (Nikkei) with their 'home' and 'host' nations. Frequently abandoned by their homeland, and experiencing alienation in their host nations, the diaspora sought to carve out lives between two worlds. Examining Nikkei communities and Japanese migration to Manchuria, China, Canada, the Philippines, Singapore and Latin America, Japanese Diasporas offers new perspectives on sociopolitical and cultural issues of transnational migrants and diaspora communities in an economically intertwined world.

Introduction Part 1: Origins of the Japanese Diaspora 1. The Japanese Diaspora in the New World: Its Asian Predecessors and Origins 2. Japanese Emigration and Immigration: From the Meiji to the Modern 3. Instructions to Emigrant Laborers, 1885-1894: "Return in Triumph" or "Wander on the Verge of Starvation" Part 2: Cultural Identity: From the Incipient Diaspora to Classic Diaspora 4. Paradise Lost: Japan's Agricultural Colonists in Manchukuo 5. The Intermarried Issei and Mestizo Nisei in the Philippines: Reflections on the Origin of Philippine Nikkeijin Problems 6. Constructing Japanese Brazilian Identity: From Agrarian Migrants to Urban White Collar Workers 7. A Stone Voice: The Diary of a Japanese Transnational Migrant in Canada 8. The Japanese of Peru: The First Century Experience and Beyond 9. Japanese Latin Americans During World War II: A Reconsideration Part 3: Constructing Identities in the Okinawan, Nikkei, and Permanent Resident Diasporas 10. Four Governments and a New Land: Emigration to Bolivia 11. Acting Japanese 12. Crossing Ethnic Boundaries: The Challenge of Brazilian Nikkeijin Return Migrants in Japan 13. Overseas Japanese and the Challenges of Repatriation in Post-Colonial East Asia 14. Negotiating Work and Self: Experiences of Japanese Working Women in Singapore