The Japanese in Latin America (Asian American Experience) [Paperback]

Daniel M. Masterson (Author)

Book Description

Series: Asian American Experience | Publication Date: November 7, 2003

Japanese migration to Latin America began in the late nineteenth century, and today the continent is home to 1.5 million persons of Japanese descent. Combining detailed scholarship with rich personal histories, "The Japanese in Latin America" is the first comprehensive study of the patterns of Japanese migration on the continent as a whole. When the United States and Canada tightened their immigration restrictions in 1907, Japanese contract laborers began to arrive in mines and plantations in Latin America. Daniel M. Masterson, with the assistance of Sayaka Funada-Classen, examines Japanese agricultural colonies in Latin America, as well as the subsequent cultural networks that sprang up within and among them, and the changes that occurred as the Japanese moved from wage labor to ownership of farms and small businesses. Masterson also explores recent economic crises in Brazil, Argentina, and Peru, which combined with a strong Japanese economy to cause at least a quarter million Latin American Japanese to migrate back to Japan. Illuminating authoritative research with extensive interviews with migrants and their families, "The Japanese in Latin America" examines the dilemma of immigrants who maintained strong allegiances to their Japanese roots, even while they struggled to build lives in their new countries.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A first-rate piece of scholarship. It provides an invaluable overview of the history of the Japanese on the continent, with extraordinary richness of detail throughout." -- Samuel L. Baily, author of Immigrants in the Lands of Promise

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press (November 7, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252071441
• ISBN-13: 978-0252071447
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #985,719 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Japanese in Mexico, July 11, 2011

By 

Bertha J. Valenzuela - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Japanese in Latin America (Asian American Experience) (Paperback)

I purchased this book because it contains a great deal of historical information that my mother, aunts and grandmother neglected to tell me. My grandfather was a Japanese immigrant to Mexico. My grandfather and his partner had a business in a small town in Sonora, Mexico. I learned in 2009 from a daughter of my grandfather's partner (who was also Japanese) and my grandmother's cousin that my grandfather and his partner were taken to an internment camp outside Mexico City during World War II. I never understood why. I began to do my own research and came across the book, The Japanese in Latin America. I learned of a location that may contain information about my grandfather, which is the National Archives in Mexico City. I have contacted the Japanese Embassy in Mexico City and they had no information. This book has so much information about why the Japanese left Japan and the reason for the internment of the Japanese in Latin America. I would not have been able to discover in my lifetime all the information that the book contains. I am greatful to the authors.