The purpose of this article is to examine the “ibasho” (or the place where one feels at home) of young Japanese-Brazilians who live transnational lives in both Japan and Brazil, based on the multi-sited ethnography method. The results of the fieldwork showed that young middle-class Japanese-Brazilians who were born and raised in Brazil and joined prominent Japanese youth groups in the Japanese-Brazilian society have gained positive identities as Japanese-Brazilians, as “nikkey” (Japanese descendants). Furthermore, young people who spent most of their formal education years in Japan returned to Brazil and started new lives, engaging with others in similar situations on virtual communities on the Internet. On the other hand, children of Japanese-Brazilians living in Japan have not created their own ibasho yet. There are, however, Japanese language classes in public schools, local volunteer-run Japanese classes, and Brazilian schools where they can get an education based on the Brazilian system. It has been shown that these places have become somewhere they can fulfill their self-affirmation and acquire their own identity as Brazilians.
