This paper investigates changes undergone by self-definition in Japanese-Brazilian (Nikkei) society. After World War II, the first generation of immigrants sought social integration of Japanese immigrants and an affirmation of their place in Brazil with the formation of the Cultural Association (Bunkyo). Later, identity consciousness in the Nikkei society changed due to an increase in temporary labor migration to Japan.
For Nikkei of Pilar do Sul, an exclusive identity is recently appearing that is distinct from “race-based identity.” Bunkyo has revised membership regulations limiting membership to people of Japanese descent due to non-Nikkei Brazilians’ involvement in the association. These revisions have caused emergent changes to Bunkyo’s organizational “order and regulation”, which were shared by the group’s members. Accordingly, members have begun to differentiate themselves and others according to Bunkyo’s “order and regulation”. Therefore, I examine the grounds for local Nikkei identity irreducible to the conventional frameworks of Nikkei studies.
