Mission Statement

About

Association for Immigration Studies (Imin-kenkyukai), founded in 1975, has developed into an informal yet meaningful meeting of researchers with a common interest in Japanese immigration and the Nikkei. The group’s monthly meetings provide valuable opportunities to exchange scholarly findings, ideas, critiques and information on various resources in and outside of Japan. From an early focus on immigration and Nikkei experiences in the United States, Association for Immigration Studies has grown to include researchers in sociology, geography, literature, journalism and other disciplines, focusing not only on Japanese immigration to the Americas but also to Australia and Asia.

Now affiliated with Tsuda College, the group has made great scholarly contributions toward the understanding of immigration and Nikkei experiences around the world, and sending out messages and information on the Nikkei to the world. The spirit of sharing and learning that gave rise to the group originally has been fostered through monthly meetings for more than thirty years. The group’s development has relied on the active involvement both of its members, and of the many Japanese and foreign researchers and specialists who have visited as guest speakers.

Association for Immigration Studies projects have included publications such as Nihon no Iminkenkyu [Immigration Studies in Japan] (1994), the historiography and bibliography of scholarly writings published in Japan, and Senso to Nihonjinimin [War and Japanese Immigrants] (1997). More recently, Imin-kenkyukai collaborated with the Japanese American National Museum in publishing the 2004 Japanese translation of the Encyclopedia of Japanese Descendants in the Americas—-An Illustrated History of the Nikkei (AltaMira: 2002). The Japanese version of New Worlds, New Lives: Globalization and People of Japanese Descent in the Americas and from Latin America in Japan (Stanford University Press: 2002), an achievement of the International Nikkei Research Project, was also edited by the group and published by Jinbun-shoin in 2006. Imin-kenkyukai is currently updating its earlier publication, Nihon no Iminkenkyu.

Association for Immigration Studies has actively disseminated scholarship in Japan and beyond on numerous topics related to Japanese immigration and the Nikkei, and promises to continue to carry out our mission.

Imin-kenkyukai can contribute to the Nikkei Legacy Project in the following ways:

1) We will introduce and critique books (scholarly and general), journal articles, movies and other works on Japanese immigrants and Nikkei related topics mainly published in Japan.

2) We will offer historiographies and bibliographies of scholarship publicized in Japan on Japanese immigrants and Nikkei related topics.

3) We will provide Japanese and foreign researchers and specialists with the opportunity to speak before the group of researchers and graduate students in Japan.

4) We will promote the network of researchers and scholars in the field around the world.

5) We will foster outstanding researchers through the group’s meetings and projects.