The Literature of the Japanese Diaspora: Identity beyond Japan

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This project aims to thematically group and analyse recent literary fiction by Nikkei authors in English-speaking countries. It focuses on cultural identity of Nikkei outside Japan. It asks how does this literature mediate racial representations of Nikkei. This research tries to find patterns in Nikkei writing in English around the world. By grouping Nikkei works thematically around concepts such as race and identity we are able to see what a novel by a female Nikkei writer in the UK might have in common with a novel written by a third-generation Brazilian Japanese writer.‘The Literature of the Japanese Diaspora’ is a major study on Nikkei writing and representation. Using interviews with Nikkei authors and textual analysis of their historical and literary fiction, I show how their literature drives a diasporic imaginary out of a mesh of history, place, and society. I argue that the writers operate as an alternative voice to dominant narratives of history concerning racialised Nikkei. In doing so, Nikkei writers are contributing to the construction of a shared global identity transcending linguistic, cultural, and national borders. Although vast and diverse, Nikkei literary fiction shares common intimations aroused by common historical connections, responses to multiculturalism, and the contestation of racialisation as well as gender stereotypes. By understanding different racial representations I demonstrate how this fluid shared identity offers a possible solution for a Japan contemplating a future multicultural coexistence.