Transnational Entrepreneurship: Japanese Diaspora Entrepreneurs in Latin America

2023年2 - 3月，我们去了巴西的圣保罗和墨西哥的墨西哥城。在巴西，我们采访了7位移民企业家和16位跨国自主移民企业家。我们参观了他们的企业，并花时间与当地的日经人口接触，以深入了解该地区的历史和文化。我们参观了各种移民博物馆，追溯了日本移民的历史，并参观了一家咖啡博物馆，了解了日本移民到巴西的工作条件和背景。在墨西哥，我们采访了6位跨国自主创业的外籍企业家和7位移民企业家。现在我们可以继续我们的书《跨国侨民创业：来自墨西哥、巴西和日本的案例》。我们已经改变了探讨这个话题的理论框架。多焦点理论更适合我们的背景。跨国创业是指跨国移民企业家在创造、识别和抓住机会过程中，多个地方和多个群体的作用。多焦点（Solano, 2016）承认企业家属于多个群体，可能具有多个身份，并在多个地点工作。我们希望重新关注如何理解这些个人和他们的企业，而不是通常关注的“居住国-原籍国”二分法，旨在研究在这种背景下创业的复杂性。

In February-March 2023, we visited Sao Paulo, Brazil and Mexico City, Mexico. In Brazil, we conducted interviews with 7 diaspora entrepreneurs and 16 transnational self-initiated expatriate entrepreneurs. We visited their businesses and spent time engaging with the local nikkei population to gain an insight into the history and culture of the area. We visited various museums of immigration to track the history of Japanese migration and a coffee museum which helped us to understand the working conditions and background of the Japanese migrants to Brazil. In Mexico, we interviewed 6 transnational self-initiated expatriate entrepreneurs and 7 diaspora entrepreneurs. We can now proceed with our book on “Transnational Diaspora Entrepreneurship: Cases from Mexico, Brazil, and Japan.” We have altered the theoretical framework through which we will explore this topic. The theory of multifocality is a better fit for our context. Transnational entrepreneurship conceptualizes the role of multiple places and multiple groups in the creation, identification and seizing of opportunities by transnational migrant entrepreneurs. Multifocality (Solano, 2016) recognises that entrepreneurs belong to a number of groups, may have multiple identities, and work in multiple sites. We want to renew attention on how these individuals and their businesses should be understood beyond the common focus on the ‘country of residence-country of origin’ dichotomy, aiming to look at the complexities of entrepreneurship in this context.