Thursday, June 18, 2009

海外移住の日(kaigai ijyu no hi): Day of emigration

They say June 18 is kaigai ijyu no hi(海外移住の日), Day of emigration. This day was established by the Cabinet Office in 1966 to commemorate the arrival of the first emigration ship Kasato maru(笠戸丸) to Port Santos in Brazil on June 18, 1908. The first batch of the emigration members consisted of 781 people from 158 families.
The first emigration started in 1868 to Hawaii. There are 153 people at that time.
Japanese people who emigrated to foreign countries are called Nikkei jin(日系人). First generation is called Issei (一世), second generation is called Nisei (二世), and third generation is called Sansei (三世).
There are about 2,950,000 Nikkeijin in the world. Among them 1,400,000 people are living in Brazil, 1,200,000 people are in the United States, and 222,000 people are in Philippines.

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