Identity ballin : J-league basketball and its impact on Japanese American identity

According to the U.S. census of 2010, there are 1,304,286 Japanese Americans, about half of which are the Yonsei generation, the fourth generation. However, there are limited studies on this generation of Japanese Americans. The major questions of this thesis include how does J-league basketball impact Japanese American identity formation for its youth participants? How does participating in J-league impact one???s personal identity? Eleven qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with fourth generation, Yonsei, Japanese Americans. The key findings are that J-league allows its participants to self-determine their identity, and that J-league plays a role in the process of identity formation for the Yonsei. Continued research is needed to understand how Yonsei ethnic\ud identity is formed and how ethnic organizations such as J-league inform their ethnic identity