People Who Move among Cultures and Languages Japanese Descendants in the U.S. from Peru

ABSTRACT: In this paper, the writer will review the trajectory of the Japanese who immigrated to Peru during the first half of the 20th century and ended up in the United States during World War Ⅱ. This hidden history has been told less often; however, they experienced three cultures and languages at that time and have overcome many issues in different countries. Their life trajectory can give the readers a hint to think about people who move and try to settle in a new environment. This paper aims to describe how their trajectory can be illustrated as a transnational movement and try to apply the transnationalism theory to the routes they experienced. In most cases, they moved around in families, and their children experienced a different educational environment at schools. This is because of the educational policy of each country. In some cases, adapting to a new environment was challenging, especially when the language and culture differed. Transnationalism has been focused on people’s adaptation to the new land and how they made transnational bonds with their “motherland,” but not that much on how they transmitted their experiences to the next generation. In this paper, the readers will see how the next generation inherited Japanese descendants’ cultural identity and how their experiences are unique but can be generalized in nowadays transnational movements. KEYWORDS: transnationalism, root and routes, Nikkei, cultural identit