Nikkei-ness: A Cyber-Ethnographic Exploration of Identity Among the Japanese Peruvians of Peru

Abstract

Transnational migration has led to a situation in which humans can no longer form an identity based on location. The nikkei of Peru, or Japanese immigrants and their descendents, are an example of this circumstance. Anthropology has come a long way since the study of primitive communities and has transformed due to social, economic, and political changes. Through interviews, historical research, and observation, I explore the ways in which the nikkei are an unusual population that transcends the typical markers of identity to create their own unique form of identification.