Japanese Overseas Migration Museum

Here you can learn about the Japanese people who immigrated to other countries and their descendants, known as “Nikkei.”

Here is a parade float decked out with colorful fruits and vegetables. It is a replica of the one that was used in the Portland (OR) Rose Festival in 1921. The original was created by Japanese farmers who immigrated to the United States and highlights the contribution made by those immigrants to American society.

Today, everyone knows Hawai‘i as a place for tourism. But in the Meiji period (1868–1912), Japan and the Hawaiian Kingdom actually signed a migration agreement encouraging Japanese people to go to Hawai‘i to work on sugar cane plantations. Approximately 29,000 Japanese immigrated to Hawai‘i between 1885 and 1894.

Many Japanese who migrated to Brazil in the prewar period worked, at least for a while, on coffee plantations. Eventually, some decided to stop working for others and bought their own land, forming Japanese-only colonies. The Aliança Colony shown here is a famous example of these communities.

The Nippon Maru, the ship shown here, was the last migrant ship bound to South America. It departed from Yokohama on February 14th, 1973, with 285 migrants on board.

This exhibit shows the kind of trunks that immigrants might have used when they moved overseas.

Emigrants left Japan mainly through the ports of Yokohama, Kobe, and Nagasaki. Around these ports there were places called “migrant lodges” where they could spend a few days before boarding the ship. These migrant lodges helped emigrants with getting tickets and boarding procedures for leaving Japan.

This corner depicts the Yguazú colony, established in Paraguay in 1961. When emigration resumed after being disrupted by World War II, Japanese immigrant colonies were established in Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina, and the Dominican Republic. The Yguazú colony was one of those colonies.

Immigrants often started out as contract laborers on sugar cane and coffee plantations. Some would become independent and go on to grow fruits and vegetables on their own farms. In some places, the Japanese earned fame as hardworking people.

Here you can see a replica of a type of general store known as a “yorozuya.” Wherever Japanese immigrated, they strived to preserve their dietary habits. To do so, they would establish businesses that produced foods such as miso, soy sauce, tofu, Japanese sweets, and the like. 

Here, students can fill in their worksheets and complete their assignments. Visitors may also use the computers available in the space to search for information about their ancestors if they have emigrant roots.

Over 150 years have passed since Japanese began migrating overseas, and the environments in which they live have changed much over time. This exhibit area uses Brazil as an example to show some of the changes that have occurred.

This family photo, taken in the 2000s, shows four generations of a family, spanning from the grandson of early immigrants to Hawai‘i to his own great-grandchildren. With each passing generation, the make-up of this family has become increasingly diverse genetically, socially, and culturally.