Survey: Young 'nikkei' Have Strong Identity
A global survey exploring Japanese ancestry has shown that younger generations tend to have a strong awareness of their ethnic identity.
The Nippon Foundation conducted the survey last year, receiving responses from about 3,800 Japanese emigrants and their descendants, also known as "Nikkei," in the US, Brazil and other countries.
Among respondents aged 18 to 35, 74 percent said they have a strong sense of their Nikkei identity. Another 19 percent rated the sense as average and seven percent said it was low.
When asked how connected they feel to Japan, 48 percent said strongly, 31 percent said moderately, while 21 percent said the connection was weak.
Curtiss Takada Rooks of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles was a member of the team that carried out the US part of the survey.
Rooks said some older generation Japanese-Americans had disconnected with Japan after facing discrimination. But he said that this fear had not continued among young adults, many of whom appear to have strong connections to Nikkei identity and traditional Japanese values.
