Sansei
Encyclopedia
Sansei is a Japanese language
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

 term used in countries in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

, North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 to specify the children of children born to Japanese people
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 in the new country. The Nisei
Nisei
During the early years of World War II, Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated from their homes in the Pacific coast states because military leaders and public opinion combined to fan unproven fears of sabotage...

 are considered the second generation, grandchildren of the Japanese-born immigrants are called Sansei and the fourth generation Yonsei
Yonsei (fourth-generation Nikkei)
is a Japanese diasporic term used in countries, particularly in North America and in Latin America, to specify the great-grandchildren of Japanese immigrants . The children of Issei are Nisei . Sansei are the third generation, and their offspring are Yonsei...

. The children of at least one Nisei parent are called Sansei

Brazilian, American, Canadian and Peruvian citizens

Although the earliest organized group of Japanese emigrants settled in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 in 1897, the four largest populations of Japanese and descendants of Japanese immigrants live in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 and Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

.

Brazilian Sansei


Brazil is home to the largest Japanese population outside of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, numbering an estimate of more than 1.5 million (including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity), more than that of the 1.2 million in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The Sansei Japanese Brazilians are an important part of that ethnic minority in that South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

n nation.

American Sansei

The majority of American Sansei were born during the Baby Boom
Baby boom
A baby boom is any period marked by a greatly increased birth rate. This demographic phenomenon is usually ascribed within certain geographical bounds and when the number of annual births exceeds 2 per 100 women...

 after the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

; but older Sansei who were living in the western United States during WWII were forcibly interned with their parents (Nisei) and grandparents (Issei
Issei
Issei is a Japanese language term used in countries in North America, South America and Australia to specify the Japanese people first to immigrate. Their children born in the new country are referred to as Nisei , and their grandchildren are Sansei...

) after Executive Order 9066
Executive Order 9066
United States Executive Order 9066 was a United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942 authorizing the Secretary of War to prescribe certain areas as military zones...

 was promulgated to exclude everyone of Japanese descent from large parts of the Western states. The Sansei were forceful activists in the redress movement, which resulted in an official apology to the internees. In some senses, the Sansei seem to feel they are caught in a dilemma between their "quiet" Nisei parents and their other identity model of "verbal" Americans.

In the United States, a representative Sansei is General Eric Shinseki
Eric Shinseki
Eric Ken Shinseki is a retired United States Army four-star general who is currently serving as the 7th United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs. His final U.S. Army post was as the 34th Chief of Staff of the Army...

 (born November 28, 1942), the 34th Chief of Staff of the United States Army
Chief of Staff of the United States Army
The Chief of Staff of the Army is a statutory office held by a four-star general in the United States Army, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Army, and as such is the principal military advisor and a deputy to the Secretary of the Army; and is in...

 (1999–2003) and current United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs
United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs
The United States Secretary of Veterans' Affairs is the head of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, the department concerned with veterans' benefits and related matters...

. He is the first Asian American
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...

 in U.S. history to be a four-star general, and the first to lead one of the four U.S. military services.
The Sansei Japanese Americans (三世 lit. third generation) are American-born Japanese Americans citizens of the United States, the children of the Nisei Japanese Americans.

Canadian Sansei

Within Japanese-Canadian communities across Canada, three distinct subgroups developed, each with different sociocultural referents, generational identity, and wartime experiences.

Peruvian Sansei

Among the approximately 80,000 Peruvians of Japanese descent, the Sansei Japanese Peruvians comprise the largest number.

Generations

Japanese-Americans and Japanese-Canadians have special names for each of their generations in North America. These are formed by combining one of the Japanese numbers corresponding to the generation
Generation
Generation , also known as procreation in biological sciences, is the act of producing offspring....

 with the Japanese word for generation (sei 世). The Japanese-American and Japanese-Canadian communities have themselves distinguished their members with terms like Issei, Nisei, and Sansei which describe the first, second and third generation of immigrants. The fourth generation is called Yonsei (四世) and the fifth is called Gosei (五世). The Issei, Nisei and Sansei generations reflect distinctly different attitudes to authority, gender, non- Japanese involvement, and religious belief and practice, and other matters. The age when individuals faced the wartime evacuation and internment is the single, most significant factor which explains these variations in their experiences, attitudes and behaviour patterns.
The term Nikkei
Japanese diaspora
The Japanese diaspora, and its individual members known as , are Japanese emigrants from Japan and their descendants that reside in a foreign country...

 (日系) was coined by a multinational group of sociologists and encompasses all of the world's Japanese immigrants across generations. The collective memory of the Issei and older Nisei was an image of Meiji Japan from 1870 through 1911, which contrasted sharply with the Japan that newer immigrants had more recently left. These differing attitudes, social values and associations with Japan were often incompatible with each other. In this context, the significant differences in post-war experiences and opportunities did nothing to mitigate the gaps which separated generational perspectives.
Generation Summary
Issei
Issei
Issei is a Japanese language term used in countries in North America, South America and Australia to specify the Japanese people first to immigrate. Their children born in the new country are referred to as Nisei , and their grandchildren are Sansei...

 (一世)
The generation of people born in Japan who later immigrated to another country.
Nisei
Nisei
During the early years of World War II, Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated from their homes in the Pacific coast states because military leaders and public opinion combined to fan unproven fears of sabotage...

 (二世)
The generation of people born in North America, Latin America, Australia, or any country outside of Japan either to at least one Issei
Issei
Issei is a Japanese language term used in countries in North America, South America and Australia to specify the Japanese people first to immigrate. Their children born in the new country are referred to as Nisei , and their grandchildren are Sansei...

 or one non-immigrant Japanese parent.
Sansei (三世) The generation of people born in North America, Latin America, Australia, or any country outside of Japan to at least one Nisei
Nisei
During the early years of World War II, Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated from their homes in the Pacific coast states because military leaders and public opinion combined to fan unproven fears of sabotage...

 parent.
Yonsei
Yonsei (fourth-generation Nikkei)
is a Japanese diasporic term used in countries, particularly in North America and in Latin America, to specify the great-grandchildren of Japanese immigrants . The children of Issei are Nisei . Sansei are the third generation, and their offspring are Yonsei...

 (四世)
The generation of people born in North America, Latin America, Australia, or any country outside of Japan to at least one Sansei parent.
Gosei
Gosei (fifth-generation Nikkei)
is a Japanese diasporic term used in countries, particularly in North America and in Latin America, to specify the great-great-grandchildren of Japanese immigrants . The children of Issei are Nisei . Sansei are the third generation, and their offspring are Yonsei...

 (五世)
The generation of people born in North America, Latin America, Hawaii, or any country outside of Japan to at least one Yonsei parent.


In North America since the redress victory in 1988, a significant evolutionary change has occurred. The Sansei, their parents, their grandparents, and their children are changing the way they look at themselves and their pattern of accommodation to the non-Japanese majority.

There are currently just over one hundred thousand British Japanese
Japanese British
Japanese in the United Kingdom are citizens or full time residents of the United Kingdom whose origins lie in Japan.-Background:-History and settlement:...

, mostly in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

; but unlike other Nikkei
Japanese diaspora
The Japanese diaspora, and its individual members known as , are Japanese emigrants from Japan and their descendants that reside in a foreign country...

 communities elsewhere in the world, these Britons do not conventionally parse their communities in generational terms as Issei, Nisei, or Sansei.

Sansei

The third generation of immigrants, born in the United States or Canada to parents born in the United States or Canada, is called Sansei (三世). Children born to the Nisei were generally born after 1945. They speak English as their first language and are completely acculturized in the contexts of Canadian or American society. They tend to identify with Canadian or American values, norms and expectations. Few speak Japanese, and most tend to express their identity as Canadian or American rather than Japanese. Among the Sansei there is an overwhelming percentage of marriages to persons of non-Japanese ancestry.

Aging

The kanreki (還暦), a traditional, pre-modern Japanese rite of passage to old age at 60, was sometimes celebrated by the Issei and is now being celebrated by increasing numbers of Nisei and a few Sansei. Rituals are enactments of shared meanings, norms, and values; and this Japanese rite of passage highlights a collective response among the Nisei to the conventional dilemmas of growing older.

Internment and redress

Some responded to internment with lawsuits and political action; and for others, poetry became an unplanned consequence:
With new hope.
We build new lives.
Why complain when it rains?
This is what it means to be free.
-- Lawson Fusao Inada
Lawson Fusao Inada
Lawson Fusao Inada is an American poet and was the fifth poet laureate of the U.S. state of Oregon.-Early life:Inada is a third-generation Japanese American...

, Japanese American Historical Plaza, Portland, Oregon.

Life under United States policies before and after World War II

Politics

The sansei became known as the "activist generation.

Notable individuals

The numbers of sansei who have earned some degree of public recognition has continued to increase over time; but the quiet lives of those whose names are known only to family and friends are no less important in understanding the broader narrative of the Nikkei. Although the names highlighted here are over-represented by sansei from North America, the Latin American member countries of the Pan American Nikkei Association
Pan American Nikkei Association
The Pan American Nikkei Association, the English-language name of the Asociación Panamericana Nikkei, is a multi-national, non-governmental organization with membership from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, United States.-History:In 1981, Mexican...

 (PANA) include Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...

, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

, Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...

, in addition to the English-speaking United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

.
  • Francis Fukuyama
    Francis Fukuyama
    Yoshihiro Francis Fukuyama is an American political scientist, political economist, and author. He is a Senior Fellow at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law at Stanford. Before that he served as a professor and director of the International Development program at the School of...

  • Robert S. Hamada
    Robert Hamada (professor)
    Robert Hamada is the former Edward Eagle Brown Distinguished Service Professor of Finance and former Dean of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.-Early life:...

  • Mike Honda
    Mike Honda
    Michael Makoto "Mike" Honda is an American Democratic Party politician. He currently serves as the U.S. Representative for , encompassing western San Jose and Silicon Valley...

  • Lawson Fusao Inada
    Lawson Fusao Inada
    Lawson Fusao Inada is an American poet and was the fifth poet laureate of the U.S. state of Oregon.-Early life:Inada is a third-generation Japanese American...

  • Soji Kashiwagi
    Soji Kashiwagi
    Soji Kashiwagi is a Sansei journalist, playwright and producer. He is the Executive Producer for the Grateful Crane Ensemble theatre company in Los Angeles...

  • Doris Matsui
    Doris Matsui
    Doris Okada Matsui is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2005. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district consists of the city of Sacramento and the surrounding area...

  • Bev Oda
    Bev Oda
    The Hon. Beverley Joan "Bev" Oda, PC, MP is a Canadian politician. She is a current member of the Canadian House of Commons, as well as the first Japanese-Canadian MP and cabinet minister in Canadian history. She represents the riding of Durham for the Conservative Party of Canada. She was...

  • Robert Matsui
  • Dale Minami
    Dale Minami
    Dale Minami is a San Francisco-based lawyer best known for heading the legal team that overturned the wrongful conviction of Fred Korematsu, whose defiance of the World War II Japanese American internment order lead to Korematsu v...

  • Patsy Mink
    Patsy Mink
    Patsy Matsu Takemoto Mink was an American politician from the U.S. state of Hawaii. Mink was a third generation Japanese American and member of the Democratic Party. She also was the Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs.Mink served in the U.S...

  • Kent Nagano
    Kent Nagano
    __FORCETOC__Kent George Nagano is an American conductor and opera administrator. He is currently the music director of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and the Bavarian State Opera.-Biography:...

  • Suzy Nakamura
    Suzy Nakamura
    Susan Aiko "Suzy" Nakamura is an American actress. She starred opposite Ted Danson in the ABC sitcom Help Me Help You. Nakamura has also had many guest appearances on American sitcoms such as According to Jim, Half and Half, 8 Simple Rules, Curb Your Enthusiasm and How I Met Your Mother and had a...

  • Desmond Nakano
    Desmond Nakano
     This article about a United States film director is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by [/w/index.php?stub&title=&action=edit expanding it]....


  • Lane Nishikawa
    Lane Nishikawa
    Lane Nishikawa is an American actor, filmmaker, playwright and performance artist. He is Sansei ; and his work often deals with Asian American history and identity issues. He is widely known for a series of one-man shows, including Life in the Fast Lane, I'm on a Mission From Buddha, Mifune and...

  • Steven Okazaki
    Steven Okazaki
    Steven Okazaki is an American filmmaker. He is Sansei Japanese American and is based in the San Francisco Bay Area...

  • Ellison Onizuka
    Ellison Onizuka
    was a Japanese American astronaut from Kealakekua, Kona, Hawaii, who successfully flew into space with the Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-51-C, before losing his life to the destruction of the Space Shuttle Challenger, where he was serving as Mission Specialist for mission STS-51-L...

  • Pete Rouse
    Pete Rouse
    Peter Mikami Rouse is an American political consultant who served as White House Chief of Staff to U.S. President Barack Obama. Rouse has spent years on Capitol Hill, becoming known as the '101st senator' during his tenure as Chief of Staff to Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle...

  • Lenn Sakata
    Lenn Sakata
    Lenn Haruki Sakata is a former professional baseball player who played in the Major Leagues primarily as a utility player from 1977–1987 and was a member of the Baltimore Orioles 1983 World Series Championship team. He was the second Asian American to play Major League Baseball. He is Yonsei...

  • Mike Shinoda
    Mike Shinoda
    Michael "Mike" Kenji Shinoda is an American musician, record producer, and artist. He is best known as the rapper, principal songwriter, keyboardist, vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Linkin Park, along with his co-frontman and lead singer Chester Bennington, and as a solo rapper in...

  • Eric Shinseki
    Eric Shinseki
    Eric Ken Shinseki is a retired United States Army four-star general who is currently serving as the 7th United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs. His final U.S. Army post was as the 34th Chief of Staff of the Army...

  • David Suzuki
    David Suzuki
    David Suzuki, CC, OBC is a Canadian academic, science broadcaster and environmental activist. Suzuki earned a Ph.D in zoology from the University of Chicago in 1961, and was a professor in the genetics department of the University of British Columbia from 1963 until his retirement in 2001...

  • Ronald Takaki
    Ronald Takaki
    Ronald Toshiyuki Takaki was an academic, historian, ethnographer and author. Born in Oahu, Hawai'i, his work addresses stereotypes of Asian Americans, such as the model minority concept.-Early life:...

  • Dan Tani
  • Chris Tashima
    Chris Tashima
    Chris Tashima is a Japanese American actor and director. He is co-founder of the entertainment company Cedar Grove Productions and Artistic Director of its Asian American theatre company, Cedar Grove OnStage. He is the son of U.S. Circuit Judge A. Wallace Tashima...

  • David Tsubouchi
    David Tsubouchi
    is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2003, and was a cabinet minister in the governments of Mike Harris and Ernie Eves.-Education:...



Further reading

  • Gehrie, Mark Joshua. (1973). Sansei: An Ethnography of Experience (Ph.D. thesis, Anthropology). Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University. OCLC 71849646
  • Kaihara, Rodney and Patricia Morgan. (1973). Sansei Experience. San Fullerton, Calif. : Oral History Program, California State University, Fullerton. OCLC 23352676
  • Oana, Leilani Kyoko. (1984). Ethnocultural Identification in Sansei (Third Generation Japanese American) Females: An Evaluation of Alternative Measures (M.A. thesis). Washington, D.C.: George Washington University. OCLC 12726534
  • Okamura, Randall F. (1978). The Contemporary Sansei (M.A. thesis, Community Development and Public Service). San Francisco: Lone Mountain College. OCLC 13182634
  • Tanaka, Shaun Naomi. (2003). Ethnic Identity in the Absence of Propinquity Sansei and the Transformation of the Japanese-Canadian Community (M.A. thesis). Kingston, Ontario: Queen's University Press. OCLC 60673221

External links

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