The Ryukyuan diaspora are Ryukyuan emigrants from Japan's

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Geography of Taiwan, Taiwan: the Ryukyu Islands are divided into the Satsunan Islands (Ōsumi Islands, Ōsumi, Tokara Islands, Tokara and A ...

, especially

Okinawa Island , officially , is the largest of the Okinawa Islands and the Ryukyu Islands, Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Islands of Japan in the Kyushu region. It is the smallest and least populated of the five Japanese archipelago, main islands of Japan. The island is ...

, and their descendants. The first recorded emigration of Ryukyuans was in the 15th century when they established an

enclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is so ...

Fuzhou Fuzhou is the capital of Fujian, China. The city lies between the Min River (Fujian), Min River estuary to the south and the city of Ningde to the north. Together, Fuzhou and Ningde make up the Eastern Min, Mindong linguistic and cultural regi ...

, in the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

(China). Later, there was a large wave of emigration to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

at the start of the 20th century, followed by a wave to various Pacific islands in the 1920s and multiple migrations to the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

throughout the 20th century. Ryukyuans became Japanese citizens when

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

annexed the

Ryukyu Kingdom The Ryukyu Kingdom was a kingdom in the Ryukyu Islands from 1429 to 1879. It was ruled as a Tributary system of China, tributary state of Ming dynasty, imperial Ming China by the King of Ryukyu, Ryukyuan monarchy, who unified Okinawa Island t ...

in 1879; therefore Ryukyuan immigrants are often labeled as part of the

Japanese diaspora The Japanese diaspora and its individual members, known as Nikkei (, ) or as Nikkeijin (, ), comprise the Japanese people, Japanese emigration, emigrants from Japan (and their Kinship, descendants) residing in a country outside Japan. Emigration ...

. Regardless, some of the Ryukyuan diaspora view themselves as a distinct group from the Japanese (

Yamato was originally the area around today's Sakurai, Nara, Sakurai City in Nara Prefecture of Japan, which became Yamato Province and by extension a Names of Japan, name for the whole of Japan. Yamato is also the dynastic name of the ruling Imperial ...

History

Many people were struggling economically in the

during the late 1800s and early 1900s (

Meiji era The was an Japanese era name, era of History of Japan, Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feu ...

). As a result, many Ryukyuans left the islands when emigration was legalized in Japan, arriving in places such as

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

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

and mainland Japan. The first Ryukyuans to migrate to the United States were 26 Okinawan contract laborers led by Kyuzo Toyama. They arrived in the

Territory of Hawaii The Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Panalāʻau o Hawaiʻi'') was an organized incorporated territories of the United States, organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from Apri ...

on January 8, 1900, and worked on the sugar plantations there. In 2020, there were an estimated 45,000 to 50,000 Hawaiians of Ryukyuan ancestry, totaling around 3% of the state's population. The first Japanese migrants to Brazil arrived at the port of Santos in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

on June 18, 1908. Half of these migrants were Ryukyuans.

References

Bibliography

*Ethnic Studies Oral History Project and United Okinawan Association of Hawaii. ''Uchinanchu: A History of Okinawans in Hawaii''. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1981. *Kerr, George. ''Okinawa: History of an Island People''. Tokyo: Charles Tuttle Company, 2000. * *Rabson, Steve. ''The Okinawan Disapora in Japan: Crossing the Borders Within''. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2012. *Suzuki, Taku. ''Embodying Belonging: Racializing Okinawan Diaspora in Bolivia and Japan''. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2010. {{Japanese diaspora Ryukyuan people Asian diasporas Diasporas by ethnic group Emigration