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Encyclopedia of Japanese Descendants in the Americas Akemi Kikumura-Yano, editor Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press, 2002. 368 pp. $53.95 cloth.
The term "Nikkei" has become prevalent in the last decade or two. Its broad definition is "people of Japanese descent and their descendants," and includes those of mixed heritage. It assumes they have an interest in Japan (3). It is often a highly debated term.
In 1888, Kuno Gihei, often referred to as "the Father of Canadian Emigrants" by the people of Wakayama prefecture in Japan, came to Canada, where he is said to have seen the Fraser River "teeming with salmon" and encouraged his fellow villagers to try their fortunes. By the early 1900s, due to the numbers who had emigrated and sent their earnings back to their relatives, Kuno's home village, Mio, was called Amerikamura. For centuries the inhabitants of Mio-mura had depended on fishing for their livelihood since there was little or no arable land. To survive, they had had to go further and further afield, even as far as Korea.
When first in Canada, they "commuted" between their home...