Japanese Micronesians (Japanese: 日系ミクロネシア人, Hepburn: Nikkei Mikuroneshia-jin), also Nikkei Micronesians or Micronesians of Japanese descent, refers to citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) who are of Japanese descent and are members of the Japanese global diaspora known as the Nikkei (日系).
Japanese settlement in what constitutes the present-day FSM dates back to the end of the 19th century, when Japanese traders and explorers settled on the central and eastern Caroline Islands, although earlier contacts cannot be completely excluded. After Japan occupied the islands in 1914, Japanese migrated to the Carolines on a large scale in the 1920s and 1930s. The Japanese government encouraged immigration to the islands belonging to the South Seas Mandate in order to offset demographic and economic problems facing Japan at that time.
The earliest immigrants operated as traders, although most of the later settlers worked as fishermen, farmers or conscript labourers.Myers (1987), p. 198 The majority of immigrants settled in Pohnpei and Chuuk, while other islands were home for only a few Japanese. The total Japanese population reached about 100,000 by 1945. The Japanese immigrants in the central and eastern Carolines were Japanese, Okinawans, and a few Koreans. The settlers brought the Shinto and Buddhist religions to the islands, although such practices did not become popular with indigenous people. By 1945, the Japanese language had replaced Micronesian languages in day-to-day communications.
Ethnic relations between the Japanese (settlers and civil officers) and the Micronesians were initially cordial and intermarriage between the Japanese and Micronesians was encouraged. However, relations soured as the Japanese administration implemented policies that favoured the Japanese populace and showed insensitivity to Micronesian cultural norms. After the Japanese surrender in 1945, virtually all Japanese were repatriated to Japan. People of mixed Japanese and Micronesian descent were allowed to remain, and most of them chose to do so. Many of them assumed leading roles in the political, public and business sectors after World War II; they constitute a large minority within the FSM itself.Peattie (1988), p. 317
Micronesia began to engage with Japan once again in the business and cultural spheres from the 1970s. Two years after the FSM became an independent country, the FSM and Japan established formal diplomatic ties.
History
Early contacts
The first recorded contact between the Japanese and Pacific Islanders (believed to be Micronesians) was reflected in the Kokon Chomonjū, when eight men arrived at Okinoshima (an ancient town in the former Izu Province) in July 1171. They were described to be tall, having dark-brown and tattooed skin, wearing ornaments as well as having coarse hair. The Japanese served them some millet and sake. When the eight men attempted to take the bows and spears, a fight ensued between the Japanese and the eight men, before the latter left Okinoshima.Crocombe (2007), p. 105 Japanese contact was also suggested by some anthropologists in the 19th century, and at least one, James McKinney Alexander suggested that Micronesians may have intermarried with Japanese fishermen who had strayed off course and stranded in the islands. In an 1895 study, Alexander noted similarities between the cultural traditions, vocabulary and pre-Christian beliefs between Pohnpeian and Kosraeans.Price (1936), p. 168 Studies done by other Japanese anthropologists in the 19th and 20th centuries noted that at least 60 Japanese vessels had strayed offshore between the 17th and 19th centuries and could have made landfall in the Pacific Islands.
A Japanese corvette, Ryujo under the command of Enomoto Takeaki, visited Pohnpei and Kosrae between 1882 and 1883. The entire tenth class of the Japanese naval academy was aboard the ship and was noted as the first Japanese warship to visit Micronesian waters.Peattie (1988), p. 7 The king of Kosrae accorded the Japanese crew a warm welcome and personally claimed that the Kosraeans had some Japanese ancestry. Some years later, a Japanese cattle farmer, Shinroku Mizutani from the Bonin Islands, visited Pohnpei in 1887 and 1889. In both visits, Mizutani stayed for a few days on the islands before he was chased out by the Spanish.Crocombe (2007), p. 75
Late Spanish and German colonial eras (1890–1914)
In 1890, two Japanese businessmen, Ukichi Taguchi and Tsunenori Suzuki, formed the Nanto Shokai (South Seas Trading Company) with the aim of developing Japanese commercial interests in Micronesia. They bought a sailing ship, Tenyu Maru and sailed for Yap in June and befriended a shipwrecked Irish American missionary, Daniel O'Keefe, but set sail for Pohnpei after two days. They set up a small store peddling Japanese wares under strict conditions imposed by the Spanish, and returned to Japan in December because of dwindling funds. The ship was later sold to the Ichiya company which established two trading stations at Chuuk and Pohnpei. More Japanese businessmen arrived in Chuuk in 1892 under the charge of Mizutani and established a store at Chuuk in 1892.Crocombe (2007), p. 76 A few Japanese, notably Koben Mori, began socializing with the Chuukese and led semi-nomadic lifestyles until 1896 before gaining the protection of Spanish guards. Mori lived with a few Japanese compatriots, and became the resident agent for Hiki Shokai, another Japanese trading company that came to set up a shop at Moen.Peattie (1988), p. 29–30
The Japanese businessmen that were based on Moen were repatriated from Micronesia in 1900, a year after Spain ceded its sovereignty to Germany as part of the German–Spanish Treaty of 1899. Only Mori and another Japanese business agent remained behind in Chuuk and Pohnpei, respectively.Hezel (2003), p. 103 At the time of German annexation, Mori was serving as the resident agent for a German trading company. Mori lived in isolation until 1907 when the German authorities allowed Japanese trade in Chuuk, and another trading company, Murayama Shokai, established a trading post on Tol. Japanese settlers also started to come in small numbers to Chuuk to engage in farming or fishing activities.Peattie (1988), p. 30–33 The German colonial administration granted the Japanese settlers equal rights with other European settlers in German-mandated territories, considering them citizens of an imperialist power. In official statistics, the Japanese were legally classified as "White".Rainbird (2004), p. 27
Japanese colonial era (1914–1945)
The First World War saw many nations leap to take Germany's overseas possessions for themselves, and Micronesia was no exception. Pohnpei was captured on October 7 and a Japanese warship sailed into Truk Lagoon and captured it on October 12; it was greeted by Japanese settlers living on the nearby islands.Peattie (1988), p. 33 The navy set up its regional headquarters at Chuuk and stationed a garrison at Pohnpei until 1922, where the region's administrative capital Kolonia was established under the South Seas Mandate. When a civilian government was established in March 1922, there were about 150 Japanese living in Pohnpei, which consisted of traders and government officials. Another seventy Japanese immigrated to Pohnpei by 1930, and a few individuals settled in neighbouring Chuuk, Kosrae and Yap.Peattie (1988), p. 176 In Chuuk, another hundred Japanese businessmen settled at Toloas by the late 1920s to cater to governmental and business interests. A few elementary schools were set up to serve both the local Japanese and Chuukese populace.Crocombe (2007), p. 186
The majority of the settlers who came before 1930 consisted of Okinawans. A tuna canning factory was set up at Pohnpei in 1930, and Japanese settlers from the Tōhoku region and Hokkaido came in greater numbers after that. Some of them became fishermen, while others organised farming communes. The civilian government persuaded twenty-four families to establish a farming commune at Palikir in 1931, but the settlers faced problems adapting to the tropical climate and bringing their vegetable produce to Kolonia for sale. The civilian government moved in to quickly improve the transport network and electrical supplies throughout Pohnpei. In addition, they granted larger tracts of land to the settlers, and as a result the settlers went into rice cultivation. More settlers followed suit, and an anthropologist, Umesao Tadao reported that the farming settlement in Pohnpei was well established by 1941.Peattie (1988), p. 316
The Japanese populace at the other islands grew at a slower rate, although less so for Chuuk. Road and electrical infrastructure were built in new towns and hamlets, which were founded or expanded by Japanese settlers.Peattie (1988), p. 177, 180 Many towns and hamlets had at least a thousand Japanese inhabitants by 1941. Some conscript and contract laborers from mainland Japan, Okinawa and Korea hired to build naval facilities at Chuuk and Pohnpei contributed to the increasing immigrant population in the central and eastern Carolines.Poyer et al. (2001), p. 53 Kolonia and Palikir had the largest Japanese populace after the Marianas and Palau, and the Japanese outnumbered the natives by a thin margin in 1941.National Research Council (U.S.). Pacific Science Board (1950), p. 433 Kosrae was populated by no more than a few hundred Japanese throughout the colonial era. A few Japanese policemen were stationed on the island to keep law and order. Japanese and Korean laborers briefly stayed on the island to carry out phosphate mining operations and establish a cotton plantation but were repatriated after the plantation failed.Hezel (2003), p. 177
Intermarriage between Japanese men and Micronesian women was encouraged, especially in Pohnpei and Chuuk where there were large Japanese populations. The number of intermarriages between the Japanese and Micronesians was the highest among Okinawan fishermen in the 1930s, many of whom were single men.Hezel (2003), p. 187 A sizable community of mixed Japanese–Micronesians by the 1930s, and children of legitimate unions were conscripted into Japanese military forces. Micronesians and Japanese–Micronesians came under the suspicion of the Kempeitai for sympathies with the Americans, and many reportedly faced harassment as a result.Poyer et al. (2001), p. 231 Micronesian islands reverted to military administration in 1943, and the regional headquarters was relocated from Palau to Chuuk.Myers et al. (1987), p. 208 As food supplies ran scarce during the later months of the Second World War, the Japanese military began stealing breadfruit and food supplies from Micronesian farms. The Japanese military avoided Japanese and Japanese–Micronesian families, especially those that wielded political influence within the local community.Poyer et al. (2001), p. 210 In Chuuk, land was also confiscated from Micronesians and Japanese–Micronesians to facilitate the construction of new military facilities.Poyer et al. (2001), p. 82–3
Recent years (1945–present)