The 51st Convention of Nikkei and Japanese Abroad
DECLARATION
We, the volunteers and representatives of Nikkei and Japanese living in various
countries, have gathered in Tokyo, Japan to attend the 51st Convention of Nikkei andJapanese Abroad, over the three-day period from October 20 to 22, 2010. The
overall theme for the Convention was “Road-Map for the Nikkei People's Life:
Seeking the Further Development of Nikkei Communities Abroad,” and various
issues were addressed by four Working Groups.
Working Group Theme 1: Japanese Language Education and Japanese Culture
Working Group Theme 2: Nikkei Living in Japan
Working Group Theme 3: Nikkei Youth Meeting
Working Group Theme 4: Dual Citizenship, Overseas Voting, and Pensions
The Convention saw much vigorous discussion in both the Working Groups and thePlenary Session and the results have been compiled into the following sevenresolutions, which we hereby declare in the name of the Convention.
RESOLUTIONS
1. We will continue to make efforts to pass on Japanese language skills to thenext generation through Japanese heritage language education
The question of how we should pass on to the next generation our culture and theJapanese language, which have been passed down from our homeland of Japan, isone of the most fundamental challenges facing our overseas Nikkei communities. Inthe North America and South American regions, where Nikkei communities have along history of immigration and are widely dispersed, Nikkei organizations areoperating Japanese language schools, which function as hubs for the transmission ofJapanese culture. The “passing down and preservation of Japanese culture centeredon Japanese heritage language education” is something that overseas Nikkei
communities have supported and it is also essential if Nikkei organizations are togrow and develop in the future.
However, the number of Japanese language teachers who speak Japanese as theirnative tongue and who possess a background closely linked to Japanese culture aredwindling. Even in Brazil, which is home to the largest number of Nikkei, thenumber of Nikkei language instructors with appropriate skills has decreased. Thereis a limit to what can be achieved in Japanese language instruction by private schools,
which are prevalent in overseas Nikkei communities. For these reasons a concept has
been presented that it is necessary to incorporate Japanese language education intohigher education programs and nurture Japanese language instructors who possess
appropriate teaching qualifications. The city of São Paolo has proposed an initiative1

for the establishment of a Japan-Brazil International University.
We, the Nikkei who live overseas, hope fervently that the people who will lead
Nikkei communities in the future, particularly second and third-generation Nikkei,
will realize and understand the importance of acquiring Japanese language skills and
we are researching and putting into practice ways to improve Japanese language
teaching and acquisition. For these reasons it is necessary for the prefecturaloverseas student scholarship system, which has been downsized in recent years, tobe revived and expanded, to reinvigorate the numbers of young people travelling toJapan to study.
2. Nikkei play a role as a bridge for conveying Japanese culture to the world
It is now more than 140 years since the first groups of Japanese emigrated toHawaii. In the initial stages of emigration, Japanese culture, in particular food,clothing and housing, as well as cultural arts such as tanka and haiku poetry, served
as a foundation for enjoying life overseas. Even now, the events organized byoverseas Nikkei communities around the world give pleasure to the citizens of thosecountries and these events have grown and developed in the communities where theyare held. These are events that are held around the world and on a large-scale,examples of which include the “cherry blossom festivals” in many areas of North
America, the “Nisei Week Japanese Festival” in Los Angeles, the “Powell StreetFestival” in Vancouver, the “Festival do Japão” in São Paolo, and the “Children’s
Day Festival” in Mexico, as well as various autumn festivals.
In this way, we the Nikkei are playing a role as a bridge for bringing Japaneseculture to a wide audience overseas, which is something that we also want Japanesepeople to understand. We also call on Japanese people to participate actively in thevarious events held by Nikkei communities around the world.
3. We call for greater collaboration and solidarity with Latin American Nikkei
living in JapanThe number of Nikkei living in Japan exceeded 400,000 approximately two years
ago, but this figure is estimated to have dropped by approximately 20% to 320,000.
The global recession that started in the United States forced many Nikkei to return totheir home countries, as employment dried up, or as they were dismissed from theirjobs. The environment for Nikkei has not improved very much subsequently, withthe current reality being that many Nikkei are living on the bread line throughpart-time jobs or short-term employment contracts.
However, a number of Nikkei who have made their home in Japan for the last 20
to 25 years have established non-profit organizations and volunteer groups that aim
to support Nikkei living in the various regions of Japan and help them to become
self-reliant and live together with the Japanese community around them, and these2

organizations have launched various activities. Of these activities, the network for
Brazilian Nikkei, who are most numerous, has been working to strengthen its
cooperation with Nikkei from Peru and other countries. In the Working Groupdiscussion at the Convention there were those who expressed the opinion that bysharing experience of various activities, if a “Latin American network” could beachieved, this could be expected to make activities easier to organize and mobilize.
In order to expand the limited employment choices for Nikkei living in Japan it isimportant for them to make more proactive efforts to acquire Japanese language
skills. By doing this it would be possible to construct an organization andinformation network that covers all Nikkei, and would also enable these Nikkei totransmit the cultures of Latin America to Japanese communities, as well as boosting
business opportunities. We also seek to expand activities to include cooperation withoverseas Nikkei communities.
There are many cases in which the problems facing Nikkei living in Japan havebeen resolved thanks to systematic measures implemented by the Japanesegovernment. We offer our heartfelt thanks to the Japanese government for thevarious measures that have been implemented, including support for Nikkei
returning to their home countries and assistance with Japanese language education
with a view to gaining employment that was implemented from last year, as well as
the “Preparation Course for Reintegration of Nikkei into Employment,” and the“Niji-no-Kakehashi Kyoshitsu” for Nikkei children. We hope that these measures willcontinue to be implemented in the future.
4. We will mobilize Nikkei youth
We the Nikkei youth, who will be the leaders of the next generation, call for all
Nikkei youth around the world to join hands in friendship and participate actively
through the Convention of Nikkei and Japanese Abroad towards the creation of a
new community. Those of us who are studying in Japan, seek to use the knowledge
we have gained in Japan and put it to good use not only in our home countries, butaround the world.
The Nikkei Youth Meeting provides a forum for us to strengthen our identity as
Nikkei. It also enables us to affirm the diversity of our various roots as we engage ininteraction and exchange, and consider the activities various Nikkei youth groups
and projects that are being formed in various regions of the world, as well as meansof creating cross-border, international cooperation that aims to bring these projects
to fruition. The Nikkei Youth Network (NYN) was established in Tokyo byparticipants in previous youth meetings and its stated goal of “providing afoundation to provide opportunities for exchange and innovative inspiration toNikkei” is in accordance with our own thoughts and we express our respect for itsstated aims.
3Youth meetings provide a forum for the creation of new ideas and we will engage
in actions on a global scale in order to ensure a future for Nikkei communities for thenext 100 years.
5. We call for the acceptance of dual citizenship
There are many Japanese people who, after emigrating overseas, have renounced
their Japanese nationality and acquired the nationality of their adoptive countries, inorder to engage in work more smoothly in those countries. However, there are also
people who, in the course of time have retired and no longer need to retain thenationality of their adoptive countries. Furthermore, people who have moved
overseas to various countries for international marriage have also expressed theirwish to maintain the nationality of the country where they live and also acquire
Japanese nationality, due to a need to return to Japan to care for elderly parents or forthe purpose of their children’s education. Given this background there is a petition
movement gaining pace in various regions, urging the restoration of Japanesenationality for such people. At the same time, it is also a fact that there are many
second generation Japanese who were born overseas and maintain their Japanesenationality.
We are concerned that for the Nikkei who have an active global presence, the factthat they have to choose a single nationality upon reaching adulthood presents anobstacle to their activities and could also lead to an outflow of excellent minds andskills. In this context, we hereby call on the Japanese to permit dual nationality.
6. We request the introduction of a simple method of overseas voting in elections,such as electronic voting
Ten years has passed since the implementation of overseas voting and in thisperiod a total of seven national elections have taken place. However the current
reality is that the number of persons registered to vote overseas and the actual voting
rate both remain low. The cause of this situation is the complexity of registration
procedures, together with systemic issues such as the method of voting.
We therefore request that the Japanese government takes appropriate steps andcomes to a decision on the introduction of measures to simplify the overseas voting
process to better reflect the opinions of Japanese living overseas in the processes ofnational government. These measures could include the automatic registration ofvoters at the city (or ward) office upon their emigration overseas, with a voting
notification between distributed (by post) automatically to persons registered to vote,and voting being made possible by fax at overseas Japanese diplomatic missions or
the simpler option of electronic voting. We request that the Japanese government
considers these proposals in conjunction with the creation of overseas constituencies.

47. We hope for and encourage the promotion of social security agreements withother countriesOn July 29 this year, the “Agreement between Japan and the Federative Republicof Brazil on Social Security,” was signed. We hope that procedures to put thisagreement into effect will be promptly completed. The signing of this agreement
brings the total number of countries with which social security agreements have beenconcluded by the Japanese government to 14. If Japan were to conclude social
security agreements with a greater number of countries, this would give further
stability to the activities of Nikkei around the world and enable such activities to befurther expanded. We hope that the conclusion of similar social security agreementswith other countries that are home to Nikkei populations will be promoted, andencourage the Japanese government to engage in efforts to that end.

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