First (?) Japanese Guide to Settling in Mexico

[Emigrants' Guide to Mexico in North America] Hokubei mekishiko shokumin annai

Kamata, Sannosuke

Notes: One of the first, if not the first, Japanese guide to immigration to Mexico. This guide covers traveling to and in Mexico, agriculture, livestock, commerce, forestry, orchards, food, religion, language, climate, history, and politics. It concludes with a letter from a Mexican colonist. The publisher was Seiko [Success], the Japanese self-help, rags-to-riches magazine of the era.

After the Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907 severely restricted immigration to the United States, a number of writers recommended Mexico as a destination for Japanese laborers and entrepreneurs, but the idea never really took hold. Instead, once the US was no longer viable, Brazil became the most popular destination, ultimately surpassing the US for the largest Japanese community outside of Japan.

The title of this book includes the Japanese word "shokumin", or colonial migration, which was a Meiji-era neologism to differentiate colonial, imperialist migration from regular emigration. Under shokumin, Japanese emigrants were looking to expand the influence and economic sphere of the Japanese empire by establishing colonies and settlements in Asia and the Americas.

[4 leaves, halftone plates], 2, 3, [1], 186, [10] pages.

OCLC: 672848346 (Japan only); 50626833 (University of Chicago)

Edition + Condition: First edition (first printing). Rear cover cracked at hinge, else a very good copy of an uncommon book.

Publication: Tokyo: Seiko Zasshisha, 1908 [Meiji 41].

Item No: #362708

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