Nikkei-Peruvian and Nikkei-Brazilian Background and
History
History Repeats Itself...So They Say...
Peruvians and Brazilians of Japanese descent (Nikkei Peruvians
and Nikkei Brazilians) living in Oizumi are part of a larger group
of Nikkei Peruvians and Nikkei Brazilians living throughout Japan.
This section will outline the following: (1) Japanese migration
to Peru and Brazil beginning in 1899 and 1908 and continuing through
the early portion of this century. (2) The return migration of
Peruvians and Brazilians of Japanese descent to Japan in the 1990s.
Japanese emigration began in 1868 "in moments of turmoil
as the new Meiji government replaced the Tokugawa shogunate"
(Gardiner 1975: 23). Having first flocked to the Kingdom of Hawaii
and the United States, the Japanese were becoming familiar with
eastward emigration by 1899. Thus, when the Japanese government
was then "denied the opportunity to send further emigrants
to Hawaii and the U.S.," it was eager to look to Peru [and
Brazil] as a potential destinations for Japanese (and Okinawan)
workers (Takenaka 1997: 15).
The first Japanese settlers arrived on Peruvian shores in 1899
with temporary intentions of making money and returning to Japan.
However, the majority stayed in Peru, battled disease and difficulty,
but by "the end of 1909, of the total of 6,295 immigrants
to Peru, 5, 158 still lived there" (Gardiner 1975: 29). Japanese
migration to Peru continued at a steady increase until "1923,
when Japanese migration to Peru by contract was abolished"
(Gardiner 1975: 33).
The first group of Japanese emigrants arrived on Brazilian shores
in 1908 and followed by in a steady stream compatriots up until
the middle part of this century. They also were primarily "Japanese
farmers escaping impoverished conditions in Japan's rural areas"
destined for the promise land of Brazilian coffee plantations
(Tsuda in Baxter and Krulfeld:35). In short, their intentions
were to travel to Brazil, make money, and return to Japan. 
History repeats itself...so they say.... The return migration
of Peruvians of Japanese descent was enabled by a number of factors.
In the midst of experiencing a powerful economic upsurge, Japan
was in desperate need of increasing its manual labor force since
Japanese "young people were avoiding so-called '3D' (dirty,
difficult, dangerous) jobs" (Oizumi Poketto Gaido: 1996).
Thus, in 1990 Japan revised its immigration control law which
granted Nikkeijin and their spouses "formal status of residence"
in Japan (Selleck 1997: 17).
Under the law, anyone with at least one Japanese ancestor within three generations was automatically eligible for a visa. Second-generation Nikkei were entitled to a 3-year-valid visa and third-generation Nikkei, a one-year-valid visa. The visa was renewable and there were no numerical ceilings on the number of Nikkeijin who could enter" (Takenaka 1997: 15).
The grim economic situation in Peru coupled with the fact that "the average factory job in Japan paid over 10 times the wage for the average white-collar professional job in Peru (Takenaka 1997: 14) made relocating in Japan an economically viable option for Nikkei Peruvians during the early 1990s. Likewise, just shy of a century later, the inverse phenomena has also occurred with Brazilians of Japanese descent. In 1990, the Japanese government also encouraged a return migration of Japanese-Brazilians to work in Japanese factories. Similar to the situation in Peru, the plan was successful because of the "severe economic crisis in Brazil coupled with an abundance of unskilled jobs in a labor-deficient Japanese economy, as well as an increasing wage differential between the two countries" (Tsuda 1998: 319). While the majority of Japanese-Brazilians are considered educated and of the middle class in Brazil, they "still earn five to ten times their Brazilian salaries in Japan as unskilled foreign workers" (ibid).
Thus, it is clear that both Japanese-Peruvians
and Japanese-Brazilians have share a similar history of emigration
to South America and return emigration to Japan under the revised
visa law in 1991. 
Nikkei-Peruvian and Nikkei-Brazilian Background and History
Historical Overview of Oizumi, Japan