Back to resources list

海外邦字新聞

Kaigai hōji shinbun

Overseas Japanese-language Newspapers
Literature History Social Sciences Politics Japanese Language

Collection URL: http://rakusai.nichibun.ac.jp/hoji/

国際日本文化研究センター

海外で最初の日本語新聞として知られているのは、1886年(明治19年)ごろにサンフランシスコで発行された『東雲(しののめ)雑誌』である。 それ以降、合衆国、ハワイ、南米各地である程度の日本人コミュニティができると日本語新聞が発行され、本国、国内、地域のニュースを伝え、 文芸欄や意見記事で現地の言葉に不慣れな移民たちを結んできた。

デモクラシーの総本山で自由民権運動に燃えることもあれば、敵国民としての苦悩を伝えることもある。 「ふたつの祖国」をどう愛すのか、現地に同化する子弟とどうつきあうのか、その迷いを描くこともある。 終戦直後のブラジルのように日本戦勝の虚報でコミュニティが分裂したこともある。 政治・商業・教育から娯楽・ゴシップ・広告までそこでしか読めない事柄は非常に多く、移民史研究の基本資料である。 海外の日本語環境の基礎という側面も忘れられないし、新聞人には個性ある事業家・書き手が多い。

このデータベースでは、海外邦字新聞のなかからサンパウロ、サンフランシスコにて発行された2紙を集めた。


International Research Center for Japanese Studies (Nichibunken)

The Shinonome zasshi, published in San Francisco around 1886, is known as the first Japanese-language newspaper published overseas. From then on, when Japanese communities grew to a certain size in the United States, Hawaii, and countries in South America, Japanese-language newspapers were launched, reporting news about their homeland, their host country, and local area, as well as publishing articles in literary, editorial, and other features. These newspapers helped unite Japanese immigrants unfamiliar with the local language.


At times, these newspapers might strongly sympathize with the civil rights movement in the United States, the bastion of democracy. At other times, they might report about how immigrants suffered when they were viewed as people of an enemy country. They might also describe immigrants’ confusion over how to love “two homelands” and how to get along with children who had assimilated into the host society. In Brazil, immediately after the end of World War II, a false report that Japan was victorious split the Japanese community in two. 


The overseas Japanese-language newspapers contain numerous articles on a wide range of topics—from politics, business, and education to entertainment, gossip, and advertisement—that cannot be found elsewhere, and they are therefore valuable primary resources for studying the history of Japanese immigrants. They also provide the foundations of the Japanese-language environment outside Japan. Many of those who ran the newspapers were outstanding entrepreneurs and writers.

From among Japanese-language newspapers published overseas, this database now offers two newspapers, one published in São Paulo and the other in San Francisco.

Data Count: 8,277 items (As of April 2018)

[061318]

Keywords: newspaper,newspapers,San,Francisco,Sao,Paulo,overseas,Japanese,language,Civil,Rights,war,shinbun,kaigai,hōji
Resource updated: Jul 23rd, 2019