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MY FAMILY: Part 4--All Roots are in Japan

Throughout the 18-year history of this blog site, I've posted various series, or episodes, of interesting facets about my life.  For example, TRANSITIONS:

More recently, I've begun two more, and they confuse even me:  MY LIFE and MY FAMILY.  They are so closely related, that I thought it would be useful for me to indicate the difference.

Way back in May, I started a series on MY LIFE.  The 15th episode was posted on September 5.  These will continue.

About MY FAMILY, my brother Dan (from Las Vegas) and grandson, Mateo (from New Jersey) visited Honolulu in mid-September.   Found out that they were planning to go to Japan in the coming Spring, specifically to search for our roots.  I thus passed on to them my lifetime research on the search for our roots, which was focused on my father's father, Kenjiro.  He had a short, but incredible life.  I was named after him.  I thus on 17September2026 started another series.

So today, I will continue this roots series as Part 4, for all of our roots are in Japan.  A video of the top 10 cities in the USA with the largest Japanese communities.

Another video of the countries with the most people of Japanese ancestry outside of Japan. 

  • The top three today are Brazil 2.7 million, USA 1.55 million and Peru 0.2 million.
  • Japan had 128.5 million people in 2010.  
    • Today? 122.3 million.  
    • Those 65 and older make up nearly 30% of the total population.
    • In 2050?  Projection is 105 million.
    • In 2070?  87 million.
    • 2100? 77 million.
  • Yes, the population is getting old, and the numbers are definitely declining.  However, compared to the rest of the world, Japan is only #27.  Here are the countries ranked by rate of declination, in percentage drop/year:
    • #1    Saint Martin  -4.92%
    • #2    Cook Island  -3.47%
    • #4    Greece  -1.77%
    • #10  Estonia  -0.94%
    • #13  Monaco  -.76%
    • #26  Russia  -0.53%
    • #27  Japan  0.051%
    • #28  Hong Kong  -.49%
    • #31  Taiwan  -0.43%
    • #35  Germany  -0.34%
    • #36  Italy  -0.31%
    • #39  CHINA  -0.22%
    • #49  South Korea  -0.08
    • #55  Spain  -.02%
    • #56  Georgia  -0.01
  • So 56 countries have declining populations.
    • The European Union countries all have fertility rates below replacement level of 2.1 births/woman.  
    • However, a few countries are not declining because of immigration.
    • The USA should be seriously declining because our fertility rate in only 1.59.
      • Has generally been declining since 2009, but actually slightly increased from 1.78 in 2023 to now 1.79 in 2026.
      • Was 1.77 in 1978, and increased to 2.06 in 2008.
      • Was 3.58 in 1958.
    • However, the USA is growing because of immigration.
      • 53.3 million in 2025.  That is 15.8% of our population.
      • However, net migration will drop to 0.31 million in 2026, while around 3 million will die, so we will join those declining nations this year.
  • Regional comparison.
    • Sub-Saharan Africa  4.21
    • Africa  3.99
    • World  2.39
    • Central America 2.1
    • North America 1.76
  • About growth rate.
    • Niger  6.23
    • Somalia  5.41
    •  
    • Yemen  3.23
    •  
    • Israel  2.86
    •  
    • Iran  2.06
    •  
    • Mexico  1.97
But back to the topic of today, I asked Google AI, why did so many leave Japan, beginning in the 1800s.
People left Japan for the United States, Brazil, and Peru primarily due to rural poverty and overpopulation at home, driven by Meiji-era modernization that pushed farmers into debt and landlessness. [1, 2]
  • High Cash Taxes: The Meiji government replaced traditional crop taxes with rigid cash taxes, causing many farmers to lose their land when they could not pay. [1]
  • Rural Overpopulation: Agricultural mechanization left thousands of rural peasants unemployed, overcrowding cities and shrinking job opportunities. [1]
  • Government Policy: The Japanese government actively encouraged and managed emigration to relieve domestic social tensions and economic pressures. [1, 2]
Pull and Destination Factors
  • United States (Mainly Hawaii and the West Coast): Labor contractors recruited Japanese workers for sugar plantations in Hawaii and agricultural or railroad work on the U.S. mainland starting in the late 19th century.
  • Peru: Beginning in 1899, Peru faced labor shortages in agriculture, mining, and industry, and turned to contracted Japanese laborers (initially mostly single men). [1, 2, 3]
  • Brazil: Starting in 1908, the Brazilian government and Japanese emigration companies organized large-scale migration of farming families to work on massive coffee plantations experiencing labor shortages during the coffee boom. [1, 2]

I'll close with the cold opening of Saturday Night Live last night.  You'll see the SNL versions of President Trump, Veep Vance, Pete of the DOD, Marco Rubio and Mitch McConnell.

About reality today for me.

- 

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