LAUSR

ABSTRACT States increasingly engage with diasporas. While diasporic ties are often sought in the name of shared culture or ancestry, such ties are selective and variable in reality, shaped by specific geopolitical contexts. In this paper, I examine why states engage with various diaspora communities differently by looking at the case of Japan. The Japanese state has recently rekindled its interest in cultivating ties with later-generation Japanese descendants abroad, collectively known as Nikkeijin. Its policies target Latin America, focusing less on Nikkeijin in other regions, including those who ‘return’ to Japan. The selective diaspora engagement, I argue, is embedded in the duality of diaspora as both insiders and outsiders. I analyse how such a diasporic population –Nikkeijin– came about out of Japan’s century-long diaspora engagement through emigration, diaspora conventions, and return-migration, and why it matters to Japan.