"Concentrated ethnic towns" and "dispersed/ assimilated ethnic towns": Regional disparities in the formation and development of ethnic towns- Case studies of Brazilian residents in Japan

Abstract

This paper examines the founding and development of two Brazilian ethnic towns in Japan following the 1990 amendment to the Immigration Act. The structures of these towns fall into two patterns. The first is the "concentrated ethnic town," which comprises a dense cluster of ethnic businesses, making its ethnic character highly visible. The second is the "dispersed/ assimilated ethnic town," one whose ethnic nature is not evident. The factors that generate these variations include town scales, the locations of ethnic shops within business clusters, the division of social capital among entrepreneurs or between them and their host societies, and shop locations in relation to ethnic residential areas.