Tag Archive for people in Japan

People in Hokkaido

hokkaido mapHokkaido people (Dosanko道産子) are immigrants like Americans. They are from all over the Honshu (the main island of Japan) and other islands like Shikoku or Kyushu. Not many are from Okinawa. It was only a little over 100 years when Japanese government decided to expand their territories to other places. This expansion policy affected to form a pioneering companies to move farmers to Hokkaido. Many were promised to receive large land after they cultivate the land for farming. Usually it was those of 2nd child or later since they could not inherit their parents’ land. It was the 1st son who will inherit the land and 2nd, 3rd, 4th and forth are not the heirs from their parents. They will either be renting portion of the land and become very poor in the future ending up helping their elder brother. If they are lucky, they can survive in their lives. It was that harsh for the farmers in Japan back then. So this expansion policy attracted many, but the sad thing about moving to sepearte and unknown island of Hokkaido was emotionally heart breaking. Seperating from their parents and their home land was not an easy decision. It was many times one way ticket.

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