Japan and the South Pacific: Migration, Family, and Human Connections in the Modern Era
Vintage-style collage showing a map of East Asia and the Pacific Ocean with a marked maritime route, overlaid with a historic passenger ship and an old photograph of people standing on a dock.
Japan's present diplomatic engagement with the South Pacific is often framed as a recent strategic development. The historical relationship, however, extends well beyond contemporary policy. Since the mid-nineteenth century, people have moved between Japan and the region through migration, labour mobility, colonial rule, war, repatriation, marriage and family formation. These movements shaped communities and identities, and left enduring traces in language, popular culture, memory and government policy.
Bringing together historians and scholars of language, culture and migration, this workshop examines the human relationships through which Japan and the South Pacific have been connected. The papers move across Palau, New Guinea, Australia and Tonga, and from the late nineteenth century to the present. Rather than treating the Pacific solely as a field of diplomacy or state strategy, the workshop asks how regional connections were made and experienced in everyday life, and how they have been remembered and reworked across generations.
This workshop is funded by the Japanese Studies Association of Australia (JSAA).
Event Information
- Date: This Workshop will be held on Friday 2 October 2026 from 9:15am
- Location: NUspace Building, Cnr Hunter St & Auckland St, Newcastle NSW 2300
- Room: Room X401, Level 4
- Campus: Newcastle (City)
The University of Newcastle acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands within our footprint areas: Awabakal, Darkinjung, Biripai, Worimi, Wonnarua, and Eora Nations. We also pay respect to the wisdom of our Elders past and present.