The Dekassegui movement: Identity transformation of Japanese Brazilian Dekassegui and Arubaito young adults to Japan and upon return to Brazil

International migration between Japan and Brazil dated back to 1908, when initial Japanese migrants arrived in Brazil. Nearly twenty-five years later after Brazil's crippling economic crisis in the 1980s coincided with a boom in the Japanese economy, a reverse flow occurred, as thousands of Brazilians of Japanese descent traveled to Japan to work in manufacturing and construction factories. Within this migratory flow, also known as the Dekassegui movement, exist a group of university students, or Arubaitos, who chose to work in Japanese auto, electronic, and food sectors during their three to four month summer break. The 2008 financial crisis not only destabilized Japan's economy, but it also created much uncertainty for foreign migrant workers, including the Japanese Brazilians. The global economic crisis served as a background context to this study to determine how migration transformed individual lives and group membership and how ethnicity and identity boundaries shifted and were reconstructed under distinct social, economic, and political contexts.;This research seeks to contribute to the ongoing discussion in migration, ethnic identity, intercultural adaptation, and student mobility literature by understanding how the (ethnic) return migration to Japan and repatriation to Brazil not only shaped third generation Japanese Brazilian young adults' adaptation experiences, but also highlighted the importance of the intersections of ethnicity, culture, and identity. This dissertation employed a qualitative and multi-site ethnographic case study approach using a mixed method data collection of surveys, semi-structured interviews, and archival documents. Findings illustrated that through short-term migration to Japan, the Japanese Brazilians engendered a resistance identity towards the host country and realized a more pronounced Brazilian identity. I contend that key factors such as age, motivations, expectations, and length of stay shape both the Arubaitos and Dekasseguis' migration decision making and re-adaption process into Brazil. The return flow back to their home country of Brazil revealed the complex and fluid process of identity formation and allowed both the Arubaitos and Dekasseguis to obtain a sense of ethnic identity achievement through a clearer, nuanced, and fuller understanding of their transcultural Japanese and Brazilian identities.