Nisei (二世, "second generation") is a Japanese-language term used in countries in North America and South America to specify the ethnically Japanese children born in the new country to Japanese-born immigrants (who are called Issei). The Nisei are considered the second generation and the grandchildren of the Japanese-born immigrants are called Sansei, or third generation. (Ichi, ni, san are Japanese for "one, two, three", and are the ordinals used with sei; seeJapanese numerals.) Though nisei means "second-generation immigrant", it often refers to the children of the initial diaspora, occurring in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and overlapping with the G.I. and silent generations.
The children of these Japanese Brazilian (Nipo-brasileiros) immigrants would be called Nisei.
Although the earliest organized group of Japanese emigrants left Japan centuries ago, and a later group settled in Mexico in 1897,[1] the four largest populations of Japanese immigrants and their descendants live in Brazil, Canada, Peru, and the United States.
