In the pre-war days, the most of Black studies in Japan were politically exploited to justify the national imperialistic policy. In the post-war period, however, with the start of the Cold War, Japan Black Studies Association (JBSA) was established in 1954 by the people who believed that the American democracy was problematic as long as Blacks were segregated in the South. From the middle of the 1950s and the 1960s, to study the struggles of Black people for freedom in the world encouraged JBSA members in their efforts to be part of social movements for democratic transformation of Japanese society. And from the 1970s and the 1980s, when the agenda of women liberation was on the table in Japan, JBSA focused upon the works of Black women in the world. And the works of Caribbean women writers as well as those of Black British writers also came into view.
African American and Black Caribbean relations are described as strained. Standard portrayals of Black Caribbeans as a "model minority" that has effectively assimilated into the American landscape often make explicit their distinctiveness from and enmity toward African Americans. Analysis using National Survey of American Life data (N = 6,082), exploring the nature and correlates of intergroup perceptions, reveals that both groups characterize their mutual relationships as being close. Gender and region of residence influence African American feelings of closeness toward Black Caribbeans, while for Black Caribbeans, perceived discrimination was significantly associated with feelings of closeness to African Americans. Black Caribbean immigrants from Spanish-speaking countries and Haiti felt closer to African Americans than did Jamaicans. In addition, foreign-born Black Caribbeans (first generation) felt closer to Black people from the Caribbean than second-generation Black Caribbeans. These and other findings are discussed in relation to research on intergroup closeness among African Americans and Black Caribbeans.
