My dissertation examines how ethnic communities are formed, transformed, and maintained in different national contexts, using the case of Japanese­Peruvians (Nikkei Peruvians) in Peru, Japan, and the U.S. Nikkei Peruvian communities are dispersed over different nation-states; of 80,000 Nikkei Peruvians, a third live in Japan as contract workers and the rest reside in Peru and the U.S. These three countries differ in terms of the bases of the state creation, immigration policies, and the levels of socio-economic development. In different national contexts, how do Nikkei Peruvians create and maintain their communities and in so doing, how do they relate to each of the three countries? Moreover, what do these subcommunities mean to national identity? By comparing three distinct countries, this study will contribute to an understanding of the incorporation of ethnic communities into nation­states and the issues of persistent ethnicity, ethnic conflict, and nationalism.