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Aim

• Introduce the concept of globalization,

• Examine how globalization has impacted on Japanese society,

• Discuss the inward flow of migrants as catalyst to the changing perception of Japan’s ethnic identity.

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Objectives:

1) To introduce the ways in which contemporary Japan has responded to globalization,

2) To focus on the case of migrant workers as a challenge to Japan’s ethnic identity,

3) To examine the impact of globalization on the make up of Japanese society.

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Globalization and regionalization

• Processes that cross borders and promote interconnectedness – how?.

e.g. Modern means of communication (e.g., internet and IT) acts as a catalyst for financial and economic integration.

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• The widening and deepening of links is central to globalization and regionalization of the financial and economic worlds. Though, these processes promote fragmentation.Alongside the process of integration is the potential

for disintegration.

• Fragmentation - illustrated by protests against globalization by social groups. Determined to maintain their own community and

identity against integration pressures.

Developing the links

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How globalization and regionalization are viewed

• Processes that promote integration by breaking down the barriers to the state.Debate: Role of the state in globalization.

State at the mercy of the globalization processes?

CASE: Black Wednesday, 16 Sept. 1992Sterling forced out of the ERM (European Exchange Rate

Mechanism), unable to maintain the value of the pound against other European currencies.

State forced to abandon its attempt to maintaining the exchange rate and protecting the value of its currency.

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How states are subject to external pressures

Result: UK out of EMS (European Monetary System) & ERM (European Exchange Rate Mechanism)

Unable to combat the pressures of globalization, states are forced to change its policy.

• Some critics of globalization highlight the degree of regionalization, not globalization.

Increasing concentration of the political economy in 3 core regions = fragmentation of the global political economy.

Europe, centering on the German economyNorth America, centering on the US economyEast Asia, centering on the Japanese economy.

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Globalization and the States

• Growing borderless economy – States, esp. the core states in EU, US and East Asia regions, withstand.• They appear as strong and capable of intervening in

globalization processes, may be by establishing protective regions for trade.

• The state may not always be able to prevent financial markets from attacking the currency. (e.g. UK 1992).

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The state and its sovereignty

• Exercising powers gained through sovereignty, the state can act:

Not a borderless world, but maintain the continuing importance of the state

even under globalization.

• Minimally as a gate keeper, deciding to a large extent (not entirely) what can enter or not the state’s boundaries he world:

• More proactively, they may maintain separate and distinct parts of the world:

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Response to globalization: reactivity and proactivity

• Japan is a proactive globalizer, as seen in the outward flow of goods, investment, and management techniques. • The flow of workers for temporary postings

overseas has also led to a certain amount of globalization of human resources

• Impact both on the workers themselves, but also on their families, esp. their children who enroll in local schools.

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Kikokushijo & challenge of globalization

• The phenomenon of kikokushijo ( 帰国子女 ), or returnee children who sojourned abroad posing a challenge to the uniform identity of Japanese homogeneity: • Here are children who are ethnically Japanese, but

who may not be able to speak Japanese, write Japanese or behave as expected in a Japanese cultural context

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What the returnees face

• They have to negotiate their identity depending on how & where their time was spent abroad: • Developed or developing country.• Attended a Japanese school or a local school.• Proficiency in language(s).• Cultural norms, values, and practices.factors of defining an ethnic identity.A number of expressions categorize the returnees

as different from the mainstream.

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How they are called

• These may not be the identities the returnees would adopt for themselves, but rather a way to show how they are different, negatively or positively: • Jun-japa, i.e. ‘purely/thoroughly’ Japanese identity.• Non-Japa, i.e. non-Japanese (foreign nationals).• Hen-Japa, i.e. ‘strange’ Japanese: those who seem to

have lost their Japaneseness due to overseas stay.e.g. Inability to speak the Japanese language as a

result of spending a number of years abroad at their most formative stage.

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Attraction of ‘foreign-ness’• Han-japa—half Japanese, i.e. biracial or

multiracial Japanese.• May have the ability to speak the language.• Also seen has having gained something desirable

from a different culture, something kakkoii.

• Shin-japa—or new Japanese• Those viewed as cosmopolitan, having gone

beyond their narrow Japanese nationality• Some positive connotation to the expression

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Global vs. homogeneous

• Globalization of the Japanese economy and the transfer of production facilities abroad.

The flow of Japanese workers, and their families, overseas.

When the family returns the children may be regarded by wider J. society as not sharing the same identity as other Japanese.

This suggests how globalization is challenging the idea of a homogeneous identity.

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Japan: ‘victim’ of globalization?

• More than viewing itself as a proactive globalizer, Japanese tend to place themselves as victim of globalization.• They need to respond to the pressures generated on

Japan by globalization.• As a reaction to globalization, Japan has had to deal

with pressures, especially from the US, to open up its markets and investment opportunities to other countries.

• This has increased foreign goods in the Japanese market place and the number of foreign firms and employees in Japan.

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FDI as an index of globalization

• Besides portfolio investment, FDI (foreign direct investment) is a major index of globalization in economy.• FDI into Japan is low compared to other industrially

advanced countries:• FDI in advanced economies normally takes the

form of M&A (merger and acquisition) and setting up affiliate firms, only a small percentage of the workforce works for a foreign company.

• In 2002, 1.36% of workers are employed by foreign firms vs. over 10% in the US.

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Globalization of the Japanese economy

• Globalization highlighted the global position of Japan as a wealthy country, attracting not only finance, but also people:

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Migrant workers

• Migrant workers fill 3K jobs in Japan, which are Kitsui Kitanai, Kiken (hard, dirty and dangerous).

• The Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act (Immigration Control Act): skilled migrant workers & Nikkeijin.

• Differences in the attitudes towards migrant workers in Japan.

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Push & Pull factors

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Reason: shortage of workers

• The low fertility rate in Japan, along with a rapidly aging population, mean there is a need for migrant worker.

• Skilled workers are managers, finance experts, technicians, etc., working in foreign affiliates or recruited by large Japanese companies in order to improve their competitiveness.

• There is a need for both skilled and unskilled workers in Japan, but there is a reluctance to open up Japan to unskilled workers

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SMEs need workers

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The Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act

• The Immigration Control Act is based on the idea that Japan only accepts aliens with some special expertise: in business or in language teaching (regarded as important by the state).

• All foreigners must qualify for one of the residency categories stipulated in the Immigration Control Act.

• Any work incompatible with the residential status is prohibited, unless with special permission.

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Long-term visas and national identity

• In principle, the government does not allow unskilled workers into Japan.• ...but, in reality a number of measures have been

taken in order to make this possible.• The 1990 amendment to the Immigration Control

Act (ICA) introduced new visas, including those for so called ‘long term residence’.

• The ‘long term resident’ category offers insights into the government’s view of national identity.

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The new long-term visa

• Intended for third-generation South American-Japanese descendants (Nikkeijin) and spouses of second and third-generation Nikkeijin.

• This new category of long term visa (applicable to 2nd generation Nikkeijin) have acquired a special economic importance opened a legal channel to introduce unskilled labour.

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Nikkeijin and Japanese national identity

• Introducing workers with Japanese lineage, aimed to maintain the idea of Japanese homogeneity.

• Yet simply having the same lineage does not mean the South Americans had the same identity.

• Different language, customs and cultural praxis have created a range of difficulties for the Nikkeijin in settling in Japan.

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The Koreans

• The total number of immigrants allowed to enter the country (incl. Nikkeijin) low compared to other industrially-developed countries.

• The flow of immigrants into Japan a decline in the percentage of Koreans immigrants.

• Also, increase in Koreans taking out Japanese citizenship.

• In the 1980s Korean nationals represented 80% of the foreign residents. Only 26% in 2011.

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What caused the shrinking

• This shrinking in the percentage of Koreans is due to: • The 'entertainers' from the Philippines and

Thailand (mid-1980s)• Workers from Pakistan and Bangladesh (late

1980s) • Workers in the service sector from China,

South Korea, Thailand, Iran, the Philippines, Malaysia and Sri Lanka (from the early 1990s)

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Legal and illegal aliens

• The flow of migrants to Japan is largely determined by the attractiveness of the Japanese economy to migrants in terms of the opportunity for employment.

• Whether these migrants enter legally or not is a separate question: • Depending on how a state controls its borders

and views the inflow of aliens, migrants will enter either legally or illegally.

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A multifaceted problem

• Illegal migrants may reflect the erosion of state sovereignty, but the state may deport them depending without authorization, or overstaying. The needs of industry The cost of finding and deporting them Politically, expulsion may damage the state’s reputation Economically, their importance for the economy Socially, how migrants and their family have become

part of the community Illegal workers include those who have entered Japan

illegally, working without authorization, or overstaying.

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The gender ratio changes

• 1990 and 2010 differ in their gender ratio• There is nearly a 30% difference between men and women

back in 1990, which means roughly 3men for 1 women• Two decades later, they are almost equal in number (ratio=1.07)

Data source: MoJ, 1990-2010

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Gender ratio:possible causes

• The reasons for the change in gender ratio are multiple:

• There are more women maybe because those men who stay in Japan may have their wife joining him

• There are more women because the ageing Japan encounters a shortage in health and daily care personnel

• More work for women in general? Well...

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Opening the country or not

• Opening the country to foreign workers has its pros and cons, but in the business: • Various sectors seems to share similar views• Generally reluctant to allow in migrant workers,

especially unskilled ones• But a change of attitude has been seen towards

skilled labour. those with special skills are seen as beneficial for the Japanese industries: In seeking a higher quality of products or services To enhance international competitiveness

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Different views

• Business owner organizations such as Keidanren (the largest business association) and the Japan Chamber of Commerce: • Recognize a shortage of labour in some sectors,

particularly in 3K jobs• They have become ready to accept migrant

workers in those sectors• In contrast, Rengō (Japanese General

Association of Labor Unions) is more hesitant• Shortages in the labour market should be filled with

Japanese workers, e.g., female workers, older workers, and irregular workers

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Cabiet Office opinion poll, 2004

• A vast majority of the Japanese respondents (69.6%) thought that the Japanese system is not catching up with the current needs

• Raising understanding of Japanese culture by foreign workers as the most required element for working in Japan (rather than the Japanese language skill)

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Governmental measures

• In April 2006, the government established cross-ministerial sessions to promote more smooth accommodation of foreign workers in Japan• Improvement of their working conditions • Provision of language education• Assistance for re-employment for those who

were laid off• Introducing the pension system for them, etc.

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Impact of globalization: international marriage

• Could be seen as another way the ethnic identity of Japan is challenged, • As a result of marriage to ‘old/new residents’• As a result of 'importing' brides from overseas

• Marriage to aliens may be between long-term residents, e.g., Koreans, and Japanese nationals• The marriage is international more in terms of

the nationality• The resident Koreans can be expected to speak

Japanese and be familiar with Japanese culture

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Marriage between long-term residents

• These types of marriages are having an impact on the Korean community as well as the Japanese• Through intermarriage and procreation, the

Korean community is being Japanized• The idea of a separate Korean identity is being

gradually eroded as a result of marriage• A vast majority of the offspring speak Japanese

and are culturally Japanese

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International marriage:demographic facts

• Including those to Koreans, marriages to non-Japanese peaked in 2006, reaching over 1 in 22 registered. Tokyo reached 1 in 11, Osaka 1 in 12

• In percentages: 4% in 2000 (1 in 25), 4.5% in 2006 (1 in 22.2), and 3% in 2010 (1 in 30)• In 1970, it was less than one in every one hundred

marriages (less than 1%)• For 2010, figures are much higher for large cities

6.6% (1 in 15 marriages) in Tokyo 5.1% (1 in 20 marriages) in Osaka

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Visualising it

Occurrences of international marriages in Japan as a whole, in Osaka and in Tokyo

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More in depth

• Over 80% of interntional marriages were between Japanese men and foreign women, mostly from other parts of East Asia

• 1st China, 2nd Philippines and 3rd North and South Korea

• Koreans are long-term residents that had not naturalized, rather than migrant workers as in the case of, say, spouses from the Philippines

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In search of a better half:Yome-sagashi

• Some local governments in depopulated rural areas have introduced Asian brides to the local Japanese men

Many Japanese women are not attracted in living in rural areas

Bachelors in these areas have had to find brides overseas

If accepting that one of the major roles of women is reproduction, such initiative indicates the impact of globalization on human resource production

Rural, depopulated areas are being repopulated by introducing women from Asia.

Tozawa in Yamagata prefecture illustrates how the scheme worked in the 1980s (ended in 1990)

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Tozawa, Yamagata, 1980s

• Exodus of eligible women from the village resulted in a shortage of brides for the local men• The local gov't organized trips to S. Korea and the

Philippines in 1989 and successfuly found brides for eleven of the local bachelorsIn 2002, there were 35 foreign wives in the villag.

• The local gov't offered Japanese language classes and worked to promote international cultural exchange, The 'Korean hall' for a closer link with S. Korea

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Testimonial

• One of the foreign brides in Tozawa says:

‘Villagers have changed greatly.

While many were born here and lived here all their lives, they seem to have turned their eyes towards the larger world outside’.

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International marriage and homogeneity

• The increase in the number of international marriages has led to an increase of children of international marriages In 2010 the birthrate was about 3 children per couple

for international marriages, much higher than the 1 child for Japanese to Japanese marriages

International marriages are moving the demographics of Japan towards a more multiethnic society

There are still strong tendencies to see Japan as homogeneous

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Conclusion

• The impact of globalization on Japanese society

• How is Japanese identity challenged?• The case of migrant workers

• The impact of globalization on the make up of Japanese society