Japanese Women Marriage Migrants Today Takeshi Hamano

 Japanese Women Marriage Migrants Today: 

Negotiating Gender, Identity and Community in Search of a New Lifestyle in Western Sydney

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Takeshi Hamano

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doctor of Philosophy

The University of Western Sydney

2011

copyright © 2011 Takeshi Hamano  

Acknowledgements

 

First of all, I would like to thank all of my informants for their sustained engagement with my research. Especially, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Ms Yuka Weatley, President of the Penrith Japanese Community. My research project for this thesis would not have been possible without her agreement with my participation in the activities of the Penrith Japanese Community. Also, I would like to thank Tomoko Ward, Vice-President of the Penrith Japanese Community, and all others who were willing to be interviewed in both Australia and Japan. I would also like to thank Mr Yoshihide Hosaka for providing me with his invaluable collection of records of the activities of Japanese ethnic clubs in Australia since the early 1980s.Then; I owe my deepest gratitude to my principal supervisor, Distinguished Professor Ien Ang, for her encouragement and enduring supervision during my candidature. The feedback she gave to me in any meeting or correspondence was always critical but also always positive and constructive, which kept me working on this project to the end. Her supervision also taught me how to supervise someone else in my future career. I would like to thank my second supervisor, Dr Judith Snodgrass, whose accurate and detailed comments greatly improved my thesis draft. I could not have met Japanese women in Greater Western Sydney without her information about local Japanese communities in the first stage of my doctoral candidature. 

I thank my colleagues at the Centre for Cultural Research: Sarah James, Jayde Cahir, Jo Winchester, Cathy O‟Callaghan, Glen Fuller, Farid Farid and Justine Humphry.

They encouraged me to join the network of local postgraduate students. Especially I thank Sarah and Jayde for their friendship since I first came to CCR. As co-postgraduate liaison officer, Jo greatly supported me with my duties at any instance. I am very indebted to Shinsuke Funaki (and his family) for his interest in my research and for his tolerance with my participation in his research on the Japanese community in Sydney. I also thank Associate Professor Yoshikazu Shiobara for his attention to the progress of my research. Thanks to him, I could also join the academic network of Australian studies in Japan.

Professor Hiroshi Sudo always encouraged me to finish my PhD whenever I visited his office. I still owe my gratitude to him, as he encouraged me to apply for an exchange program in Australia in 2001, which eventually led me to do my PhD in Sydney later. And, as my best academic colleague in Japan, I thank Mario Lopez for his honest and constructive feedback on my thesis draft.

To complete my thesis, David Kelly, Andrew Wright and Kathleen Olive spent long hours editing my English and proof reading. Maree O‟Neil, Executive Officer of the

Centre for Cultural Research, always dealt with a great deal of administrative matters for my candidature. Of course, I could not have commenced my PhD in Australia without the UWS International Postgraduate Research Scholarship provided to me by the University of Western Sydney.

Lastly, I am grateful to my partner Chie Yoshiya for her understanding of my PhD research in Australia and her endless encouragement to me from Japan.

Statement of Authentication

        

 

 

The work presented in this thesis is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, original except as acknowledged in the text. I hereby declare that I have not submitted this material, either in full or in part, for a degree at any other institutio

    

 

 

 

 

                                        

(Signature)

 

Contents

 

List of Tables............................................................................................................... iii

List of Figures............................................................................................................. iv

Abbreviations............................................................................................................... v

Abstract....................................................................................................................... vi

 

 

CHAPTER 1. LIFESTYLE MIGRANT, CONSEQUENT SETTLER AND

MARRIAGE MIGRANT ............................................................................................. 7

1.  1. Introduction................................................................................................. 7

1.2.  Migration Today: Development of a Theoretical Framework ................... 10

1.3.  Gender Difference in Migration ................................................................ 14

1.4.  Leaving Japan for the Sake of a Better Lifestyle: Women and

Contemporary Japanese International Migration.............................................. 16

1.5.  Methodology .............................................................................................. 21

1.6.  Thesis Outline ............................................................................................ 24

CHAPTER 2. CONSUMER SOCIETY AND LIFESTYLE MIGRATION ............. 28

2.  1. Introduction............................................................................................... 28 2. 2. Hyper-Consumer Society in Late Capitalism ........................................... 33

2. 3. Japan‟s Consumer Society Following the Post-Industrial Period............. 41

2. 4. Japanese International Travel: Shifting to Consumption-Oriented

Practice ............................................................................................................. 44

2. 5. Going Overseas as Consumer-Oriented Practice ...................................... 50

2. 6. Conclusion ................................................................................................ 52

CHAPTER 3. JAPANESE MIGRANTS IN AUSTRALIA, 1880s-2000s ................ 55

3.1. Introduction................................................................................................ 55

3.2. History of Japanese Migration to Australia ............................................... 57

3.3. Socio-Demographic Profiles of Japanese in Australia Today ................... 74 3.4. Kokusaikekkon or Cross-National Marriage in Japan Today .................... 86

3.5. Conclusion ................................................................................................. 90

CHAPTER 4. VERNACULAR DIASPORIC COMMUNITY: A NATIONAL

JAPANESE ETHNIC ASSOCIATION IN AUSTRALIA ........................................ 94

4.1. Introduction................................................................................................ 94 4.2. Conceptualising Ethnicity .......................................................................... 96 4.3. Functional Approach to Ethnic Association of Migrants ........................ 103

4.4. Japanese Migrants and Their Ethnic Associations .................................. 112

4.5. The Japan Club of Australia: Within the Transnational Nikkei

Community ..................................................................................................... 115

4.6. Conclusion: Limit of Transnational Nikkei Identity? .............................. 130

CHAPTER 5. CONSEQUENT SETTLEMENT AND MARRIAGE MIGRATION

OF JAPANESE WOMEN........................................................................................ 134

5.1. Introduction.............................................................................................. 134 5.2. Growing Japanese Population in Sydney ................................................ 135 5.3. Recent Residential Distribution of the Japanese in Sydney .................... 140

5.4. Becoming a Consequent Settler: Marriage Migration ............................. 148

5.5. Australia as a New Home ........................................................................ 161

5.6. Are Japanese Women More Adaptable to Difference? ........................... 172

5.7. Conclusion ............................................................................................... 177

CHAPTER 6. REMOULDING ETHNO-GENDERED SELF AMONG

JAPANESE WOMEN MARRIAGE MIGRANTS ................................................. 181

6.1. Introduction.............................................................................................. 181

6.2. Migrant Women and the Problem of Social Mobility ............................. 183

6.3. Gender Division of Labour and Migrant Women.................................... 192

6.4. Japanese Gender Ideas: Traditional Ideas of Femininity and Recent

Change ............................................................................................................ 199

6.5. Crafting the (Feminine) Self .................................................................... 209

6.6. Liberal but Conservative?: The Two Sides of Japanese Women Today . 218 6.7. Conclusion: Westernisation, Indivisualisaion and the „Aestheticisation‟

of Everyday Life in Marriage Migration ........................................................ 220

CHAPTER 7. A BRIDGE TO THE MAINSTREAM: THE PENRITH

JAPANESE COMMUNITY .................................................................................... 222

7.1. Introduction.............................................................................................. 222

7.2. Home away from Home: Making Home in the New Settlement............. 224

7.3. From Home to the Local Region: Forming a Local Japanese Group ...... 237

7.4. The Penrith Japanese Community: An Emerging Japanese Community

in Western Sydney .......................................................................................... 241

7.5. Leading Domestic Roles to Public Networking: Mothers‟ Network

through Children ............................................................................................. 258

7.6. Ambivalent Self between the Japanese and the Local Community in

Sydney‟s West ................................................................................................ 265

7.7. Conclusion: Ambivalence towards Being Both Marriage Migrant and

Lifestyle Migrant ............................................................................................ 269

CHAPTER 8. CONCLUSION ................................................................................. 271

8.1. Gender in Fieldwork: A Reflection ......................................................... 271

8.2. Lifestyle Migration and Marriage Migration: A Conclusion .................. 281

Appendices ............................................................................................................... 311

 

 

 

On Japanese names in this thesis

 

Except in a few cases, the names of all informants who participated in my fieldwork were changed and initialised (see Appendix 3). Japanese names are written in the order of first name and family name, as is normally the case in Australia.

 

 

List of Tables

 

Table 1. Historical Population of the Japanese in the Australian Census,

1881-2006 ...................................................................................................... 59

Table 2. Number of Working Holiday Maker Visa (Subclass 417) Grants, 

2003-04 to 2007-08 by Citizenship/Nationality ............................................. 77 Table 3. Number of Japanese Permanent Arrivals, 1996-97 to 2006-07 ............... 79

Table 4. Numbers of Population and Gender Ratio  in the Northeast

Asian-Born People in the Census 2006 .......................................................... 80

Table 5. Immigration Categories Listed in the Settlement Reporting ................... 82

Table 6. Number of Japanese Permanent Arrivals, 1997-98 to 2006-07 from the

Settlement Reporting ...................................................................................... 83

Table 7. Numbers of Couples of Japanese Female and Non-Japanese Male  by

Country of Origin, 1996 and 2006 ................................................................. 87

Table 8. Numbers of Couples of Japanese Male and Non-Japanese Female  by

Country of Origin, 1996 and 2006 ................................................................. 87

Table 9. Regional Organisations and Constituent Councils  in the Sydney and

Metropolitan Local Government Areas ....................................................... 139

Table 10. Japanese Population (Japan-born People) in the Sydney and

Metropolitan Areas and Surrounding Councils in the 2006 Census by

Regional Organisation of Councils .............................................................. 141

Table 11. Japanese Population in the Sydney and Metropolitan Areas  and

Surrounding Councils in the 2006 and 2001 Census ................................... 143

Table 12. Basic Socio-Demographic Profiles of Three Local Government Areas 

in Western Sydney ....................................................................................... 226

Table 13. A Proposed List of Events of the PJC in the First Half of 2007 .......... 249

List of Figures

 

Figure 1. Japan's Social Change and the Maturation of Hyper-Consumer Society 54

Figure 2. Number of Japanese Visitors to Australia and Main Purpose of Visit,

1980-2007 ...................................................................................................... 75

Figure 3. Residential Distribution of the Japanese (Japan-born) in the 2006

Census (out of 100 %) .................................................................................... 79

Figure 4. Gender and Age Distribution of the Japanese in the 2006 Census ......... 80

Figure 5. Numbers of Japanese Permanent Arrivals by All Immigration

Categories in the Settlement Reporting, 1997-98 to 2006-07 ........................ 85

Figure 6. Numbers of Two Immigration Categories by Gender, 1997-98 to

2006-07 .......................................................................................................... 85

Figure 7. Numbers of Cross-National Marriage Couples, 1965-2007 ................... 87

Figure 8. Number of Japanese Married Overseas in 2006 ..................................... 89

Figure 9. Table of Contents of Japanese in Australia: Japanese Footprints over a Century 1867-1998 (JCA Kinenshi Henshu Iinkai, 1998 translation by

author) .......................................................................................................... 124 Figure 10. Roles of the JCA ................................................................................. 127

Figure 11. Division of Councils in New South Wales ......................................... 137

Figure 12. Councils in Sydney Local Government Areas (Inset A, Left) and

Metropolitan Local Government Areas (Inset B, Right) ............................. 137

Figure 13. 2001 Census Map of Locations of High Household Income (A$2,000

Per Week) ..................................................................................................... 142

Figure 14. 2001 Census Map of Where Unemployed People Reside .................. 142

Figure 15. Residential Distribution of the North-East Asian Group in Sydney... 145

Figure 16. Regional Map of Western Sydney ...................................................... 149

Figure 17. Location of the City of Penrith, from the Homepage of the Penrith

City Council ................................................................................................. 242

Figure 18. Migration Flows from/to Penrith City, between the 1996 and 2001

Census .......................................................................................................... 242

Figure 19. Information about the PJC in Japanese, Nichigo Press, November

2006 .............................................................................................................. 245

Figure 20. Information about the PJC, The Blue Mountains Gazette, 13

September 2006 ............................................................................................ 245

Figure 21. Article on local Japanese women in Penrith Press, September 2006 247

Figure 22. Group Snapshot at Glenbrook Park, January 2009 ............................. 250

Abbreviations

 

ABS	Australian Bureau of Statistics
BCOF	British Commonwealth Occupation Force
CCROC	Central Coast Regional Organisation of Councils
CRC	Community Relations Commission for a Multicultural NSW
DIAC	Department of Immigration and Citizenship of Australia
DIMIA	Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs of Australia
GHQ	General Headquarters
IMROC	Inner Metropolitan Regional Organisation of Councils
JCA	Japan Club of Australia
JCCI	Japan Chambers of Commerce and Industry
JCQ	Japan Club of Queensland
JCS	Japan Club of Sydney
JCV	Japan Club of Victoria
JICA	Japan International Cooperation Agency
JSS	Japanese Society of Sydney
KWAA	Korean Welfare Association of Australia
LGA	Local Government Area
MACROC	Macarthur Regional Organisation of Councils
MHLW	Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare of Japan
MIAC	Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan
MLIT	Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism of Japan
MOFA	Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan
NESB	Non-English-Speaking-Background
NGO	Non-Governmental Organisation
NMA	Nepean Migrant Access
NSROC	Northern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils
NSW	New South Wales
ODA	Official Development Assistance
PJC	Penrith Japanese Community
SHOROC	Shore Regional Organisation of Councils
SNS	Social Network Service
SSROC	Southern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils
WHM	Working Holiday Maker
WSROC	Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils
WWII	World War II

 

Abstract

 

This thesis explores the rise and transformation of Japanese migration to Australia since the 1980s. This thesis particularly investigates the experience of Japanese women marriage migrants: women who have immigrated to Australia through marriage to a local partner. Based on participant observation with a Japanese ethnic association in Sydney‟s west between 2007 and 2009, and on in-depth interviews with the association‟s members, this thesis examines the ways in which the women re-mould themselves in Australia by constructing gendered selves which reflect their unique migratory circumstances through cross-national marriage. 

 

Since the 1980s, Japanese international migration has transformed into „lifestyle‟ migration, that kind of migration undertaken for the sake of an alternative lifestyle and the consumption of different socio-cultural experiences in the new country. On this assumption, this thesis finds that the increase in Japanese women migrants is an amalgamation of two motivations. These women not only sought a chance to avoid or overcome conventional gender inequalities, which are still prevalent in contemporary Japanese society; they also regarded going overseas as an opportunity to fashion a desirable lifestyle on their own. Consequently, while many of them arrived in Australia with the view to staying only temporarily, they decided to continue their movement towards a new lifestyle through marriage to a local partner.

 

This thesis examines the stories of Japanese women marriage migrants after their migration to Australia, discovering that the women tend to take recourse to expressions of Japanese femininity that they once viewed negatively, and that this is tied to their lack of social skills and access to the cultural capital of mainstream society. Re-moulding the self through conventional Japanese notions of gender ironically provided them with a convincing identity, that of a minority migrant woman. Nevertheless, through an analysis of members‟ engagement with an association of Japanese women marriage migrants in a suburb of Sydney‟s west, this thesis reveals a nuanced sense of ambivalence expressed by these Japanese women: between their Japanese community and Australian life. This results in a dilemma for these women: they negotiate between their „given‟ Japanese femininity and the „chosen‟ images of self that can be achieved in their new life in Australia.  

CHAPTER 1. LIFESTYLE MIGRANT, CONSEQUENT SETTLER AND MARRIAGE MIGRANT

 

1. 1. Introduction

 

This thesis is a study of contemporary Japanese women living in Greater Sydney, who settled in Australia as a consequence of marrying an Australian resident. For this reason I refer to them as „marriage migrants.‟ This thesis examines the ways in which they re-mould their selves in the new settlement. While focusing upon the processes of their re-interpretation of their gender identity in the new social context, it also considers the legacy they carry from hyper-consumer society in Japan in the late 20th century and the development of a sense of individualism it created. The motivation for Japanese international migration needs to be scrutinised with a consideration for the impact of Japan‟s social change over the past few decades.

Nevertheless, as this thesis demonstrates, the transformation of Japanese society in the era of globalisation by no means involved a simple abandonment of all traditional or conventional socio-cultural values. Japanese women marriage migrants take recourse to Japanese notions of femininity in negotiating their place within Australian life. This involves a process of translating their conventional ideas of gender into their new Australian socio-cultural context. I describe and analyse how different values are conflicted, negotiated and mediated by them.

 

Recent studies on Japanese international migration (Fujita, 2008; Kato, 2009; Kitamura, 2009; Mizukami, 2006b, p. 11; Nagatomo, 2007) focus on the advent of a transnational lifestyle, one which crosses national boundaries. These new Japanese migrants are called „lifestyle migrants‟ (Sato, 2001), people who have migrated to another country in order to enjoy a new way of life in a different society. This concept has called for further analysis of the social change underlying this new type of migration and the ways it relates to the increasing global mobility and migration in the world today. In earlier research on Japanese permanent residents in Brisbane in 2004, for example, I showed that the Japanese today conduct global migration in a quite different way from those of previous decades (Hamano, 2005, 2010); and that a more nuanced analysis was needed of the new migratory patterns of the Japanese.

 

In recent years, contrary to the conventional Japanese perception of Australia as a holiday resort, Japanese migration to Australia has become much more significant. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of Japan reports in the Annual Report of Statistics of Japanese Nationals Overseas that each of the Japanese Consulates-General and Embassies in Australia recorded more than a 25% increase in the number of Japanese permanent residents between 2005 and 2007 (MOFA,  2007). As of 2008, MOFA subsequently inserted a one-page column, reporting on the rapid increase of the Japanese population in Australia (MOFA, 2008). This increase in the number of Japanese nationals who are long-term residents in Australia contrasts significantly with another trend: numbers of Japanese international tourists to Australia have declined over the decade (Japan Tourism Marketing, 2010). As of 2009, the Japanese population in Australia ranked as the third largest Japanese population overseas, after the United States (US) and China. This growth is related to an increase in the number of Japanese marrying Australian citizens (or permanent residents), and the statistical report was released to explain a general trend in Japanese overseas movement. For MOFA, such an increase in this particular type of Japanese permanent resident and its impact on the composition of Japanese nationals overseas could not be dismissed. Its statistical report in 2009 announced that the Japanese population in Australia has been increasing steadily (MOFA, 2009). Most interestingly, of the top five largest groups of Japanese overseas (the US, China, Australia, UK and Brazil), only Australia recorded a growth in Japanese population in that year.

 

Although Japanese international migration today has diversified, I particularly focus on the increasing number of Japanese women marriage migrants in Australia. As I elaborate in this thesis, while these women were allegedly „pushed‟ to leave Japan by a sense of marginality, deriving from conventional socio-cultural perceptions of femininity in Japan, they were also encouraged to leave for another country as an independent individual, one who considers the search for a lifestyle a matter of personal choice. Migrating overseas is accordingly a re-creative practice in which these women build a new lifestyle in a new place (Kitamura, 2009; Toyota, 2006; Yamashita, 2008). While these women often initially travel as tourists, their circumstances transform when they subsequently marry a local resident and become a „consequent settler‟ (Mizukami, 2006b) and, thus, a „marriage migrant‟ (ibid.).  

 

It is also important to draw attention to the fact that these Japanese women face a great deal of vulnerability in their migrant life, and in response to this they begin to retrieve the conventional socio-cultural values of Japanese femininity in the new country. As I detail in later chapters of this dissertation, this process is very clear in their home-making efforts in the new country: finding a job, managing a household (including taking care of children) and networking with locals in the neighbourhood. This harking-back to conventional Japanese femininity is their strategy of re-moulding the self in the new socio-cultural circumstances, in reference to an embodied social identity – even though they initially attempted to rid themselves of it once in the new environment. Here, we see the entangled process of the reinterpretations of national socio-cultural components in the diasporic context, which can even result in their opposite evaluation.  It also indicates the difficulties experienced by Japanese migrant women in re-moulding a desirable self, regardless of how they succeed in relocating the self in the new socio-cultural circumstance. Finally, this thesis foregrounds common debates on the status of migrant women, taking as its lens a particular migrant group of Japanese women today. 

 

These Japanese women marriage migrants exemplify the ways in which

contemporary Japanese people experience the radical change of Japanese society in the global context. My analysis raises a series of questions about Japanese society in the era of globalisation. Taking into account the gender and migratory status (as spouse) of these women in Australia, I also contribute to the understanding of (migrant) women in a settler society.

 

1.2. Migration Today: Development of a Theoretical Framework

 

The Age of Migration

Immigration studies in social science have achieved a great deal of popularity due to the increase of international migration following World War II (WWII) (Castles & Miller, 2003, p. 77). Contemporary international migration in the second half of the twentieth century has been activated not only by economic reasons, but by refugees and asylum seekers, fleeing wars and political conflict, and even by the forced migration of human trafficking. The massive flow of migrants with high mobility across the world has affected not only the composition of domestic industries and economic markets, but has also radically re-shuffled the cultural characteristics of the domestic society in the receiving countries. Hence, according to Castles and Miller (ibid.), one of the highlights of this post-war immigration was the growth of diversity of areas of origin and an increase of cultural difference between migrants and receiving populations. Nikos Papastergiadis (2000, p. 39) also mentions that „[T]he decoupling of traditional linkage between migration and industrial expansion in the west has impelled a rethinking of global migration patterns…Migration is thereby, once again, subordinated to broader structural changes.‟  

 

A diverse group of people has migrated to Australia, and its diversity has transformed Australia today into one of the most culturally diverse country in the world (Castles, et al., 1990; Cook, et al., 1992; Jayasuriya, 2003; Jupp, 2001, 2002; Lopez, 2000; Vasta, 2003). To begin with, Australia strictly controlled migrant intake on racial grounds, through the „White Australia Policy‟ of the Immigration

Restriction Act 1901 (Markus, 1994, p. 110); however, this circumstance had to change. After WWII, Australia began to take in more diverse migrants from other parts of Europe (Sherington, 1990). Eventually, in the 1970s, Australia abolished racial restrictions on migration and adopted a policy of multiculturalism.

 

The study of international migration can be mainly classified into two major categories: the study of the flow of migrants, and issues relating to migrants‟ settlement in the new country. With regard to the motivations for voluntary migration, one argument posits that it tends to focus on labour migration (Castles & Miller, 2003, p. 25; see also Papastergiadis, 2000, pp. 32-33). This focuses on the economic divide between the two countries, i.e. between the developing and the developed region (Portes, 2001). Developed countries take in migrants as cheap labour; workers from developing countries seek the opportunity for higher earning than would be possible at home. This approach is persuasive, especially considering the impact of global capitalism imposed upon the unbalanced relationship between so-called first world and third world countries. It is however simplistic to reduce explanations to this alone.

 

In addition to this major focus on labour migration, it is necessary to acknowledge the diverse patterns of global migration today. Not only is it caused by voluntary migration; it is also facilitated by social disturbance (e.g. war and political corruption) or family reunion (including cross-national marriage). The diverse modes of global migration also complicate migrants‟ settlement issues. Saskia

Sassen, for example, argues the difficulty of analysing the diversity of contemporary modes of migration, within such a simple framework as that discussed above. She says:

 

The rationality of emigration is far more complex than push-pull explanation allows for. On the one hand subjective issues come into play. Critical is that many people have shown themselves willing to take undesirable jobs, including jobs below their education and social stratum in the home country, and to live in extreme discomfort and under conditions they might not accept in their home country. There is, then, a subjectivity of the first-generation immigrant that needs to be factored in as one of the variables. On the other hand the bridging effects of globalisation produce both material conditions and novel types of imaginaries that make emigration an option where not too long ago it was not. 

(Sassen, 2007, p. 132)

 

Hence, as Sassen insists, relying upon a simple push-pull factor theory seems insufficient in analysing the complexity of contemporary patterns of migration, in both quantitative and qualitative terms. This economic reductionism neglects the various degrees of the effects of globalisation overwhelming the world today (Papastergiadis, 2000, pp. 31-39). It is obvious that Japanese international migration today cannot be explained within this framework. Given that globalisation provides a great deal of differentiation and the proliferation of socio-cultural structures of local spaces, rather than leading to a homogenisation of the world (e.g. Appadurai, 1996; Eriksen, 2003; Hall, 1992a; Hannerz, 1992; King, 1992; Sassen, 2007; Urry, 2000, 2003), it is consequently imperative to examine migration theories and frameworks of understanding.

 

It is important to recognise the variety of migratory patterns in both sending and receiving countries. Castles and Miller (2003, p. 26) propose one systematic and interdisciplinary approach to examining global migration today. Their approach is explained as follows:

 

The migration systems approach is part of a trend towards a more inclusive and interdisciplinary understanding, which is emerging as a new mainstream of migration theory...The basic principle is that any migratory movement can be seen as the result of interacting macro- and micro-structures. Macro-structures refer to large-scale institutional factors, while micro-structures embrace the networks, practices and beliefs of the migrants themselves. These two levels are linked by a number of intermediate

mechanisms, which are often referred to as „meso-structures.‟ 

(Castles & Miller, 2003, p. 27)

 

Although the question of whether the single and systematic approach of the „meso-structures‟ is appealing to migration studies today remains, Castles and

Miller‟s argument is worth considering. Whilst migration studies, in generic terms, tend to use either a „macro‟ or „micro‟ analysis of global migration, recent debates on transnationalism or transnational migrants open up inquiry of a more dynamic style of contemporary migration in the global space. In Flexible Citizenship: The Cultural Logic of Transnationality (1999), Aihwa Ong explored the ways in which transnationality among Chinese overseas proceeds at the intersection between the structure of the modern nation-state, and the individual who strives to establish a secure life on the global stage. Ong also examines how, in this process, the cultural (and familial) values of Chinese transnational migrants are re-embedded in their transnational life. 

 

The experience of migration today is by no means a once-and-only linear process from the country of origin to the new country. Sustained by advanced telecommunications and transportation networks, contemporary migrants arguably have the possibility of reconstructing their migratory life in the in-between space of the home and host countries. This is not, however, to deny the fact that they are always concerned to seek or make a secure „home‟ in the globalised space.

 

Transnational Migration and the Japanese

This alternative approach calls not only for a linkage between macro and micro-analytical perspectives, but also emphasises the significance of investigating variants of migratory patterns within a single ethnic group (Foner, et al., 2000; Glick Schiller, et al., 1992; Kennedy & Roudometof, 2002; Ong, 1999; Ong & Nonini, 1997; Vertovec, 2004, 2009; Vertovec & Cohen, 1999). In contrast to the Japanese economic migrants who came to Australia between the late 19th century and the early 20th century (JCA Kinenshi Henshu Iinkai, 1998; Nagata, 1996; Oliver, 2001, 2002; Sissons, 2001; Yarwood, 1964), or Japanese war brides who arrived in the 1950s (Hopkins, 1954; Nagata, 2001a, 2001b; Tamura, 2001; Ueki, 2002), one of the significant differences when speaking of Japanese migrants today is that the distinction between „travel‟ and „settlement‟ is obscured (Mizukami, 2006b). Tetuso Mizukami terms this kind of migrant a „consequent settler‟ (2006b): many Japanese migrants in Australia today became permanent settlers, having initially come to Australia, as a visitor or temporary stayer. However, although taking a transnational approach to recent migrants is crucial, it by no means implies that Japanese migrants today have become cosmopolitan individuals whose lifestyle is totally unfettered by national boundaries. 

 

In my research, I frequently observed the ways in which Japanese women marriage migrants (like other Japanese consequent settlers) strived to build a „home‟, in association with a new family, neighbours and communities, in their new place of settlement. Hence, with regard to the study of transnationalism, I propose that more careful investigation is necessary in order to apply the theory to migrants. As I will examine later, migrants‟ mobility and sense of transnationalism is highly contextual and variable, even if they come from the same country. We must consider not only their ethnic and racial identity, but also their internal diversity as an ethnic group, related to, for example, length of stay, life stage, class, and gender (O'Flaherty, et al., 2007; Piper & Roces, 2003).

 

For this reason, in addition to the recent studies which have contributed to the development of new ideas for speaking about the nature of contemporary Japanese migration (Fujita, 2008; Hamano, 2005, 2007; Kelsky, 2001; Mizukami, 2006b; Nagatomo, 2007; Sato, 2001; Toyota, 2006; Yamashita, 2008), I argue that, in the transnational lifestyle of contemporary Japanese migrants, one should not dismiss the significance of dwelling in the new country as an important concern. At the same time, one‟s growing attachment or loyalty to the new place by no means leads to a conflict with one‟s transnational identity. I will later describe how Japanese women marriage migrants re-mould their selves in the process of making their new „Australian‟ home in reference to both their ethnicity and gender accounts, within the particular social circumstances of being a migrant woman in Australia. Indeed, no matter how much the mode of transnational lifestyle has gained popularity, when speaking of the recent growth of contemporary Japanese migrants, or no matter how much migrants‟ physical mobility grows or whether their lives are psychologically extended by the global media and technology, I argue that the meaning of dwelling and the hope of belonging in a new settlement are still crucial for exploring the everyday practice and self-representation of these Japanese migrants.

 

1.3. Gender Difference in Migration

 

Migrant Women: The Structure of Double Marginalisation

As migrant women face exclusion from the mainstream society of the new country, they must struggle with the gender inequality they face in both public and private spaces. In migration studies, many scholars have claimed that women who migrate risk becoming vulnerable individuals (Calavita, 2006; Piper, 2006; Sinke, 2006). They negatively point to the extent to which social inequality imposed on women in the society of origin affects their migration in the global stage. Speaking generally, while it is obvious that many migrants initially face a certain downward social mobility in the new country, migrant women will experience harder situations than men because they must struggle with two social inequalities – as a „migrant‟ and as a „woman‟ – in the new country. This circumstance eventually situates migrant women in a lower position compared to that of mainstream women in the new society. For example, when we consider migrant women in the labour force, it could be argued that migrant women have more potential to become victims of economic inequalities between the sending and the receiving countries (Benhabib & Resnik, 2009; Chant, 1992; Parreñas, 2001; Stasiulis & Yuval-Davis, 1995). Indeed, migrant women might be said to deal with a structure of double marginalisation. In the new country, they may be marginalised not only by their migratory status, but also by their gender.

 

Woman marriage migrants can be categorised into two groups: the first group is women who accompany husbands from their own society or country of origin; and the second group is those who marry a local partner, such as the Japanese women marriage migrants of my research. While the former group of women may suffer from the gender discrimination stemming from their cultural background (Bottomley, 1984; Buijs, 1993; Light, 2007; Vasta, 1991), the latter must not only confront gender inequality, but also deal with different gender perceptions of themselves and their local partner (Breger & Hill, 1998; Constable, 2005b). Thus, confined in a private space in the new country for the sake of family or husband, these migrant women, unlike women of the mainstream society, are seldom given a chance to present their voices to the wider public. Such factors enforce on these women a structure of dependence on their male partners or family members, and also impede their voluntary participation in the society of the new country.

 

Migrant Women and the Feminisation of Self: Another Perspective

In contrast to these critiques of migrant women in oppression, some studies show that, for migrant women, wilful „feminisation‟ of the self in the private space  can be an active form of personal identity politics that allows women to re-construct a tangible social identity under certain power relations in society (Matoba Adler, 1998; McLaren & Dyck, 2004; Tamura, 2001). On the one hand, this feminisation of self, through the positive perception of gendered roles in the private sphere, can be analysed as a process in which the migrant woman is involved in a harsh political economy as she is relegated to a socially marginalised status. That is, it is obvious that often she cannot help but accept the role of wife or mother in the family, even though this results in further alienation or exclusion and leads to further gender inequality. On the other hand, this process of feminisation of the self may provide her with a tangible social identity with which to situate herself in a new environment. 

 

This process of feminising the self is not merely carried out through self-recognition. Rather, it is confirmed and strengthened by reiterating daily performances in the light of gendered roles as a wife, mother or woman living within the local community (Butler, 1999[1990]). For example, in studies of the wives of Japanese business expatriates, Sawa Kurotani (2005) and Ruth Martin (2007) observe how Japanese wives re-situate their selves in a new country by and through their household duties. In addition to this ambivalent practice of feminising the self for a tangible social identity in the new country, I propose that this practice should also be examined to establish the extent to which migrant women are able to take part in the wider local community or society through femininising the self (as a wife or a mother who shares common interests and concerns with other women in the local community).

 

1.4. Leaving Japan for the Sake of a Better Lifestyle: Women and

Contemporary Japanese International Migration

 

Japanese Migration Today: A Trend

According to Nobuko Adachi (2006a), the diversity of contemporary „Japanese diasporas‟ is considerable, while their historical traces are also differentiated.

Contrary to early Japanese international migration, which took place from the Meiji era until the post-war period, in the Asia-Pacific region as well as in the ex-Northeast Asian colonies (Azuma, 2002; Daniels, 2006; Endo, 2009; Kikumura-Yano & Japanese American National Museum, 2002), recent Japanese global migration is by no means seen in terms of economic migration in a conventional push-pull theory

(Brettell & Hollifield, 2000). Rather, the motivation for global migration is initiated and driven by migrants‟ desire to make a new „lifestyle‟ (Mizukami, 2006a; Sato,

2001), consuming different socio-cultural circumstances that are supposedly unavailable in Japanese society. To explain this new migration, several studies refer to the rise of new Japanese social values, due to radical social changes in the decade after the mid-1990s, after Japan entered a large economic recession due to the burst of the bubble economy (Fujita, 2008; Nagatomo, 2007). Lifestyle migration has been considered to be the preserve of middle-class migrants, who can afford to select the new place of settlement with enough assets and cultural capital to succeed there (e.g. Kennedy 2002, Inglis 1999). In Australia, Japanese lifestyle migrants seemed to be in this same vein (Hamano, 2005; Nagatomo, 2007; Sato, 2001).

 

Women’s Defection

In addition to these studies of Japanese middle-class migrants, a number of studies particularly focus on Japanese women who go abroad seeking word and even settle permanently (Kelsky, 2001; Thang, et al., 2006; Toyota, 2006; Yamashita, 2008). In Women on the Verge: Japanese Women, Western Dreams (2001), Karen Kelsky described the aspirations of Japanese women who left Japan in order to learn a language (mostly English) or even receive a tertiary education in a Western country. In so doing, these women were, Kelsky posits, attempting to compete with their male colleagues in the male-centred Japanese business culture. She argues that Japanese women see Western societies as more liberal with regard to gender relations, and so feel that they may design their lifestyle in a way that they want, liberated from the bind of gendered obligations (and restrictions) in society. 

 

While Kelsky observed elite women aspiring to achieve upward social mobility or success in the flourishing Japanese business, recent studies (Fujita, 2008; Kato, 2009; Kitamura, 2009) reveal that a wider range of women began to go abroad as part of a „search for a self‟. Such studies see the increased social anxiety and uncertainty which resulted from the economic downturn since the mid-1990s as the reason why many Japanese women leave Japan. Some women consequently go overseas for better opportunities to improve their future prospects; others may attempt to take leave from the harsh reality of life in Japan for a while.

 

The economic uncertainty made it difficult for people to envisage their prospective life course. Certainly, this social change equally affected all generations regardless of gender. However, women, especially young women, have arguably suffered more, since opportunities for their work has reduced. Indeed, these studies emphasise that the shrinking job market in Japan has greatly affected this trend. While there is no doubt that the status of women in employment has improved in the last two decades, thanks to the Equal Employment Opportunity Law of 1986, it is still problematic to conclude that equal opportunity has been achieved (Hara & Seiyama, 2005; Kumazawa, 2007; Suzuki & Stickland, 2007). Thus, only a small group of elite women benefited from the opportunity, while many other women still suffer from unfair gender division of labor in the public realm. Rather, there is an argument that social insecurity resulted in widening the disparity between a small privileged group of Japanese women and the majority of others (Tachibanaki, 2010).

 

As a result, recent studies on Japanese lifestyle migrants take into account the impact of this domestic social change, since they argue that it generated new social values regarding one‟s life course (Fujita, 2008; Kato, 2009; Nagatomo, 2007). Instead of envisaging a prospective life course that had been proposed in society, young Japanese today began to see that their life should be „created‟ both flexibly and individually. In this light, I suggest that the meaning of going abroad became blurred, between being a leisure experience and a search for one‟s life(style). As Erik Cohen

(Cohen, 1979, p. 183) indicated in relation to contemporary tourism, a gradual shift from a „Recreational Mode‟ to „Existential Mode‟ via „Experimental Mode‟ can be discerned. In this light, contemporary Japanese migration should be understood as a practice for those Japanese who are in search of remoulding their selves through their experiences of life overseas.

 

While several studies attribute increasing Japanese lifestyle migration to the changing social values and structures of Japan since the mid-1990s (Fujita, 2008; Kato, 2009; Nagatomo, 2007), I argue that the idea of lifestyle migration began, in fact, earlier, although lifestyle migration in the initial stage was carried out only by relatively middle-class Japanese. The current trend applies to a much broader spectrum of society. They had already established a certain lifestyle in Japan and then sought a preferable second life in the new country. In contrast to this, younger generations began to imagine a desirable lifestyle overseas in the consumption of a new socio-cultural environment, before or instead of achieving a prospective life in Japan. With regard to the earlier Japanese lifestyle migrants, Machiko Sato (2001) describes who immigrated to Australia in the 1980s. Kelsky (2001) also introduces a similar category of Japanese women who had already left Japan in an earlier period, before Japan faced serious economic recession in the 1990s. In particular, in the case of Australia (JCA Kinenshi Henshu Iinkai, 1998), Japanese migrants in the 1980s have been largely classified as lifestyle migrants, while the recent increase of the Japanese population in Australia is definitely sustained by marriage migrants, as I document in Chapter 3.  

 

Here, I argue that it is necessary to refer to the new social values of Japan, which led to the rise of lifestyle migration, dating back to the 1980s. I propose that the analysis of the maturation of hyper-consumer society in Japan in the 1980s is necessary to explore contemporary Japanese migration. My argument, as detailed in the next chapter, is that the advent of post-industrial society, together with a new, post-Fordist production system (Lash & Urry, 1987, 1994), led to the maturation of a hyper-consumer society that had been developing since the early 1970s (Miyadai, et al., 1993; Otsuka, 2001[1996], 2004). Interestingly or ironically, as Japanese sociologist Takao Mamada (2005, 2007) argues, the maturation of hyper-consumer society has driven people toward datsu bussitsushugi (de-materialism) in consumption. Having achieved the fulfilment of basic material needs in the post-industrial society, the object of consumption shifts towards more non-materialistic commodities, such as new information, different experiences and an alternative quality of life. Nevertheless, this does not mean that people have lost their interest in consumption practice itself. Rather, consumption practice is still a most important social activity for the sake of one‟s social identity, representing one‟s way of life through it. Indeed, in the maturation of hyper-consumer society, when identifying the self through consumption practices became more essential for the Japanese in the 1980s, the experience of travelling (and living in) a different society also began to apply to the idea of lifestyle migration.

 

My research focuses particularly on the increase in the number of Japanese women marriage migrants and their mode of resettling in Australia. As I reveal in Chapter 3, these women comprise the largest group in the Japanese community today in Australia. The data and my fieldwork reveal that most arrived in Australia as temporary leisure-makers or students, and then became marriage migrants. To explain these Japanese women‟s international migration, early studies have mostly pointed to the desire of Japanese women who see the West (their destination) as a promised land for gender equality, according to a discourse of the different degrees of „civilisation‟ between Japan and the West (e.g. Kamoto, 2001; Kelsky, 2001).  I assume, however, that this conventional argument would explain only a part of the consequent marriage migration of these Japanese women. I argue that their marriage migration (and becoming a consequent settler) has to be discussed by considering both „the changed‟ (the maturation of hyper-consumer society) and „the unchanged‟

(gender inequality) in the transforming Japanese society of today. 

 

Furthermore, while the statistical data sets indicate unprecedented numbers of Japanese women, the most significant findings of my research were the ways in which these women resettled in Australian suburbs, going against the assumption that ethnic/migrant community concentration grows as their numbers increase. Certainly, early studies on Japanese lifestyle migrants (Mizukami, 2006b) argued that Japanese migrants in Australia are seldom concerned about the formation of ethnic concentrations, compared to early Japanese international migrants (Endo, 2009; Glenn, 1986; Niiya & Japanese American National Museum, 1993; Takaki, 1993). This trend can be explained by the individualist nature of Japanese lifestyle migration. However, the dispersal into large residential suburbs of Japanese marriage migrants requires us to explore their different mode of forming ethnic community associations in the new country. Finally, in this parallel investigation of the impact of both „the changed‟ and „the unchanged‟ sides of migrant life, my discussion proceeds by investigating the ways in which these women accommodate and acclimatise themselves in the new life, considering their gender and migrant status.

 

1.5. Methodology

 

Fieldwork

The fieldwork for this thesis was carried out between July 2007 and September 2009. I predominantly carried out my research in Western Sydney, although I occasionally visited other areas of the Greater Sydney region (see following chapters for the geographic information). For this fieldwork, I contacted several key informants (such as Yuka-san, President of the Penrith Japanese Community and Mr Yoshihide Hosaka, the founder of the Japan Club of Sydney) and gave them an overview of my research plan, to ask for their support.  However, most of my informants were members of the Penrith Japanese Community (PJC), an ethnic association of local Japanese living in the Western Sydney region formed in late 2006. Here, I conducted a long-run participant observation and in-depth interviews between November 2006 and September 2009.^[1] I also acted as one of the members of the management committee of the PJC between September 2007 and August 2009. As a secretary of the PJC, I had responsibility for taking minutes of monthly general meetings, as well as of the executive meetings twice a year. Apart from the PJC, I visited two other gatherings organised by local Japanese residents in the Western Sydney region. In addition, I frequently took part in the monthly regular meetings of Carenet, a welfare subdivision of the Japan Club of Sydney (JCS), for six months from mid-2007. Although I did not conduct in-depth interviews with the participants, I occasionally took field notes during the meetings.

 

In July 2007, I conducted a survey by questionnaire to the members of the PJC. The purpose of this survey was to acquire basic background information on proposed participants for in-depth individual interviews, which I planned to begin from August 2007. However, as I was not permitted to access the addresses of the members of the

PJC, at the request of the President, I asked her to distribute the questionnaire instead.

I passed 40 copies of the questionnaire onto her and collected 22 copies by the end of December 2007 (see Appendix 1 and 2). With regard to individual interviews, respondents were generally nominated from the regular members of the PJC, while a few of them included Japanese who visited the PJC as guests. I also conducted snowball sampling in the PJC in order to obtain extra respondents. Eventually, I conducted 35 interviews with 31 people between August 2007 and June 2008 (see Appendix 3). These informants held a variety of visa and residential statuses, from permanent resident to business visa or other temporary visa holders and their dependants. Twenty-two were those I would term „marriage migrants‟, i.e. women whose partner is an Australian. All of them were living in the Greater Sydney region at the time of interview, though some of them returned to Japan or moved to another suburb or city after the research. The gender breakdown of these respondents was: 28 female and 3 male, by the nature of the Japanese association and residential distributions of Japanese in the local area. Even so, I included several casual interviews with those who live in other regions in Sydney for comparison. 

 

Prior to the interviews, all candidates individually agreed to participate in my research, by signing consent forms written in both Japanese and English. I then began to manage an interview schedule, depending upon participants‟ schedules.

Those who agreed to these individual interviews were asked to select a preferred location for the interview. As a result, most interviews were conducted at informants‟ homes, although some chose a public place, such as a café, or food court in a shopping mall, as the venue for their interview. All interviews were electronically recorded by voice recorder with the permission of informants, after I confirmed that the informant had the right to withdraw or delete a part or whole of their recorded interviews at any time after the interview. The interviews lasted between one and two hours, depending on the schedule of informants, as well as their topics to be discussed. In some cases, interviews continued longer, after switching off the voice recorder. These follow-up „conversations‟ after the official interview were written up as notes, as part of the interview, as soon as possible. Some interviews had to be suspended halfway due to informants‟ urgent business or family duties at home, and restarted later. In these cases, the total length of interviews tended to be longer, while the actual recorded interviews were basically conducted between one and two hours. Some informants did ask for the voice recorder to be temporarily switched off while they spoke, for the protection of private or confidential matters. With three selected informants, I embarked on a second interview, after transcription of their previous interviews, to ask further questions and details.

 

Archival Research

In addition to the fieldwork conducted with these Japanese ethnic associations and casual gatherings in Greater Sydney, archival research played an integral part of my research for this thesis. In addition to basic library research at local universities, most of the archival research was carried out at public libraries, such as the City Library of Sydney, Willoughby and Penrith; the State Library of NSW; the Japan Foundation Library. Research in these local public libraries provided a local history of the Japanese community, as well as early studies of and research on Japanese migration to Australia. I occasionally had access to relevant resources archived at the National Library of Australia in Canberra, via my university library. Moreover, my archival research owes much to a number of long-established Japanese migrants in Sydney, who generously permitted my frequent visits to their personal collections and archives, particularly with regard to local Japanese ethnic associations. Having frequent casual conversations with them gave me precious opportunities to hear some significant episodes from and unrecorded incidents in the lives of Japanese migrants and their history in Australia. I could not have written about the history of local Japanese ethnic associations without their hospitality. 

 

Finally, I also conducted archival research in Japan in July 2009 at the Immigration Museum at Yokohama, founded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency

(JICA), a sub-governmental institution that formerly belonged to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. At the museum, I was able to collect important documents and reports released in journals, magazines and books, with regard to the relationship between the Japanese government and Japanese migrants to Australia between the 1980s and 90s. Indeed, the data collected from the museum allowed me to examine contemporary Japanese migrants to Australia in the broader context of Japanese international migration.

 

1.6. Thesis Outline

 

Japanese Migration to Australia

This thesis comprises eight chapters. Following this introductory chapter, Chapter 2 elaborates a theory of contemporary Japanese international migration. In so doing, I particularly focus on the maturation of Japan‟s hyper-consumer society, as Japan entered into the post-industrial society of the late 1970s. The transformation is explained in a global context, in relation to the circulation of global capital and the economy of that period. I argue that the most significant effect of this post-industrialisation of Japanese society was that it brought about a hyper-consumer society that provided a new consumption practice. Moreover, I emphasise that even after the termination of the „bubble economy‟ and Japan‟s entry into a long-term recession (which is still played out today), this consumption practice is still essential to contemporary Japanese identifying their self in society.

 

In Chapter 3, I introduce the historical background of Japanese immigration to (colonial) Australia. Although the Japanese migration to Australia experienced a complete stop due to WWII, there is a long historical relationship between Japan and Australia going back to the 19th century. This historical snapshot shows how the nature of Japanese international migration has transformed as this modern nation-state develops in relation to the Asia-Pacific region. In the last half of this chapter, I give an overview of the social profile of contemporary Japanese migrants/residents in Australia. Using a variety of statistical data sets derived from both Japanese and Australian governmental surveys and reports, I offer a detailed picture of Japanese migrants in Australia from different angles, although I draw particular attention to the striking gender imbalance among them that calls for the most significant research question to be considered in my thesis.

 

Chapter 4 investigates the socio-cultural characteristics of Japanese migrants living in Australia. In settler societies (Stasiulis & Yuval-Davis, 1995) such as Australia, it is quite popular with migrants to organise their own ethnic communities and organisational bodies, for their well-being in the new society. A consideration of this allows me to theorise the general but essential functions and expected roles of the ethnic association of migrants in a settler society such as Australia. I focus on the very short history of the Japan Club of Australia (JCA), a Japanese ethnic organisation organised nationally across states in Australia. To investigate the reasons why this national Japanese ethnic association was founded but lasted only a decade, this chapter highlights the fact that most contemporary Japanese migrants are lifestyle migrants, who find it difficult to perceive that they belong to an ethno-specific „imagined community‟ (Anderson, 1991; Hage, 2005) in Australia.

 

Japanese Women Marriage Migrants Today

Chapter 5 has two parts. First, I examine the population characteristics of the Japanese in NSW. Based on several data sets, I illustrate a peculiar residential pattern of the Japanese, compared to other ethnic groups in the region. I conclude that such a unique residential distribution of the Japanese is owing to the increase in the number of Japanese women marriage migrants, as my statistics in Chapter 2 reveal. As an individual migrant who has a local partner on whom they are initially dependent, these women, I argue, seldom see their personal interests reflected in residential choices. I report that the Japanese population is growing more in the outer suburbs than in the central region in Greater Sydney, which also reflects the fact that this population consists of Japanese women marriage migrants in relatively young couples, who prefer outer suburbs to inner areas for financial and family reasons. Second, based on my fieldwork in the Western Sydney region, I begin this part by inquiring into the reasons why these Japanese women left Japan and consequently became marriage migrants in Australia. I also investigate the ways in which they, for better or worse, perceive their Australian life under the geographic conditions referred to previously.

 

Chapter 6 explores the ways in which Japanese marriage migrants re-mould a particular gender identity in their Australian life. In particular, I focus on the way in which these women re-contexutalise their „Japanese‟ femininity by representing a new interpretation and remoulding of their self in Australia. To account for this, the chapter particularly considers their social roles and daily obligations in the family. I describe the process through which these women begin to assign positive meanings to being a Japanese woman, which they cannot realise in Japan. Furthermore, I argue that there are also common problems among these Japanese women, which are difficult for migrant women to escape in the country of settlement.

 

Chapter 7 deals with the meaning of the Australian home and the role of local ethnic associations for marriage migrants. After Japanese women become migrants, shifting from being a transient stayer in the process of searching for a new self, what is the implication of their making a new home in Australia? While I realise that home can be a space where women occupy an oppressed position with several gender roles and household duties, I illuminate the ways in which Japanese women marriage migrants look for a chance to take part in the wider local community or engage with it as a certain gendered self, acquired daily in the home. Rather than criticise home as a space that encloses women in the private sphere, I suggest that for migrant women a new home acts as a springboard to situate herself in public spaces. In the next section, I consider the role of local Japanese ethnic associations in the same light, i.e. functioning as a mediated space. In conclusion, I examine the ambivalent perceptions expressed by these women with respect to engaging with the local Japanese association. For a migrant woman who is also a lifestyle migrant, these oscillate between her „Australian family‟ and her „Japanese‟ community, and the striving to make a new Australian life „style‟ and to rely upon the local Japanese community as a new arrival.

 

Chapter 8 is the last chapter and summarises the discussions of the thesis. Each research question of the thesis is addressed in an integrated fashion, although further questions are raised about Japanese women marriage migration. In detail, I express my concerns about the gender difference in the relationship between myself and my fieldwork informants. Although I do not agree that a gender difference between the researcher and the research can interfere with the respondent in the field, given such a qualitative research approach, I identify a number of implications based on my own fieldwork experiences, including a more nuanced or indirect relationship between the researcher and the family of the respondents. Finally, I propose a number of remaining questions about my research topic that require future exploration.

CHAPTER 2. CONSUMER SOCIETY AND LIFESTYLE MIGRATION

 

2. 1. Introduction

 

A major aim of this thesis is to clarify the nature of recent Japanese outbound migration to Australia. While the history of Japanese migration goes back to the late 19th century, the social background and purposes of migration have varied, according to each stage. The earliest Japanese migrants in Australia were labour migrants. Those who arrived in Australia in the decade after the mid-1950s are often called „war brides‟ – women who left for Australia, after WWII, upon marrying an Australian serviceman stationed in Japan. Since the mid-1950‟s Japanese business expatriates and their families had been increasing, in the recovery of an economic partnership between Australia and Japan. They were, however, assigned short-term placements (mostly an appointment of a few years) and were not settlers. Compared to these groups of Japanese migrants, recent arrivals, mostly from the early 1980s, present a different picture in their aim of migrating to Australia. 

 

To illustrate the uniqueness of these new Japanese arrivals, it is necessary to speak about the impact of the transformation of Japanese society that eventually pushed these Japanese migrants overseas, including toward Australia. According to Nagatomo (2007, p. 180), Japanese who immigrated to Australia in the past decade were greatly affected by the social shift that happened in the 1990s. According to Nagatomo, the bursting of Japan‟s bubble economy in 1991 and the following deep economic recession caused several socio-economic transformations. Japanese companies were restructured; working environments changed; an increase in the number of part-time jobs brought structural flexibility to the working environment. In particular, the last change in Japanese society ironically enabled young Japanese to shape their lifestyles in more flexible ways. Nagatomo concludes that these shifts of social circumstances during the recession led to the rise of new lifestyle values. 

 

These new values, based on greater freedom and flexibility of lifestyle choice, have encouraged some Japanese to immigrate to Australia, fleeing Japan‟s difficult working conditions as well as workplace relationships that are too tight and close.

Additionally, Nagatomo (2007, p. 190) focuses on the point that more Japanese women than men began to adopt these new values as a chance to achieve a „better‟ lifestyle overseas.^[2] In summary, for many recent Japanese migrants, migration to Australia seems to be an opportunity to acquire a new or alternative way of life that is virtually unavailable in Japan. 

 

Nagatomo‟s discussion presents an image of the nature of contemporary Japanese migrants. Migration, for them, seems to be a strategy to achieve a new lifestyle elsewhere, rather than striving to modify their lifestyle while staying in Japan. These points are supported by interviews cited in Nagatomo‟s article, in which some interviewees put a great emphasis on the „Australian way of life‟. Particular features they identified included: a more relaxed lifecycle with longer holidays; plenty of time with their family; better educational opportunities for children. In particular, given that Nagatomo‟s research was carried out in Queensland which is renowned among the Japanese as the most attractive „holiday resort‟, it is understandable that his Japanese informants mentioned the „Australian way of life‟ as a particular feature to achieve their new lifestyle, in contrast to their previous lives in Japan. 

 

However, here one question arises: why did these Japanese begin to see migration as an opportunity to realise their preferred or desired lifestyle? Do we need more accurate and radical discourses to explain why they regard migration (or going overseas) as a way to develop their lifestyle, in spite of the fact that this would mean difficult access to familiar materials and supplies, and severing ties established in Japan? To reflect on these questions, I will draw on arguments (Baudrillard, 1988;

Clarke, 2003; Featherstone, 1987, 2007[1991]; Mamada, 2005) that consumption practice today leads to one‟s identification of self and social belonging, rather than to the satisfaction of one‟s material fulfilment. In this light, I argue that, in the maturation of hyper-consumer society in post-industrial Japan (Bell, 1973; Touraine, 1971), the Japanese have learnt to seek the self (or re-construct their identity) through consuming the experience of international travel, which has become a popular leisure experience in post-war Japan. I then theorise the practice of travelling (going) overseas by contemporary Japanese by contrasting it with the same practice in earlier periods. In so doing, I rely on several theoretical frameworks to highlight the different objectives in going abroad, between Japanese who travelled in earlier periods and contemporary Japanese. To explain this shift, it is essential to refer to the advent of international tourism since the 1960s. As the mode of consumption in Japan shifted from mass-consumption to consumption of difference in the post-industrial society, international tourism has also transformed from early mass tourism to a diverse mode of travelling around the world. Especially, in this exploration, I draw attention to the idea that going abroad has come to signify a mode of consumption in postmodern Japanese society, which enables people to construct their selves through the consumption of differences embedded in diverse, material and non-material commodities.

 

Hyper-Consumer Society and International Travel

I will first describe a change in purpose from going overseas for economic purposes (or production-oriented movement) to improving a desirable lifestyle (or consumption-oriented movement), as Japan developed into a mature consumer society. Economic development and high industrialisation naturally gave birth to the post-Fordist production system in Japan in the late 1970s, which greatly affected the mode of production and emphasised flexibility and specialisation rather than mass-production, while developing a system of global outsourcing to developing countries (Harvey, 1989; Lash & Urry, 1987, 1994). This transformation is significant, in that the shift of the production system has also affected ways of establishing one‟s lifestyle in society, especially with regard to consumption practices. In that sense, distinguishing earlier modes of emigration from more contemporary modes is crucial in understanding Japanese nationals‟ decisions to travel overseas. These two different socio-cultural environments represent two paradigms eventually encoded in different meanings of the Japanese practice of going overseas. In particular, I propose that going overseas in the later period is carried out with a very consumerist mindset, as well as that of lifestyle seeking. 

 

In so doing, I go on to examine the „consumer society‟ (Baudrillard, 1988; Bauman,

2001[1998]; Featherstone, 2007[1991]; Jameson, 1991) that arose in Japan in the 1980s, as a consequence of the post-Fordist production system associated with the post-industrialisation of society. This new mode of consumption analysed by post-Marxist scholars should be understood in a different way from material fulfilment. In this regard, one can extend the idea of consumption of services in society, including leisure activities. It is also a mode of distinguishing one‟s lifestyle and self from others by consuming different or special commodities (Zukin, 2008). Accordingly, „semiotic consumption‟ (Mamada, 2005) in leisure activities provides the Japanese with an opportunity for enhancing self-esteem or looking for the self through the consumption of something „different‟. Mamada also emphasises that this alternative consumption leads the consumer to becoming more conscious about their lifestyle. That is, this new mode of consumption drives the consumer to search for ways in which they can enhance their lifestyle qualitatively and individually through consumption practice. 

 

Given that going abroad is a certain type of consumption practice, one can develop an idea that it is a practice of searching for „self‟ through it, beyond a mere leisure activity. In Japan today, international tourism is a very popular consumption practice and it involves a process of self-making through activities such as backpacking, working holidays, and study abroad. The related transformation of the mode of international travel from mass tourism to individual travelling can also be explained by the fact that consumer society facilitates individual satisfaction (Bauman, 2001[1998]; Lash & Urry, 1994). Given that travelling abroad is consumed as a practice of self-achievement, it is not surprising that we see an increase in more individual and flexible modes of international travel, rather than mass-based packaged tours.

 

Gender Division of Labour in Japan

Next, I investigate further the impact of this new consumption practice in outbound tourism on Japanese women. As many scholars point out (Edwards, 1988, 1992; Fujimura-Fanselow & Kameda, 1995; Kamio Knapp, 1995; Kondo, 1990; Ochiai, 1996; Suzuki & Stickland, 2007; Yamada, 1994), division of labour is still problematic in Japan. According to Masahiro Yamada (1994), gender division in Japanese society is based on the idea of Japanese men in the public sphere (working outside) and Japanese women in the private sphere (as housewife). A large number of women began to go out for work from the 1970s, however, as Ueno (2009) argues, women‟s entry into the public sphere was divided again by the fact that many of them ended up engaging in part-time work, in contrast to the full time work of men. Indeed, Yamada (1996, p. 210) concludes that the increase in the number of women in work in the period was necessitated by the increase in household expenses as the society developed. Although the gender „re‟-division of labour that happened in the

Japanese employment system has, of course, been modified since the 1970s, the radical gender division in the working environment still remains and the cleavage between men and women in employment became even more marked in the deep

recession of the last decade.

 

In the recent report on the situation of women‟s employment in Japan, the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare (MHLW) of Japan indicates an increase in the number of employed women in contrast to a decline of those of men (MHLW, 2010). Apparently, this trend indicates that a more egalitarian working environment has developed in Japanese society, since the reform of the Equal Employment Opportunities Law in 1986. Also, younger generations of Japanese may have become more liberal with regard to different gender roles compared with the older, rigid divide between the private and public realm. However, one has to consider the impact of the growth of the casual job market since the mid-1990s, which has overtaken secure full-time job opportunities. This MHLW report also stresses that both men and women have difficulty in obtaining a secure job in Japan today (ibid.).

Indeed, it is still not possible to conclude that women‟s working environment has improved in contemporary Japanese society. 

 

Recent studies on Japanese migration (Fujita, 2008; Nagatomo, 2007) recognise that there are Japanese women (especially young women) who go abroad in search of their „own‟ lifestyle. Also, as Chie Sakai (2001) examines, the increasing job unavailability in Japan today encourages many Japanese women to go abroad for better job opportunities. However, as Karen Kelsky (2001) has already pointed out, since the 1980s, a number of women began to go to Western countries because they saw them as sites of an „exhilarating‟ and „liberating‟ foreign realm. I believe that this movement of women must be considered in the context of the wider social transformation that happened in the 1980s, as I explained above. I will discuss the increasing women moving abroad in relation to hyper-consumer society, which leads me to the subsequent necessity of understanding why there is a significant gender imbalance among contemporary Japanese migrants in Australia: the large number of Japanese women who have migrated because of marriage to an Australian (or, in some cases, a non-Japanese) partner.

 

2. 2. Hyper-Consumer Society in Late Capitalism

 

Significance of Consumption in Our Society

In a large number of industrial countries in the 20th century, the rise of consumer society as a consequence of post-industrialisation (Bell, 1973), in association with post-Fordism, has turned out to be an „inevitable consequence of the ever-rising consumption requirements of a developing capitalist economy‟ (Dunn, 2008, p. 5).

In society, a consumption practice carries other implications beyond mere material fulfilment. In this vein, looking at capitalist society through the relationships between production and consumption of commodities can be the most useful theoretical framework for understanding the structure of society. However, as seen in the works of classical sociologists and especially Marxists, one can find that much attention has rather been drawn to the side of production imposed on people in modern capitalist society. For instance, the crux of Capital by Karl Marx (1976) is the alienation of producer from the products of their labour in the capitalist mode of production. Marx analysed the peculiarity of this system of production as the origin of industrialised society. Regarding Marx‟s concerns about consumption in capitalist society, some point out (Bauman, 2001[1998], p. 312; Dunn, 2008, pp. 24-25; Lee, 1993, p. 5; Lunt & Livingstone, 1992, p. 8) that he also paid attention to the role of consumption in capitalist society to some degree, though he seems to focus on the system of production rather than the circulation of consumption following it. Investigating the system of production is, for Marx, a more urgent concern than that of offering a critique of capitalism. 

 

It is however interesting to suggest that Marx refers to the phenomenon of „commodity fetishism,‟ which means the displacement of „the social relations of labor onto material objects, the products of labor.‟ Subsequently, „individuals come to experience the world of commodities as an independent and transcendent reality, detached from their lives as producers‟ (Dunn, 2008, p. 27). At the same time, along with this greater attention to the production system in society, there are those who put an emphasis on the mechanism and impact of consumption in society. For instance, according to Robert G. Dunn (2008, pp. 24-28), attention to the impact of „commodity fetishism‟ on our lives, which was discussed by Marx and later elaborated by Georg Lukacs, made us think of consumption as an important social practice. 

 

Some contemporary sociologists of consumer society and culture (Dunn, 2008, pp. 28-33; Lunt & Livingstone, 1992, p. 8) also draw attention to the work of Georg Simmel as one of the earliest to observe the roles of consumption in society. In the Philosophy of Money (1990), Simmel claimed that spending money is a prime way of communication in society and that it therefore contributes to facilitating further complicated relationships among people in a certain way. Here, it is important to note that these theorists spoke of the role of commodities as an essential factor in reforming new social categories and relations among people after the breakdown of traditional society.  In classical sociology, this transformation has been associated with a transformation from mechanical solidarity to organic solidarity (Durkheim, 1984) or from Gemeinschaft to Gesellschaft (Tönnies, 1963), both of which involve an increase in the division of labour in society (Durkheim, 1984; Marx, 1976) and the deconstruction of pre-modern, traditional moral-cultural values associated with  modernisation. ^[3] As a result, these transformations of society promote the individualisation of society, a tendency that seems to be further accelerated with the arrival of a flexible production system and consumer society in today‟s

post-industrial society.

 

Consumer Society and Its Impact on Social Change

In addition to these theories of the role of production over consumption in early capitalist society, we should refer to more recent and prominent analysis of the impact of consumption practice in the post-industrial society in which we live.  In The Consumer Society (1988), Jean Baudrillard put forward an alternative theory of consumption in our era, which has become increasingly important (Bell, 1973; Lash & Urry, 1994; Touraine, 1971). Additionally, the term “post-Fordism” has been proposed to signify an alternative mode of production in such a society. While the production system in the early industrial stage was based on  mass production, a way of producing the same products for the mass with the most rational technology and method of management, the new mode of production in post-industrial society is characterised by  the diversification of products. Consequently, in the post-industrial society, „disorganised capitalism‟ (Lash & Urry, 1994, p. 2) or „flexible accumulation‟ (of capital) (Harvey, 1989, p. 24) becomes dominant. In this condition, one can see that a shift in the relationship between production and consumption takes place. 

 

It is also important to draw attention to the object of consumption practice itself. Due to a historical process which seems to have been completed in many developed countries by the late 20th century, as Baudrillard (1988) proposed, consumption is driven by „not use value, the relation to needs, but symbolic exchange value, the value of social presentation [sic], of rivalry and, at the limit, of class discrimination‟ (Clarke, 2003, p. 27). Douglas Kellner explains Baudrillard‟s distinction of „sign value‟ of commodities from „use value‟ in the latest mode of consumption in post-industrial society as follows:

 

In Baudrillard‟s theory, the capitalist mode of production thus produces a system of fetishized exchange values, use values and sign values through which commodities are displayed in consumption. Sign values are generated through hierarchical ordering among commodities, in which, for instance, certain types of cars or perfumes attain varying prestige through signifying the rank, social position and status of their owners for consumers. Sign values are thus characterized by differences and hierarchy, and are produced by what Baudrillard calls a „sumptuary‟ operation to expenditure and social prestige. Sign values are thus linked to fashion and to what Veblen, one of Baudrillard‟s acknowledged influences, called „conspicuous consumption‟.  

(Kellner, 1989, pp. 22-23) 

 

The analysis of consumption in Baudrillard‟s sense, therefore, proposes several remarkable aspects of our social activities in everyday life. First of all, within our post-industrial era, the role of and attention to consumption practice has become more critical since it is now an integral part of confirming one‟s socio-cultural identity through commodities. Second, surrounded by a huge array of diverse products, learning how to consume them is necessary for the reason that not only is it required to guarantee our material fulfilment but it is also necessary for achieving self-esteem, relying upon the difference among commodities consumed (Lash & Urry, 1994). Moreover, it also implies that, for anyone living in post-industrial society, seeking the self may be imperative after the dismantlement of Gemeinschaft (Tönnies, 1963), or community (MacIver, 1937) or traditional moral and cultural values which played a role in identifying the self in pre-modern society. In this condition, the consumption of sign values embedded in commodities may be tantamount to constituting a certain socio-cultural identity. Thus this type of consumption practice resembles what Thorstein Veblen (2001, p. 57) termed „conspicuous consumption‟, a practice to indicate the consumer‟s belonging or status in society. 

 

Mike Featherstone emphasises that the arrival of consumer culture has highlighted the „emotional pleasures of consumption, the dreams and desires which become celebrated in consumer cultural imagery and particular sites of consumption which variously generate direct bodily excitement and aesthetic pleasures‟ (Featherstone, 2007[1991], p. 14). The implication of Featherstone‟s argument is that consumer society, does not simply transform our ways of consuming commodities in a more diverse and accelerated manner, but also affects our senses of „desire and pleasure, the emotional and aesthetic satisfactions derived from consumer experiences‟ (ibid.).

Thus, it should be considered to what extent consumption is a social and psychological practice today, not just an economic one. In this wider and more comprehensive analysis of consumer society, some theorists also refer to the significance of consumer culture for our lifestyle. In other words, given that consumer culture has contributed to putting an emphasis on one‟s „aesthetics‟ (Bauman, 2001[1998]; Featherstone, 2007[1991]), the result can be a further seeking of one‟s „own‟ self or lifestyle in the logic of comparative consumption of sign values or differences in commodities. 

 

Thus it is not surprising to see that its tendency becomes more urgent and inclines to individualistic practice where, under certain circumstances, the breakdown of the „primitive framework of the small community and of tradition‟ took place and  was replaced with much „larger, impersonal organisations‟ (Giddens, 1991, p. 33).

Zygmunt Bauman explains this condition through the term „articulation‟ which he explains as follows:

 

Articulation is an activity in which we all, willy-nilly, are continually engaged; no experience would be made into a story without it. At no time, though, does articulation carry stakes as huge as when it comes to the telling of the „whole life‟ story. What is at stake then is the acquittal (or not, as the case may be) of the awesome responsibility placed on one‟s shoulders and on one‟s private shoulders alone by irresistible „individualization‟… For the good and the bad that fill one‟s life a person has only himself or herself to thank or to blame… Much has been made recently of the so-called „reflexivity‟ of contemporary life; indeed, we all － the „individuals by decree‟ that we are, the „life politicians‟ rather than members of a „polity‟  tend to be compulsive story-tellers and find few if any topics for our stories more interesting than ourselves － our emotions, sensations and intimate Erlebnisse. 

(Bauman, 2001, p. 9)

 

Instead of „articulation‟, Anthony Giddens adopts the term „reflexivity‟ to explain these circumstances:

 

The reflexivity of modernity extends into the core of the self. Put in another way, in the context of a post-traditional order, the self becomes a reflexive project. Transitions in individuals‟ lives have always demanded psychic reorganisation, something which was often ritualised in traditional cultures in the shape of rites de passage. But in such cultures, where things stayed more or less the same from generation to generation on the level of the collectivity, the changed identity was clearly staked out… In the settings of modernity, by contrast, the altered self has to be explored and constructed as part of a reflexive process of connecting personal and social change.

(Giddens, 1991, p. 32−33)

 

By the term „articulation‟, Bauman seems to imply the extent to which people make their efforts to tell their „own story‟ in their own words, rather than in pre-existing or conventional frames of reference. In turn, this accelerates the individualisation of society, in that it imposes on people the responsibility to establish their lives and stories through their own efforts, without established „rites of passage‟, as Giddens described (Giddens, 1992). Beck and Beck-Gernsheim (2002, pp. xx-xxii) ironically call this „institutionalized initialization,‟ and explain it as follows:

 

To put it in a nutshell – individualization is becoming the social structure of second modern society itself. Institutionalized individualism is no longer Talcott Parson‟s idea of linear self-reproducing systems; it means the paradox of an „individualizing structure‟ as a non-linear, open-ended, highly ambivalent, ongoing process. It relates to a decline of narratives of given sociability. Thus the theoretical collectivism of sociology ends. 

(Beck and Beck-Gernsheim2002, p. xxii). 

 

In our society („second modern society‟ in Beck and Beck-Gernsheim‟s terminology), one‟s attempt to make the self is an individual engagement and becomes an open-ended and insecure process without „rites of passage‟ (Beck, 1992, pp. 130-132). For this reason, when one attempts to tell his/her own (life)story, their history of consumption practice is important – how the person represents his/her identity and lifestyle through accentuating the differences in sign values of commodities consumed. In that sense, the people of a consumer society can be adequately called „life politicians‟ and their exploration of establishing their own story – or lifestyle – is always an individual effort. Meanwhile, such an individual exploration of seeking the self is always associated with „ontological insecurity and existential anxiety‟ (Giddens, 1991, p. 36), which consequently intensifies one‟s challenge to make a more „concrete‟, original story of their lives.  

 

Searching for ‘Myself’ through Consumption 

The arrival of consumer society produced another by-product that transformed our lifestyles and social values as discussed above. Thus, in contemporary consumption practice, the concept of lifestyle becomes centrally linked to issues of identity. In this nexus of consumption practice and the mission of searching for the self, Robert G.

Dunn suggests that lifestyle-seeking functions as:

 

(1) a vehicle of self-identity by providing a resource for definition of self, and (2) a determinant of social and cultural identity by providing outward indications of where one fits in the social and cultural scheme of things. In the latter respect, lifestyle performs important communicative functions by giving expression to the consumer‟s cultural dispositions and tastes.  

(Dunn, 2008, p. 81)

 

Stuart Hall also explains this consumption practice as follows:

 

Consider the proliferation of modes and styles, the increased product differentiation which characterizes post Fordist production. We can see mirrored there, too, wider processes of cultural diversity and differentiation, related to the multiplication of social worlds and social „logics‟ typical of modern life in the West… These allow the individual some space in which to reassert a measure of choice and control over everyday life and „play‟ with its more expressive dimensions. 

(Hall, 1998 p. 56 in Lunt & Livingstone, 1992, p. 18) 

 

In consumer society, seeking an „appropriate‟ lifestyle in a more „expressive‟ manner is carried out by the consumption of sign values attached to the commodities and leisure experiences surrounding us as a result of the post-Fordist production system. In that sense, the possibility of representing „my life‟ with „my taste‟ through consumption is opened up widely and ceaselessly, insofar as it relies upon differences among commodities as they are endlessly produced. As mentioned, once the mode of production has shifted from mass production of goods to the production of differences, commodities can be technically produced beyond the function of material fulfilment. Additionally, as the exploration of lifestyle is involved in the practice of consumption, it is not surprising to see that objects of consumption extend not only to material things but also to „different experiences‟, such as international travel. 

 

Zygmunt Bauman nevertheless sharply criticises some of the significant and serious impacts on our lives of this consumer society. He observes that this „consumer society‟ is overwhelmed or obsessed by „difference‟ (Bauman, 2001[1998], p. 312), rather than the sharing of common ethics and values, hence the „individualization of society‟ (Bauman, 2001; Beck and Beck-Gernsheim2002) makes inroads. In addition, due to the mundane production of different commodities and insofar as one relies upon such commodities in order to make the self, consumption gives the person immediate satisfaction but it vanishes in an instant and is replaced by a desire to consume another commodity/lifestyle (Bauman, 2001[1998], p. 314). 

 

Under these circumstances, one will never be able to complete the exploration of establishing an „appropriate‟ lifestyle; rather, it is a never-ending mission. Looking at it positively or putting an emphasis on the „reflexivity‟ of the individual, the practice of searching for the self in contemporary society is an outcome of the arrival of late modern society, which resulted in liberating individuals from the bind of traditional social and cultural roles (Giddens, 1991, 1992). Even so, it means that nothing guarantees one‟s exploration of establishing a secure and collective socio-cultural identity. No one is able to rely on the traditional and communal collectivity that existed in the pre-modern or even early modern society. Alternatively, being free from tradition and an establishment of individualisation in late modernity further enables people to „create‟ their own ways of lives (Giddens, 1991, pp. 32-33). 

 

At the same time, a feeling of „ontological insecurity and existential anxiety‟ always co-exists with reflexivity of the self in contemporary society, condemning people to engage in mundane self-seeking in the framework of „institutionalized individualization‟ (Beck & Beck-Gernsheim, 2002, p. xx). Consumption practice, therefore, can be an alternative mode of existentialism in an affluent post-industrial society. Under such circumstances, international travel, as a mode of hyper-consumerism in Japanese consumer society, presents one of the best opportunities to achieve his/her self through experiences of travelling abroad. 

 

 

2. 3. Japan’s Consumer Society Following the Post-Industrial Period

 

New Society, New Consumption

Without question, Japan experienced the arrival of consumer society in the early 1980s. According to several studies, Japanese society completed its industrialisation by the end of the 1970s (Miyadai, et al., 1993; Osawa, 2008; Otsuka, 2004; Ueno, 1992[1987]; Yoshimi, 1996), after rapid economic and industrial growth (Adams, et al., 2008; Ito, 2000; Ito, 1992). The 1980s in Japan was characterised by the expansion of the „bubble economy‟ and Japan experienced an unprecedented period of prolonged economic prosperity. The bubble finally burst in 1991 and precipitated a serious economic recession that continued until the mid-2000s. Japanese society seems to have reformed radically since then in order to overcome the recession, resulting in considerable differences from the 1980s. 

 

My argument is, however, that the maturation of a hyper-consumer society in the 1980s and the advent of a new consumption practice – „semiotic consumption‟

(Mamada, 2005) – did not cease with the end of economic prosperity. Here, it would be worth noting that 1980 was coincidently the year when the Australia-Japan

Working Holiday Agreement was signed, which still produces a large number of Japanese long-term visits (or future „consequent-settlers‟) to Australia (Wilson,

2008). Additionally, major Japan Clubs (Japanese ethnic associations) in Australia were also established, led by those who immigrated to Australia as independent skilled migrants or retirement visa holders in the early 1980s.  Even though Japanese society has been suffering from economic malady since the mid-1990s and experienced a radical socio-economic transformation, the new consumption practice has, in fact, remained.

 

 

Chizuko Ueno (1992[1987]) refers to some unique aspects of the outcomes of consumer society in Japan in the 1980s. For instance, she focuses on the change of the nature of commodity in consumer society (Ueno, 1992[1987], p. 67−68). While it has been considered that the production and variation of commodities was sustained by our desire for owning products, in consumer society commodity itself in turn produces our desire, on the assumption that society has an ability to produce an unlimited variety of commodities. Hence Ueno argues that the essence of the growth of industrialisation is not only that it contributed to the development of the production of commodities surrounding us, but also succeeded in stimulating our endless desire to own more commodities or consume differences between them (ibid.). At the same time, Ueno (ibid.) says, the chain of unlimited production of differences in the products ceaselessly facilitates people‟s desire to consume something different/new. As the desire for commodities grows in the hyper-consumer society, one‟s desire is naturally inclined to find something new and different that he/she has never owned. 

 

With regard to consumption of difference, Ueno notes that the difference must be encoded by certain values shared in society for judging its aesthetic taste. Hence,

Ueno concludes that, in the post-industrial (or consumer) society, people desire both „being the same‟ and „being the different‟ at the same time (Ueno, 1992[1987], p.

79). Differences in consumption practices are then encoded and ranked in order to guarantee the consumer a certain belonging in society, although the process of coding and ranking is ceaselessly refined and taken over by new differences.^[4] At the same time, it is important to remember that such particular codes/rankings signified by commodities are always contested, re-coding/ranking their values by an infinite encounter with new commodities and their differences. In such a process of differing sign values of commodities, one must endlessly engage with seeking the self and establishing an „appropriate‟ lifestyle, as well as re-estimating the values. Eventually, one will often experience a feeling that being in search of the fittest product in diverse commodities is similar to a game of seeking „myself‟. Hence, Ueno writes, „when I am asked “May I help you? What are you looking for?” in a shop, I do not perhaps look for precise goods to buy. I am rather seeking something to express

„myself‟, even though I myself do not understand what it is exactly‟ (Ueno,

1992[1987], p. 123). Therefore, consumption practice is tightly linked with identifying the self, overriding mere material supply.

 

The bubble economy was still growing when Ueno examined the advent of new consumer practices among people in the maturation of hyper-consumer society. Since the burst of the bubble in 1991, Japan has been suffering from a long-term economic recession and a feeling of social insecurity and uncertainty still dominant among the Japanese today. However, I argue that, even after the bubble economy burst, this cultural practice remained an important way of identifying the self in Japanese society. For example, a private Japanese research institute released an interesting report on consumption among the younger generation (Japan Consumer

Marketing Research Institute, 2010), According to the report, so-called „generation Y‟ (born after 1976) is characterised by its unique consumption preference, tending to consume commodities which represent their „individuality‟ or „personality‟, more than earlier generations. Even in this post-bubble period, identifying self through consumption is particularly significant for younger Japanese. It may be becoming more important for them because they feel that relying upon tangible social models or to act with certain values in contemporary society is getting harder to reach (e.g.

Osawa, 2008).

 

                                                                                                                                          

than playing a decisive role to reproduce class structure in Japanese society (as Bourdieu found in France). In a study of people‟s taste in consumption, Bennett et al. (1999) conclude that they could not find a clear link between preference of consumption taste and class structure.

2. 4. Japanese International Travel: Shifting to Consumption-Oriented Practice

 

International Travel in Japan

To begin a discussion of Japanese overseas/international travellers, one must acknowledge an interesting trend: the number of women who left Japan for various purposes has increased to a greater extent than the number of men. The proportion of males overseas is still larger than females,^[5] and the distribution of Japanese females overseas is limited (mostly to Western countries) in comparison with male overseas. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of Japan, for example, reports that there are high gender imbalances in the number of Japanese nationals overseas (including long-term temporary residents) in the Asian and African regions (MOFA, 2008).^[6] This can be explained by the different purposes men and women have for staying overseas. Nevertheless, the growth in the number of Japanese women overseas seems to be significant only in some regions of the world. One of these is Australia.^[7] This different geographical distribution among Japanese nationals overseas suggests that these female Japanese overseas tend to stay abroad for specific purposes, which are different from those of Japanese business expatriates – a predominantly male category. MOFA (ibid.) also reports that Japanese males overseas in the Asian and African regions are predominantly Japanese business expatriates, who are assigned to a foreign branch of their Japanese company. 

 

Generally speaking, when considering contemporary Japanese overseas, the large proportion of Japanese business expatriates (called chuzaiin in Japanese) has been the dominant target in the study of Japanese nationals abroad since the late 20th century. Much has been written about Japanese business expatriates. This is not only because they are the largest group of contemporary Japanese nationals residing abroad, but also, I imagine, because they offer examples of the representation of

Japanese cultural and social practices in a foreign environment. Some scholars have focussed on them as a means of studying Japanese business culture and techniques of business management in general (Bealish & Inkpen, 1998; Rao & Hashimoto, 1996). Japanese expatriate business men have also been studied as excellent models of business and management systems uniquely developed in Japanese firms. Others have focussed on them as a site for examining linguistic characteristics in communication between colleagues and associates in Japanese (Mendenhall & Oddou, 1985). Still others have carried out anthropological studies on the family relations of these Japanese expatriates, as their wives and children tend to accompany them (Kurotani, 2005; Martin, 2007). 

 

Interestingly, these researchers particularly draw attention to the way in which their associated wives play a significant role in supporting both mental and domestic demands of these male business expatriates. In this aspect, the gender role of the wives of these business expatriates and its transformation or negotiation in a different culture is also a prime topic for investigation of Japanese business expatriates and their family associations in the new country. Other scholars draw attention to the lives of contemporary Japanese permanent migrants, rather than temporary overseas residents (Adachi, 2006b; Fujita, 2008; Hamano, 2005; Mizukami, 2006b; Nagatomo, 2007; Sato, 2001; Shiobara, 2004, 2005).

 

Clearly, there is a variety of approaches to examining contemporary Japanese overseas. In this regard, writing about contemporary Japanese in Melbourne, Tetsuo Mizukami (2006b) draws attention to the concept of „sojourner‟ in the field of migration studies. Sojourners are people who are living in a country, who are neither just tourists nor visitors but who do not intend to settle permanently. Mizukami also points out, however, that a number of such Japanese sojourners interestingly ended up as permanent settlers after their overseas assignments terminated (2006b, p. 27). By calling these sojourner/migrants „consequent-settlers,‟ Mizukami articulated the ambivalence towards international migration among the Japanese, giving a remarkable insight into the characteristics of contemporary Japanese migrants.^[8]  Moving Overseas as Production-Oriented Practice

Traditionally, international migration is motivated by the prospect of accumulating more capital or assets than in the country of origin. Early Japanese international migrants – from contract labourers to business entrepreneurs – were no exception. The largest proportion of the flow of immigration has been the migration of individuals, and this seemingly has been linked with a requirement of cheaper labour in the host country. This movement of people is connected with the political economy between the two countries. In general, these labour migrants are recruited in the developing country and sent to the developed country in order to cover the lack of cheaper labour, and it goes without saying that many of them have frequently been exploited and placed in hard living conditions in the host society. 

 

Although Japanese traders, missionaries and others travelled to Southeast Asia, even to Europe and elsewhere in the 16^th century (Nagazumi, 2001), international migration did not officially take place for a long time in Japan, until the 1860s, when the Tokugawa Feudal Government was taken over by the new Meiji Government under a modern constitutional monarchy.^[9] In 1868, the first year of the Meiji Period, approximately 150 Japanese were recruited and sent to sugar plantations in Hawai‟i and forty to Guam. It was, however, an unauthorised shipment of Japanese labour by American trader Eugene Van Reed and the Meiji Government that represented a great concern about slave-like treatment in the plantation, for Japan must have protected its people as a new modern nation state (Azuma, 2002; Daniels, 2006; Japanese American National Museum, 2007; Takaki, 1993). Namely, Meiji Japan, as a modern nation-state, demonstrated its responsibility for protecting its people overseas from exploitation. Since then, Japanese migration has often been planned and managed by the Government. For the Meiji Government, it was imperative to „avoid a situation in which Japan‟s “Imperial subjects” were treated like Chinese

“coolies” and African “slaves.”‟ (Azuma, 2002, p. 33). 

 

Defining these migrants as „subjects‟ of the State suggests how ambitious Japan was to constitute the structure of a modern nation-state during that period. For instance, in order to protect future Japanese migrants from abuse and cruel exploitation, the Meiji Government enacted the Emigrant Protection Ordinance (Imin Hogo Kisoku) endorsed by the Immigration Convention with Hawai‟i in 1894, and the Emigration

Protection Act, implemented after two years for the regulation of migration companies (ibid.). The control of migration was also necessary for controlling domestic population pressure since the nation‟s still developing industry and small market were unable to absorb the whole of the population (Endo, 2009; Stanlaw, 2006, p. 37). It was therefore a natural outcome that a large number of Japanese nationals departed Japan for better opportunities to make a living. 

 

As a developing country that was in a process of industrialisation, Japan in that period was furthermore unable to establish a domestic market and industry large enough to include the whole of the population, which rapidly increased in a few decades. As a result, the Government often sponsored emigration programs for those who were unable to be included in the domestic industry, and several emigration companies also organised the recruitment of emigrants at that time.^[10] Of course, those who migrated to ex-Japanese colonies and Manchuria were part of this group, although as many scholars demonstrate (Dudden, 2005; Morris-Suzuki, 1998; Myers, et al., 1984; Young, 1998), migrants to the Asian mainland were also strategically implicated in Japan‟s colonial expansion.

 

Here, it is important to note that these labour migrants in the late 19th and early 20th century involved certain numbers of females.^[11] They were also, according to Castles and Miller (2003), vulnerable to illegal human trafficking. In fact, in the case of early Japanese female migrants to Australia in the late 19th century, a number of them were recruited to brothels in the Japanese community in northern Australia (Sissons, 1976, 1977). Some studies reveal, furthermore, that there were Japanese females who migrated to western countries as domestic workers (Kamoto, 2001). Since then, the Japanese have immigrated to a variety of settlements in North and South America, Oceania and Polynesia, and Southeast Asian countries. In these settlements, some of these early Japanese migrants succeeded in opening several businesses in the new country or in commencing trade between the two countries (Adachi, 2006a; Azuma, 2002).¹² 

 

For the same reason, migration to Japanese colonies, such as Korea, Taiwan and Manchuria, was also later encouraged. Furthermore, Government-sponsored migration took place even after WWII because the devastated Japanese industry could not include the domestic population as well as returnees from ex-colonies (Daniels, 2006, p. 47). It is therefore fair to say that Japanese labour migration in the early modern period was characterised by two major trends: first, in most cases, the migration itself was organised and sponsored by the Japanese Government; second, as labour migrants, they were expected to contribute to production in the local industry. Consequently, different degrees of the development of domestic industry and the economic market between early modern Japan and receiving countries were the largest reasons for facilitating their migration between the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

 

Linking with the Interest of the State

Of course, even in the early period of modern Japan, these economic or labour migrants were by no means the only Japanese who left Japan for another country. In terms of going abroad, the large number of young elite, scholars, technocrats and bureaucrats who were sent to the Western powers should not be dismissed, as they were intended to become knowledge producers and future technocrats and

                                                                                                                                          

segment compared to their male counterparts (Castles and Miller 2003 188, see also Papastergiadis 2000).

¹² In a case of Japanese migration to Australia, see Chapter 3.

bureaucrats for the nation (Conroy, et al., 1984; Sims, 2001).^[12] Some Japanese were sponsored by the Japanese Government, while others left Japan without such sponsorships nor links with the state. However, it is fair to say that all of these early Japanese overseas travellers were obliged to bring Western knowledge, political and economic systems and technologies back with them to constitute a modern nation-state in their home country. After the foundation of Meiji Japan (1868-1912), through the abolition of the feudal system and the building of a modern constitutional monarchy (Gluck, 1985; Sims, 2001; White, et al., 1990), it was imperative for Japan to learn and introduce every aspect of the Western powers, not only legal, political, industrial and economic systems and technologies, but also Western values, morals and awareness as modern subjects, to early modern Japan. In this sense, the Japanese overseas travellers here might be slightly different from Japanese migrants who left Japan for another country as unskilled labour, for the reason that their mission was to bring the latest knowledge and technologies back with them to Japan in order to contribute to domestic knowledge production.

 

Nevertheless, while each group had different social backgrounds and motivations for going overseas, it is fair to say that every type of Japanese who travelled overseas in the early period were mostly linked with the interest of the state. On the one hand, the former group (labour migrants) was encouraged to emigrate and often sponsored and managed by the government to ameliorate the problem of an excess domestic population against an under-developed domestic industry and market in the process of modernisation. On the other hand, the latter group departed Japan under the sponsorship of the government or with a clear mission to bring knowledge and technologies back to Japan from the Western powers, which was highly necessary for building a modern Japan. Therefore, it is arguable to say that, in both groups, the interest of constituting a modern nation state greatly affected their practice of moving overseas.^[13] Regardless of their category and purposes of international travel, these immigrants were much involved in the interest of the project of building the modern nation state in Japan. Under these circumstances, those who departed Japan (permanently) were unskilled migrants or labour. This was particularly the case for those who migrated to North America in the early period. They were marginalised from the process of building the state, and, in contrast to these people, privileged Japanese on a mission to bring more developed knowledge, technologies and institutions to their state as mentioned above.. In that sense, one finds a different meaning and purpose in international travel from that of the majority of contemporary Japanese.

 

2. 5. Going Overseas as Consumer-Oriented Practice

 

Leaving the Country for a New Purpose

When considering post-war Japanese international travel, it is arguable to say that these post-war Japanese travellers (and migrants) were seldom related to the interest of the state. Except some particular groups to South America (Endo, 2009) and government officials, the early group of the post-war Japanese international travellers were business expatriates (and their families) and war brides who accompanied their husbands who had been stationed in Japan as part of the Allied Occupation Forces. However, since 1964 when the embargo on international tourism was finally lifted for ordinary Japanese, these tourists became the largest group of Japanese international travel (Sudo & Endo, 2005, p. 123). Sustained by the economic miracle in the mid-20^th century, international travel rapidly grew to the most attractive leisure experience for the people (Sudo & Endo, 2005, p. 135). At this stage, in addition to (permanent) migration and business, leisure finally became the major purpose of international travel in Japan (Guichard-Anguis & Moon, 2009).

 

These new Japanese international tourists were neither entrusted with a mission on behalf of their country, nor fleeing Japan because of poverty and social insecurity. Going overseas was simply motivated by more casual and personal demands and it should be recognised as a sort of consumption practice and as an exploration of a new lifestyle in the new settlement. However, the advent of this new international „tourism‟ is, I argue, essential to explain the reason why contemporary Japanese international migration since the 1980s is a totally new phenomenon, compared to the earlier period of international travel. As the socio-economic growth of post-war

Japanese society enabled the people to consume international tourism, contemporary Japanese migration should also be characterised in reference to Japan‟s social change in the last few decades.

 

While the early Japanese migrants went to another country with the aim of several patterns of production – accumulating capital, knowledge and technologies in the new country – the majority of contemporary Japanese going overseas are great consumers, whose aim of going abroad is to see, hear, taste, and experience a different culture and society and its exoticism. Moreover, although going abroad for leisure has long been organised and carried out through mass tourism, it is important to note that the contemporary manner of travelling/going overseas is often conducted individually. Instead of well-organised and prepared mass tours, recent Japanese tourism has been no exception to the general trend, becoming more flexible and small-group based or even individual travelling, such as back-packing travel (Sudo, 2008). In that sense, the practice of the „tourist gaze‟ of contemporary Japanese tourists seems to have been more dynamic in terms of seeking and consuming „sign values‟ in the destination (Urry, 1995). Given that the consumption of sign values is implicit in the differentiation of commodities, emphasising its semiotic „difference‟ rather than utility, we can understand the rise of a variety of tourist practices, such as backpacking and free-style travel, as a way of seeking the self through consuming different or unordinary experiences. 

 

Here, travelling becomes a significant component of constituting one‟s identity. The record of experiences of difference in association with a sense of pleasure (or hardship as well) becomes an integral part of the identification of the self. Given that one is able to identify the self with experiences that are „different‟ from others, it is not surprising to see that international travel as consumption practice has become one of the most popular ways to seek the self in consumer society. Also, this consumption practice in travel not only provides travellers with particular chances for self-seeking, but also gives them an opportunity to seek their place to be, in both geographical and socio-cultural senses. By choosing the place to live by oneself, travelling or staying overseas, a permanent practice of making one‟s lifestyle in an experience of migration is undertaken. 

 

In this light, one can make sense of the increase in the number of „lifestyle migrants‟ or „consequent settlers‟ among contemporary Japanese. For this to happen, it was of course necessary for Japan to have experienced the economic affluence and capital accumulation that made the rise of international tourism as leisure possible from the 1960s. At the same time, however, the economic growth or the development of industrialisation shifted Japanese society to post-industrialisation, and the production system subsequently turned into the post-Fordism that eventually raised consumer society in the 1980s. In Japanese consumer society, consumption practice was given more diverse and significant meanings in peoples‟ lives, far from mere material fulfilment. The effect is that now one moulds one‟s identity in search of a new lifestyle through consumption, instead of simply referring to the conventional traditional values in the past. International travel is one such consumption practice, through which Japanese could establish one‟s lifestyle through the semiotic consumption of differences (Mamada, 2005; Meethan, et al., 2006): tasting different cultures, learning other languages (mostly English) or acquiring new cultural capital that enables the person to live in a different culture and society. 

 

2. 6. Conclusion

 

In this chapter, I have discussed how much the change of Japanese society since the 1980s has affected the mode of international travel for contemporary Japanese, which finally led to the rise of „lifestyle migration‟ among the Japanese. The growth of advanced communication technologies and the rise of a new market for overseas travellers contributed to the production of a new mode of international travel as a way of seeking the self. Previous studies of contemporary Japanese overseas have failed to see the most radical change of the perception of international travel/migration that took place in Japanese society in the late 20th century. The rise of consumer society in the 1980s helped to change the meaning and purpose of international travel radically.^[14] This social change, which has taken place in Japan in the last few decades, and the associated transformation of the style of international travelling, is summarised in Figure 1. 

 

Finally, I have attempted to explore the reasons why, in a consumer society, one can find the Japanese began to shift toward becoming migrants, in order to find their own place somewhere else than Japan. Generally, since its popularization in the mid-1960s, international travel has consequently become one of the most popular consumption practices for pleasure in Japan. However, as Erik Cohen (1979) points out, international travel today serves an existential purpose for some Japanese, who desire to search out a new lifestyle and identity through travel. What is interesting to me is that some of these travellers end up staying permanently: they turn from traveller, into migrant. 

 

We may therefore assume that, for contemporary Japanese as „lifestyle migrants‟ or „sojourners‟, migration to another country or different society is a modus vivendi to where they write their „travelling biography‟ permanently (e.g. JCA Kinenshi Henshu Iinkai, 1998; Sato, 2001). In that sense, one can explain the reason that the difference between travel and migration has blurred for some Japanese overseas. Removing oneself from an ordinary life in Japan, the person is able to construct a self through the experience of differences (different culture, society and customs). A recent increase in the number of Japanese female overseas may particularly suggest that these women go to or stay overseas as a way of seeking a new lifestyle, or a way of reconstituting the self, rather than to serve a mere leisure purpose. Hence analysing the extent to which the structure of modern Japanese society has excluded women is also significant for understanding the escape of Japanese women by going overseas (Kelsky, 2001). 

 

Figure 1. Japan's Social Change and the Maturation of Hyper-Consumer Society

 

 

Bearing this nexus between social change in Japan and the rise of a new mode of international migration in mind, I will move to debates on a sort of „woman question‟ in the pattern of Japanese migration. Pointing out structural problems with the position of women in modern Japanese society is, I believe, as significant as the social change of Japanese society in the late 20th century, in order to explain the „gendered‟ differentiations among contemporary Japanese travellers and migrants. In so doing, I focus on contemporary Japanese female migrants in Australia in the following chapters.

 

CHAPTER 3. JAPANESE MIGRANTS IN AUSTRALIA, 1880s-2000s

 

3.1. Introduction

 

The aim of this chapter is to identify both the historical and social background of Japanese migrants to Australia. In doing so, the first part of this chapter refers to a brief history of Japanese migration to Australia, whose record goes back to the late 1880s. By reviewing literature on the history of Japanese migration and referring to other material, such as census data and publications by Japanese organisations in Australia, I will illustrate the history of Japanese migration, emphasising that different Japanese migrants moved to Australia for various reasons that varied over time. Of course, it is important to draw attention to the fact that the socio-demographic characteristics of Japanese migrants have been largely influenced by the change in diplomatic relationships between the two countries, as well as the development of Australia‟s immigration policy. It is also important to consider the ways in which global geo-political regimes (e.g. Western colonialism, Japan‟s militarism and Cold War) impacted on political and economic relationships in the Asia-Pacific region. 

 

The story of the first arrival of Japanese (or Japan-born) migrants to Australia goes back to the colonial period in the late 1800s. Since then, the number of Japanese-born people can be found in the colonial census, as listed later. The first stage of Japanese-Australian life came to a complete stop with the outbreak of WWII, when Australia and Japan were at war, and ended with the repatriation of domestic Japanese-Australians to Japan at the war‟s end. The second wave of Japanese migration commenced as early as the mid-1950s. A unique group of Japanese women contributed to opening up a new history of Japanese immigration to Australia in the 20th century, the so-called „„war brides‟ who arrived in Australia for the first time after WWII. I will discuss the significance of these Japanese marriage migrants to Australia in the early stage later, since Australia had not officially opened for migrants from Asia at that time and the majority of Australians still held negative sentiments toward the Japanese as enemies of war. More interestingly, the manners in which these Japanese female migrants attempted to represent themselves in Australia as „good and modest Japanese wives‟ is still shared as a prime narrative among contemporary Japanese female migrants in Australia. This early history of Japanese migrants was significant in that they entered into Australia under the White Australia Policy, which imposed strong restrictions on the intake of non-European migrants to Australia after Federation in 1901.

 

The next story of the history of Japanese began in the 1960s, when Australia itself attempted to change its immigration policy and to turn into a country of multiculturalism in the 1970s, finally opening the continent to migrants from throughout the world. Meanwhile, both Australia and Japan have recognised each other as the most important geo-political and economic partner in the Asia-Pacific region. As a consequence, a large number of employees assigned to Japanese companies and their families were sent to Australia, sustained by the massive growth of the Japanese economy in the late 1980s. At the same time, such a growth of affluence has not only caused the Japanese to acknowledge Australia as the largest economic partner in the region, but also to regard it as an attractive site of leisure and a place for making an alternative lifestyle. Japanese tourists have been visiting Australia for various reasons and purposes, including learning English, studying at tertiary educational institutions, or joining the Working Holiday programme as well as sightseeing. Some of them became migrants, initially coming as travellers and then deciding to stay in Australia permanently. Hence the patterns and motivations of immigration to Australia are quite varied.

 

After a discussion of the historical aspects of Japanese immigration to Australia, I will outline the socio-demographic characteristics of contemporary Japanese settlers/migrants in Australia. In 2008, Japan‟s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) reported that the number of Japanese nationals overseas in the Oceania region (mostly Australia and New Zealand) has grown to be the third largest group in the world (MOFA,  2008). This point contrasts interestingly with another fact in the same report: the Japanese population is declining in some regions, such as South America, where traditionally the largest population of Japanese nationals had been. It can thus be said that Australia is becoming a popular destination for contemporary Japanese immigrants. Taking these facts into account, I begin the second section of this chapter with a comparative analysis of Japanese tourists and migrants. I then describe the latest socio-demographic trends of the Japanese in Australia, on the basis of the 2006 census. These investigations reveal several considerable and distinct social profiles of the Japanese in contemporary Australia. I also refer to a database of permanent arrivals, provided by Australia‟s Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC). By looking at the Japanese from their permanent visa categories, I draw out more detailed trends in the socio-demographic profiles of contemporary Japanese migrants. This analysis will also contribute to understanding their reasons and motivations for leaving Japan. Finally, this chapter aims to raise the questions to be analysed in the following chapters.

 

3.2. History of Japanese Migration to Australia

 

Japanese in Colonial Australia: Late 1880s

After more than two hundred and fifty years of seclusion policy imposed in 1635 by the Tokugawa feudal government, finally opened the territory to foreign countries by ratifying the Treaty of Amity and Commerce with the US and four European countries (Gordon, 2009, p. 47). The new Meiji government, established in 1868, abandoned the seclusion policy after fifteen years of contact with Westerners and gradually opened the territory for the arrival of those from overseas. For the Meiji government, constituting a modern nation state in Japan was imperative and would introduce improvements from Western legal, economic and political systems, bureaucracy, technology and much more. The Meiji government also recruited a number of foreign engineers and other specialists to develop the nation. While this inbound mobility of people and resources from overseas in order to constitute a modern Japan was taking place, there was an outbound flow of Japanese who left for several reasons. While they went in search of knowledge, mostly it was the search for an opportunity to accumulate capital and a secure life. In this sense, the birth of Japan as a modern nation state was also the origin of human dispersal from modern Japan throughout the world. After signing of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce with several Western countries, a number of foreign merchants, correspondents and civil servants settled in Japan and many of them wished to return to their home country with their Japanese partner or family, including those who were recruited as domestic workers. Itsuko Kamoto (2001) studied how the Meiji government established legal systems to deal with the outflow of „nationals‟, who left Japan accompanying a foreign partner or employer. Also, there were Japanese who voluntarily emigrated overseas as independent contractors or seasonal labourers in the horticultural or marine industries. By 1868, when the Meiji government was just established, Japanese migrant labourers had already left Japan for the Kingdom of Hawai‟i and a large number of emigrant labourers followed and immigrated to North and South America, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, continental Asia, Sakhalin and Micronesia (Befu 2000). It is also important to add that these Japanese were consequently the first people who were endorsed as Japanese „nationals,‟ through the process of issuing passports them.

 

In this stream of human dispersal from early modern Japan, some Japanese headed to Australia. Table 1 shows the number of Japanese recorded in the Australian census since the late 1800s. The Japanese first appeared in the Queensland census of 1881, although it is not possible to determine the purpose of their immigration or place of settlement in Australia from this data. According to David C.S. Sissons (2001), 24 out of 12,472 passports issued by the Japanese government between 1868 and 1882 were for travel to Australia, including 9 for government officials. It is also recorded that the first Japanese settler was named „Dicinoski‟;^[15] he arrived in Australia in

1873 as an acrobat with the Royal Tycoon Troupe. He travelled around Queensland between the 1880 and 1890s, running a travelling circus (ibid.). In the 1880s, a large number of Japanese immigrated to Australia as contract labourers, the process mediated by emigration companies, and within the decade, 5,820 Japanese passports were issued for Australia (ibid.). The increase in the number of Japanese migrant labourers in Australia compensated for the fact that the recruitment of „Kanaka‟  

Table 1. Historical Population of the Japanese in the Australian Census, 1881-2006

New South Wales   Victoria   Queensland   South Australia   Western Australia   Males Females Persons   Males Females Persons   Males Females Persons   Males Females Persons   Males Females Persons 1881   17 14 39 94 79 188 472 649 964 1,534 1,978 2,722 4,803 6,093 6,444 7,321       9 10 20 51 36 150 317 408 588 760 992 1,397 1,976 2,377 2,960 3,856     9 3 1 6 144 65 43 26 14 70 121 150 201 274 312 547 2,189 3,305 4,156 5,682 12     8 5 6 9 6 33 59 77 84 125 151 182 361 494 589 830       62 209 115 84 39 6 36 50 71 129 223 261 330 859 1143 1449 2063   1886             73 74             1891             43 49         198 260 1901 161 178   67 76   2,113 2,257   104 112   658 867 1911 125 139   47 57   1,387 1,452   17 22   1599 1714 1921 302 341   52 72   1,036 1,079   4 10   1135 1219 1933 439 533   222 273   755 781   49 58   495 534 1947 62 141   60 96   41 55   4 10   15 21 1954 175 363   88 238   51 121   71 104   60 96 1961 432 904   287 604   89 210   120 179   184 234 1966 707 1,356   370 778   227 377   79 156   204 275 1971 690 1,654   383 971   92 293   35 119   162 291 1976 1,091 2,625   513 1,273   122 396   36 161   205 428 1981 1,593 3,571   690 1,682   168 480   89 240   212 473 1986 2,179 4,901   1,078 2,475   361 908   117 299   358 688 1991 3,683 8,486   1,431 3,407   1,715 3,904   247 608   614 1473 1996 4,066 10,159   1,595 3,972   2,159 5,464   284 778   689 1832 2001 3,764 10,208   1,722 4,682   2,415 6,571   302 891   835 2284 2006 3,833 11,154   1,924 5,780   2,912 8,594   406 1,236   965 3028                                           Tasmania   Northern Territory   Federal Capital Territory (since 1947)   Total Commonwealth/Australia           Males Females Persons   Males Females Persons   Males Females Persons   Males Females Persons         1881   1       38               426           1886                               1891                               1901 0 1   64 102         3,167 3,593         1911 1 0 1   84 5 89   0 0 0   3,260 214 3,474         1921 3 2 5   32 2 34   1 0 1   2,565 196 2,761         1933 0 0 0   73 4 77   0 0 0   2,033 223 2,256         1947 4 3 7   0 0 0   0 0 0   186 144 330         1954 6 16 22   3 4 7   4 11 15   458 508 966         1961 7 20 27   88 7 95   23 30 53   1,230 1,076 2,306         1966 3 18 21   56 14 70   40 51 91   1,686 1,438 3,124         1971 8 19 27   19 30 49   62 80 142   1,861 2,145 4,006         1976 12 30 42   17 28 45   68 114 182   2,248 3,107 5,355         1981 25 40 65   21 30 51   78 128 206   2,918 3,900 6,818         1986 29 47 76   28 37 65   130 180 310   4,280 5,442 9,722         1991 57 90 147   37 46 83   135 242 377   7,919 10,566 18,485         1996 58 127 185   46 84 130   185 308 493   9,083 13,932 23,015         2001 80 150 230   35 97 132   170 321 491   9,326 16,146 25,472         2006 92 202 294   37 102 139   195 357 552   10,365 20,412 30,777

       (Source: ABS,  2008a)

people (people from Micronesia) and the Chinese was officially banned in Australia in the mid-1880s (Yarwood, 1964, pp. 84-86). As a result, the sugar cane industry in Queensland suffered from a shortage of labour and this was compensated with a large number of Japanese seasonal labourers, who had already achieved a reputation as reliable workers in Hawai‟i. Most of them were consequently engaged in the sugar cane industries around Townsville (Murakami, 1998). Other major groups of Japanese migrants engaged in the pearl industries around northern Australia (Sissons, 2001). In particular, Thursday Island (Queensland) and Broome (Western Australia) became the largest settlements of Japanese pearl divers. 

 

The influx of Japanese labourers to Australia during this period was also stimulated by the agreement of the Anglo-Japanese Commercial Treaty of 1894 (Yarwood, 1964, p. 6). These Japanese migrants might have been escaping rural poverty in

Japan as „economic refugees‟ (Mizukami, 2006b, p. 47). Tetsuo Mizukami (2006b, p.

48) thus argues that there is a sharp contrast between these earlier Japanese migrants and contemporary Japanese migrants to Australia, with respect to their financial status and professional motivation for immigration. This contrast will be analysed in the following section. Importantly, although these Japanese seasonal labourers in the sugar cane industry and pearl divers were predominantly male, a certain proportion of women migrants can be found in the record. David Sissons (1976, 1977) has revealed that many of the Japanese women were a group of „Karayuki-san‟, women who left Japan to work in brothels in Japanese settlements across Asia. For instance, according to a survey by the Queensland Government in 1897, 115 out of 200 Japanese females in the state engaged in prostitution. Later, in 1901, the Consulate-General of Japan in Sydney also acknowledged that 84 out of 166 Japanese females in Western Australia engaged in the work (Sissons, 1998). With the increased dispersal of (male) Japanese labourers across the world in the late 1980s, an establishment of Japanese brothels in their settlement followed. There was a clear division of labour between Japanese males and females in the early stage of Japanese migration. 

 

By the end of the 1880s Japanese migration, especially in Queensland, was faced with several pieces of legislation that aimed to restrict the number of Japanese and to restrict Japanese companies from owning industries in Queensland (Murakami, 1998, 2001; Yarwood, 1964). In the meantime, some Japanese business entrepreneurs and merchants met the challenge by launching a trading business between Australia and Japan in large cities such as Melbourne and Sydney. Other Japanese were engaged in the service industries or as domestic servants or housekeepers during that period (Oliver, 2001). A record shows that the first wool was exported by Japanese traders in 1890 (Tamura, 2001, p. 19). Such a growth in the Japanese population aroused an anxiety in the colonial government, who sought to restrict Japanese immigration, whlist not interfering with the Anglo-Japanese Commercial Treaty of 1894 (Markus 1994, 113) that allowed an intake of certain numbers of Japanese migrant workers.

Eventually, in order to deal with the rapid growth of the population of Asian migrants, including the Japanese, and to protect Australia‟s racial identity, the

Immigration Restriction Act was passed in 1901 by the new Australian Federal Parliament, popularly known as the White Australian Policy (Brawley, 2003; London, 1970; Walker, et al., 2003; Willard, 1967).

 

Japanese Settlements in Australia until the Outbreak of WWII

Even after these restrictions on Asian migration were in force, a certain number of Japanese settled in Australia, although the number declined as shown in Table 1. In the pearl industry in northern Australia, the Japanese were the major group of migrant workers. On Thursday Island, the Japanese population increased to some 1,000, from less than 200, in the decade of the 1890s. The Japanese became the largest contingent of migrant workers in 1908, although the Federal Government had already introduced a restriction in 1902 that the number of “coloured” pearlers was limited to 4,000 in Australia. These workers were required to post substantial bonds.

The population of Japanese migrants in Broome also reached a peak in 1913 (Sissons, 2001). At this time, the sugar cane industry likewise involved another large Japanese migrant population, as seasonal labourers in northern Queensland (ibid.). In addition to these industries, a certain number of Japanese business entrepreneurs, students and tourists entered with a passport for one year or longer. In order to extend their stay, these visitors were required to pass the dictation test (Oliver, 2001, p. 523), or

„education test‟ (Yarwood, 1964, p. 84) legislated for non-English speaking residents.

Despite such a „non‟-discriminatory policy against them, and the Passport

Arrangement of 1904 which gave the Japanese no right of arrival for permanent residence (Yarwood, 1964, p. 98), the development of the pearl industry around Thursday Island by Japanese migrants, and diplomatic and economic relations between the two countries, resulted in the intake of a certain number of Japanese migrants.

 

After Japan defeated Russia in 1905, Australia-Japan relations faced a major turning point. Australia began to see Japan as a potential threat, as it developed its militarism and hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region (Yarwood, 1964, pp. 106-112). In domestic society, negative sentiments against local Japanese grew in Sydney as a consequence of the success of Japanese trading companies established before and after the end of WWI (JCA Kinenshi Henshu Iinkai, 1998). Until the outbreak of WWII, trade between the two countries was mostly brokered by Japanese firms (Yarwood, 1964, pp. 106-112). Nevertheless, the population of Japanese migrants was highly controlled and regulated by legislation on immigration to Australia under the White Australia Policy (Brawley, 2003; Jones, 2003; London, 1970; Willard, 1967).

 

Apart from the Japanese trading firms that were largely Australian owned, all Japanese trading firms were repatriated by 1941. After the outbreak of WWII, Japan occupied Australia‟s neighbouring countries (or Western colonies) in Southeast Asia, and Japan carried out a number of air raids on the Australian mainland between 1942 and 1943 (Australian War Memorial, 2008). Other Japanese migrants and

Japanese-Australians, regardless of their length of residence or country of birth, were arrested and interned in three camps across Australia. According to Yuriko Nagata (1996), while the rate of arrest among the Italian and German migrants was around 30 per cent of the total population in Australia (and women were excluded), about 90 per cent of Japanese were arrested. Eventually, the total number of Japanese internees in Australia during the war was some 4,300, including the second and third generations of Japanese migrants and overseas internees who were arrested in the Pacific islands and Dutch Indonesia. 

 

As the nearest enemy of the war in the Asia-Pacific region, the domestic Japanese were recognised as the most dangerous group, the „yellow peril‟ (ibid.). As well as this, the war propaganda against Japan as an enemy imposed very negative and racial sentiments on the Australians, which remained even after the war (Markus, 1994). While Japanese consular staff and merchants were released and repatriated in the early stages, most Japanese internees were unable to leave the camps until the end of the war, in 1945. this experience of long-term internment was merciless for the interned Japanese. Finally, most overseas internees, such as in Indonesia, were deported to Japan and the Japanese in Australia followed, except for the second and third generation born in Australia and their parents (Nagata, 1996). Even those who were allowed to stay in Australia had already had all properties confiscated and therefore had to struggle with poverty as a consequence. Thus by 1949, only 50 Japanese were registered in Australia (Oliver, 2001, p. 523), and these Japanese-Australians must have faced severe discrimination and strong racist sentiment.

 

War Brides in the 1950s

Even though some Japanese-Australians remained in Australia, their number was quite small and they were dispersed. Of course, it was impossible for them to establish any ethnic Japanese association or organisation under the circumstances. Most Australians still nurtured harsh and negative sentiments against the Japanese. This was especially the case as it was acknowledged that the Japanese army had treated Australian prisoners of war cruelly and considerable numbers of them had consequently lost their lives; thus hostilities against the Japanese grew stronger. Australia and Japan naturally had no official diplomatic relationship. In February 1946, however, a certain number of Australians arrived in Japan. They were Australian service men of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force  (BCOF) in

Japan (Hopkins, 1954, p. 93; Tamura, 2001, p. 2). As a member of the Allied Powers,

Australian troops associated with the General Headquarters (GHQ) (of the Allied Powers), which took responsibility for the demilitarisation and democratisation of Occupied Japan between 1945 and 1952. The British Commonwealth Occupation

Force (BCOF) mainly engaged in Southern Honshu (the main island), and the

Australians were largely stationed at the Hiroshima Prefecture (Hopkins, 1954, p. 95). A maximum of some 10,000 Australians were engaged in service in Hiroshima around that period (Tamura, 2001, p. 2). While they were supposed to withdraw completely by March 1950, the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 resulted in the extension of their station in Japan until 1953.

 

In the Australian base camp, a number of Japanese women were recruited as chefs, housekeepers and other domestic workers. There were also many small shops and businesses, run by the local Japanese for the Australians, around the camp. This situation, as in other military stations across Japan, brought Australian service men and Japanese women into frequent contact, even though this was discouraged. Keiko Tamura (2001, p. 6) observes that the Army was afraid of the possibility of (Australian) service men fraternising with local (Japanese) women. In spite of this anti-fraternisation policy, a certain number of Australian service men attempted to leave Japan for Australia with a Japanese woman as a fiancée or wife. 

 

Japanese migration into Australia in that period was quite difficult. First of all, as the White Australia Policy was still in force, entry of Asian migrants to Australia was restricted. Second, to make matters worse, Japan was a former enemy of the Allied Powers in WWII. Most Japanese nationals in Australia were arrested and interned during the wartime and finally deported to Japan after that. In that sense, for Australia, the Japanese were the most unfavourable migrants to the territory. In 1948, the then Minister for Immigration, Arthur Caldwell, strongly declared himself against an intake of Japanese migrants. He said, „No Japanese women, or any half-castes either, will be admitted to Australia whether they be Japanese nationals or the nationals of any other country. They are simply not wanted and are permanently undesirable‟ (quoted in Sissons, 2001, p. 523). He expressed his adverse feelings to Australian servicemen bringing Japanese wives to Australia: „while relatives remain of the men who suffered at the hand of the Japanese, it would be the grossest act of public indecency to permit a Japanese of either sex to pollute Australian or Australian-controlled shores‟ (ibid.). Consequently, applications by servicemen to bring their Japanese wives to Australia were not accepted (Tamura, 2001, p. 11). As these quite agonistic sentiments and hostility to the Japanese indicate, it was considered impossible for Japanese women to immigrate to Australia as a spouse or fiancée. Therefore, many Australian service men were forced to leave their Japanese partner when withdrawing from Japan.

 

Despite such adversity and hostility, sanctions against Japanese immigration were gradually eased in the 1950s. First, Australia signed the Treaty of Peace with Japan in San Francisco (or the Treaty of San Francisco) on September 8, 1951; this was supposed to see a recovery in the official diplomatic relationship between the two countries. Then, while the economic link between Australia and European countries was declining, Australia began to consider Japan as its largest economic partner in the Asia-Pacific region. In addition, the rise of a new geopolitical context for Australia, after the Cold War regime was felt in the region, caused Australia to become interested in Japan as a regional partner (Rix, 1999). Under such circumstances, Australia‟s national interest in Japan overtook the public (dis)interest in the Japanese in that period. In March 1953, an Australian service man, Gordon Parker, was finally permitted by Harold Holt, the successor of then Minister for Immigration Arthur Caldwell, to bring his Japanese wife Cherry (née Nobuko Sakamoto) and his two children to Australia. This first case of an intake of a Japanese female spouse to Australia after WWII received considerable media coverage in Australia (Tamura, 2001, pp. 12-13). After this, a large number of Australian servicemen attempted to bring their Japanese wives and fiancées to Australia and the number of Japanese applicants were considerably increased. Tamura (ibid.) documents that, by the time Australian troops had completely withdrawn from Japan in November 1956, some 650 Japanese women had

immigrated to Australia as wives or fiancées of Australian service men. Thereafter, as Table 1 indicates, the size of the Japan-born population dramatically increased. It is important to draw attention to the point that this increase involved a large number of Japanese females, compared to the census conducted before WWII. 

 

In spite of that, these so-called Japanese „war brides‟ often had very harsh experiences, as a former enemy of Australia and also Asian female in White Australia. Tamura (2001) records autobiographical memories of war brides (see also JCA Kinenshi Henshu Iinkai, 1998; Sato, 2001). Living with such heartless experiences, the war brides spoke about how they settled in Australia and hid their Japanese identity in public. Their children were sometimes bullied as a „Jap‟ in school. There were also those whose marriages resulted in an unhappy ending. Most importantly, they made a great effort to „assimilate‟ in Australian society under the

White Australia Policy, through speaking and taking care of their children at home in English, and through learning Australian ways of homemaking (Tamura, 2001). I am reminded of a war bride whom I interviewed in 2004 for my previous research; she recalled that she never spoke Japanese, not only at home but also to other Japanese war brides who she met by chance in public. In addition, she mentioned many times that she had converted to Christianity from Buddhism just after her arrival in Brisbane. She emphasised in the interview, „in Rome, do as the Romans do. It was my motto in Australia‟.

 

As we examine later, these migrants were different from contemporary Japanese migrants, in that they were naturalised as Australian citizens as soon as possible after their arrival. For reasons beyond that of the enforcement of the assimilation policy, which was the dominant ideology in Australia at this time, these Japanese war brides were desperate to become „Australian.‟ Above all, it was, for them, their choice to hide themselves from negative sentiments or hostilities towards a former enemy of Australia. It was, on the other hand, a voluntary strategy to overthrow such a negative perception of the Japanese and to find their own place in Australian society, performing the role of a „good wife and wise mother‟ (ryôsai kenbo) with the virtue of Japanese woman. This is a widely shared and dominant idea of Japanese women, as Nancy Rosenberger (2001) indicates, and is the ethos of Japanese wives today. That is, by accentuating their ethno-gender identity, they might have attempted to breach the racial stigma imposed on them. As these war brides re-evaluated Japanese femininity to situate themselves in Australian society, Japanese women marriage migrants today still adopt a similar strategy to cope with their new life in Australia. In my fieldwork, I sometimes heard that some of them spoke of those Japanese war brides as role models for their way of life as Japanese wives in Australia., These Japanese women today still refer to the virtue of Japanese women represented in the early period when situating themselves in Australia.

 

The Japanese in Australia from the 1950s

In 1957, Australia and Japan signed the Treaty of Commerce. It meant that the relationship between the two countries entered into a new stage. From the former enemies of WWII, both countries came to regard one another as the most preferable economic partner in the Asia-Pacific region. After WWII, the economic relationship between Australia and the UK declined, while Japan‟s economic recovery after the war increased steadily until it reached its peak in the 1980s. Under these circumstances, Australia‟s former enemy turned into its most crucial partner, although such a close relationship was still only the case at the economic level. Thus since the 1950s, Japanese companies began to establish their businesses in Australia again and, as a consequence, the numbers of Japanese assigned to the firms and sent to the Australian branches grew. As Sawa Kurotani (2005) reported in her study of Japanese corporate families in the US, Japanese companies preferred to send their employees overseas with their families (especially wives), to provide a comfortable and familiar private space for these Japanese business men.¹⁷

 

For this reason, this Japanese population in Australia increased not only by the number of the assigned employees (they were mostly Japanese men), but also by the size of their families. According to a memoir of a Japanese business expatriate in the 1950s, visas were initially issued only for employees (Tanaka, 1998). Under such circumstances, while they engaged in their own trading companies in Australia, they also established several Japanese ethnic clubs for social purposes. The Japanese

Society of Sydney (JSS) was established in 1957, just after the signing of the Treaty

                                                 

¹⁷ In particular, they were to be accompanied by their wives. This was an implicitly imperative order by the company for the reason that „the reproductive role of women is articulated along this line, vaguely defined as providing the material and mental needs of the male workers‟ (Kurotani, 2005, p.

68).

of Commerce in the same year. The first President of JSS said in an interview

(Tanaka, 1998, p. 16) that the founders aimed at becoming the successors to the old Japan Society of Sydney established in 1909, and they also launched the Japan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) in 1958. Another member recalls that he experienced direct discrimination and hostility at that time. The JSS initially began with 80 members from some 20 Japanese companies. Today, the JSS and the JCCI are the largest Japanese business organisations in Australia. The increase in the numbers of children who accompanied those Japanese business entrepreneurs was considerable. As a consequence, the Sydney Japanese School was established in 1969 in Sydney, with the support of the Japanese Ministry of Education, in order for the children not to be disadvantaged in the very competitive entrance examinations in Japan.

 

However, it is worthy of note that the Japanese organisations mentioned above are highly controlled and managed by Japan‟s business expatriates (or chuzaiin). Unlike an ethnic association which consists predominantly of permanent migrants in Australia, these organisations consist of Japanese business expatriates and their families, people who were assigned to stay and work in Australia on a temporary basis. While they also kept a close relationship with the local Japanese government officials, there was no room for „Japanese-Australians‟ in the Society, i.e. people who entered Australia as migrants and became naturalised as Australian citizens, such as the Japanese war brides described above. Neither were the second or third generation of Japanese migrants dispersed across Australia included. In other words, these Japanese organisations established in the 1950s were for Japanese „sojourners‟ rather than migrants. As Tetsuo Mizukami (2006b, p. 2) argues, a large number of Japanese dwellers in Australia are „sojourners‟, a relatively homogenous group of middle-class Japanese who as corporate employees stay in foreign countries for certain periods of overseas assignment. For this reason, their ethnic organisation is also a sort of extension of the Japanese firms and it can be assumed that membership is managed quite exclusively for their own welfare.

 

Thus, when the JSS re-established, the dominant Japanese arrivals in Australia were the business expatriates and their families. In that sense, the new Japanese organisations did not cater to the needs of permanent settlers. Furthermore, I would stress that, unlike these Japanese temporary residents in large cities, their counterparts – Japanese war brides – had immigrated to various sites in Australia and experienced difficulty in forming any organisations of their own or even gathering together. This was not only due to the enforcement of „assimilation‟ in immigrants during that period: Japanese permanent settlers/migrants also had to deal with negative perceptions of the Japanese (Blair, 1991; Endo, 1989; Nagata, 2001b; Tamura, 1998, 2001; Ueki, 2002). Accordingly, while ethnic Japanese organisations were being launched from the late 1950s, not all types of Japanese migrants could belong to them. In such circumstances, it was not until the 1980s that any ethnic Japanese organisation for Japanese migrants in Australia was formed. Of course, the arrival of Japanese permanent migrants after the 1970s is largely owing to several reforms of immigration policy after WWII, when any restriction of immigration with regard to racial/ethnic categories was finally abandoned. This took place in conjunction with the adoption of Australian multiculturalism in the 1970s. In addition, Japan‟s affluence, which was at its peak in the 1980s, inclined a certain type of Japanese to immigrate to Australia, quite different to the past „economic refugees‟ to Australia.

 

Lifestyle Migrants since the Late 1970s

In the 1970s, with the official abolition of the White Australia Policy and the adoption of multiculturalism as the official governmental policy, Australian society entered a new era. First, since the 1960s, a number of activities and recommendations urged the importance of reforming the White Australia Policy (Castles, et al., 1990; Jupp, 2002; Lopez, 2000). The growth in the number of migrants from southern and eastern Europe raised questions about imposing the assimilation policy. Hence, according to Castles et al (1990), the White Australia Policy had, by the 1960s, already been rendered politically obsolete by the political parties (Lopez, 2000, pp. 73-90). As Mark Lopez (2000, p. 56) points out, a number of intellectuals contributed at this time by demonstrating the transformation of Australian society through several research findings. There were also international trends that challenged the fact that the Australian immigration policy excluded non-European migrants, whilst many Asian countries achieved independence, and the civil rights movements gathered momentum across the world (Lopez, 2000, pp. 68-73). In this vein, the Whitlam Labour Government finally declared in 1972 that the White Australia Policy had been officially abandoned, opening the country to migrants from around the world, regardless of „race, colour or creed‟ (Jupp, 2001, p. 10). Subsequently, „multiculturalism‟ became the principle in terms of Australian policy making in relation to immigration

 

While Australia was facing such a radical social reform, Japan was experiencing a tremendous economic development. Due to the post-war „miracle‟, Japan succeeded in accumulating huge capital and became one of the richest nations in the world. In 1973, when Japan and the US signed the Bretton Woods Agreement, Japanese currency adopted a floating exchange rate and its exchange rate quickly raised per US dollar. Both this domestic and global economic impact on Japan encouraged the Japanese to look overseas for reasons other than those of business. The number of Japanese international tourists rapidly increased from the mid-1970s (MLIT, 2007), as increased affluence enabled Japanese to travel overseas for leisure. Sustained by a strong economy, the Japanese learned how to consume/enjoy different societies and cultures during this period. Such an experience of visiting overseas or interest in different cultures and societies gave rise to a certain type of Japanese who attempted to move overseas permanently as a migrant. 

 

In addition, some numbers of Japanese business expatriates and their families also sought to settle in their assigned country. For example, in Farewell to Nippon, Japanese essay writer Machiko Sato (2001, p. 1) describes these people in Australia, defining themselves as „lifestyle migrants‟ whose aim of migration to Australia is by no means to achieve economic success in the new settlement. Rather, she emphasises that the three purposes of these migrants were to improve their quality of life. In that sense, additional patterns of Japanese immigration to Australia can also be identified.

Sato (2001, p. 3) classifies these Japanese lifestyle migrants in three broad categories:

 

1)   senior citizens who want to spend their retirement in the comfortable climate of

Australia;

2)   women of various ages who want to achieve professional careers and active lives in Australia; and

3)   specialists who have transportable special skills, such as engineers and other specialists.

 

Of course, not all contemporary Japanese migrants in Australia belong to these three categories. In fact, Sato herself describes a group of ex-business entrepreneurs assigned to Australia temporarily who eventually decided to settle in/immigrate to

Australia. Moreover, I would suggest that the number of female migrants who „defect‟ to other countries (particularly to Western countries) for specific reasons begin to increase in this period (Kelsky, 2001). I will return to this issue in later chapters.

 

More importantly, as I investigate in the following section, it is necessary to take into account „circumstantial migrants‟ (Sato, 2001, p. 1) or „consequent settlers‟

(Mizukami, 2006b, pp. 27-30). These are Japanese who eventually immigrate to Australia after or in the middle of their temporary stay as a student, working holiday maker, or even tourist. The significance of these migrants is that they had no intention of leaving Japan permanently in the beginning, or held only a vague image of migration. In addition, while contemporary Japanese „lifestyle migrants‟ come from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds, these Japanese migrants in Australia seldom apply for Australian citizenship. In fact, in 2006 the Department of Immigration described the estimated rate of Australian citizenship for the Japan-born as only 20.6 per cent, while the figure for all-overseas born was 75.6 per cent (DIAC,  2007a).^[16] For this reason, both Sato (2001) and Mizukami (2006b) assume that, unlike the early Japanese economic migrants, these have no intention of settling in Australia permanently. Mizukami (2006b, p. 23) particularly proclaims that these new Japanese migrants and their community in Australia constitute a „sojourner community‟, by emphasising their peculiar manners of settlement in Australia. These include an obvious intention to return to the homeland in the future.

 

However, as Mizukami admits, it is not only sojourners who make up contemporary Japanese migrants and their ethnic organisations in Australia; there are also large numbers of Japanese permanent settlers who join them. In the previous section, I described the origin of the Japanese Society of Sydney (JSS), which consists of Japanese business expatriates and their families. Although the JSS was established in the 1950s, as I mentioned, the Society is principally for Japanese business entrepreneurs assigned to an Australian branch of their companies for a temporary stay. In addition, their close relationship and organisation is managed in a Japanese corporate manner. For this reason, there is no space for Japanese „migrants‟ to take part in the Society, even if they wished to do so. For example, Yoshihide Hosaka, the founder of the Japan Club of Sydney (JCS), a Japanese ethnic organisation for permanent settlers, remembers that he could not join the JSS when he arrived in Sydney. He was asked to bring two letters of reference from the members of the

Society but he found this impossible as one recently arrived in Australia as a migrant.

This experience encouraged him to establish the JCS for Japanese migrants in 1983 (from a conversation with him in my fieldwork, September 2008). Therefore, no matter how the Society was able to welcome new arrivals from Japan, it was effectively closed for Japanese migrants.

 

In the 1980s, a variety of Japanese immigrated to Australia. Their social backgrounds were so diverse (many of them were, in fact, categorised as skilled migrants, desperately sought by the Immigration Program) and they were principally independent migrants who did not have any relatives or acquaintances in Australia (JCA Kinenshi Henshu Iinkai, 1998). Eventually, a few of them decided to organise a Japanese gathering after their settlement in large cities such as Sydney and Melbourne, which finally led to establishing a gathering for Japanese permanent settlers. Sooner or later, these gatherings turned into ethnic Japanese organisations in capital cities. The Japan Club of Victoria (JCV) was founded in Melbourne in 1982, the Japan Club of Sydney in 1983, and so on. Finally, in 1991, four leaders of Japanese Clubs organised the Japan Club of Australia, a national ethnic Japanese organisation across Australia (ibid.). In contrast to the previous Japanese societies, these Japanese clubs were founded on behalf of Japanese migrants, including Japanese war brides, many of whom had hoped for an opportunity of gathering with other Japanese – despite the difficulty of doing so due to insufficient numbers and the socio-cultural circumstances of this period.

 

Interestingly, in the 1980s, Japan became the first Asian country that agreed to a Working Holiday Program with Australia. The Program, which enabled both young Australians and Japanese to stay in the other country up to one year while working, also allowed young foreign visitors to experience Australian culture and society for reasons of friendship. It also planned to contribute to the labour shortage in Australian agricultural and other service industries (Joint Standing Committee on Migration, 1997). However, for the Japanese, this Program was the easiest way to travel to Australia to experience Western culture and society, and to learn English. They no longer needed access to large amounts of money or applications for business or student visas, which impose harder conditions on the applicant (Maksay, 2007; Wilson, 2008). Nevertheless, no matter how long the Working Holiday Makers (WHMs) are able to stay in Australia, they are different from permanent migrants in that visa holders are permitted only a certain length of stay in Australia. In that sense, the increase in the number of Japanese WHMs and language students since the 1980s does not relate to Japanese permanent migrants and their ethnic organisations in Australia. 

 

One should not however dismiss this unique program, in relation to the increasing amounts of Japanese permanent settlers in Australia. As I explore in the following chapter, many young Japanese migrants (including marriage migrants) experienced a working holiday in Australia. Some of them became migrants by finding ways to stay further in Australia after a working holiday. Their experience and encounters with several opportunities, including that of merely travelling to Australia for a few days, eventually encouraged them to stay in Australia permanently. Also, there are some Japanese who change their minds and decide to become a migrant, half-way into a short-term stay in Australia as a temporary visitor. Alternatively, what they experience in Australia encourages them to somehow leave Japan to immigrate to Australia. These Japanese „consequent settlers‟ (Mizukami, 2006b) make up a large number of Japanese permanent migrants today and they naturally affect the constitution of the ethnic Japanese community and its engagement with the local Australian society. For further details on their profile, I will describe them here according to their visa status, and investigate my in-depth interviews with them in later chapters.

 

3.3. Socio-Demographic Profiles of Japanese in Australia Today

 

Modes of Entrants to Australia

Here I detail some of the socio-demographic features of contemporary Japanese migrants to Australia. First of all, for the Japanese, Australia has long been the most popular tourist destination. Large numbers of Japanese still visit Australia every year, although this has been decreasing in recent years. Meanwhile, it is important to note that the number of Japanese permanent arrivals (migrants) has steadily increased. Second, by examining the data provided by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) of Australia, I illuminate the profile of Japanese permanent arrivals from several perspectives. Comparing the Japanese data with that of other Asian groups will also be effective in identifying some unique features of Japanese migrants in Australia. 

 

Japanese Visitors to Australia

According to Tourism Australia (2008a), the number of Japanese visitors to Australia was 573,031 in 2007. This is twelve times the numbers of arrivals in the 1980s^[17].

Looking precisely, it is found that the number of Japanese visitors is likely declining 

Figure 2. Number of Japanese Visitors to Australia and Main Purpose of Visit, 1980-2007

        (Source: Tourism Australia, 2008a)

Note: Inbound tourists only

 

after reaching a peak in the mid-1990s, although in some categories a slight increase can be found. Despite this, Japan is still acknowledged as the third largest inbound  tourist market for Australia, next to New Zealand and the UK (ABS 2008b; Tourism Australia, 2008a). 

 

More than 16 million left Japan for international travel in 2005 only. For the Japanese, international travel is a popular leisure activity (MLIT, 2008).  As Figure 2 shows, a very large majority of Japanese travellers come to Australia for tourism purposes. Other purposes include visiting friends and relatives, business and education. For example, in 2005, approximately 25,600 came to Australia from Japan for educational purposes (Linacre and ABS, 2007). It is worthy of note that while the total number of Japanese visitors to Australia has been decreasing in the last decade, Figure 2 indicates that the decline has taken place in holiday visitors, while other categories have not faced such decline; on the contrary, in particular categories one finds that the number is slightly increasing. Also, it is significant the increase in the number of those „visiting friends and relatives‟, which would suggest an increase in the number of Japanese permanent residents in Australia. This trend shows that, for the Japanese, the purpose of visiting Australia has been shifting. It is now a multi-purpose destination rather than a simple holiday resort (Tourism Australia, 2008b). Tourism Australia (2008b) reports that other types of visitors tend to stay in Australia longer than pure holiday makers. This trend can be understood when considering that it includes business and education, which require the visitors to spend a certain period of time in Australia to complete the mission.

 

We should neither dismiss the fact that Australia has accepted Japanese Working Holiday Makers (WHMs) since 1980 (Joint Standing Committee on Migration, 1997). Table 2 shows that approximately 10,000 Japanese WHMs have visited Australia annually, and the number of Japanese who were granted WHM visas between 2006-07 was ranked in the fifth largest group during the period (DIAC,  2008c). Thus it can be said that these Japanese WHMs belong to a unique group of Japanese long-term residents overseas, standing between the short-term and

long-term stayers. Of course, their length of stay statistically contributes to the

Table 2. Number of Working Holiday Maker Visa (Subclass 417) Grants, 

2003-04 to 2007-08 by Citizenship/Nationality

Citizenship	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
Belgium	n/a	464	765	894	976
Canada	6,509	6,656	6,828	7,078	8,090
Cyprus	9	7	7	8	5
Denmark	1,162	1,307	1,212	1,396	1,142
Estonia	n/a	16	220	362	521
Finland	654	810	882	1,007	928
France	1,601	4,550	6,125	8,210	11,005
Germany	9,672	10,646	12,089	15,688	17,438
Hong Kong	198	257	658	1,209	1,535
Ireland	12,231	12,585	12,554	13,518	17,120
Italy	730	1,879	2,454	3,241	3,568
Japan	9,915	9,975	9,415	11,707	10,599
Korea	9,513	17,706	24,077	28,560	32,635
Malta	80	108	102	109	94
Netherlands	3,029	2,776	2,771	3,344	3,590
Norway	604	673	611	680	694
Sweden	2,677	3,149	3,548	3,995	3,914
Taiwan	n/a	221	739	2,311	6,132
UK	34,963	30,092	28,821	31,211	34,145
Other	212	491	57	84	17
Total	93,759	104,368	113,935	134,612	154,148

     (Source: DIAC,  2008c)

Note: „Other‟ includes those who possessed plural citizenships

increase in the number of Japanese in Australia. ^[18] In the Australian context, Japanese WHMs demographically take part in the Japanese population as well as other long-term residents, although they are not allowed to stay in Australia permanently due to their visa classification. As Nobuaki Fujioka (2008) reports, some WHMs voluntarily engage with Japanese migrants to encourage their ethnic Japanese groups in Melbourne. It may therefore be assumed that some of these temporary Japanese residents might be preliminary Japanese migrants seeking an opportunity to immigrate to Australia permanently by switching their visa categories

(applying for permanent residency as skilled or independent migrants) or social status (through marriage). These would then be instances of „sojourners‟ or „visitors‟ becoming „settlers‟ or „migrants‟ and, as I demonstrate later, this is definitely a trend among contemporary Japanese migrants to Australia.

 

Recent Trends among Japanese Residents in Australia: From the 2006 Census With regard to the demographic profile of Japanese migrants in Australia, several studies have been conducted. Hassan and Tan (1990) refer to the number of Japanese settlers based on the 1981 census. Reiko Atsumi (1992), Deborah McNamara and James Coughlan (1997) investigate the socio-economic profile of Japanese residents in Australia from the 1980s to the early 1990s.Tetsuo Mizukami (2006b) and Yoshikazu Shiobara (2004, 2005) also refer to the Japanese residents in Australia since the 1990s. Generally speaking, the number of Japanese permanent arrivals has grown annually (see Table 3), whilst, as mentioned before, the number of Japanese short-term visitors is declining. Therefore, despite the fact that there still remains a tremendous difference between the number of short-term visitors and permanent arrivals, the proportion of the latter has increased in the past decade. This may suggest that, for the Japanese, the purpose of coming to Australia has become more diverse and some of them have then entered Australia as migrants.^[19] The result was that, in the latest 2006 census, the number of Japan-born people (henceforth referred to as „the Japanese‟) has recorded the highest level (ABS,  2008a). 

 

In regard to the latest socio-demographic proportion of Japanese residents, according to the Community Information Summary, a general information sheet on the Japanese based on the 2006 census, the number of Japanese residents was approximately 30,800. This was an increase of 20.8 per cent from the 2001 census. The distribution by state and territory (see Figure 3) indicated that New South Wales had the largest population and Queensland and Victoria followed. The major cities of these states are also popular among Japanese tourists. Among them, Queensland recorded the largest increase, of 24 per cent, since the 2001 census (DIAC,  2008b; DIMIA,  2003).

 

Table 3. Number of Japanese Permanent Arrivals, 1996-97 to 2006-07

	NSW	VIC	QLD	SA	WA	TAS	NT	ACT	AUSTRALIA
1996-97	197	66	138	9	63	4	2	6	485
1997-98	190	73	179	8	44	5	3	6	508
1998-99	236	95	165	13	55	1	6	7	578
1999-2000	226	101	150	15	42	2	1	16	503
2000-01	248	91	164	31	56	7	2	5	604
2001-02	194	118	175	11	52	2	3	16	571
2002-03	221	101	179	29	65	5	5	11	607
2003-04	229	124	226	32	80	9	2	4	706
2004-05	257	126	222	40	83	8	4	9	749
2005-06	240	164	225	40	70	4	2	10	755
2006-07	213	165	252	64	92	12	4	9	811

 

                          (Source: DIAC,  2007c)

Note: „Settlers‟ comprise persons arriving in Australia who hold permanent visas, regardless of the stated intended period of stay, New Zealand citizens who indicate an intention to settle, and those who are otherwise eligible to settle (e.g. overseas-born children of Australian citizens).

Note: This figure may exclude the number of those who were granted a permanent visa in the Australian territories (Onshore).

                     

                     

                     

                     

 

Figure 3. Residential Distribution of the Japanese (Japan-born) in the 2006 Census (out of 100 %) (Source: DIAC,  2008b)

 

Figure 4. Gender and Age Distribution of the Japanese in the 2006 Census               (Source: DIAC,  2008b)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 4. Numbers of Population and Gender Ratio  in the Northeast Asian-Born People in the Census 2006

 

Place of Birth	Male (%)	Female (%)	Ratio
			(Males per 100 Females)
China	93,280 (45.2)	113,310 (54.8)	82.3
(exc. Hong Kong & Taiwan)
Hong Kong	34,530 (48.1)	37,270 (51.9)	92.6
Japan	10,360 (33.7)	20,410 (66.3)	50.8
Korea, Republic of	24,020 (45.5)	28,740 (54.5)	83.6
Taiwan	10,700 (43.9)	13,660 (56.1)	78.3

          (Source: DIAC,  2008b)

                         

On their social profiles, gender ratio of the Japanese residents in Australia was 50.8 males per 100 females, that is approximately one male to two female. The median age was 33.9 years, comparing to 46.8 years for all overseas-born. As can be seen in Figure 4, such a gender imbalance and the large figure in the younger generation highlights contemporary Japanese residents in Australia. Here I would emphasise that, compared to other ethnic groups from the Northeast Asian region, the Japanese have a striking gender imbalance (see Table 4 for comparison). Although the ABS reports (ABS,  2008c) that the Australian citizenship rate among the Japanese was only 15 per cent, DIAC modifies the number to around 20.6 per cent by conducting adjustments for people not meeting the residential requirement for citizenship, temporary entrants to Australia and under enumeration at the census (DIAC,  2008b). Contrary to this, the estimated rate for all overseas-born was 75.6 per cent (ibid.). Thus, the citizenship rate was quite low among the Japanese, and a large number of Japanese residents therefore possibly stay in Australia with a permanent resident visa. However, it is uncertain whether they have no intention to stay in Australia permanently, since Australian permanent residency is almost equivalent to Australian citizenship in terms of the basic rights to live in Australia. However, the Japanese government does not allow Japanese nationals to hold dual citizenship, which may inhibit Japanese migrants to adopt Australian citizenship.

 

With regard to the year of arrival, more than 40.1 per cent of Japanese residents arrived during 2001 and 2006, while another 17.4 per cent arrived between 1996 and 2000. This shows that the recent Japanese in Australia consist of quite new arrivals. In summary, the latest Japanese residents in Australia are identified by a large proportion of women and young arrivals. In addition, the majority of them have been living in Australia without applying for Australian citizenship, although it is conceivable that most of them hold a permanent visa to settle in Australia. These demographic findings seem to define the Japanese in Australia as „lifestyle migrants‟

(Sato, 2001) or „sojourners‟ (Mizukami, 2006b), although they do not reveal at this stage how long these Japanese finally intend to stay in Australia or if they will apply for Australian citizenship in the future.

 

Japanese Permanent Arrivals in Australia

When considering Japanese migrants to contemporary Australia, a question naturally arises: what kind of Japanese have migrated to Australia? In order to respond to this question, this section aims to reveal contemporary Japanese migrants to Australia from the point of view of their permanent visa categories. This may contribute to recognising their socio-economic characteristics to some degree. I have relied on a 

                  

Table 5. Immigration Categories Listed in the Settlement Reporting

	Main Category	Sub-Category
	Humanitarian	Refugee                                                                                       Special Assistance   Special Humanitarian Program
		Child                                                                                            Other   Parent   Spouse/Fiancé
		Family (Other)                                                                              Family (Spouse/Fiancé)   Humanitarian   Skill   Special Eligibility/Other
		Australia-Regional Linked                                                               Business   Employer Nomination   Independent   Special Talents
	Special Eligibility/Other	n/a

 

 

                      (Source: DIAC, 2007b)                                                                                                        

                                    

                                    

                                    

           database produced by the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship on the numbers of permanent arrivals (migrants). The Settlement Reporting, which is open to the public, allows one to obtain data on permanent arrivals from the fiscal year of 1997. I have relied on a database by combining the several variables provided, such as year of arrival, migration categories, ethnicity (country of birth, English proficiency, language, religion), and place of first settlement (national, state and regional selections). In this database, as with the data retrieved in 2007, ^[20] immigration categories are primary defined as follows (see 

Table 5). The two major categories are „Humanitarian‟ and „Non-Humanitarian‟. In the Non-Humanitarian Category, five sub-categories follow: „Family‟, „Onshore,‟ „Skill,‟ and „Special Eligibility/Other.‟ Finally, these five sub-categories are further divided into seventeen categories. In order to make a data set of Japanese permanent arrivals in Australia, I excluded the category of „Humanitarian‟ as it was not relevant to my intentions.^[21]

	Onshore			Offshore
	Family		Skilled	Family				Skilled
	Spouse/Fiance	Other		Spouse/Fiance	Child	Parent	Other	Independent	Business	Australia Regional Linked	Employer Nomination	Special Talents	Others	Total
1997-98	269	14	118	278	11	9	8	71	33	15	0	0	11	837
1998-99	312	10	118	303	0	13	0	119	11	28	20	13	11	958
1999-2000	347	11	134	288	5	0	4	156	19	20	16	0	10	1,010
2000-01	395	22	190	270	10	7	0	205	24	17	10	0	8	1,158
2001-02	454	25	306	286	10	0	3	182	31	17	11	0	7	1,332
2002-03	510	13	450	317	7	0	5	195	30	9	20	0	8	1,564
2003-04	504	16	535	333	9	16	0	238	38	35	27	0	7	1,758
2004-05	604	25	545	347	10	25	0	218	53	45	33	0	6	1,911
2005-06	594	27	533	354	10	14	0	229	32	64	22	0	7	1,886
2006-07	434	12	375	412	0	18	9	178	45	25	40	0	7	1,552
Total	4,420	175	3,304	3,188	72	102	29	1,791	316	275	199	13	82	13,966

Table 6. Number of Japanese Permanent Arrivals, 1997-98 to 2006-07 from the Settlement Reporting

(Source: DIAC, 2007b)

Note: The numbers were taken on 11 March 2008.

 

Table 6 reports on numbers of Japanese permanent arrivals by immigration categories (based on Settlement Reporting on 11 March 2008). As the database is   updated and adjusted by the DIAC on a monthly basis, the numbers shown will conceivably be different from recent data provided by the ABS or the DIAC itself. Additionally, it is important to mention a few things before discussion. First, as with the census, the database categorises people by country of birth, not by citizenship nor nationality. Hence, „Japanese‟ or „Japanese permanent arrivals‟ in the following means those who were born in Japan. Next, I excluded the number of Japanese who were granted an Australian permanent visa in the category of „Humanitarian‟ (see 

Table 5) even though a small number was actually found in the category. Meanwhile, I included the number in the category of „Onshore,‟ which classifies those who were granted a permanent visa after a certain period of stay in the Australian territories on a short-term visa. In other words, the figure indicates that those who belong to this immigration category changed their status from visitor to migrant during their stay in Australia. Alternatively, they perhaps had intended to stay in Australia permanently for some reason, but could only be granted a temporary visa due to a lack of eligibility for a permanent visa, upon application.

 

Figure 5 shows the number of each immigration category among Japanese permanent arrivals based on Table 6. At a glance, it was found that the proportion belonging to the „Skilled‟ categories is smaller than that of „Family‟ categories, although the dependants of applicants are included in this category. Contrary to this, in combination with both „Onshore‟ and „Offshore‟ categories, the number of those who categorised as „Spouse and Fiancée‟ consists of an extremely large proportion of the permanent arrivals. It is interesting to note, however, that the size of in the „Onshore‟ category is almost equal to that of its counterpart. This indicates that a large number of Japanese had applied for an Australian permanent visa, after their arrival in Australia with a short-term visa. Nevertheless the data does not reveal whether they had intended to immigrate to Australia at the outset. This type of „consequent settler‟ (Mizukami, 2006b) illustrates one peculiar aspect of contemporary Japanese migrants.

 

 

Number

 

Figure 5. Numbers of Japanese Permanent Arrivals by All Immigration Categories in the

Settlement Reporting, 1997-98 to 2006-07

(Source: DIAC, 2007b)

Note: The figure of 2006-07 is preliminary data.

Note: The figure in the Humanitarian category was excluded

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 6. Numbers of Two Immigration Categories by Gender, 1997-98 to 2006-07

(Source: DIAC, 2007b) 

Note: the numbers were taken on 11 March 2008. Note: the figure of 2006-07 is preliminary data.

 

Figure 6 then shows comparative data by selecting two immigration categories – the „Skilled‟ and „Family‟ categories – by gender. This selected dataset is drawn from the numbers in Table 6. In detail, only the subcategory of „Spouse & Fiancée‟ was selected from the „Family‟ category for comparison. The figure includes both onshore and offshore permanent visa recipients. Generally speaking, as Figure 4 revealed there is the gender imbalance in Japanese residents in Australia, so the number of female permanent arrivals has been greater than that of male in both categories. In addition, the females outnumbered male counterparts in the „Skilled‟ categories only. The findings from the analysis of Figure 5 and Figure 6 are sufficient to argue that, regardless of categories of permanent visa, the proportion of females among recent permanent arrivals of the Japanese exceeds that of males. What I would like to emphasise here is that a large number of them have immigrated to Australia as a spouse or fiancée in the „Family‟ category. This is particularly more the case among Japanese women than among men, which indicates that these women migrated to Australia through marrying a local partner. The increase in the number of these Japanese women marriage migrants (or cross-national marriage couples) in Australia leads to questions about their new lifestyle in the new country, in relation to both the local Japanese community and their Australian families/neighbours.

 

3.4. Kokusaikekkon or Cross-National Marriage in Japan Today

 

Rapid Growth of Cross-National Marriage in Japan

Again, while the number of temporary visitors from Japan has been declining, the number of Japanese migrants, who arrived in Australia with an Australian permanent visa, has been increasing. Among the reasons that might explain the contrast between these two types of arrival is the economic recession which overwhelmed Japan in the last decade. Increased fuel costs associated with air travel may also be a contributing factor. Many Japanese still travel overseas for leisure but neighbouring Asian countries have become more popular destinations (MLITT,  2007). Regardless of economic circumstances, both in domestic and global context, and the drastic changes in global security after 9/11, the number of Japanese migrants to Australia has increased in last two decades. Recent Japanese permanent arrivals to Australia 

 

 

 

Figure 7. Numbers of Cross-National Marriage Couples, 1965-2007

  (Source: MHLW,   2007)

              

              

Table 7. Numbers of Couples of Japanese Female           Table 8. Numbers of Couples of Japanese Male

                         and Non-Japanese Male                                                  and Non-Japanese Female 

             by Country of Origin, 1996 and 2006                             by Country of Origin, 1996 and 2006

HusHaﾐdげs Couﾐtry 1996 2006 Total 6,940 8,365 Korea 2,842 2,087 China 769 1,015 The Philippines 52 187 Thailand 19 60 USA 1,303 1,551 UK 213 343 Brazil 162 261 Peru 66 123 Other 1,514 2,738

Wifeげs Couﾐtry 1996 2006 Total 20,787 33,116 Korea 4,521 6,066 China 5,174 11,644 The Philippines 7,188 10,242 Thailand 1,915 1,637 USA 198 177 UK 82 59 Brazil 579 311 Peru 140 121 Other 990 2,859

(Source: MHLW,   2007)                                       (Source: MHLW, 2007)

Note: Figures include Koreans and Chinese with            Note: Figures include Koreans and Chinese with the status of special permanent residents of Japan            the status of special permanent residents of Japan

can be identified with regard to their unique social profile and a particular reason for immigration, as shown in previous sections. The marriage of Japanese females to Australians has become the largest purpose of immigration to Australia. I suggest that, for these contemporary Japanese migrants, the perception of transnational moving might be acknowledged as an extension of marriage, rather than emphasis being placed on the experience of dispersion from the homeland. Further discussion will draw out their experience of „marriage migration‟ in contemporary Australian society. This chapter thus concludes with an investigation of some aspects of „inter-marriage‟ between Japanese and non-Japanese. Considering the data on marrying a foreign partner among Japanese today, my analysis highlights the Australian circumstances of marriage migration among Japanese.

 

Figure 7 shows the historical proportion of cross-national marriage couples: the Japanese who married with a non-Japanese national^[22] between 1965 and 2007. In the Figure, the yellow bar indicates the number of Japanese females and the blue bar Japanese males. Overwhelmingly, the total number of the couples has been increasing and it reached almost 45,000 in 2007. The female proportion has been moderately increasing. That of males started with fewer numbers in the 1960s but became larger by the mid-1970s. In the end, the number of couples between Japanese male and non-Japanese female greatly increased from the early 1990s. It is sufficient to note that a general trend in cross-national marriage of the Japanese is that they consist of a large number of couples of Japanese male and non-Japanese female. Nevertheless, we can identify a recent increase in the number of Japanese females and non-Japanese males as follows.

 

Table 7 and Table 8 show the number of non-Japanese married to a Japanese national in 1996 and 2006. Both Tables are categorised by the non-Japanese partner‟s gender and their country of origin. Table 7 is the number of non-Japanese husbands by their countries of origin, a total of 8,365 in 2006. Table 8 is of non-Japanese wives by 

Figure 8. Number of Japanese Married Overseas in 2006

                                  (Source: MHLW, 2007)

 

 

their countries of origin, a total of 33,116 in 2006. In terms of an increase in numbers in a decade, both types have increased, although the increase of non-Japanese wife is remarkable. Importantly, while Table 7 shows that cross-national marriage couples of Japanese female and non-Japanese male recorded an increase of approximately 17 per cent in a decade, those of Japanese male and non-Japanese female in Table 8 recorded more growth: an increase of about 23 per cent in the same time.

 

In addition, there is another interesting difference with regard to the country of origin of major groups. Table 8 shows a marked increase in the number of those who married a partner from USA and Other (countries) in comparison to other groups. Also, the number who married a Korean male declined from 2,843 (41.0 per cent) to 2,087 in 2006 (24.9 per cent). These trends suggest that there has been a variety of partners of Japanese females over the decade. Contrary to this, in Table 8, an obvious trend is that the largest numbers are those of Asian origin. In fact, the top three largest categories in Table 8 were females from China (35.2 per cent), The Philippines (30.9 per cent) and Korea (18.3 per cent). In particular, the increased rate of Chinese origin wives in a decade is considerable (it was 24.9 per cent in 1996). Consequently, the share of these top three groups reached around 85 per cent in 2006.

 

There is an obvious gender difference in Japanese cross-national marriage. Comparative analysis of the data between 1996 and 2006 in both Table 7 and Table 8 revealed that the partners of Japanese females, on the one hand, have differed with respect to their country of origin, and the total number of inter-marriages has steadily grown. That of Japanese males, on the other hand, has shown a large increase in numbers, sustained primarily by the growth of those who married a woman of Asian origin. In concluding this section, however, I will demonstrate that this gender difference in Japanese cross-national marriage can be reversed in particular circumstances. Figure 8 shows the numbers and ratio of Japanese couples who submitted a marriage registration to Japanese authorities overseas in the year of 2006. The figure includes the numbers of three types of couples: Japanese male and female (2,368 cases, 18.5 per cent); Japanese female and non-Japanese male (8,760, 67.8 per cent); and Japanese male and non-Japanese female (1,748, 13.7 per cent). The largest number is clearly Japanese female and non-Japanese male. This category was much smaller than that of Japanese male and non-Japanese female in the last discussion. Contrary to the previous proportion, the former numbers are more than five times the latter, in this case. Taking these findings into account, one can conclude that, for Japanese females, cross-national marriage with a foreign partner resulted more frequently in migration to their partner‟s country. Here, it is important to recall that this fact obviously supports previous trends of contemporary Japanese migrants to Australia, those who arrived in Australia as the spouse or fiancée of an Australian. In this sense, their transnational movement is assuredly in conjunction with getting married. Given that migration is an extension of (inter) marriage, to what degree does transnational experience affect their modes of settlement in the new society? Or, what cultural identity (or identities) do they rely on their new lives?

 

3.5. Conclusion

 

In the history of Japanese immigration to Australia, it was found that the socio-economic characteristics of the Japanese to Australia had been changing, as

Japan has developed since the late 1880s. Most early Japanese migrants to Australia were so-called economic refugees, who sought an opportunity for making a living while leaving Japan to escape poverty and other materialistic insufficiencies. Under these circumstances, a large number of Japanese men were recruited as seasonal labourers in the sugar cane industry in northern Queensland. At the same time, Japanese pearl divers who engaged in the pearl industry in northern Australia achieved a wider recognition as skilled pearl divers, indispensable labourers in the pearl industry. Following these Japanese male labourers, Japanese women immigrated to work in brothels in Japanese settlements in Australia. Their migration to Australia had been limited or even restricted by both the colonial governments in the 1880s and the Federal Government of Australia since 1901, under the White Australia Policy, in order to protect the territory from Asians‟ invasion. At the state level, however, Australia and Japan kept a relatively good relationship as trading partners in the Asia-Pacific region. The situation encouraged Japanese trading firms and business expatriates to establish trading business in large cities in Australia.

 

The expansion of Japan‟s militarism and imperialism over Asia after WWI, however, from the 1910 onwards, created tension between the two countries. The result was that most Japanese in Australia had their property confiscated and were deported to Japan after the war. The history of Japanese migration experienced disjuncture after WWII. Nevertheless, a new history of Japanese migration began shortly after both countries signed the Treaty of Peace in San Francisco in 1953. Although the Federal Government also resisted Japanese immigration and the social attitude towards Japanese was quite negative, some numbers of Japanese women immigrated to

Australia as spouses of Australian service men stationed in Japan after WWII. These Japanese women were called „war brides‟ and some of them became an initial group making up a contemporary Japanese ethnic community in Australia. 

 

The post-war period was a time when Australia and Japan came to regard each another as the most preferred economic partner in the region. The Treaty of Commerce in 1959 led to a re-establishment of numerous trading businesses between the two countries. From the late 1950s, a number of Japanese trading firms sent their employees and their families to their Australian branches. In Australia, these Japanese business expatriates and their families consisted of the second type of ethnic Japanese society, although most of these were assigned to work in Australia on a temporary basis. In that sense, they tended to organise an ethnic community of sojourners, rather than of migrants or permanent settlers.

 

Since the 1970s, Australia adopted multiculturalism as a principal policy of modelling society, while accepting a variety of immigrants from throughout the world. When Australia was facing such a drastic social transformation, Japan was achieving great economic development. Under such circumstances, a new type of Japanese began to immigrate to Australia in increased numbers from the 1980s. Unlike the early Japanese who left for Australia a century ago, Japanese lifestyle migrants were not seeking economic advances. Rather, they pursued an alternative quality of life in the new settlement, a lifestyle which was not available in Japan. Some arrived in Australia to enjoy their life after retirement; others were younger and more ambitious to establish a new life with their own skills. More interestingly, this new kind of Japanese migrant includes „consequent settlers‟, people who entered

Australia as temporary eventually settled there permanently for some reason. Among these new Japanese permanent settlers, some contributed to establishing ethnic Japanese organisations for permanent settlers that still play a key role for the welfare of the Japanese in Australia. 

 

Apart from this, in a series of analyses on the latest demographic data on the Japanese in Australia and on permanent arrivals, I found that there is a striking gender imbalance in Japanese migrants: marrying an Australian seems to be the largest reason for female immigration to Australia from Japan. This interesting trend was also supported by the fact that the growth of Japanese females of cross-national marriage was greater than that of Japanese males. In other words, this indicates that, for Japanese females, marriage migration has been a more popular consequence of cross-national marriage, leading to an increase in Japanese women marriage migrants in Australia.

 

Taking these unique aspects into account, it is difficult to imagine how existing ethnic Japanese organisations, which cater mainly for the business expatriates and their families, deal with these very different new Japanese migrants. It is also worth asking to what degree they are able to settle in and engage with local Australian society. Consequently, as I discuss in the next chapter, as the number of Japanese migrants has grown, established Japanese Clubs no longer stand on behalf of all

Japanese in Australia. The reality is that, instead of identifying themselves with „Japanese-Australians‟ in an abstract manner, a variety of ethnic Japanese groups are being established with a consideration for more practical concerns in large cities in Australia. Not only do they associate with a sense of common ethnic identity, they are also joined together by their gender, class and local belonging. This reveals the socio-economic characteristics of contemporary Japanese migrants in Australia. It naturally raises issues of their integration into Australian society too. In order to look at these aspects of contemporary Japanese in greater detail, I will conduct a micro-analysis of contemporary Japanese migrants in the following chapters, on the basis of my long-term fieldwork in Sydney.

CHAPTER 4. VERNACULAR DIASPORIC COMMUNITY:

A NATIONAL JAPANESE ETHNIC ASSOCIATION IN AUSTRALIA

 

4.1. Introduction                      

 

In discussing some of the significant characteristics of contemporary Japanese migration to Australia in the previous chapter, I pointed out that its unique migratory pattern and motivation owe much to social changes that have taken place in Japanese society in recent decades. Significantly, due to the advent of consumer society since the 1980s, the meaning of travelling or moving abroad began to be recognised more as an exploration of the self than as a mere leisure experience. I argued that the majority of recent Japanese migrants, especially those who emigrated to Australia, deserve to be called lifestyle migrants, ones whose migration emphasis is on achieving a new lifestyle and a new self.  

 

In addition to this, I also explained the reason why gender imbalance is often found among these lifestyle migrants and other Japanese nationals currently overseas, with regard to destinations and purposes of stay. Of several possible reasons that might account for this trend, several studies suggest the gender hierarchy in Japanese society, which is particularly the case with the gender division of labour (Brinton, 1993; Hunter, 1993; Kelsky, 2001; Rosenberger, 2001). Women‟s social status in

Japan certainly has improved in contemporary Japanese society, but the Japanese working environment is still male-centred. Suffering a lack of social and legal aid and of a supportive business culture, many women give up their career aspirations even after having equipped themselves with skills and achieved an education and qualifications equivalent to those of their male counterparts. Japanese women who have departed for overseas may be seeking a more attractive place to satisfy their self-esteem (as well as their consumer needs). 

 

As I will detail in the next chapter, such social handicaps imposed on Japanese women ironically seem to have led them to identify that they are more flexible and freer to establish their lives in their own ways, ways that are not open to their male counterparts who are believed to be responsible for the development of Japanese society. In addition, I added that as those who have developed „de-material consumption‟ (Mamada, 2005), these Japanese women are accustomed to consuming

overseas experiences as a way to seek an alternative self in a different setting. I also observed that many of these female lifestyle seekers have recently become Japanese „marriage migrants‟ in Australia. These women can arguably be called lifestyle migrants because they left Japan in search of experiencing something unattainable in Japanese life. In the meantime, it is important to remember that they were consequent settlers – their permanent migration in Australia had not been planned concretely when they arrived there. Also, when considering their new lifestyle in Australia, their way of making a new life(style) is undertaken differently to ordinary Japanese lifestyle migrants, because of their cross-national marriage with an Australian.

 

Starting from these premises, I examine how these new Japanese migrants engage with established ethnic associations in their new country. In this chapter, I conduct an analysis of a national Japanese ethnic association, involving local Japanese ethnic clubs in Australia. This national Japanese-Australian association was led by the leaders of Japanese ethnic associations in capital cities in the early 1990s and identified itself with nikkei (overseas Japanese), a concept that includes diverse Japanese diasporic communities around the world. This national Japanese ethnic club was, however, eventually disbanded by the mid-2000s for several reasons. 

 

To consider the reasons why this national Japanese club did not survive, we need to explore why it was unable to satisfy the demands of the new Japanese lifestyle migrants in Australia. I demonstrate the difficulties this Japanese ethnic association encountered, from continuing to rely upon an abstract and homogenous sense of diaspora when dealing with new Japanese migrants. This can be explained to an extent by drawing attention to the unique migratory patterns and motivations of the latest wave of its members. Even though this national Japanese ethnic association was founded on an appeal to the co-ethnicity of the members it sought to attract (or a sense of being Japanese in Australia), I argue that this amounts to an abstract notion of the Japanese diaspora that did not match the interests of contemporary Japanese lifestyle migrants in Australia. 

 

This chapter investigates the ways in which several socio-cultural conditions, which derive from the members‟ unique migratory pattern (including gender imbalance), were incapable of being mediated in the formation of their „ethnic‟ or migrants‟ association in an Australian context. In fact, from their search for the „ideal ethnic association‟ for contemporary Japanese-Australians, one can see the ways in which the members strive to express themselves in their lives in Australia as migrants in multiple and shifting ways, as man/woman, as Japanese, even occasionally as local Australians. Finally, this analytical approach will identify further questions for investigation in the following chapters. 

 

4.2. Conceptualising Ethnicity 

 

Origin and Usage of Ethnicity

Although my concern in this chapter is with an ethnic association of Japanese settlers in Australia, the peculiar way in which the concept „ethnic‟ has been used in

Australia makes it hard to reach a coherent definition of the term. Farida Fozder et al. (2009, pp. 26-27) explain that „ethnicity‟ comes from the Greek word ethnos, meaning „nation‟, but in contemporary usage it signifies „a form of unity and commonalty among a people, and to draw a boundary between an “us” and a “them”‟ (ibid.). Alternatively, it is „something to do with the classification of people and group relationships‟ (Eriksen, 2002[1993], p. 3). In these definitions, while the concept of ethnicity supposes a boundary between „us‟ and „them‟ produced by certain social and cultural differences, the process of forming the boundary is in fact contextual or arbitrary, rather than based on the inherent attributes of the members. 

 

Max Weber (1978[1968]) emphasised subjective belief as the most substantial factor in the formation of ethnic community in society. In discussing the ethnic group, he notes:

 

[T]hose human groups „entertain a subjective belief in their common descent because of similarities of physical type or of customs or both, or because of memories of colonization and migration and this belief (subjective belief in their common descent) must be important for the propagation of group formation; conversely, it does not matter whether or not an objective blood relationship exists.

(Weber, 1978[1968], p. 389)

 

Weber‟s emphasis on the subjective aspect of forming ethnic associations will lead us to see how an ethnic association is reflexively formed by the members‟ ad hoc interests and initiatives, contingent upon their socio-political circumstances. In other words, it is necessary to see ethnic identity as a relational concept constituted within certain social conditions, rather than as established on a rigid cultural definition or distinctiveness. On this assumption, the members‟ characteristics and their unique contextual situation hold formative implications for the association, both as to process and motivations. Expressing one‟s ethnicity tends to be a political or discursive practice, as a result of negotiations with one‟s surroundings to place oneself in society with its own terms and definitions. This aspect of forming ethnic associations should be clear when considering how many modern nation-states (e.g.

Japan and Germany) have attempted to establish the state on the assumption of a „single‟ ethnic community within the territory, while ignoring or suppressing internal diversity.^[23] 

 

Ethnicity and Race

Ethnicity is also acknowledged to have some similarities with the concept of „race‟, while often being dissociated from the latter‟s (negative) implications. Initially, let us

examine the different implications and connotations of race and ethnicity. A conventional understanding of the differences are based principally on the US context , where race refers to biological or physical characteristics, while ethnicity relates to aspects of one‟s cultural attributes. On this assumption, Steve Fenton says:

 

The idea that has been in retreat in academic usage for more than a century is the proposition that there are a quite small number of „stocks‟ of the human race who share physical features, are genuinely members of an ancestral „family‟ grouping, and, in race theory, are predicted to have common non-physical characteristics such as temperament and ability. 

(Fenton, 2004, pp. 53-54)

 

In this definition, Fenton distinguishes ethnicity from race, in that the former identifies „non-physical‟ features of a group of human beings, while the latter categorises people by their physical appearance. In this vein, when referring to ethnicity, the term implicitly identifies a person with his/her cultural components and belongings, rather than physical appearance or biological differences (Fozdar, et al., 2009, p. 6). Nevertheless, because they categorise people according to clear differences – physical appearance and biological attributes – racial categories had been considered the clearest markers to distinguish a group of people from others. 

 

If we group people on the basis of their biological features, however, we encounter several problematic issues. For example, due to physical gradations of people (e.g. in colour of skin or hair), it is almost impossible to draw clear boundaries between racial groups (ibid.). Also, racial classification has often led to differentiating people in terms of „intelligence, morality, physical prowess or personality traits‟, relying upon allegedly „scientific‟ demarcations, on the basis of biological differences between racial groups (Fozdar, et al., 2009, p. 11). Most importantly, these „scientific‟ or „objective‟ justifications of racial differences frequently facilitated racial discrimination, though their scientific authority was later challenged. For these reasons, between the 1960s and 1970s, social scientists gradually replaced the term „race‟ with „ethnicity‟ for the identification of communities of humans (Fozdar, et al., 2009, p. 18). As a result, an alternative and critical approach to the concept of race argues that „[T]he meaning of race is defined and contested throughout society, in both collective action and personal practice. In the process, racial categories themselves are formed, transformed, destroyed and re-formed‟ (Omi & Winant, 1994, p. 61).

 

Therefore, while one‟s racial category is often established as a fact in „objective‟ scientific discourse in a Foucauldian sense (Foucault, 1972), the concept of race itself is „a cultural construct, whether it has a “biological” reality or not‟ (Eriksen, 2002[1993], p. 28). Michael Banton introduces another aspect of the different implications of race and ethnicity. According to him, „[r]acial classifications have been thought to derive from objective assessment made by an outside observer, whereas ethnic ones were thought to derive from the subjective sentiments of voluntary self-identification‟ (Banton, cited in Fozdar, et al., 2009, p. 18).^[24][25] As seen in Fenton‟s remark, the crux of this usage of ethnicity instead of race is that it is a concept for categorising people by their „non-physical‟ features; it stresses one‟s self-definition as belonging to a certain „cultural‟ group and does not assume cultural superiority to others.^[26]   

 

Accordingly, ethnicity is characterised in contradistinction to race as indicating attributes in non-physical features or the cultural aspects of people and their groups. Consequently, when investigating an ethnic group or entity, it is necessary to draw attention to the process by which the ethnic group politically and strategically represents its ethnic identity in negotiations with its circumstances. For the same reason, cases may be found of members of an ethnic group challenging pre-given or conventional images of their ethnicity. Indeed, both claiming and perceiving an ethnicity are often consequences of political contestation or challenge to adverse social circumstances. Especially among migrants, self-representations of ethnic identity and the formation of ethnic associations are political initiatives aimed at mediating their diasporic state as in-between the place of settlement and the homeland. In this light, it is necessary to analyse the discursive effect of ethnic identification represented and articulated by the migrants themselves in particular power relations in society. 

 

Ethnicity and Ethnic Group in Australia

While ethnicity plays a significant role in society‟s identity politics from below, it is also both politically and ideologically applied in formulating social policy. For instance, in Australia, while the concept of „ethnic group‟ was acknowledged as relating to so-called „ethnic politics‟ (Jupp, 1984, p. 5), it has also contributed to developing Australian policies of multiculturalism since the 1970s (Koleth, 2010). In this context, ethnicity refers to migrants, especially those who are of so-called „Non English Speaking Background‟ (NESB), people whose first language is not English

(Jupp, 2002; Stratton, 1998; 2004). 

 

More generally, it is fair to say that, in Australia, the term „ethnic‟ has been applied to a variety of migrants other than those of Anglo-Celtic background, in order to highlight their cultural difference. Sneja Gunew (2004) criticises the concept of „ethnicity‟ in this Australian manner of understanding, on the grounds that it idealises or reifies NESB migrants and their culture within an exclusive ethnic category. Zlatko Skrbis (1999, pp. 60-61) also stresses that the general understanding of „ethnic community‟ often rests on a misconception that it conssits of a homogeneous membership sharing a single ethnicity. According to Skrbis, assumptions about the nature of „ethnic community‟ always raise two paradoxes. The first is „the paradox of exclusion,‟ which is that the community is assumed to exclude those who do not participate in the community‟s activities voluntarily, no matter how substantial a part of the ethnic group is formed by such non-participants. The other is „the paradox of inclusion,‟ by which the community is deemed to be a homogenous entity in order for it to qualify for integration into the broader society. 

 

In a similar vein, as some point out (e.g. Bannerji, 2000), gender inequalities have frequently been neglected in the discourse of Australian multiculturalism (Fincher & Panelli, 2001).^[27] Jeannie Martin (1984b, 1991) makes a similar point, arguing that debates on Australian multiculturalism in the early stage often missed structural gender inequality within ethnic communities. Also, considering the early stage of the building of Australian multiculturalism, Jeannie Martin (1978, p. 216) expresses her concern about the ideological emphasis on migrants‟ ethnicity, that is detached from „ethnic communities‟ (or migrants‟ real lives), in building a culturally pluralist society in Australia. As these critiques suggest, the concept of ethnicity in this Australian mode supposes that each migrant owns her/his peculiar and distinct ethnic cultural identity – even while acknowledging the difficulty of describing the reality of cultures that are always a discursive or constructive „process,‟ in a dynamic relation to their social circumstances (Back, 1996; Bennett, 1998; Hannerz, 1992). Furthermore, as several studies in Australia have also observed (Ang, et al., 2006; Ang, et al., 2002; Noble, et al., 1999), many descendants of migrants who were born and have grown up in Australia are moulding their ethno-cultural identity in more flexible and hybrid ways, which sometimes undermine conventional perceptions of

their ethnicity .

 

Nevertheless, it should be conceded that, in Australia, this essentialist understanding of migrants‟ ethnicity has contributed to the development of a series of settlement services for new arrivals since the multiculturalism policies were introduced.  Thus the 1978 Galbally Report proposing new government policies within Australian multiculturalism (Langfield & Ecumenical Migration Centre, 1996) noted the importance of the „ethnic community,‟ and expected these communities to work as „vehicles of service delivery‟ to provide social welfare for settlement of migrants, through their familiar cultural customs and environment (Castles, et al., 1990). This report defined ethnic group by „two major relevant varying attributes of ethnicity as culture and race‟, defining the concept of culture as a „complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man [sic] as a member of society‟ (Galbally, et al., 1978, p. 104).

The report also recognised the importance of ethnic associations as bodies which help to maintain migrants‟ culture in Australia (Castles, et al., 1990, p. 69). 

 

Thus, the report works with the essentialist assumption that each ethnic group comprises a distinctive culture. Ironically, then, while a series of recommendations in the Galbally Report stress the significance of ethnic associations for migrant settlement self-help, it also acted to reify migrant ethnicity or to assign a migrant arbitrarily to a single ethnic community. Indeed, in Australia, one can find the dilemma that while an Australian ideological understanding of ethnicity supposes that each migrant bears an ethnic heritage, the reality is more flexible when one refers to one‟s ethnicity in identity politics (e.g. Noble, et al., 1999). This dilemma is represented in the Australian census, which asks each resident for his/her birthplace, instead of ethnic or racial category, as a means of identifying cultural background.

 

Jon Stratton (1998) proposes another critique of the „invention of ethnicity‟ in Australia. According to him, the term „ethnicity‟ or „ethnic group‟ was coined by the Whitlam Government at the time of the rise of multiculturalism in Australia, and it replaced the concept of „race‟ in Australia in the 1980s. The Government brought in the Racial Discrimination Act in 1975 to undermine the negative impact of biological racial essentialism, fundamental to the discourse of the White Australia Policy since Federation. This shift was also a result of an acknowledgement of the failure of the policy of assimilation, which had expected new migrants to assimilate seamlessly into Australian society. In its place, the cultural diversity brought by migrants from throughout the world after WWII was recognised to construct the new social policy under the name of multiculturalism in 1970s. It was in these circumstances that a rhetoric of „ethnicity‟ developed in Australia and, as synonymous with cultural differences instead of racial difference, ethnicity and diversity raised key features to characterise Australian society in the late twentieth century. 

 

In this context, although ethnicity is now characterised by cultural aspects rather than

(presumed) distinctive biological differences, one can still argue that the concept of ethnicity also presupposes an essentialist understanding of „culture‟ (Castles, et al., 1990; Stratton, 1999). Nevertheless, as discussed before, the cultural identity of the new generation of migrants and youth is more flexible, plural and contingent upon the local (often political) context. It should thus be acknowledged that while the discourse of ethnicity in Australian multiculturalism tends to emphasise the distinctiveness, difference and coherence of cultural identities and practices, the reality is an ongoing process of mundane interaction, contestation and

hybridisation.^[28] 

 

Furthermore, it should not be forgotten that while ethnic communities coalesce around clear „cultural differences‟ such as language and customs, they must also negotiate internal differences among their own constituents, such as those of class, gender and generation, as the community grows. Indeed, I argue that it is only to be expected that ethnic associations of migrants in contemporary Australia will experience disunity as members‟ other social affiliations, based on factors such as generation, region and gender, come to the fore. Given that an ethnic association is established not only for maintaining members‟ diasporic identity in the place of settlement, but also for dealing with the practical issues and problems they face there, it will be necessary to deal with the complexity of demands and requirements that comes from the internal social diversity of the constituents of the association. The reality is that, in the process of founding an ethnic association in Australia, members often subsume various other cultural and social identities, under the rubric of an „ethnic‟ collective identity. association‟.

 

4.3. Functional Approach to Ethnic Association of Migrants

 

Roles of Ethnic Association

It is arguably the case that, for newly-settled migrants, existing associations of their compatriots hold appeal as institutions that can be relied on and which provide a sense of belonging, particularly as having an ethnicity in common signifies a shared cultural heritage. A new arrival may feel the association as both a safe haven to stay in and a springboard from which she/he can venture out into a new society. In this vein, the Japanese in Australia have, unsurprisingly, established a variety of ethnic associations. In addition to this, ethnic associations are exactly associations of political actions for the sake of the migrant members. Consequently, several types of ethnic association are launched, according to the members‟ socio-historical characteristics and different purposes of association. I would like to examine two functional aspects of ethnic associations that are, in reality, interwoven. 

 

First, any type of ethnic association of migrants is, more or less, a „symbolic‟ community in the place of settlement (Alexander, 2000; Back, 1996). By displaying its symbolic function to members, an ethnic association becomes an institution for (reflexively) maintaining members‟ ethnic identity in association with several functions: passing cultural heritage down through the generations; organising ethnic festivals or cultural events; and teaching the language to children. Meanwhile, an emphasis by such associations on the symbolic side tends to rely upon the diaspora politics, accentuating shared roots, both cultural and historical, among the members, and they tend to regard themselves as a single coherent ethnic community removed from their homeland. The result is that, as I discuss in the next section, the ethnic community of migrants will typically call for a form of „long distance nationalism‟

(Anderson, 1991; Glick Schiller & Fouron, 2001; Skrbis, 1999), or imagine an exclusive and homogenous internal solidarity, regardless of the diversity and different backgrounds with which it is endowed (e.g. Ang, 2001). 

 

Next, I argue that any type of ethnic association can be established and sustained on the pragmatic functions of acting as a local welfare institution (Bauman, 1996; Romanucci-Ross, et al., 2006). Through these pragmatic aspects, an ethnic association of migrants is able to become a kind of mutual aid society in which the long-established members support new arrivals by providing special and local knowledge of the host society. In such associations, the leadership of specialists and skilled people is significant. Providing adequate information and solutions based upon their long-term experience and developed networks in the new country, they can be a bridge between new arrivals and several sources of welfare support offered by both the ethnic association itself and third parties, including governmental institutions. The association may also act as an ethnic lobby in the new country on behalf of its members. 

 

Both facets of ethnic associations – symbolic and pragmatic – are in fact fused in the practice of ethnic association of migrants. For example, seeing that an ethnic association protests against mistreatment as an ethnic lobby, one can understand that the association shows a pragmatic as well as symbolic side in order to mobilise its members. In other words, within ethnic associations there is a dynamic and sustaining relationship between two significant and inter-related roles: maintaining collective ethnic identity symbolically; and providing welfare services pragmatically in the new country. Consequently, this dual function in the ethnic associations of migrants is essential to keep them viable, though there are several degrees of balance between the two functions. In particular, the balance will be maintained carefully between the association and other local associations and communities. Not only do ethnic associations play important roles for migrants, but they also sometimes play key liaison roles between migrants and the local society. For instance, many commentators have pointed to the significant contributions made by ethnic communities to the introduction of Australian multiculturalism in the 1970s (Castles, et al., 1990; Jupp, 2002; Lopez, 2000), an initiative which produced a decisive socio-cultural transformation in Australian society.^[29]

 

The Symbolic Function of Ethnic Association 

Several studies have attempted to measure or classify ethnic community of migrants (Amin, 2002; Fennema, 2004; Fenton, 2004). In doing so, one common approach focuses on the objective aspects of the association, measuring its size, associational structure, and variety of members. While this analytical approach is adequate to some extent in understanding the association, it is insufficient in exploring the way in which the association deals with the internal diversity of its constituents under the name of a single „ethnic‟ community. It also misses the dynamic of how the ethnic association is maintained or reshaped in response to the tension between members‟ interests or demands and local attitudes toward them. 

 

Another approach is to highlight the qualitative side of the association, focusing on an association‟s functional characteristics. Unlike the quantitative approach, this approach is able to examine the dynamics or transformative relationships between the association, its members and its surroundings. The analytical perspective of my study, which conceives the ethnic association as exercising dual symbolic and pragmatic functions, favours this qualitative approach. On these premises, in the latter sections I analytically separate the dual function of an ethnic association into its symbolic and pragmatic functions. Here I begin by examining the symbolic function.

 

Initially, there is the fact that, while the importance of ethnic associations of migrants can be described in practical terms, such as the establishment of welfare institutions, offering support networks for members, and even undertaking political actions on their members‟  behalf,  a number of anthropological studies (e.g.

Alexander, 2000; Back, 1996; Bauman, 1996; Campbell & McLean, 2002)

emphasise the point that these ethnic associations also act as a site for maintaining a member‟s ethno-cultural identity away from the homeland. This sense of their displaced identity is often expressed as „diaspora‟ or „diasporic identity‟. Insofar as the diasporic identity is sustained by common ethno-cultural backgrounds or memories of the homeland, this sense is sometimes widely shared by migrants dispersed across the world. 

 

As many scholars have revealed (Ang, 2001; Clifford, 1997; Hall, 1990; Tölölyan, 1996; Vertovec, 1999), it is also noteworthy that, for these diasporic migrants and their descendants, a reconstruction of the self which relies on cultural heritage or collective consciousness generates hybrid ethno-cultural identities, fusing their local situation (here) into their cultural heritage (there), rather than merely recovering their lost ethno-cultural identity in retrospective ways. Significantly, bearing in mind that ethnic associations work as a space to mould diasporic identity, translating and accumulating aspects of the new social context of the location as the members congregate, it can be said that a sense of diasporic consciousness will develop as members seek to accentuate a communal sense or group solidarity within their ethnic associations. In other words, ethnic associations of migrants are a locus that both emerges from and provides the members with their collective diasporic identity, regardless of internal diversity among the members.

 

Rethinking Diaspora for ‘Analytical Undoing’

As I have already argued, ethnic associations are sustained by a strong ethnic identity, while the associations themselves strengthen members‟ collectivity by staging collective activities and play a significant role in enabling political action. They also provide mutual aid support. Nevertheless, I argue that over-reliance on the concept of diaspora to explain migrants‟ ethnic identity should be examined critically. In particular, while those who were involved in early discussions of the concept of diaspora sought to expand the idea to deconstruct an essentialist understanding of ethnic and national boundaries (Clifford, 1997; Cohen, 1995, 1996; Gilroy, 1994; Hall, 1990; Tölölyan, 1991, 1996; Vertovec, 1999), the concept of diaspora is often problematically used to re-essentialise an exclusive ethnic identity that is assumed to grow transnationally in the age of globalisation (Ang, 2001). Thus, an ethnic association often relies upon a homogenous „diaspora‟ or „diasporic‟ identity in a symbolic sense, while neglecting its own internal diversity and inequalities among members.

 

So, what is an alternative style of moulding diasporic identity among migrants or people living away from their homeland? It is inevitable that a sense of diaspora must include a feeling of transnational collectivity to some degree. Regarding this aspect, Paul Gilroy (1993), Stuart Hall (1992a, 1992b) and other theorists argue that an individual sense of diaspora leads to the establishment of a transnational collective consciousness as a diasporic community beyond geographical limits. Additionally, James Clifford highlights another aspect of the status of diaspora, through his argument that it is different from travel in that it is by no means a temporal experience limited to sojourners. It involves, he accentuates, „dwelling, maintaining communities, having collective homes away from home (and in this it is different from exile, with its frequently individualist focus)‟ (1997, p. 251). Clifford argues, one‟s diasporic identity is moulded through the ambivalence of experiencing belonging to home (there) and place of settlement (here) at the same time.

 

In the new global ethnoscape (Appadurai, 1991, pp. 191-200), claims of diasporic identity or community often dismiss internal difference through a „transnational nationalism‟ (Ang, 2001, p. 83). This presupposes the existence of an essential culture or ethnicity shared by the members, despite their dispersal across the world. Instead of embracing the ontological insecurity of ambivalent belonging and individual difference in history, class and gender, notions of diaspora tend to imagine a homogenous and coherent ethno-cultural solidarity across national boundaries. Ien Ang explains this pitfall of diasporic identity as follows:

 

Unlike the nationalism of the nation-state, which premises itself on a national community which is territory bound, diasporic nationalism produces an imagined community which is deterritorialized, but which is symbolically bounded nevertheless. Its borders are clearly defined, at least in the imagination, and its actual and potential membership is finite. 

(Ang, 2001, pp. 82-83) 

 

However, as Ang comments in Asian Diasporas:

 

In other words, diasporic subjects everywhere embody multiple histories and identities, maintaining contradictory linkages with the past yet experiencing disconnects that are uncontainable within some “origin,” Asian or otherwise.

(Ang, 2007, p. 269)

 

This is not to say that all diasporic individuals and communities object to the constitution of transnational nationalism, as defined above. Accepting that migrants‟ ethnic identity or collectivity is expressed as a sort of „diaspora,‟ what I argue here is that the concept should be subjected to „productive analytical undoing‟ (Ang, 2001,

2007) to explain the complexity of and contradictions in the modes of contemporary migratory experience. Also, this perspective is necessary to sustain ethnic associations themselves, involving as they do a variety of groups distinguished from each other by class, gender, generation and history.

 

To conclude, let me introduce an example of the appropriation of the concept of diaspora in an Australian context. In the introduction to Diaspora: Negotiating Asian-Australians, Helen Gilbert et al. adopt the term to discuss the presence of Asian-Australians and examine how contemporary Australian society has been transformed through multiculturalism since the 1970s (Gilbert, et al., 2000). As part of their attempt to establish Asian-Australian studies within Australian academia, they urge that „while one can gain agency through controlling certain deployments of ethnicity, the category and its signification are never hermetic‟ (Gilbert, et al., 2000, p. 5). Hence they consider Asian-Australians as „diasporic cultural citizens‟ as follows:

 

This shift in focus and the creation of new disciplinary boundaries means that Asian-Australian individuals and communities are addressed not as fringe subjects but rather as complex cultural „hinges‟, whose positioning within this nation is only part of a wider concept of „belonging‟ through diasporic groupings. Asian-Australians‟ growing awareness of their placement as both Australians and diasporic cultural citizens, not merely as supplemental to „mainstream‟ Australia, strengthens the critical domain of Asian-Australian studies. 

(Gilbert, et al., 2000, pp. 1-2)

 

By treating Asian-Australian culture and identity as an integral part of contemporary Australian culture and society, and by interrogating their marginalisation as Asian „infiltration,‟ Asian-Australian studies will open a new space for dismantling the dominant notion of Australian culture and society. This is the logic of (not) belonging to both „here‟ (Australia) and „there‟ (Asia), while problematising the binary between the two. In this sense, they describe Asian-Australians as diaspora in order to conduct a critical intervention into the discourses of Australian multicultural society, by describing the ambivalent presence of Asian-Australians and their descendants in Australian society. Indeed, the critical approach seems to strategically include all types of Asian-Australians under the term „diaspora‟, recognising however that its strategy must be conducted with considerable regard for the differences among them.

 

The Pragmatic Function of Ethnic Association

The second function of the ethnic association is defined by its pragmatic aspect. By „pragmatic‟ we understand welfare support and sometimes political action undertaken by the association on behalf of its members. In this context, ethnic associations of migrants aim to act as welfare institutions which assist settlement in the new environment and society, including the provision of a range of ethno-specific services (Bauman, 1996; Bottomley, 1979; Jayasuriya, 1990a, 1990b; Romanucci-Ross, et al., 2006).^[30] For example, by providing culturally specific products and care in their own language, such associations often become institutions which look after aging first-generation migrants as well as passing on their cultural heritage to following generations, through language education, cultural events and activities. In addition, for those who have just arrived from their homeland, relying on the networks and local knowledge of these associations can be the most convenient way of accessing information in the first stage of settlement. To an extent, such pragmatic engagements of ethnic associations are linked with the other, symbolic, functions. It is for this reason that I refer to a dual function, implying an interwoven and inseparable pair of functions at work in the association.

 

Additionally, ethnic associations are expected to play a role in representing their members‟ claims and demands, communicating or negotiating with local councils or other institutions (Amin, 2002; Jayasuriya, 2003; Uitermark, et al., 2005). In particular, in Australian multiculturalism ethnic associations are expected by the government to play a key role in „bridging‟ new arrivals (migrants) by offering a range of settlement services.^[31] Acting on behalf of members who have difficulty stating their claims or demands, due to lack of language proficiency and limited local knowledge, these ethnic associations may function as political associations, representing the rights and interests of those sharing the same ethnic identity. For these reasons, the role played by long-established members of associations is significant, as they mediate between new migrants and their new locale. In addition to the linking role of their leaders, well-established ethnic associations can act as if they were an overseas office of their homeland government, sustaining a relationship with governmental institutions of the homeland. 

 

The role of such transnational ethnic associations is, for members in the place of settlement, to provide information, news and even material products from their homeland, as well as to intervene in the politics of the homeland regarding the welfare of citizens living abroad (Basch, et al., 1994; Castles, 2002; Kennedy & Roudometof, 2002). In particular, given the growth of transnational movements by migrants in the contemporary globalised world, ethnic associations of migrants can build broad and strong networks and symbolic ties through their pragmatic engagements both between the homeland and the host country, and also with other diasporic communities of the same ethnic background throughout the world.

 

Roles of Ethnic Associations in Australia

The establishment of an ethnic association is often a form of collective action in response to the predicaments and inequalities faced in the host society by its members.  In Australia, ethnic associations have been given specific roles and attributions in conjunction with Australian multiculturalism. Contemporary Australian society consists of a variety of migrants and their descendants, who have often established their associations based on ethnicity. In Australia, the term „ethnics‟ or „ethnic group‟ (or community) is used to refer to the various cultural groups of people who have immigrated to Australia from throughout the world in the post-war period (Jakubowicz, et al., 1982). These ethnic groups of migrants in society have been recognised as significant and visible target groups for settlement programmes and a range of social welfare programmes under Australian multiculturalism since the 1970s. On this assumption, those who are marked as „ethnic‟ in Australia are presumed to culturally belong outside of the mainstream society. 

 

At the same time, linking the concept of ethnicity with Australian multiculturalism has proved of great assistance in official policy making. In a sense, one can say that in the Australian context ethnic identity is rather given to migrants than being adopted by migrants themselves for taking political actions. That is to say, an „ethnic community‟ is not only a voluntary group founded in a culturally diverse society, but also a managed target group for delivering settlement services. For this reason, the concept of ethnicity, according to Andrew Jakubowicz (1981), can be regarded as an ideology implemented and endorsed by the State.  Even so, the difficulty encountered by Fredrik Barth (Barth, 1969, p. 180) when trying to clearly define an ethnic association can be largely ascribed to the diversity of motivations that prompt their members to create them (see also Back, 1996; Bauman, 1996; Castles, 1993).

Again, just as a sense of ethnic identity is contextual, so the purpose of forming „ethnic association‟ differs.^[32] 

 

4.4. Japanese Migrants and Their Ethnic Associations

 

Japanese Associations in Australia Today

I will focus on one national Japanese ethnic association in Australia, which lasted for only a decade. Investigating the ways in which the Japan Club of Australia (JCA) demonstrated the dual function of ethnic associations, which I discussed above, I explore the reasons why the association went out of existence. To illuminate this point, it is necessary to describe the historical background surrounding the origin of the association, as well as its networking and relationships with other local organisations and certain Japanese institutions. On this premise, I examine to what extent the Japanese national organisation relied upon an abstract concept of Japanese diaspora as the common basis for the association. Finally, I investigate the extent to which the national Japanese ethnic organisation across Australia, was able to mobilise contemporary Japanese migrants, individuals whose migration to Australia was largely motivated by their aspiration to attain a different „quality of life‟, being apart from Japanese society.

 

To avoid potential misunderstanding, the JCA is by no means the only one of its kind in Australia. In Sydney alone, several different types of Japanese ethnic association may be found. The oldest Japanese ethnic community organisation there is the Japanese Society of Sydney (JSS), established by Japanese business expatriates and their families in 1957 (JSS, 2007), following the resumption of trade between Japan and Australia after WWII. The Japan Club of Sydney (JCS), another major Japanese association, was established in 1983 (Hosaka, 1998b) by new Japanese migrants to Australia together with local war brides; the latter had already arrived in Australia in the 1950s, but that was a period which did not favour the formation of any Japanese community associations.^[33] Additionally, the Sydney Japanese School, which was founded in 1969 with the support of the Japanese government, has made a great contribution to forming a local Japanese community of the family of business expatriates in the northern suburbs of Sydney. More recently there has been a mushrooming of Japanese „play groups‟, founded by new Japanese migrants – women marriage migrants – and their offspring. This trend draws a sharp contrast with the early Japanese war brides in the 1950s, who rather avoided uniting with other local Japanese wives in the effort of assimilating into the new country.

 

The substantial variation in size among Japanese ethnic associations seems to be largely a function of the scope of their activities. Some associations, especially long established ones, are relatively multi-functional and comprehensive, seeking to meet the demands of different generations and of members with a variety of

socio-economic circumstances. Small associations, on the other hand, are likely to be serving a homogenous membership with a single or limited aim or interests. As I will show later, a recent trend is an increase in small locally-based Japanese ethnic associations across Australia. These are mostly run by recent arrivals as they spread their residential distribution beyond what might be called the Japanese „ethnoburbs‟ (Li, 2009, 2006), which have tended to be formed in a limited number of (upper) middle-class suburbs in the capital cities. Among them, some are exclusively organised by ethnic Japanese only; others are open to a wider local membership in an effort to develop mutual friendship and understanding under the umbrella of an „ethnic‟ Japanese association. Shinsuke Funaki (2010) also reports that there are

Japanese ethnic associations who are funded by or operate in association with municipal councils and their settlement programmes.^[34]

 

Nikkei: Symbolic Identity of the Japanese Diaspora

Nikkei is a Japanese term which stands for Japanese-related and it is regularly used to denote Japanese diasporas and their descendants throughout the world. In some cases, nikkei-jin (Japan-related people) is used to speak of Japanese diasporas.  As this abstract meaning of nikkei indicates, these plural definitions of nikkei exist both in and outside of Japanese society. It is, however, interesting to explore the ways in which contemporary Japanese diasporas appropriate this abstract meaning of nikkei in the representation of their diasporic identity. Migrant communities in particular, as minority groups in the country of settlement, sometimes attempt to achieve a transnational diasporic identity, as discussed above. As several studies in sub-culture have revealed (Hebdige, 1979; Willis, 1977), a practice among minority groups in society is to appropriate major cultural symbols and popular concepts to their own ends. In this regard, Japanese overseas and their descendants are no exception. Here, I briefly investigate the recent use of nikkei identity among contemporary Japanese diasporas. 

 

The Japanese government uses the term nikkei strictly. It refers to non-Japanese nationals who are descended from Japanese. The concept of nikkei identity has however recently been appropriated as a wider symbolic concept, describing a variety of Japanese diasporas, including those who do possess Japanese nationality (Kikumura-Yano & Japanese American National Museum, 2002). For example, the Association of Nikkei & Japanese Abroad (Kaigai Nikkeijin Kyôkai, 1999) argues that the concept nikkei-jin (“nikkei people”) includes both: Japanese overseas permanently settling in foreign countries; and their descendants, regardless of the ownership of Japanese nationality. Taking this spectrum of Japanese overseas into account, the Japanese American National Museum estimates the number of nikkei are approximately 2.6 million throughout the world. ^[35] Interestingly, this extended concept of nikkei also embraces „people of mixed racial descent who identify themselves as Nikkei‟, while „many of these nikkei live in close [sic] communities and retain identities separate from the native Japanese‟ (Japanese American National Museum, 2007). It is obvious that this expanded idea of nikkei has been appropriated for a more abstract and symbolic notion of diasporic identity. It also leads to uniting diverse Japanese diasporas throughout the world, rather than merely referring to the

(non-)ownership of Japanese nationality. ^[36] Such a process of meaning-shift constitutes an example of „transnational nationalism‟ (Ang, 2001, p. 83).

 

4.5. The Japan Club of Australia: Within the Transnational Nikkei

Community^[37]

 

Local Japanese Ethnic Associations in Australia

When Japanese migrants came to settle in Australia in the 1980s, some of the early arrivals began to consider establishing local Japanese ethnic associations to assist their settlement and to support new arrivals. There were no Japanese associations for migrants at that time, though there were Japanese Societies for Japanese business expatriates (and their families).  The first Japanese ethnic association for migrants was the Japan Club of Victoria (JCV), established on 11 December 1982, followed by the Japan Club of Sydney (JCS) in May 1983 and the Japan Club of Queensland (JCQ) in 1985. In launching these local Japanese ethnic associations, Japanese migrants were supported by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), a special public institution then under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (JCA Kinenshi Henshu Iinkai, 1998).^[38] JICA itself had a long history of supporting the settlement of large numbers of Japanese e migrants to other countries after WWII (especially to Central and South America). In line with this activity, JICA extended its aid to Japanese migrants to Australia in the early 1980s. Although JICA is no longer associated with programmes to support Japanese migration,^[39] it played a significant advisory role for these early Japanese migrants to Australia, as it had done in Central and South America, suggesting among other things the establishment of

Japanese associations for migrants (JICA, Japan International Cooperation Agency). 

 

In a memoir about his emigration to Australia in 1980, Yoshihide Hosaka recalls that those who immigrated to Australia during that period took English lessons before leaving Japan and attended seminars on Australian society and culture at the training centre owned by JICA:^[40] 

 

It was December 1980 when I arrived at the Sydney Airport with my wife. By the end of the 1970s, a number of skilled Japanese migrants to Australia had slightly increased after Australia adopted the points system for immigration, instead of basing it on the racial White Australia Policy. In preparation for emigrating to Australia, with fourteen other Japanese who were going to emigrate to Canada, I joined an intensive school to take English and other lessons, at the Immigration Centre of the JICA in Yokohama, which were arranged for those who had obtained permanent residency and were ready for emigration. We learnt English from wives of military officers of local US military bases who taught us English. 

(Hosaka, 1998b, p. 168 translated by author)

 

Thus, early Japanese migrants to Australia during this time had a degree of contact with JICA even before leaving for Australia, through JICA‟s training programs and information sessions. In effect, they, as Japanese nationals, enjoyed the support of an arm of the Japanese government for their intention to emigrate. Consequently, it is not surprising that many of them felt that their country provided support for its nationals overseas, and thus retained a sense of connection to their homeland. Even after his immigration to Australia, Hosaka often received inquiries from newcomers about Australian life and society, and he frequently looked after aspects of their post-arrival settlement. He also submitted several reports on life in Australia to JICA for later arrivals in Australia. As a result, he developed extensive links with new Japanese migrants and eventually have decided to establish a local Japanese association. After he coordinated several casual gatherings of the local Japanese, he found that even Japanese war brides who arrived in the 1950s were seeking a chance to associate within the local Japanese community. 

 

After encouragement from the director of JICA, Hosaka made up his mind to establish the Japan Club of Sydney (JCS) in May 1983 (Hosaka, 1998b), following the foundation of the Japan Club of Victoria (JCV) in Melbourne in December a year earlier. Since its foundation, the JCS, as the first representative body of local Japanese-Australians in Sydney, has attempted to maintain close links with official Japanese agencies in Australia. In addition to the support it has enjoyed from JICA, the JCS also had a close relationship with the Japanese Consulate-General in Sydney. Also, locally, the JCS was recognised as an official association of Japanese migrants by Australian society. One year after its establishment, the JCS was invited as a representative of the local ethnic Japanese community by the Sydney Festival in 1984, and demonstrated traditional rice-cake (mochi) making on the Sydney Opera House forecourt. Subsequently, the JCS began to organise Japan Week, the largest annual event by local Japanese in Sydney, to introduce the local Japanese ethnic community to Sydneysiders (Hosaka, 1998b, p. 136).

 

As these events suggest, the JCS has grown as the major representative of local

Japanese in the Sydney region since 1983. Additionally, Mr Hosaka‟s great contribution to the Club means that it has been associated with official Japanese bodies such as JICA and the Japanese Consulate-General, while the Club has primarily operated for the welfare and well-being of local Japanese-Australians. The contribution of JICA to early Japanese migrants to Australia, in particular, was considerable. In these processes, one can acknowledge to what extent Japanese migrants in the 1980s and their Japanese ethnic association have been recognised as „Japanese-Australians‟ by both Japanese government agencies and Australian society. 

 

In other words, the JCS was, on the one hand, endorsed as a kind of official representative on behalf of Japanese-Australians (migrants) by the Japanese government, while on the other hand was recognised as the major ethnic institution for Japanese migrants in Sydney, in Australian society. As a result, it is important to consider to what extent the leaders of the Japanese association developed a sense that their associations were of „we Japanese-Australians‟, i.e. of being sustained by a relationship with both nations: Japan (governmental institutions) and Australia (local society).

 

The Birth of the Japan Club of Australia

While several Japanese ethnic associations were being established locally in the capital cities of Australia, there was a move to establish a national Japanese ethnic association in the 1990s. According to Yoshihide Hosaka, a proposal of national Japanese ethnic associations was submitted by JICA at an annual conference of leaders of local Japanese ethnic associations.^[41] The participants agreed to a course of action under the supervision of JICA. It resulted in the inauguration in 1991 of the Japan Club of Australia (JCA), under the auspices of the four Japanese ethnic associations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth (Hosaka, 1998a, p. 180). Initially, it was decided that JCA was to be managed by the representatives of local Japanese ethnic clubs in Australia. In the first annual conference of the JCA for the years 1991 and 1992, the committee formulated the fundamental principles by which it would operate. A handout presented in the conference began:

 

1.  We hereby declare that, on 9 March 1991, the Japan Club of Australia was inaugurated in association with the Japanese Clubs in each state: Victoria, Sydney (New South Wales), Queensland and Western

Australia.

2.  The Japan Club of Australia is expected to be a testimony of solidarity between the members of Japanese Clubs in Australia. It is also expected to activate our engagements widely, across states and the nation.

3.  As the sole united institution of the nikkei community in Australia, the roles of the Japan Club of Australia are: to deal with issues that have proved difficult to solve at the state level; to encourage further communication with both domestic and overseas institutions; and to contribute to world peace. 

(Hosaka, 1991b translation and italics by author).

 

The handout went on to list three immediate aims for the years 1991 and 1992:

 

1.            To exchange information, encourage mutual communication and deal cooperatively with issues raised by the local Japanese Clubs in Australia

2.            To agitate with the Japanese Government for the introduction of voting rights for Japanese nationals overseas

3.            To encourage communication with other Japanese ethnic associations overseas.

(Hosaka, 1991b translation and italics by author).

 

Though initially encouraged and supported by the JICA, the JCA became a

significant Japanese association in its own right in the history of Japanese migration to Australia. Nevertheless, considering the nature of new Japanese migrants, such as lifestyle migrants, and the growing gender imbalance in the community, it was already questionable at the outset whether the national Japanese ethnic club was capable of playing key roles on behalf of „all‟ people of Japanese background and their descendants living in Australia. 

 

Even at the local level, Hosaka (Hosaka, 1998b, p. 169) remembers that the JCS began with a large proportion of marriage migrants, whose interests did not necessarily coincide with those of the organisation. In the Melbourne case, Naohiko Fukusima (Fukushima, 1998, p. 171), the founder of the JCV, expressed his doubts that there were many local Japanese migrants actually interested in organising an ethnic association in Melbourne, no matter how strongly they might be encouraged by an official agency in Japan, such as JICA. The fact that the JCA lasted less than fifteen years raises questions concerning the degree to which the JCA was able to manage and maintain both the symbolic and pragmatic functions needed to sustain a „national‟ Japanese ethnic association across states and regions. This was especially the case if the majority of potential members were seeking to attain their own independent „Australian way of life(style)‟, instead of settling into association with a broad but close Japanese ethnic community in Australia.

 

The JCA and ‘Japanese-Australian’ Identity

In the nature of national ethnic associations, the JCA had a duty to function on behalf of „all Japanese-Australians‟. Operating above regions and differences in members‟ social characteristics and motivations for emigration to Australia, the Club was assumed to deal with the wider issues and concerns common to Japanese migrants in Australia. Indeed, the JCA actively sought a symbolic function so as to appeal to the general identity of „Japanese-Australian‟ that was supposedly shared across the board. As discussed, this symbolic function can be strengthened by the addition of pragmatic functions, based on the assumption that there must be „common‟ issues and problems among members with a common national identity, and that an ethnic association is therefore able to deal with these on their behalf. In a nutshell, the symbolic function of an ethnic association can be promoted by sharing a feeling that the members are dealing with problems jointly. 

 

Such collective engagements will encourage members to endorse their association as an official institution acting on their behalf and reinforce its symbolic function. In the case of the JCA, given that its political and practical skills were devoted to solving supposedly common problems among „all Japanese-Australians‟, its symbolic function should have been fortified as a result. In turn, it would be conceivable that the strengthened symbolic function might further endorse the credibility and authority of the Japanese ethnic association in its dealings on a variety of pragmatic issues. 

 

Pragmatic Functions of the JCA

It is worth considering at this point some of the engagements undertaken by the JCA on behalf of Japanese-Australians. In a historical review of the JCA contained in a commemorative publication from 1998 (Japanese in Australia 1867-1998), Hosaka recalls several engagements of the JCA on behalf of its members (Hosaka, 1998a, p. 180). For example, in the first general conference in 1991, the board of the JCA proposed to deal with the issue of voting rights for Japanese overseas, who were unable to vote in national elections although their rights are fully guaranteed by the Constitution.^[42] Also, in December 1991, Mr Hosaka wrote an article on residues of pesticides used on Australian rice post-harvest (Hosaka, 1991a). According to the article, the matter was first aired in a newspaper in Japan, and a local Japanese ethnic club then raised it with the JCA. The JCA acknowledged it as a serious issue for the health of Japanese-Australians and decided to take it up. Finally, the JCA received a list of pesticide residues found on Australian rice from a Japanese research institution and presented it in an article, together with suggestions on how to get rid of pesticides before cooking. 

 

To deal with this issue, the JCA undertook another interesting intervention related to Japanese food culture. A state authority brought in a regulation to prohibit the selling of nori and other dried sea laver products in 1991. This decision was base on reports that a person was poisoned by overeating sea laver, due to the presence of very small amounts of arsenic. (The amount of arsenic in sea laver in regular consumption is far from harmful.) As this put at risk the sale of a wide range of products stocked by Tokyo Mart, a large Japanese supermarket in Sydney‟s north, the head of that company sued the authority (a case which was lost). This incident made „the Japanese community panic for a while‟ (Hosaka, 1998a, p. 180), and therefore the

JCS lobbied Japanese authorities such as the Consulate-General in Sydney and the Japanese Ambassador to put pressure on the State Government to rescind the regulation.^[43] Considering how much food and culinary customs are an integral part of one‟s culture (Mintz and Du Bois 2001), and that they are also significant cultural symbols for migrants‟ diasporic sense of identity (Kershen 2002), the JCA‟s reasons for speaking out on this matter on behalf of its members are understandable. 

 

In addition to these, between January 1993 and 1996 the JCA serialised a column titled Nikkei Community in the Japanese magazine Nichigo Press, the most widely published monthly Japanese magazine since 1977.⁴⁵ Since its foundation, Nichigo (Japan-Australia) Press has been the largest local Japanese media that covers the largest variety of information and readers throughout Australia. In the column, the JCA re-published a range of news items taken from newsletters regularly sent from local Japanese clubs. As the national Japanese ethnic association, the JCA aimed to share information on local lives and incidents involving Japanese-Australians across the nation, relying on the largest national Japanese media for communication.

 

Symbolic Role of the JCA

As a result of these engagements with and for Japanese-Australians, the JCA achieved a certain level of acceptance as their official association. For this reason, while the JCA and its management committee took the initiative to raise topics and problems that Japanese-Australians face, it gradually began to attract requests to resolve certain issues on behalf of its members. When Pauline Hanson and the One Nation Party gained support and called for the expulsion of Asian migrants in the mid-1990s,⁴⁶ a Japanese resident in Australia sent a letter to the JCA expressing anxiety over the likely impact of the rise of the One Nation Party for the local Japanese (Hosaka, 1997). In the letter, the sender strongly expresses her concern about highly racist attitudes toward Aborigines and Asian migrants in Australia, after sending a letter to political leaders of both the Labor and Liberal parties, as well as the Ambassador of Japan. In addition, the writer asked her local Japanese Club and the JCA to speak out on behalf of Japanese-Australians. In response,

                                                                                                                                          

regulation rescinded, although the State authority finally consented to overlook the selling of sea laver

at Japanese supermarkets (personal correspondence with Yoshihide Hosaka March 2009)

⁴⁵             As of 2010, the magazine is published in three major cities (Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane) in Australia.

⁴⁶             For further debates on the rise of the One Nation Party and its impact on Australian society, as well as its aftermath, see (Abbott & Manne, 1998; Gibson, et al., 2002).

Hosaka, then the secretary-general of the JCA, replied that the JCA was also concerned about this issue and was considering placing it on the agenda for the next meeting.^[44]  I cite this instance as evidence that the JCA was recognised by some as a legitimate representative of Japanese-Australians, and that its credibility as a voice for „all Japanese-Australians‟ was established. I would argue that this credibility had been bolstered by several actions undertaken by the JCA for its members. Indeed, through its success in discharging pragmatic functions, the JCA in this period was able to bolster its symbolic function as well. 

 

Further evidence of the growing credibility of the JCA as the representative of Japanese-Australians can be found in an incident which took place in 1996, when the JCA was asked to participate in the consultation process for the formulation of the 1997-98 Migration and Humanitarian Program and associated settlement issues, by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, then headed by Philip Ruddock, the then Minister for Immigration (Ruddock, 1996). On the whole, not only did the JCA enhance its credibility in the eyes of Japanese-Australians, it also consolidated its recognition by Australian government officials. Through these

        engagements,      the     JCA      demonstrated      its     pragmatic      function      for

Japanese-Australians.

 

Linkage with the History of Japanese Migration in Australia

        The    JCA    also    attempted   to    become    the    official    association    for    all

Japanese-Australians, by situating itself in the continuum of Japanese migration to Australia since the late 19th century. By identifying the association within a historical linkage with earlier Japanese migrants to Australia, it could claim to stand on a more than one-hundred-year foundation of Japanese-Australian history. It is found that, in newsletters and correspondences of the JCA, members of the JCA frequently referred to the history of Japanese migration to Australia since the 19th century. These efforts towards writing a history of Japanese migration to Australia eventually culminated in the publication of a commemorative booklet, Japanese in  Chapter1. From Meiji until the Outbreak of WWII

Chapter2. During the War and Japanese Internment in Australia

Chapter3. Restoration of Diplomatic Relations and The Period of Economic Exchanges

Chapter4. The Period of Skilled and Cultural Migration

Chapter5. The Japan Club of Australia and Local Japanese Migrant Associations

 

Figure 9. Table of Contents of Japanese in Australia: Japanese Footprints over a Century

1867-1998 (JCA Kinenshi Henshu Iinkai, 1998 translation by author)

Note: each chapter presents several articles on Japanese-Australians in the respective periods.

 

 

Australia 1867-1998, published by the JCA for the celebration of Australia-Japan Friendship Anniversaries 1996-1998.^[45] In this booklet (see Figure 9), some 56 contributors write about the recent history of Japanese migration to Australia since the 1980s, while others provide articles and records on the earlier settlers in the 19th century.

 

Not only did the JCA encompass a variety of Japanese-Australians in the 20th century, from recent arrivals to Japanese war brides who immigrated to Australia in the 1950s, it also placed itself in a continuum of Japanese migration to Australia. In that sense, in this publication of the JCA one can find a process of moulding an all-encompassing „Japanese-Australian‟ identity, chronologically linking recent arrivals with a longer history of Japanese migration to Australia, over a century. In the process of emphasising the symbolic function of the JCA, along with spatial efforts to link local Japanese ethnic associations across states and regions, the JCA attempted to link itself with a general history of Japanese migration to Australia since the 19th century.  

 

Identifying Japanese-Australians in the Global Framework

The JCA fulfilled both symbolic and pragmatic roles for Japanese-Australians. The „Japanese-Australian‟ identity projected by the JCA was imagined to be abstract as well as homogenous, in a distinction of themselves from other Australians. In addition to this, its attempt to build a historical linkage with early Japanese migration to Australia may call for a sense of belonging to a wider and longer history of Japanese migration and their experiences. Indeed, its symbolic function is carried further by setting the association within a wider international framework. To illustrate this, an interesting incident was found in an article on the general conference by the committee in 1996, which was reported in the July 1996 JCA newsletter. The article referred to actions taken against use of the term „Jap‟, a relatively accepted word for Japanese in Australia. The committee decided to protest against the usage of „Jap‟ in society as a discriminatory term. The minutes of the conference conclude:

 

The representative of the JCV stated that it is unwise to disregard the fact that the term „Jap‟ is still widely used in Australia, although it is globally recognised as a discriminatory word used against Japanese. We the committee realise that the term „Jap‟ might not hold such a strong discriminatory connotation in the Australian context, however, we acknowledge that not only does it disregard us Japanese but it is also a great concern that infringes our basic human rights.

(JCS, 1996 translation and italics by author) 

 

Here the JCA can be seen to identify itself within an international framework. When it considered the term „Jap‟, whose negative implications originally came from the American context, they perceived it to be problematic to Japanese-Australians as well. What is interesting to me is the point that those who called for the Australian usage of „Jap‟ to be dropped referred to the global context of Japanese diasporas, as well as universal human rights – although they understood that the term has no strong racist implication in a contemporary Australian context. In fact, they insisted that, in other places in the world, the term has a more negative and discriminatory tone when used to refer to Japanese or Japanese diasporas (nikkei Japanese). In this discourse, one can observe how the JCA attempted to represent or imagine their sense of diasporic Japaneseness in connection with other Japanese diasporas in a transnational framework. Here, members of the „national‟ Japanese ethnic club in Australia developed a mode of self-recognition from an international perspective, identifying themselves within a transnational community of Japanese diasporas across the world. Furthermore, through its collaborations and negotiations with other Australian associations, the JCA could develop its symbolic function as the body of all Japanese-Australians in the global nikkei community.

 

Japanese Australians as Nikkei Diaspora

In addition to this, the most significant aspect of the JCA is that it tried to deal with not only the domestic concerns as Japanese-Australians but also with international concerns shared more widely with Japanese nationals overseas. In this process, the term nikkei (Japanese diasporas, in this context) appeared in the discourse of the JCA. In the newsletters and correspondences between board members, the term „nikkei‟ was often adopted to represent overseas Japanese in generic terms, including all Japanese-Australians. As well, such an emphasis on collective Nikkei identity among the JCA was constructed in relation to the other authoritative formulators of Japanese identity: the Japanese government, along with Japanese society in the homeland. While the JCA strengthened its symbolic function by identifying itself as one of the nikkei communities found throughout the world, this practice, in turn, further enabled the JCA to become interested in wider global concerns shared among „all nikkei communities‟.

 

For instance, during the 1990s, the JCA and other overseas Japanese groups lobbied for extension of the right to vote to overseas Japanese, which was eventually partially accepted in 1998. This was already the issue of greatest concern at the time when the JCA was established,^[46] because Japanese nationals overseas at that time were unable to take part in any vote from outside Japan.^[47] The JCA sent 

JCA

             JCQ (Japan Club of Queensland)                     ------------------------ Japan

                   JCS (Japan Club of Sydney)                                        ------------------------ Other Nikkei Associations

                  JCV (Japan Club of Victoria)                     ------------------------ Other Ethnic Association

Internal Roles of the JCA

JCA encourages communication and shares

information between the Clubs in Australia

JCA is responsible for being an opinion leader on global issues on the Japanese Clubs in Australia

Figure 10. Roles of the JCA

(Source: Hosaka, 1995)

 

 

delegates to the annual conference of the Association of Nikkei & Japanese Abroad, a special public institution for overseas Japanese (Kaigai Nikkeijin Kyokai 1999)(Kaigai Nikkeijin Kyôkai, 1999). With regard to this, one item in the JCA committee minutes gives members an interesting suggestion of how to contribute to the magazine Kaigai Ijû (“Moving Overseas”), a publication of the Association of Nikkei & Japanese Abroad, directed to Japanese overseas communities across the world.  The JCA advised intending contributors to select issues that could be shared with a variety of Japanese overseas, instead of simply highlighting the unique lifestyle of Japanese-Australians (Hosaka, 1995). This story suggests that the JCA preferred members to be aware of being part of a global nikkei community. This is quite likely, given that, as one of the nikkei (Japanese diasporas) associations, the JCA undertook international engagement with other overseas Japanese communities. In the JCA newsletter of 29 June 1996, the JCA is situated as below (see Figure 10).

 

As the figure shows, as of 1996 the JCA claimed to be the representative of all

Japanese-Australians in the international frame, regardless of their geographical

                                                                                                                                          

vote infringed the constitution (Supreme Court of Japan, 2005).

and social differences across Australia. For this emphasis on members‟ nikkei identity, the JCA identifies itself as one nikkei association in relation to other nikkei or Japanese diasporas across the world. Of course, its emphasis on being part of the global Japanese diaspora community distinguished it from other ethnic associations in Australia. Also, the global positioning of the JCA bolstered its pragmatic agenda, in the network of both Japanese governmental institutions and other nikkei communities overseas when dealing with domestic issues. At the same time, by demonstrating that issues could be shared with other Japanese diasporas globally, it maintained the symbolic function of a Japanese ethnic association.

 

Disbandment of the JCA

After the withdrawal of JICA from Australia in 1994 (Hosaka, 1998a, p. 181), the JCA and other Japanese clubs faced several difficulties. Due to the sudden loss of the JICA connection, the JCA had to seek a new management method, as the JCA was more subsidised by the JICA than local Japanese clubs (Hosaka, 1994). Furthermore, in my interview with Hosaka, he mentioned that by the late 1990s the JCA already had difficulty in sharing wider issues internationally with overseas Japanese associations. Also, with regard to collaborating with other domestic (ethnic) associations and governmental institutions on matters related to settlement services for migrants, it is unclear what contributions the JCA had made since its foundation. For instance, a newsletter of the JCS, issued in July 1996, cites an article on the latest committee meeting held at Sydney on 29 June 1996. The minutes record a decision on the issue of „encouragement of further communication with other ethnic associations‟ (Hosaka, 1996). 

 

However, the decision made in the meeting did not develop a general policy for encouraging communication with other ethnic associations. Rather, it was noted:

 

We examined the statement by Mr Aso, President of the Japan Club of Sydney, which is a member body of the Ethnic Communities‟ Council of NSW. The committee agreed to leave this issue to each of the local Japanese Clubs‟ decision, instead of developing a general policy for actioning by the

JCA itself. 

(Hosaka, 1996, p. 10 translation by author)

 

This indicates that the pragmatic function of the JCA was being questioned, in association with the financial crisis caused by the withdrawal of JICA funding, which had been used to cover much of the costs of running the annual committee meeting. In order to deal with the problems that shook the JCA, the management committee decided to rely on its website and e-mail, instead of distributing minutes of meetings and discussions of the JCA each time.

 

In a circular e-mail to the committee from Hosaka as the secretary-general of the JCA, one can see the ways in which he introduced several changes to the association (Hosaka-JCA 2000). He stated that the JCA would cease to circulate the newsletters of local and overseas Japanese clubs, a function it had taken responsibility for since its foundation.^[48] As the national body of Japanese ethnic associations, the JCA received newsletters from local Japanese clubs every month and made them available to Japanese residents in Australia through the column in Nichigo Press. Hosaka started to rely more on new electronic media, such as the newly updated official website of the JCA, and e-mail, which was becoming popular during the time, to circulate these newsletters, instead of using print media (Hosaka, 2000a). In the process, the website was relaunched as Zengo Network (All Australian Network), and the JCA further minimised its function as a virtual network by 2001, reforming as an e-mail list named Japan Network of Australia. Nevertheless, after the voting rights of Japanese nationals overseas were almost assured by the late 1990s change in the electoral law, the JCA was unable to find any new concern that engaged the interests of all Japanese-Australians. Eventually, the e-mail list of the JCA was closed in 2004, though the website still remains and is maintained by Hosaka, as the archive of the Japan Club of Australia and its contribution to Japanese-Australians over close to fifteen years.

 

4.6. Conclusion: Limit of Transnational Nikkei Identity?

 

The Japan Club of Australia was launched by leaders of local Japanese clubs in Australia, individuals who had mostly immigrated to Australia by the early 1980s, after Japanese migration to Australia recommenced in the late 1970s. Having been supported by JICA, it had been responsible for looking after Japanese migrants in their places of settlement worldwide. The formation of local Japanese clubs and the JCA was expected to provide bridging institutions between Japan (the Japanese government) and its nationals in Australia. In contrast to the other Japanese living in

Japan, the Japanese in Australia could have been assumed to share the identity of „nationals overseas‟ who were able to associatively form a coherent ethnic community in the country of settlement. 

 

The members of the JCS, however, were new lifestyle migrants, whose patterns of and motivations for emigration bore little resemblance to those of earlier times. Despite this clear difference, support for associations of Japanese migrants from governmental bodies such as the JICA had followed the same support system as during the history of Japanese migration after WWII (Endo, 2009). When Japanese nationals left for another country as permanent migrants, it is no wonder that the Japanese government was active in assisting Japanese migrants‟ settlement in both direct and indirect ways. When the Japanese immigrated to Australia in the early 1980s, they were still able to feel that their nation was always behind their new lives. In other words, they were still able to belong to the nation that they had left, to some degree. As a result, I suggest that for some of these Japanese migrants in the 1980s, especially leaders of local associations, a sense of Nikkei or Japanese diaspora was a relatively familiar signifier by which to identify themselves.

 

Even so, Japanese migrants to Australia in the 1980s were no longer traditional Japanese migrants. For early Japanese mass migrants, migration was motivated by the escape of poverty or hope of economic success. By contrast, recent Japanese migration tended to be motivated by a search for a new lifestyle that was virtually unavailable in Japan. Additionally, these migrants came as individuals, though some of them received training sessions and seminars in conjunction with others migrating to the same place. Nevertheless, they were independent lifestyle seekers, who wished to achieve an alternative way of life in the experience of migration. They consequently left Japan for a new and desirable lifestyle that did not always relate to the acquisition of wealth or affluence.

 

At the same time, consuming different values embedded in commodities and experiences teaches people how to „individualise‟ themselves through difference, while dismantling a conventional collective identity by sharing the same lifestyle. Consequently, people in consumer society further seek something different, and living abroad or migration overseas in this respect becomes attractive for those who seek a distinctive (or as many Japanese would say, „my own‟) lifestyle. I have characterised the nature of contemporary Japanese migration as resting on these premises. Under such circumstances, one should consider the extent to which these migrants (dis)associate with their ethnic association in the place of settlement (Fukushima 1998), while the establishment of local Japanese ethnic associations has surely contributed to the well-being of the local Japanese migrants to some degree. As I have mentioned previously, some of the leaders of local Japanese ethnic associations acknowledged that they had to engage with such lifestyle migrants, in order to form Japanese ethnic associations in Australia since the 1980s (e.g. Fukushima, 1998; Hosaka, 1998b). As these discourses emphasise, these Japanese were reasonably aware that they were relatively individual and self-reliant migrants, compared to early Japanese migrants. 

 

Also, compared to other Japanese diasporas – such as the Japanese Americans who collectively experienced internment and confiscation of property during WWII – contemporary Japanese-Australians have no collective experience or memory around which to coalesce. While the JCA and even local clubs often refer to the history of Japanese-Australians over a century, the impact of the interruption of the flow of Japanese migration after WWII and the socio-economic change in the nature of contemporary Japanese migrants seem to impede their sense of belonging to one long and continuous historical stream of Japanese diasporas in Australia (including the harsh memories of Japanese-Australians during WWII). On these premises, no matter how the JCA attempted to develop its symbolic function as representative of nikkei diaspora or transnational nationalism on behalf of „all‟ Japanese-Australians,

I argue that from its inception there was already a radical limit to its capacity to integrate Japanese-Australians into a coherent ethnic community. For this reason, building and managing symbolic functions, by relying on an imagined transnational nationalism, nikkei diaspora – as the JCA often emphasised its engagement with and activity on behalf of „all‟ Japanese-Australian on both the domestic and the international level – was perhaps not a sufficiently stable foundation on which to operate a Japanese ethnic association in Australia.

 

Disjuncture in the Dual Function of the Ethnic Association in the JCA

Moreover, a malfunction in the symbolic function of an ethnic association of migrants undermines the credibility of its pragmatic function at the same time. As I have argued, both parts of this dual function of ethnic association benefit from being interwoven with the other. In these circumstances, accentuating diaspora in order to grow the collective consciousness of the group does not work to overcome internal diversity within the ethnic/migrant community. With regard to Croatian migrants in Western Australia, for example, Val Colic-Peisker (2002) finds that later arrivals of middle-class Croatians in the 1980s, who were young, independent, skilled and ambitious migrants, were not interested in associating with the existing Croatian communities that were established in the first wave of Croatian migration to the region in the 1960s. Colic-Peisker focuses in particular on the differences in socio-class background between the types of Croatian migrant. Indeed, this analysis indicates that an appeal to a sense of membership of a global diaspora is sometimes unable to grow, because diverse motivations for leaving the homeland are too disparate to identify the self with an abstract diasporic identity.

 

It has not been my intention to argue here that contemporary migrants to Australia no longer require ethnic associations for settlement support. In fact, ethnic associations are still uniquely significant for dealing with several problems in members‟ lives. Rather, what I argue here is that moulding an ethnic community association, on the assumption of a simple and homogenous sense of migrants‟ „ethnicity‟ among the co-ethnics, is unlikely to work well for associations of migrants recently emerging in Australian society. This recognition of the internal diversity within contemporary ethnic communities in Australia may lead to productive new analytical perspectives for dealing with it. It may also lead to a differentiation of ethnic association types, depending on specialised pragmatic functions for particular social sub-groups within the ethnic group. Indeed, it is necessary to examine how much other cultural identities (e.g. class, generation and gender) overshadow the formation of ethnic associations of migrants. This new analytical approach to ethnic associations in Australia will undermine the assumption of a unitary diasporic identity among co-ethnics.. 

 

The Impact of Marriage Migrant Women

These premises raise the question of how the purposes and ways of management of ethnic associations have been transformed. In particular, the impact of the increase in the number of Japanese female marriage migrants should be considered. Even after the disbandment of the JCA, a large number of Japanese ethnic associations have mushroomed across Australia. To consider this, by focusing on a small Japanese ethnic association of marriage migrants in an outer suburb of Greater Sydney, I will detail in the next chapter the ways in which the dual function of ethnic associations is sustained by members. In doing so, a key analytical approach will be to untangle the complexity of members‟ cultural identities, based on gender, ethnicity, location and class.

CHAPTER 5.   CONSEQUENT SETTLEMENT AND MARRIAGE MIGRATION OF JAPANESE WOMEN

 

5.1. Introduction

 

Having developed theoretical premises to explain contemporary Japanese migration in the last chapter, I stressed that their migration has taken place as a consequence of searching for a new lifestyle. With the arrival of high consumer society, the Japanese began to regard international migration as an alternative style of consumption and as a way of improving his/her lifestyle. Nevertheless, a most important inquiry about contemporary Japanese migration is its gendered nature, that is, the significance of women‟s departure from Japan (Kelsky, 2001). It is generally explained that there are Japanese women who suffer from persisting gender inequalities in the division of labour in Japanese society and business culture (Brinton, 1993; Hunter, 1993; Liddle & Nakajima, 2000; Suzuki & Stickland, 2007), which makes them inclined to travel abroad. Meanwhile, it should be acknowledged that, as I pointed out in the last chapter, the number of Japanese marriage migrants to Australia is increasing. Their travels to Australia were not only fuelled by their aspiration to accumulate new cultural capital, such as learning English, but also by the desire to re-draw a new lifestyle in new socio-cultural circumstances.

 

Starting from these premises, in this chapter I explore the lives of these marriage migrants on the basis of my long-term fieldwork in Sydney. In the first sections, I clarify a recent trend with regard to the residential distribution of the Japanese in general in Greater Sydney. Examining the results from the two most recent Australian censuses (in 2001 and 2006), I trace shifts in their residential trend has shifted. I then detail life stories of several Japanese marriage migrants by drawing upon particular occasions and experiences: their reasons for coming to Australia; their lives as temporary visitors or entrants; incidents that were critical to their decisions to become a migrant; ways to manage their „diasporic‟ and transnational lives. By investigating this pattern of entering and migrating to Australia, I aim to formulate some questions and issues relating to their dwelling as Japanese female marriage migrants in Australian society. This will be explored more fully in Chapter

6.

 

5.2. Growing Japanese Population in Sydney

 

Expanding Residential Distribution

I should firstly explain the reasons why my research focused on Sydney and its surroundings (Greater Sydney), and how this consequently gave me several interesting leads into more critical ways to detail the lives of my respondents and their experiences after migration. Sydney contains the largest Japanese population among the capital cities of Australia. Although the recent statistical datasets shows a rapid increase in the numbers of the Japanese population in Queensland (ABS, 2008c), it is still the case that the Japanese population in Sydney represents the largest group in Australia. Thus a diverse range of services and industries specific to Japanese are found in Sydney, although the degree of accessibility to such Japanese-oriented services depends on place of residence as they are relatively concentrated in the central and northern suburbs of Greater Sydney. 

 

A large city such as Sydney both attracts a greater spread of people and provides them with more choices in their dwelling styles. Even within a single ethnic group of migrants in Sydney, one can find diverse socio-economic characteristics. Not only does the internal diversity of the ethnic group result in the launching of several different groups, but within the group people would form different groups according to their residential distribution, with different needs and demands contextualised by local socio-economic characteristics. 

 

To this extent, it appears to be the case that members‟ residence and socio-economic circumstances are prominent factors in the success of many ethnic associations. In the case of the Japanese in Sydney, not only are they scattered across Greater

Sydney, they also comprise a diverse range of people – from temporary stayers (e.g. students, Working Holiday Makers and business people and their families) to permanent settlers (e.g. war brides, marriage migrants, and other migrants, including retirement visa holders). While it is difficult to draw a picture of the general characteristics of the Japanese community in such a big region, this diversity presents the researcher with the opportunity to carry out more critical comparative analysis among the different Japanese groups and associations that have emerged. Earlier research on Japanese settlers in Australia (Mizukami, 2006b) noted that they tend to live in (upper) middle class suburbs. In Sydney, it means that several upper middle class suburbs in northern Sydney bay area, such as Mosman or Neutral Bay. Nevertheless, the distribution of Japanese residents needs to be revisited in the light of the increased internal diversity of this group.

 

Second, as would be expected within such a large geographical landmass, Greater Sydney spans a considerable diversity of socio-cultural environments. It is also a dynamic region combining a variety of suburbs and regions, characterised by different degrees of economic or industrial development and infrastructure, as well as a range of patterns of ethnic diversity resulting from the arrival of large numbers of migrants from throughout the world. These factors strongly influence the socio-cultural characteristics of suburbs and local communities, as well as residents‟ local identity and ways of belonging to their suburb. In these circumstances, it is not surprising to find that many migrants incorporate local socio-economic

characteristics in the process of reconstructing their lives, and thus develop social identities that are somewhat different from those of co-ethnics living in other districts. In addition to the degree of economic capacity and infrastructure of the suburb where they live, a variety of cultural characteristics, including local ethnic composition and community atmosphere, can also become an integral part of the local identity of the residents. These aspects also relate to migrants‟ belonging and commitment to a location. 

 

Local Government Areas (LGAs) in NSW

Before exploring the experiences and lives of female Japanese marriage migrants in

Australia, this section aims to draw a general picture of a shift in the residential 

 

Figure 11. Division of Councils in New South Wales

(Source: NSW Department of Local Government (2008))

 

Figure 12. Councils in Sydney Local Government Areas (Inset A, Left) and Metropolitan Local

Government Areas (Inset B, Right)

(Source: NSW Department of Local Councils (ibid.))

 

 

distribution of the Japanese population in Sydney. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS,  2009), there are several categories in which to divide the regions of Australia, depending upon Local Government Area (by council), statistical division (original division for statistics by ABS), and electoral division as such. With regard to the delineation of local regions in NSW, I begin by introducing the most basic regional category, provided by the NSW Department of Local Government. Figure 11 below is a regional classification by Local Government Councils (LGAs), taken from a report titled Comparative Information on NSW Local Government Councils 2006/07 (2008). For the purpose of calculating the Japanese population and residential distribution effectively, I focus on particular LGAs constituted by councils in the following two areas: Sydney Local Government Areas, and Metropolitan Sydney Local Government Areas (see Figure 12). Occasionally, I may include regional councils in the surrounding Areas for comparison. 

 

Regional Organisations in Greater Sydney

Regional data based on local government area is sometimes inadequate when examining particular populations, due to the fact that the council boundaries do not necessarily reflect differences in regional socio-geographic characteristics. For this reason, I introduce another classification of the target region (Greater Sydney), that of Regional Organisation. Regional Organisations are sub-governmental associations that consist of several councils in a region and are responsible for comprehensive urban planning by their member councils. For instance, in the case of the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC) (2008), it is an organisation of 11 councils in western Sydney that was formed in 1973.^[49] According to the NSW Department of Local Government, there were 18 Regional Organisations throughout New South Wales as at March 2009 (NSW Department of Local Government, 2009): six Regional Organisations are found in both the Sydney and Metropolitan Local Government Areas, though some councils seem to participate in more than one Regional Organisation. Table 9 details Regional Organisations of the areas and surroundings. While some data on particular population or social groups based on 

Table 9. Regional Organisations and Constituent Councils  in the Sydney and Metropolitan Local Government Areas

 

REGIONAL ORGANISATION	ACRONYM	CONSTITUENT COUNCILS
SYDNEY AND METROPOLITAN COUNCIL AREAS
Inner Metropolitan Regional Organisation of Councils	IMROC	Ashfield, Burwood, Canada Bay, Lane Cove, Leichhardt, Strathfield, Sydney
Macarthur Regional Organisation of Councils	MACROC	Camden, Campbelltown, Wollondilly (*1)
Northern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils	NSROC	Hornsby, Hunters Hill (*1), Ku-ringgai, Lane Cove, North Sydney, Ryde, Willoughby
Shore Regional Organisation of Council	SHOROC	Manly, Mosman, Pittwater, Warringah
Southern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils	SSROC	Ashfield, Botany Bay, Burwood, Canada Bay, Canterbury, Hurstville, Kogarah, Leichhardt, Marrickville, Randwick, Rockdale, Sutherland Shire, Sydney, Waverley, Woollahra
Sydney Coastal Councils Group Inc		Botany Bay, Hornsby, Leichhardt, Manly, Mosman, North Sydney, Pittwater, Randwick, Rockdale, Sutherland Shire, Sydney, Warringah, Waverley, Willoughby, Woollahra
Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils	WSROC	Auburn, Bankstown, Blacktown, Blue Mountains, Fairfield, Hawkesbury, Hills, Holroyd, Liverpool, Parramatta, Penrith
SURROUNDING COUNCIL AREAS
Central Coast Regional Organisation of Councils	CCROC	Gosford, Wyong
Southern Councils Group		Bega Valley, Eurobodalla, Kiama, Shellharbour, Shoalhaven, Wingecarribee, Wollongong

(Source: NSW Department of Local Government (2009) )

Note: Wollondilly and Hunters Hill councils are excluded from Figure 12

 

individual councils provides numbers that are too small to compare and examine, those based on Regional Organisations give more effective data by aggregating several adjacent regional councils. It is particularly the case that the Japanese population in certain council areas is sometimes too small to be reported.^[50] The adoption of statistic data sets by Regional Organisation provides a clearer and more distinguishable figure of the Japanese population, by combining the data of several regional councils together.

 

5.3. Recent Residential Distribution of the Japanese in Sydney

 

Basic Characteristics of the Residence of the Japanese in Australia

According to a study on the Japanese in Melbourne (Mizukami, 2006b), the Japanese population there is generally found in (upper) middle class suburbs. Mizukami suggests that the major reason is the fact that part of this population consists of Japanese business expatriates and their families, who are assigned to an Australian branch operation. As Sawa Kurotani (2005) indicated in her study on such people in the US, their residence in the overseas branch location tends to be selected and provided by their company in Japan. They may even take over the residence where their predecessors lived. Whether they seek a residence by themselves or rely on their company, they tend to rely on local real estate agents who specialize in catering to the Japanese. In such cases, it is conceivable that the agent proposes a residence adjacent to the established Japanese community, for the convenience of such new arrivals. Kurotani (ibid.) also finds that family issues are of most concern for these Japanese workers: whether they are able to send their children to Japanese schools to receive a Japanese education, or to Japanese Saturday schools for learning the Japanese language. Also, availability of a range of professional services in Japanese or supplied by Japanese will be another important criterion when choosing a place to live. Anxiety about life in an unfamiliar foreign city may play a role in their choice to live among Japanese neighbours. For these reasons, these Japanese tend to choose safer and quiet suburbs, in association with Japanese neighbours and service providers. 

 

Taking into account both Mizukami‟s and Kurotani‟s studies, it would be fair to say that we find a similar residential pattern among the Japanese in Sydney. The further corollary is that wherever most of the community of Japanese business expatriates and their families tend to settle should also attract other Japanese residents, both permanent and temporary, seeking convenience and accessibility to Japanese service providers and industries, including more job opportunities for Japanese.

 

Table 10. Japanese Population (Japan-born People) in the Sydney and Metropolitan Areas and

Surrounding Councils in the 2006 Census by Regional Organisation of Councils

Area	Location in Greater Sydney	Japanese Population in Census 2006
MACROC (3 Councils)	South-West	66
NSROC (7 Councils)	North	4231
SHOROC (4 Councils)	Northern Coast	890
SSROC (15 Councils) plus Strathfield Municipality	Central and South	3752
WSROC (11 Councils)	West	897
New South Wales		11120
Sydney Statistical Division		10003

(Source: ABS ,2006)

Note: For details of constituent councils of each Regional Organisation, see Table 9. Some Regional Organisations omitted due to overlap among constituent councils.

 

Table 10 shows numbers of the Japanese (the ABS reports those who are Japan-born) in the Sydney region by Regional Organisation of Councils,^[51] based on the latest 2006 census. Generally speaking, the residential distribution of this Japanese population tends to be concentrated in the NSROC and SSROC regions. In Sydney, it is the northern suburbs (those situated within the constituent councils of NSROC) where most upper and upper middle class people are assumed to live. A data set provided by the ABS (2006) confirms that larger percentages of higher income households are found in northern Sydney suburbs, stretching into the north-western suburbs, while that region also records the lowest rates of unemployment (see Figure 13 and Figure 14). Considering this, it is feasible to argue that the northern suburbs comprise more relatively (upper) middle class suburbs than those of other regions in Sydney. Meanwhile, as Table 10 indicates, it is also apparent that northern suburbs are the most popular residential area for the majority of Japanese in Sydney. This trend in Sydney generally follows Mizukami‟s study (2006b) of the Japanese in

Melbourne.

 

Another statistical dataset illustrates another interesting aspect with regard to the Japanese residential distribution in Sydney. Between 2001 and 2006, most growth within the Japanese population of the Sydney region occurred in Greater Sydney‟s fringe suburbs, producing a shift in residential distribution. Table 11 shows the 

 

Figure 13. 2001 Census Map of Locations of High Household Income (A$2,000 Per Week)

(Source: Sydney Metropolitan Strategy, 2001, p. 47)

 

 

 

 

Figure 14. 2001 Census Map of Where Unemployed People Reside

(Source: Sydney Metropolitan Strategy, 2001, p. 47)

 

 

Table 11. Japanese Population in the Sydney and Metropolitan Areas  and Surrounding Councils in the 2006 and 2001 Census

Area	2006	2001	Increase since 2001	Rate of Change
MACROC
Camden City	7	5	2
Campbelltown City	56	58	-2
Wollondilly Shire	3	0	3
Total	66	63	3	4.76%
NSROC
City of Ryde	368	298	70
Hornsby Shire	397	305	92
Hヶワヵeン’ヴ Hill Cヰヶワcil aンea	25	18	7
Ku-ring-gai Council area	635	791	-156
Lane Cove Council area	263	240	23
North Sydney Council area	1144	1129	15
Willoughby City	1399	1335	64
Total	4231	4116	115	2.79%
SHOROC
Manly Council area	186	142	44
Mosman Council area	224	226	-2
Pittwater Council area	99	95	4
Warringah Council area	567	583	-16
Total	890	904	-14	-1.55%
SSROC
Ashfield Municipality	149	101	48
Burwood Council Area	56	71	-15
Canterbury City	109	108	1
City of Botany Bay	56	42	14
City of Canada Bay	105	77	28
City of Sydney	1222	984	238
Hurstville City	115	97	18
Kogarah Council Area	93	68	25
Leichhardt Council Area	156	141	15
Marrickville Council Area	238	205	33
Randwick City	445	394	51
Rockdale City	274	210	64
Sutherland Shire	170	157	13
Waverley Council Area	282	418	-136
Woollahra Municipality	222	242	-20
Strathfield Municipality (note 1)	60	55	5
Total	3752	3370	382	11.34%
WSROC
Auburn Council area	74	30	44
Bankstown City	99	80	19
Baulkham Hills Shire	140	106	34
Blacktown City	113	91	22
Blue Mountains City	78	66	12
Fairfield City	44	31	13
Hawkesbury City	30	19	11
Holroyd City	37	25	12
Liverpool City	53	48	5
Parramatta City	185	141	44
Penrith City	44	46	-2
Total	897	683	214	31.33%
Other Area
CCROC
Gosford City	94	72	22
Wyong Shire	50	28	22
Total	144	100	44	44%
New South Wales	11,120	10,179	941	9.24%
Sydney Statistical Division	10,003	9,274	729	7.86%

(Source: ABS, 2006)

Note 1. The population of the Strathfield Municipality is included in SSROC.

Note 2. Some Regional Organisations excluded due to overlap among constituent councils.

number of Japanese recorded in both the 2006 and 2001 censuses. It also shows the increased number in the population in the five years between 2001 and 2006, as well as the percentage increase over the 2001 census. Overall, the numbers of Japanese in Greater Sydney seem to have increased steadily; however seeing the numbers at the Regional Organisation level there is an indication that local populations have been increasing at different rates. The rates of increase in the Japanese population in NSROC and SHOROC, where the largest Japanese populations have been recorded, seem to be lower. In fact, in the SHROC region, the rate has fallen in the past five years. Meanwhile, the WSROC region recorded the highest rate of increase in the Japanese population between 2001 and 2006, more than 30 percent over the five years. The CCROC region also recorded a high rate of increase. This trend is interesting, in that both regions are located on the outskirts of Greater Sydney, far from Japanese „ethnoburbs‟ (Li, 2009).

 

Therefore, one may conclude that the Japanese residential distribution in Greater Sydney has expanded to the outer fringe suburbs in the past five years, while significant numbers continue to reside in the central and northern suburbs where the Japanese have established a kind of Japanese ethnoburbs. In summary, the Japanese in Sydney have begun to settle in a wider variety of suburbs and even to locate themselves in suburbs remote from Japanese ethnoburbs. 

 

Comparative Analysis with Other Asian Communities

To consider this expansion of residential locations of Japanese migrants in Greater

Sydney in detail, I also compare the Japanese data with those for other ethnic groups. I have selected ethnic groups classified in the „North-East Asian‟ Group by the

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS ,2006). In particular, I retrieved the data on the residential distribution of the following four ethnic groups for comparison: Mainland China; Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR); South Korea; and Japan.

 

Figure 15 represents four ethnic groups in councils in Sydney and Metropolitan Areas, and the surrounding regions listed in Figure 6, by five degrees of population density

(darker shading indicates a denser population of the ethnic group). Broadly, 

 

                Mainland China Born (111,093 persons)                      Hong Kong SAR Born (37,296 persons)

 

              Korea (Republic of) Born (32,401 persons)                            Japan Born (10,328 persons)

 

 

Figure 15. Residential Distribution of the North-East Asian Group in Sydney (Source: ABS (2006))

 

 

among the four groups, those who were born in Mainland China (Chinese people) recorded the highest population as well as the largest residential distribution (111,093 persons), stretching down to the Illawarra district in the south of Greater Sydney. The populations of those who were born in Hong Kong SAR (37,296 persons) and South Korea (32,401 persons) ranked second with residential distributions, relatively concentrated in Greater Sydney. The Japan-born people (the Japanese) recorded the smallest population of the four groups (10,328 persons), but they were the next most widely dispersed group after the Mainland Chinese. As discussed before, while the bulk of the Japanese population is still concentrated in northern and central Sydney, its residential distribution extended widely into surrounding regions of Greater Sydney, such as the Illawarra (south) and the Central Coast (north) areas. Also, the 2006 census (ABS ,2006) recorded a growth of the Japanese population in the Blue Mountains (a council located in the western fringe of Greater Sydney). In a nutshell, while Japanese choice of residence in Sydney may follow the traditional pattern to the point that a large number of Japanese still tend to live in relatively (upper) middle class suburbs for several reasons, recent trends revealed in a comparative analysis of the 2001 and 2006 censuses showed a residential distribution that stretches outside of Greater Sydney. The actual number of people is still smaller, however, than other northeast Asian groups.

 

Generally speaking, rapid growth of the population in the outskirts of Australian capitals has been a national trend, due to „a bubble‟ (2008, p. 18) in the property market across Australia – until late 2008, when the global financial crisis hit. As of late 2008, there were still predictions (Creer, 2002, p. 3) that Sydney house prices would largely keep increasing, while some suburbs were already facing a decline. Fiona Allon (2008, p. 16) has pointed out that the proportion of homeowners among young adults has dropped and that of renters has risen in the decade since the mid-1990s. Many new home buyers began to be interested in properties in far outer suburbs where they are able to obtain a larger property for an affordable price (e.g. Trup, 2008, p. 1). This may correspond to the expansion of recent Japanese residents to the fringe of Greater Sydney, as shown. In that sense, one may consider that the recent growth in the Japanese population in the outskirts of Greater Sydney has matched this national trend. This bubble of property price has caused particularly serious problems for recent arrivals (both domestic and international migrants to Australia) in seeking suitable accommodation around the city. It is, then, conceivable that many (relatively young) recent Japanese arrivals decided to settle in a suburb remote from Japanese ethnoburbs. 

 

In addition to this national trend, I would like to point out that a large number of recent Japanese migrants are marriage migrants with Australian partners. This fact indicates that, with regard to their decision of place of residence, they must negotiate with their local partner who already has established their life in a certain suburb. As I will show later, certain numbers of my respondents mentioned that their place of residence in Australia was mostly decided for the sake of their local partner, who already owned a property or was engaged in a job for a certain period in a particular suburb. Indeed, when considering the cause of the recent expansion of place of residence among Japanese migrants, we can conclude that it is an outcome of both the national trend of the rise of property and mortgage prices; and of a large proportion of marriage migrants who have come increasingly to comprise the largest population of contemporary Japanese migrants to Australia.

 

While the residential distribution of Japanese, when compared to other ethnic groups, has expanded across Greater Sydney and beyond, this greater expansion by a smaller population may be a cause of some problems for the settlement. By living away from their co-ethnics, they lose access to some ethno-specific services and commodities. These ethnically specific services can include not only ethnic food and other material supplies that sustain their lives, but also other general services such as medical and legal services in their language or supplied by co-ethnics. They also lack opportunities to participate as a labour force in businesses led by co-ethnic business entrepreneurs. 

 

Given that the migrant struggles to establish adequate social networks in the place of settlement, relying upon the co-ethnic community, he/she faces more difficulty in this kind of a situation. Migrants may also miss out on the benefits of official recognition as members of a „target group‟ if their community in that region is not large enough, as a particular ethnic/migrant group needs to be supervised and supported by the local council or other sub-governmental institutions through settlement services. Consequently, it is conceivable that the isolation of migrants which comes from the expansion of residence into areas with sparse population causes psychological anxiety, as well as social disadvantages. On the other hand, one may suggest to the contrary that the isolation from co-ethnics or their ethnic community may facilitate integration into a new local environment.

 

5.4. Becoming a Consequent Settler: Marriage Migration

 

Migration as a Consequence of Marriage

Considering features of their residential characteristics, I detail the lives of Japanese migrants living in Western Sydney. Although this region consists of quite diverse suburbs, according to the socio-economic profiles of the local community and regional characteristics (see Chapter 6 for further information), it is the best outer region in which to examine the lives of Japanese women marriage migrants with those living in upper middle class suburbs near the central region (see Figure 16).  In particular, I focus on stories of Japanese „marriage migrants‟, who have increasingly come to comprise the largest population of contemporary Japanese migrants to Australia. 

 

Beginning by asking why these women became interested in coming to Australia, I go on to describe how some crucial incidents and experiences eventually encouraged them to become a marriage migrant. Next, I focus on the fact that most of my respondents retain Japanese „nationality‟, while holding an Australian permanent residence visa. This „quasi-dual citizenship status‟, as I shall refer to it, will be drawn from several facets in their lives and future prospects. Meanwhile, their transnational communication, via electronic media such as the Internet, cannot be dismissed, as highlighted in works on contemporary diasporas (Bailey, et al., 2007; Hiller & Franz, 2004; Ignacio, 2005). While literature on the contribution of electronic media to migrant lives has usually focused on the formation of (virtual) transnational diaspora 

 

Figure 16. Regional Map of Western Sydney

Source: WSROC (2006)

 

communities through the media, I will argue that such electronic media are, for these Japanese marriage migrants, also important for representing their „Australian way of life‟. Finally, by examining the extent to which their marriage migration has affected their lives, with regard to the location of their residence and an engagement with a certain transnational lifestyle, I raise several questions about their strategies and modes of settlement, which will be discussed more deeply in Chapter 6.

 

Leaving Japan for Australia: Reasons

Prior to detailing the lives of Japanese marriage migrants in Western Sydney, it is important to remember that, in most cases, these marriage migrants entered Australia as a visitor without a certain purpose of migration. However, for several reasons (mostly marriage to an Australian), they eventually made up their mind to stay in

Australia permanently. In that sense, it is appropriate to regard many of them as „consequent settlers‟ (Mizukami, 2006b), those who move towards a decision to migrate after having commenced a period of living in Australia during which they consider themselves to be temporary stayers. As shown in Chapter 3, women make up a large proportion of recent Japanese consequent settlers. In the official statistics they are placed in the „on-shore‟ category, having applied for permanent residency in

Australia instead of lodging the required applications for a permanent visa at the Australian Embassy in Japan before their arrival. During fieldwork, I heard several motivations and reasons which provided encouragement to them to come to Australia. The two major ones were: learning English; and deserting Japan for the exploration of a new lifestyle, in accordance with the discourse of contemporary Japanese lifestyle migration.

 

Aspiration to Master English

In my fieldwork, many Japanese marriage migrants said they came to Australia with a desire to improve their English-language skills. Generally speaking there seem to be two major reasons for Japanese to improve their English. The first is that better skills in English will improve their career prospects. The other important reason is the belief that fluency in English signifies a certain cultural capital. The aspiration to speak better English may derive from a desire to apply „westernisation‟ as the yardstick of national development. It was, for example, one of the main pillars of the official policies (and public discourse) promoting kokusaika (internationalisation) in 1980s Japan (McCormack, 1996). For these reasons, some Japanese aspire to go to Australia because it is an English-speaking country. 

 

While many Japanese enrol in language schools, a significant number of younger Japanese pursue the objective of learning English by becoming a Working Holiday Maker (WHM). This option is widely recognised as the most casual way of learning English. Under this Program, a WHM visa holder is permitted to attend language school briefly during a stay of one to two years in Australia. What may hold greater appeal for young Japanese is that a WHM visa gives them more opportunity to work in Australia than a student visa does. This is of considerable assistance to those with a limited budget. Most Japanese WHMs tend to spend the first period of their stay learning English. It also serves as a preparatory period in which to set up their long-term stay and develop the language skills that make it easier to locate job information and to develop social networks. As Nobuaki Fujioka (2008) observes, the Japanese with a WHM visa exploit its possibilities in several ways, one of which is to learn English. Many ex-WHMs among my respondents answered that they went to a language school for the first time and developed their language skills and networks with co-WHMs in the class.

 

With regard to the enthusiasm among Japanese for learning English, Ryuko Kubota (2003) insists that it even reaches „ideological‟ levels, by emphasising the discourse as if the Japanese have being excluded from the global stage due to insufficient English skills. This argument seems to support the proposition that a better level of English is recognised as higher cultural capital in Japan. More interestingly, what I found in my fieldwork was that the motivation to learn English among my respondents was often developed by parents, beyond the respondents‟ own individual desire. That is, their aspiration for English was „inherited‟ from parents who also hoped to achieve it. Here, one can realise that the interest in learning/mastering English among Japanese seems to be shared across generations:

 

Hamano: What was your main motivation for studying English in Australia?

 

My mother was interested in studying overseas, though it was difficult for women of her generation to do it by themselves. I know she studied English by herself in Japan. I understand this is the reason why she finally let me take over her dream of studying English abroad. 

(Y.G. October 2007)

 

Another respondent spoke to me of her parents‟ influence on her learning English and going abroad:

 

It was the US where I went abroad for the first time. I had longed to go abroad since childhood. Perhaps, my parents wanted me to speak English. So, I remember my mother often played English music on the car stereo when driving. And she also sent me to English conversation school. All of our family members loved English so much. That‟s the reason why I became interested in English. 

(T. S. October 2007)

 

Regardless of such requirements or wishes across generations, it is believed that learning English is one of the best strategies by which Japanese can achieve upward mobility in society. Strategies based on developing cultural capital probably have stronger prospects of success for women than men, due to a gender bias in Japanese business culture. For Japanese women, acquiring a „special skill‟ seems to support their efforts to „jump the queue‟ (Kelsky, 2001). In light of the perception that Japan suffers the handicap of being a mono-cultural nation (McCormack, 1996; Oguma, 2002), skill in a foreign language has been particularly recognised as „women‟s weapon‟, since women often face unfair treatment in the Japanese business world

(Kelsky, 2001, p. 100). In fact, a survey by the Japanese Government (MIAC, 2007) on time use and leisure activities in Japan found that, among young working Japanese between the ages of 15 and 34, women are more likely to study languages than men. 

 

One respondent explained that her decision to learn English was what led to her arrival in Australia as a female business expatriate. When she started work as a high school graduate, she was disappointed by the fact that none of her male colleagues with a higher degree at the company would take phone calls from foreign clients for fear of embarrassment, due to their poor English. As a female member of staff, it was expected that she would answer such calls regardless of her English skill. The experience encouraged her to improve her English and finally convinced her to resume her English studies. She felt that improving her English skills was the best move a woman working in that office could make. Through the interview with me, she was thoroughly modest in expressing her desire to achieve her career aspirations, but it is apparent that her desire to master a „special skill‟ was what led to her appointment to an Australian branch of the company as a business expatriate from Tokyo and, eventually, to her permanent settlement in Australia as a marriage migrant. During her appointment to the company in Sydney, she met her partner and decided to stay. When I heard this story at her home, she spoke to me, „(pointing at her partner over there) Then, I was caught by him‟ while laughing.

 

In the case of another woman, before she came to Australia to improve her English, she had already worked as a translator and interpreter in Japan, as she learnt English at college (two-year tertiary education). In Japan, while she was satisfied to find a job relating to the English language she loved, she was jealous of her college friends who improved their English a great deal after they went to the US and received a university degree there. In the office, because of her educational background, she was unable to rid herself of the suspicion that her university graduate colleagues might be dissatisfied with her. There, she frequently wondered if her colleagues might question if she deserved to be appointed to such an important position in the office, without this education. These feelings eventually drove her to go to Australia to improve her English skills, although she explained to me that accumulating working experience in Australia at the initial stage was also an important object for her upon arrival. She met her Australian partner in the process and remained in Australia with a business visa, before becoming a permanent migrant through marriage. In the interview, I still remember that she said that, even during this time, she could not always stand up to her local colleagues in the workplace, because of the language barrier or her different background. For this woman, working with fluent English was, regardless of whether she was in Japan or Australia, important aspect for self-esteem.

 

Longing for a New Life, Outside of Japan

For the Japanese (especially women), learning English abroad is also frequently driven by their desire to lead a different life in a different culture. Even though gender equality has being achieved in the last decades, many women still express a sense of alienation or estrangement from Japanese society due to their own perception of their gender, and they view Western society as a hopefully more welcome environment for women in general. Indeed, an aspiration to learn English, beyond simply learning the language, relates to their interest in the West, in opposition to Japanese society, in a better way. Such a perception of Western countries can be seen as a „defection‟ of Japanese women to Western society, as discussed by Karen Kelsky (2001). For this investigation, Kelsky appropriates the Japanese term akogare, in order to conceptualise Japanese women‟s aspiration to the

West. She defines the term as follows:

 

[A]kogare, which, translated variously as longing, desire or idealization, is the word most often used both among and about women in Japan to describe women‟s feelings about the West. To have akogare (to akogareru) is to long for something that is unattainable. “Seiy┗/Amerika ni akogare ga atta” (I had a longing for the West/America) was the phrase with which most women‟s narratives began. Akogare exemplifies… Western-Japanese interactions in the modern era: the West is the desired, always unattainable, Other.

(Kelsky, 2001, p. 26)

 

Kelsky examines cases of Japanese women who moved to the US driven by their akogare to the West and I agree with her arguments to some extent, in that a large number of Japanese women came to Australia motivated by a similar feeling. In my fieldwork, one of my respondents expressed it as follows, when explaining why she came to Australia as a Working Holiday Maker:

 

In my case, I thought I wasn‟t good at housekeeping, compared to many of my friends who went to university, got a job as OL,^[52] married and quit the job for life as a house wife… My parents, especially my mother often told me that she wishes me to pursue ordinary happiness as a woman (futsu-no-shiawase) by marrying a man from the same workplace, after graduating from high school and college. But I pondered what ordinary happiness means for me. Compared to other Japanese in Australia who came here with a clear dream to come to realise. I came here with no particular reason, only that I wanted to speak English. I know just the skill of speaking English is not enough [reason] for doing so, but I wanted to go abroad anyway…  

 

And she continues:

 

It was in Canada when I was on a trip with my family that I first had a chance to speak English. I was a junior high school student then and I was seeing foreigners (gaikoku-jin) ⁵⁶ for the first time during this travel. I was afraid of the foreigners until then but they were in fact so kind to me. I still recall [thinking] Canadian children as young as I were so cute. I know I was ridiculous to feel such a thing, but I had been (akogarete-ta) living with the image in the [Western] movies, I simply had longed for it. That was the whole reason why I came here (Australia). 

(A. S November 2007)

 

From this narrative, one can realise that she was „pulled‟ to Australia as a Western country by two impulses. First, she felt anxiety as to whether she could attain „ordinary happiness‟ as a woman in Japanese society, though an ideal image of it was constantly overshadowing her life in Japan. Her sense of dissonance, brought about by the social pressure on Japanese women, was further exacerbated by her encounter with the „foreign‟ in Canada. It was also apparent that her encounter with the first

„foreigners‟ strengthened the longing for the West that she had developed in Japan. 

 

In the same interview, she later spoke about how much she grew up as an independent person in her one-year stay in Australia as a Working Holiday Maker. Thanks to those early days in Australia, she realised that she had transformed into a more independent and self-reliant person than she had been in Japan with her family. These experiences finally led her to consider marriage migration to Australia, after meeting an Australian in Japan. As the interview went on, she finally mentioned that her marriage migration to Australia was also an indispensable opportunity to achieve a „freer life‟, reflecting her anxiety about the social demands on women in Japanese society. This would be a very succinct summary to explain the fact that she finally settled in Australia, due to her akogare for the West (Australia). After having met her future Australian partner in Japan, who was used to moving frequently between both countries for business, she consequently immigrated to Australia through marriage to him.

 

While Kelsky argues that Japanese women project their akogare onto Western culture and society in generic terms, I would argue that it is not a sufficient explanation of all why a large number of Japanese women today go abroad. One should be careful in arguing that akogare or desire for the West applies to all Japanese women who go abroad. It particularly needs to be borne in mind that

Kelsky carried out her ethnographic research among Japanese women who obtained higher education in Japan and could afford to undertake tertiary education in the US.

Contrary to these women who went abroad, the aspiration for a Western life can also be fulfilled „at home‟ through the consumption of Western goods and the sign values embedded within them. For example, in Gambling with Virtue: Japanese Women and the Search for Self in a Changing Nation, an ethnographic study of Japanese housewives, Nancy Rosenberger (1996) observes the ways in which Japanese wives challenge traditional gender roles in the domestic space, re-organising their houses by filling them with Western goods and furniture. 

 

According to Rosenberger, this may represent a kind of resistance by Japanese housewives against a traditional and conservative family structure and their duty in the home. By introducing something „Western‟, they attempt to reform the traditional gender role they must play in the Japanese cultural sphere. On account of Rosenberger‟s arguments, I particularly became interested in how these Japanese housewives introduce the embedded sign values of „Western individualism‟ through

Western materials. In practice, they would believe that Western materials and practices (such as spacing and dividing the home like a Western house) are cultural goods that carry Western values (individualism and equality in gender division of labour in the family) into their Japanese house. Additionally, Rosenberger‟s observations point out that, for Japanese women, regardless of generation gaps, representation of self through still-gendered duties in the domestic space is significant for achieving a certain social identity. In the same vein, as we will see, this is still the case among Japanese women marriage migrants in contemporary Australia.

 

The Japanese women who were my respondents adopted the strategy of consuming the West by leaving Japan for a Western country (Australia), instead of struggling to re-construct the self within their domestic sphere in Japan – against the grain of the conventional gender role of Japanese housewife, as Rosenberger observed. However, insofar as these Japanese women in Australia were searching for the sign value of the West by coming to Australia, I tend to see these women in the light of lifestyle migrants, who sought migration as a way of „anti-materialistic consumption‟ (Mamada, 2005). Both these women and other Japanese migrants today carried out migration in the hope of an improved life „style‟, instead of mere material fulfilment.

This practice has also been undertaken by consuming images and values of new culture and life. Above all, these women made most use of this opportunity to envisage a new life outside of the bind of traditional and conventional gender roles and values in Japanese society. This is because I assume that their longing  (or akogare) for a different lifestyle and lifestyle values in experiencing life overseas had not come into being, until they first learnt to consume sign values of difference embedded in their unique experiences, as well as the popularisation of international tourism favoured in consumer society. 

 

The growth of consuming „experiences‟ (images and information embedded in the object or event of consumption) is a typical practice in the rise of consumer society in Japan since the 1980s, alongside the rise of „semiotic consumption‟ and subsequent „de-materialistic consumption‟ (Mamada, 2005, 2007). For this reason, I partly agree with Kelsky‟s argument about Japanese women‟s defection, based on the concept of akogare, as a reflection of what has been a radical issue for women in Japanese society since the Meiji era. However, my argument here is that it is also necessary to consider the impact of social changes taking place in Japan in the 1980s, changes which have transformed the nature of going abroad for Japanese in general.

 

Initial Reasons to Visit Australia

Almost all of my marriage migrant respondents answered that they had a certain period of working experience in Australia before marriage. Some began by doing casual and/or part-time work during a WHM or student period. Among these, a few were able to stay on, having been sponsored for a business visa by an employer, including Japanese companies in Australia. Regardless of the type of job they had, they tended to serve Japanese clients and tourists mainly from Japan. Many however felt that their working conditions were quite problematic and that some Japanese employers exploited Japanese temporary visitors, such as WHMs, as Nobuaki Fujioka (2008) reports. At the same time, they acknowledged that it is quite difficult for Japanese temporary stayers, and even Japanese business visa holders, to participate in local industry and compete with Australians for work, due to their lack of local knowledge and lack of adequate language proficiency. Thus, in order to stay longer in Australia, they must rely on Japanese service industries for employment and thus miss out on integrating into mainstream Australian society through the workplace.^[53] One respondent explains this dilemma as follows:

 

Now it may not be the correct answer to the question you just asked me but I want to make a point here that while the Working Holiday Program is technically intended to encourage young Japanese to interact with local Australian culture and society, such a chance never comes to the Japanese Working Holiday Makers. For them, the only available jobs are at Japanese restaurants and on low wages. After all, as they are not good at speaking English, they will never be able to take part in Australian society.… For me, the Working Holiday Program seems to be a method of turning young Japanese into a labour force to be exploited… I really believe they should be a stop such exploitation of the Japanese Working Holiday Makers by the Japanese themselves in the future. If the Japanese in Australia help each other, they are more able to join wider Australian society and offer a better working environment for our future arrivals. It might make it easier for them to take part in the mainstream society. 

(R. P. September 2007):

 

While a large number of young Japanese arrive expecting to have „different‟ or „invaluable‟ experiences derived from different values and lifestyles in Australia, many of them find the reality of Australian life means that they land in a lower status than they had been in Japan. Moreover, even if they avail themselves of the opportunity to stay in Australia longer by updating their visa status, continued dependence on Japanese business and industry still seems to be inevitable for the majority of Japanese, even including permanent residents; in effect, the same situation they faced when they were a temporary stayers newly arrived in Australia. 

 

The majority of the Japanese feel that access to job opportunities in the Australian workplace is limited. Recently, the size of Japan-related service industries in Australia seems to have shrunk, due to the long economic recession affecting Japan to this present and consequently to a decrease in the number of Japanese tourists (Tourism Australia, 2008a). For this reason, in my interviews, some answered that the impact of the decline of these Japan-related industries in Australia has discouraged many Japanese from seeking to extend their employment in Australia. Consequently, regardless of visa status, with regard to working conditions and job opportunities for the Japanese in Australia, temporary Japanese entrants in Australia seems to experience difficulty in seeking a way to stay in Australia with a secure job opportunity.

 

Becoming a Consequent Settler (Migrant)

My respondents often mentioned that they came to Australia for a temporary stay without any clear aim of later migrating more permanently to Australia. In that sense, their marriage migration can be thought of as „consequent settlement.‟ Nevertheless, it is necessary to point out that some Japanese women in my research did come to Australia intending to stay, even though they first entered the country on a temporary visa. This strategy would typically be adopted by those who hope to immigrate to Australia, but do not have sufficient qualifications (and/or skills and assets) to lodge an application for an Australian permanent visa. The system allows them to enter Australia and then develop one or more qualifications that satisfy the criteria for applying for a permanent resident visa. Mostly the subcategories of permanent visa they obtain are classified in the Skilled Migration stream. 

 

Unsurprisingly, significant numbers of these temporary entrants first arrive as WHMs. Currently, Australia has an agreement of Working Holiday Program with 24 countries, which allows young people (aged 18-30) to stay in Australia for a certain period (DIAC,  2008a; Tan, et al., 2009). Because of relatively low criteria and costs to apply for Working Holiday visa for the Japanese, it is one of the most popular ways to stay in Australia (see Chapter 3). Since the 1980s, when the Working Holiday Agreement was endorsed between Australia and Japan, the Working Holiday program has been recognised as the most convenient and casual way for young Japanese to experience a long-term stay and to learn English in

Australia, as seen previously. Although the length of Working Holiday has been strictly limited to a maximum of two years, some seek a chance to stay in the country permanently through this temporary visa. 

 

In a study of Japanese WHMs in Melbourne, Nobuaki Fujioka (2008) gathers several stories of Japanese WHMs, who make use of the program as a stepping stone to migrate to Australia. Fujioka identifies two groups of these: the first group are those who intend to immigrate to Australia as independent or skilled migrants in the future; and the other are those who are considering if they marry an Australian partner whom they met in Japan or somewhere else before. Those in the first group utilise the WH program as an opportunity to develop their skills, as well as to seek a job which allows them to obtain an employer-sponsored business visa, upgrading to a permanent immigration to Australia. Fujioka also introduces other interesting stories of Japanese WHMs who began to consider immigrating to Australia after they had spent a certain amount of time in Australia as a WHM. These WHMs try to extend their WH visa with other temporary visas so as to continue their stay and seek an opportunity to immigrate, having been encouraged to immigrate to Australia by the enjoyable experiences of their temporary stay. In local Japanese magazines, one can often find Japanese travel and immigration agents advertising to these people that they are able to provide „the cheapest study program‟ for visa extension.  

 

These stories also contribute to the blurring of the dichotomy of temporary stay and migration among the Japanese in Australia. In the latter case, these people regard a period of one year (or up to two years) of WHM as a „trial period‟ in deciding about marriage migration to Australia. In my fieldwork, I heard similar stories from those who took marriage migration after they arrived in Australia on a WH visa. In the case of T. S., when explaining why she took a WHM visa, she listed benefits such as: availability of long-term stay (one year at least), combined with the easiest procedure for obtaining a visa; permission to work; permission to study English for a limited period. Like those who apply for a WH visa for the purposes of learning English or upgrading to a permanent visa, some marriage migrants, like T. S., also took a WH program as the most casual and convenient way of „living‟ in Australia for a certain period. While this person was aware of her ultimate goal of becoming a migrant through marriage, her arrival with a WH visa was her spontaneous choice to attain a „trial period‟ before marriage, as well as to spend a certain time for acquiring basic social skills for settlement. Indeed, not only are the recent Japanese WHM‟s the largest resource of the casual labour force in the local Japanese service industries (Joint Standing Committee on Migration, 1997; Maksay, 2007); they also evolve into a certain number of future permanent residents, including marriage migrants.

 

5.5. Australia as a New Home

 

Lives of Japanese Marriage Migrants

Marriage migration is a crucial experience for these Japanese women which may throw up several critical incidents in the process. Interestingly, a (somewhat traditional) Japanese expression to denote women‟s marriage is yome ni iku or totsugu, both of which can be translated as „to go as a daughter-in-law‟ (Cherry,

1987, p. 73). As Cherry explains, the significance of these phrases was that „the bride… used to be expected to go irrevocably into her husband‟s home‟ (ibid.). In that sense, marrying has been understood generically for Japanese women as a departure to a new „home‟. In the case of contemporary Japanese marriage migrants, not only do they have to become accustomed to socio-cultural difference in the new settlement place after leaving their „homeland‟, they also have to deal with making a new relationship with in-laws and local networks within the new home. In the case of Japanese women marriage migrants, these women were independent travellers who have departed for a new „home‟ in Australia on their own. Many of them are also vulnerable as migrants, in that their migration did not take place on the basis of skills or qualifications. Such circumstances imposed onto the early stage of marriage migration makes one wonder how they experience and perceive their settlement in the new environment.

 

Crucial Factors for the Choice of Residence

The shift from being a temporary visitor to becoming a migrant by marriage causes a drastic change in the place of residence of these women in Australia, as well as their lifestyle. As a Japanese student or WHM, the lives of these temporary stayers depend on the opportunities provided by a Japanese ethnoburb as both a living and a working environment. In contrast to this, marriage migrants cannot decide the location of their residence, but must instead negotiate it within the family, taking its interests into account. These are likely to include the partner‟s long-established residence and place of work and the education needs of children. Many of my respondents informed me that they only moved to western Sydney, where I conducted my fieldwork, after becoming married. They pointed out that marriage to an Australian spouse was the most significant reason for their moving to a part of Sydney where there are few Japanese residents. Some spoke to me about their moving to western Sydney from other areas (mostly the central and northern suburbs).

 

Hamano: Why did you move to this present location [The Blue Mountains]?

 

I moved here to purchase a house. The previous house was too small for a family with two children. Our initial plan was to renovate, but T [her husband] decided to move out of central Sydney to somewhere else since the previous place would be smaller even after renovation. We checked many suburbs, but finally made a decision to move here because this is close to the main train line [the Western-Blue Mountains Line]. As you know, the public transportation system is less developed in Australia. We also saw several properties in the North [of Sydney] and the Central Coast region [father north], but this place seemed to be the most convenient location outside of Sydney for access and getting around even without a car. Actually, I resisted moving up at first because I already had many friends in the previous suburb, and I thought there is no Japanese around in this area. But, we did end up moving.^[54] 

(T. G. November 2007)

 

Another respondent also moved to western Sydney due to her partner‟s demand:

 

I moved to this suburb when I married in 2005. When I and my husband looked for a new place to live, he argued for staying in Western Sydney, close to the suburb where he was living. He also had a strong desire to live in a freestanding house. His grandparents lived in this suburb and I was told it‟s a long-established and safe area. That‟s how we came to western Sydney where I‟m living now.  

(M. C. September 2007)

 

As these stories indicate, the decision by these respondents regarding the location of their current residence was seldom theirs alone. In fact, their new residence after marriage was mostly selected in accordance with their partner‟s requirement or preference. Meanwhile, relatively young couples, as M. C. mentioned, decided to move to this region in order to look for an affordable property in a better environment for their future family. In my interviews with others, it became apparent that some could not escape feelings of isolation in western Sydney, since they had to leave behind the place where they had already established their lives or which afforded them easy access to local Japanese community services. 

 

At the same time, there were those who regarded this new region (Western Sydney) as the best place to live for their future life and family. For example, the NSW Government notes, „Western Sydney is where many young people are choosing to begin their families with the population younger on average than for Sydney generally. More than 1 in 3 people (37.4%) are aged 24 years and under‟ (New South Wales Government, 2009). My Japanese residents also saw the region positively.

They emphasised the availability of open spaces and beautiful surrounds, essential components of the „Australian way of life‟, in which they wished to participate with their family, had appealed to them quite strongly. These positive attributes of western Sydney, in terms of the kind of „home‟ and lifestyle generally preferred in Australia, will be addressed in detail in Chapters 6 and 7.

 

Quasi-Dual Citizenship

When speaking of the life of contemporary migrants or diasporas in general, it is essential to acknowledge that all migrants construct and maintain a certain „transnational‟ lifestyle, by belonging to both their homeland and the place of settlement in particular ways. Just as the growth of the „network society‟ (Castells,

2000) has overwhelmingly taken place throughout the world, the life of migrants has also been constructed in the new societal formation, in relation to the circulation of global capital and media, as well as advanced communication and transportation technologies. In that sense, an aspect of „transnationality‟ is a distinctive feature of migrants since the late 20th century. Although, generally speaking, transnationalism is defined as „the process by which immigrants forge and sustain multi-standard social relations that link together their societies of origin and settlement‟ (Basch, et al., 1994, p. 7), its modes of realisation are, in fact, diversified, depending on migrants‟ socio-economic status as well as their patterns of entry, such as visa categories related to their motivation to immigrate to the receiving country (O'Flaherty, et al., 2007). In Flexible Citizenship: The Cultural Logic of Transnationality (1999), Aihwa Ong explores a strategy pursued by Chinese business entrepreneurs (mostly from Hong Kong) and their families of holding multiple citizenships and of spreading their living sphere across nation-states on the Pacific Rim, in order to achieve the best results for all family members, as well as to accumulate wealth across boundaries. For these people, the cultivation of flexible citizenship is a „strategy‟ to seek to „both circumvent and benefit from different nation-state regimes by selecting different sites for investments, work, and family relocation‟ (Ong, 1999, p. 112). 

 

As the Department of Immigration and Citizenship of Australia reports (2008b), the citizenship rate of Japanese in Australia is surprisingly low. Most Japanese first-generations in Australia tend to stay in Australia with a permanent visa instead. The main reason for maintaining this „quasi-dual citizenship‟ status is that Japanese law effectively restricts its nationals from holding more than one citizenship or „nationality‟. In the case of my respondents, as a report provided by the Department of Immigration points out, the rate of Japanese who have obtained Australian citizenship after their immigration to Australia is quite low (DIAC,  2008b), and this fact suggests that they prefer to stay in Australia permanently with an Australian permanent visa, instead of taking Australian citizenship. This status of Japanese migrants in Australia represents a form of „quasi-dual citizenship‟. For example, a respondent explained her choice to settle in Australia under quasi-dual citizenship status as follows:

 

Hamano: Aren‟t you interested in applying for Australian citizenship later?

 

No, I don‟t think so. I hesitate to give up my Japanese nationality. Anyway, I don‟t feel any inconvenience living in Australia as I do now. That‟s another reason.

 

Hamano: Would you consider taking Australian citizenship if it was becoming inconvenient to stay in Australia [under the present arrangement]?

 

Maybe… But, it doesn‟t concern me at this stage.  

 

Hamano: Would you apply for it if Japanese nationals were officially eligible for dual citizenship?

 

Maybe if dual citizenship was possible, I might… But, you know, I remember what a pain it was when I applied for an Australian permanent visa. I must have filled out a heap of documents for that application. And, I hear that applicants must sing the Australian Anthem to pass the citizenship test.^[55] I‟m just as happy not to bother since it‟s such an annoying system. Or, I may do it when I really need to take it, but basically, I don‟t think so.  

(Y. R. April 2008)

 

For this woman, living with quasi-dual citizenship is convenient enough to settle in Australia. As with Y. R., many of the respondents in my fieldwork answered that they were satisfied with the point that Medicare and other benefits relating to social welfare services are accessible to permanent residents, as well as to Australian citizens. They also showed their reluctance to limit the length of stay in Japan once they lose Japanese nationality, even though their intention is to stay in Australia permanently – even after retirement. In this case, they understand that being a Japanese national prevents them from holding any other citizenship and they are consequently living in Australia with Japanese nationality and Australian permanent residency.^[56] At the same time, they often expressed that they are strongly reluctant to be obliged to vote in Australian elections, once they obtain Australian citizenship. 

 

Additionally, in my early research in Brisbane (Hamano, 2010), some

long-established Japanese migrants explained to me that they retain their Japanese nationality in order to receive aged pensions from both sides after retirement, while living in Australia. Given that the concept of „flexible citizenship‟ is defined by a „strategy‟ to seek to „both circumvent and benefit from different nation-state regimes‟ (Ong, 1998, p. 112), their choice of quasi-dual citizenship status should be taken into account in the pragmatic strategy between two nations. Even so, since 1 January 2009, the Social Security Agreement between Australia and Japan began to legislate this situation. By the Agreement, both pensions system are merged. Consequently, for the Japanese, a certain period of stay in Australia is counted towards the claim of a Japanese Old Age pension after retirement in Japan (note: in Japan, applicants compulsorily deposit a certain amount of money for more than 25 years to receive an Old Age pension after retirement). This new Agreement therefore might negatively affect their strategy of receiving pensions from both countries.

 

Nevertheless, there were some reasons I recorded in the fieldwork about this quasi-dual citizenship that cannot be explained as solely pragmatic strategies. Rather, these often contain an emotional attachment to national identity and linkage with the homeland.

 

Hamano: What is the reason for not applying for Australian citizenship?

 

Mm… Because… I‟m Japanese.

 

Hamano: Japanese? In what sense are you Japanese?

 

I‟m Japanese. I‟m aware that I‟m living in Australia as a Japanese. I think I would live here for the rest of my life (hone wo umeru), but I‟ll be here as a Japanese. I‟ll never become naturalised an Australian. Like a British citizen, some hold plural citizenship for convenience, but others never make the choice. I belong to the latter. I have no problem with holding an Australian permanent visa to live here. I don‟t feel the point that I have no right to vote here as an inconvenience. 

(R. P. September 2007)

 

As her answer to my question reveals, her quasi-dual citizenship was explained as her positive choice, rather than a negative one imposed by Japanese legal restrictions. In the case of R. P., she asserted that she would not take the „convenient‟ option, even though the Japanese law was being relaxed on nationals holding plural citizenships. Therefore, when the Japanese permanent settlers speak of a situation of quasi-dual citizenship in Australia, it is on the one hand explained by a strategy of flexible citizenship under the limits currently imposed on Japanese nationals unable to hold plural citizenship openly; on the other hand it is an expression of their sense of Japanese diaspora or linkage with the nation of their birth.

 

While these Japanese women marriage migrants mostly retain the status of „quasi-dual citizenship‟ status, there is another concern about the impossibility of holding dual citizenships, with respect to their children. Under Japanese laws of nationality, the children of Japanese nationals and non-Japanese nationals are allowed to hold dual nationalities, although they have to choose either Japanese nationality or the other once they turn 21 years old. In my fieldwork, without exception, Japanese women who have children over 21 year old answered that their children chose Australian citizenship, while those who still have younger children suggested that their children would also became Australian citizens in the future. In conversation about the issue of their children‟s citizenship, some women answered with the practical reason that their children depended on a HECS-HELP loan, a student loan funded by the Department of Education of Australia for tertiary education, for which Australian citizens are generally eligible. Most interestingly, regardless of the age of their children, my respondents stressed that their children are „Australian‟, who grew up in Australia and identity with Australian culture and society. Even though these women are Japanese and their children still hold Japanese passports, there was almost no doubt for these women that their children grew up as Australians (with Japanese cultural heritage). To clarify this, these women of cross-national marriage called their family (including their children) „Australian‟.

This will be explored further in later chapters.

 

Depending upon Digital Diasporic Media

Another aspect of the transnational lifestyle of marriage migrants is their heavy reliance upon the Internet in everyday life. Not only did these women use the Internet to obtain useful information on Australian life or to keep in touch with their family long-distance; they also used it for networking with other Japanese women marriage migrants in Australia, through access to personal blogs, mailing lists and social network services. Olga Guedes Bailey et at. (Bailey, et al., 2007, p. 2) argue that „diasporic media cultures become strategic positions for self-expression and representation… Diasporic media are not set points of difference; their roles and their significance to audiences and users are conditional and shaped within wider societal and communication processes‟. Emily Noelle Ignacio (2005) observes the ways in which Filipino diasporas construct (or imagine) a diasporic community through the Internet across national boundaries. Thus the use of advanced media communication technologies, such as the Internet, has been examined as the most significant facet of the life of contemporary diasporas in managing a transnational collectivity across great distances. 

 

These studies tend to focus, however, on the formation of (virtual) transnational or diasporic community through the media and examine the process by which contemporary media technologies have begun to dismantle the geographic and political boundaries of nations, while, in some cases, the media technology can be appropriated to imagine an alternative „transnational nationalism‟ (Ang, 2001) or

„imagined community‟ (Anderson, 1991) of contemporary diasporas. The use of the Internet and related contemporary media technology enables diasporic users to maintain or develop extended networks across space. 

 

It is clear that Japanese women marriage migrants today rely on media technology to exchange ideas and information with other marriage migrants across Australia. A virtual community on the Internet becomes the site of a semi-diasporic community of Japanese marriage migrants, who are able to share particular and specific migratory experiences, rather than developing a more global Japanese community by integrating a variety of Japanese diasporas. In my research field of Western Sydney, the population of Japanese is far smaller than in the Japanese ethnoburbs in northern and central Sydney. Nevertheless, as I noted, many of these women moved to the region due to the interest of their partners or families, rather than relying on the established Japanese community in the locality. It is a region where none of the language periodicals produced for Japanese speakers in Sydney are distributed, and even though the women make an effort to get hold of these periodicals in Japanese, most of the articles and information in them target the interests of residents in the Japanese ethnoburbs. They tend instead to rely on the Internet for taking part in a local Japanese network, which shares the same interests on the basis of the same local or regional context. Such circumstances surrounding the Japanese in western

Sydney were voiced by M. B. when she found a local Japanese association on the Internet.

 

Hamano: Have you met any Japanese living nearby since you lived in this area?

 

Not at all. First of all, I didn‟t imagine that there are Japanese living in the

Blue Mountains. I believed that the Japanese are living in the City or North (northern Sydney). I found the name of the leader of the local Japanese association on Mixi^[57] soon after I joined it a month ago. 

(M. B. October 2007)

 

While all of my marriage migrant respondents answered that the Internet is the most important and popular media for communicating with friends and families in Japan, I had not been aware that they used the media for extending their networks and communication with other Japanese-Australians across the region, beyond their close friends who lived nearby. For Japanese marriage migrants living in a remote suburb, there are limits to how far the Internet can help them in building a virtual Japanese(-Australian) community. No matter how potent a force the Internet is in developing a „virtual community‟ (Rheingold, 1993), linking a variety of people regardless of their backgrounds, this case suggests that the sharing of interests beyond „ethnicity‟ may be a minimum requirement. This is because, as I found, they tend to use the Internet for gathering local information provided by other local Japanese, and that they preferred to share local knowledge and news with other Japanese marriage migrants, through their personal blogs and social network services, to homepages of local Japanese media in Sydney. Mostly they prefer to exchange information and concerns with other Japanese marriage migrants living both in Australia and other countries in North America and Europe. 

 

In this case, through SNSs and blogs, they mostly speak of their family matters in everyday life, such as cooking, housekeeping, taking care of children and relationships with in-laws. That is, even on the Internet, they maintain a limited association with anyone who is able to share local information or the common interest, which is essential to their lives as a marriage migrant. To satisfy these conditions, they likely form a small and what I shall term topic-based translocal network on the web. These specific usages of the Internet among Japanese marriage migrants in remote suburbs can be understood in the light of the problems they have in accessing Japanese print media, which only circulate in areas with a large Japanese population. Therefore, the contradiction I found here is that the Japanese marriage migrants I interviewed have to rely on the global and open-ended communication tool of the Internet, seeking a local small network for the reason that they are living away from Japanese ethnoburbs in Sydney.

 

The second and more interesting aspect of the use of the Internet among Japanese marriage migrants is that it has become the preferred medium for introducing their lifestyle as marriage migrants in Australia. In fact, they make the most of the Internet as a way of representing the lifestyle they have established in Australia. For example, social network services on the Internet are carried not only for gathering information and exchanging ideas; they are also constructed as a site for expressing users‟ personal lives through the blog and diary functions. Apart from this, amongst my respondents there were certain numbers who run personal blogs as well as access social network services frequently. 

 

In particular, my observation of their personal blogs suggests that they are often used as a place to introduce their Australian lifestyle to those who are living in Japan. With detailed descriptions of their „ordinary‟ life, in their own terms and expressions, and plenty of snapshots of their everyday routines and lives with families attached, their blogs and SNSs function as representations of their Australian way of life as a Japanese marriage migrant. In fact, when I read few blogs and websites organised by some of my respondents, all blogs were written by Japanese only. Topics on the blogs were mostly about their daily lives in Australia such as, Australian family, different cultural experience, different working culture in Australia. For me, these blogs simply illustrates the difference between their Australian lives against Japanese ordinary lives, which they perceived in everyday lives. In addition to the pragmatic use of the Internet to share information with other Japanese marriage migrants, representation of self and lifestyle through the Internet may be crucially adopted by these ex-lifestyle seekers (a type of lifestyle migrants) as a convenient media, in order to represent self living in a different lifestyle value, and a process of re-constituting the self in the new lifestyle and constituting a „home‟ in the new country. One of my respondents in Western Sydney welcomes visitors to her personal blog with the following introduction on the top page:

 

I met an Aussie in 2003 in Japan, who speaks fluent Japanese, and I married him in 2005. Now I‟m living with two cute boys and enjoying my life. Four years have passed since I came to Sydney by marriage, and I haven‟t spoken English at all. Recently, I finished a course of beauty therapy at school and got a licence as a beauty therapist here. I‟m now a mother, a beauty therapist and a happy wife as well. Please come and take a look at a snapshot of my daily life. I welcome your comments on my blog.

(accessed September 2010, my translation)

 

As this welcome note tells, for this woman, blogging her daily life in Australia is not only for about maintaining her diasporic identity at a distance; it also functions as an opportunity for her to represent her new identity (as mother, professional worker and happy wife) via the Internet. Indeed, when speaking of the usage of the advanced tele-communication media, it is also important to recognise that the virtual space provided by the media is a great deal of networking across distances, as well as the site of representing a new self which has been re-moulded in the new country.

 

5.6. Are Japanese Women More Adaptable to Difference?

 

Women’s Gift, Men’s Flaw

Even though they are largely ignorant of the exact statistical facts on the population and its socio-cultural diversity, as well as the gender imbalance of Japanese in Australia, most Japanese respondents whom I met were aware that the gender imbalance in the Japanese in Australia is increasing, due to a growth in the number of Japanese female marriage migrants. In my fieldwork, I always asked my respondents the reason for this. With this question, I did not mean to examine their knowledge on the Japanese population. Rather, I was interested in the logic of explanation of the gender imbalance, of which they are aware, in Australia. I attempted to investigate the ways in which they express their perceptions of gender in the Japanese context, and how they judge them in the new Australian context. 

 

Mostly, their answers derived from their perception that Japanese women in Japan (especially in business culture) experience more professional adversity than men. They pointed out that women, at a certain stage in their career, often face a glass ceiling that prevents them from achieving an upward social mobility, as Karen Kelsky (2001) described. Interestingly, while they pointed out this adverse situation for women, they also added that, in Japanese society, contemporary Japanese women tend to consider themselves as more „flexible‟ and „less obliged‟ individuals than

Japanese men, and are able to choose their own lives more freely for this reason. By contrast, Japanese men must devote the whole of their lives to the development of society and support their family as a breadwinner. Let us see a prime example of this perception of Japanese women from my interview:

 

Hamano: Why do you think there are more women than men in the couples of intermarriage between Japanese and Australian around you?

 

Perhaps… I guess, an image of the foreigner is someone with those blue eyes. Japanese women go abroad to getto (get) such a lover. And they also go abroad for career. In Japanese society, men‟s status still seems to be higher than women.

 

Hamano: Have you ever been treated like that in Japan?

 

Yes, especially by elder men. I haven‟t been treated like this by men of the same young generation. Elder Japanese men tend to look down on women. For example, they order us to make tea in the office as a matter of course. But overseas, every colleague should be treated equally. If you drink water, just get it for yourself, etc. Those Japanese women who don‟t like such an environment may go abroad. Also, another reason why women go abroad is by (inter)marriage. There is one reason why women go abroad easier than men. Japanese men have a duty to keep working the same job in society. That‟s why they‟re afraid of leaving their responsibility to keep working in society. So, they maybe give up on going abroad in the end. 

(M. B. October 2007)

 

Here, she expressed her two views on the status of women in Japanese society. First, she understands that Japanese society has been a male-dominant or male-centred society that consequently pushes Japanese women to go overseas in search of more fair or equal treatment. „Foreign‟ society (but here this actually means Western society) is imagined to be a place where there is gender equality, in contrast to Japanese society. This discourse complements Karen Kelsky‟s (2001) study of Japanese women who left Japan, driven by an akogare for the West. At the same time, this respondent also emphasises that women are relatively freer individuals than men in Japanese society, due to the fact that Japanese men must carry considerable responsibility. In this type of discourse, however, one should not ignore the fact that it is a sense of exclusion or alienation from the mainstream of society that generates positive discourses of women‟s perception of being free from social duty or responsibility in Japanese society.

 

With this emphasis on the „flexibility‟ of Japanese women, this respondent intends to say not only that Japanese women go abroad more than men, but they also make good relationships with a foreign partner or accommodate themselves in a different culture and life. That is to say, these Japanese women may consider that they are more adaptable and accepting of different cultures and values than men (or they are more ambitious to consume different cultures and values, to transform their oppressive environments in Japanese society). As Kelsky found (2001, pp. 117-120), such discourses of Japanese women‟s „flexibility‟ are represented in a positive and negative light, relative to women‟s social status in Japanese society. Positively, it is acknowledged and represented as a sort of invaluable talent or even „immanent nature‟ of women that aids the accommodation of a new lifestyle easier than

Japanese men, who are supposed to stick to their own culture and customs instead of situating the self flexibly in a different environment. Negatively, it is considered as an inevitable result of the alienation of women from Japanese (business) society. This participant‟s sense of a perceived marginality in Japan turned into a positive perception of flexibility once she left Japan. Nevertheless, interestingly, this respondent also mentioned that young Japanese men (note: she is in her late-twenties) seem to treat women equally, compared to their elder counterparts. In interviews with my respondents, I was sometimes told that such positive perceptions of younger Japanese men, contrasted with those held with respect to the older generation, were informed by experiences in the Japanese workplace.

 

Nevertheless, I am interested in the high degree to which the ambivalent notion of female flexibility is appropriated in Japanese marriage migrants‟ narratives, into a positive discourse of Japanese women that sees them as independent individuals better able than men to survive in and accommodate to a different culture and society. 

 

Ah, yes. Finally, Japanese women might have abandoned Japanese men.

 

Hamano: Why do you think so? What do you think is the reason why Japanese women tend to go abroad more than men?

 

(For Japanese) men, it must be comfortable to stay in Japan. I mean they like to be close to their „mother‟s‟ side. Japanese parents also wish their sons not to stray away from them and keep in touch with them closely. But, the girl is basically able to go away for a couple of years without hesitation; the boy cannot do it once they begin to work. From my experience, Japanese women who end up settling in Australia set out with the feeling that they would go to Australia and have a good time for a couple of years and then go home. 

(C. C. November 2007)

 

In this discourse, Japanese women‟s flexibility is also represented as their talent to be independent from their parents, while Japanese men tend to be faithful to their „home‟ culture and parents and cannot leave Japan for these reasons. This woman‟s perception of „immature‟ Japanese men, very dependent on their mothers, resembles the popular discourse of mazakon, derived from the English term „mother complex‟, to describe the nature of Japanese men. Meanwhile, this mazakon discourse also indicates a general perspective of Japanese men, who cannot help but make the relationship with their female partner like the mother-child relationship, rather than a fair and equal relationship between two mature individuals. In other words, in this discourse, Japanese men tend to look to their female partner as a caregiver, expecting the partner to offer „motherhood‟.^[58] 

 

Repeatedly, this respondent compared Japanese women to men to explain why we seldom see a couple comprised of a Japanese man and Australian woman :

 

As time goes by, Japanese women have changed, I mean westernised. But, men‟s ways of thinking are the same as before. So, they are lagging behind women nowadays. That‟s why Japanese men cannot have a relationship with Australian women. (…) And, Japanese women have been brought up in a „standard manner‟, I say „standard manner‟ because women are brought up normally to associate with living together with someone in the future. For example, if a Japanese woman lives with a man, they will at least undertake 65 percent of the housework, while in Australia, the ratio between man and women is 50 to 50, in fact. They do it very naturally. They can do it without thinking. They spontaneously get in with the housework more than men.

Like, they feel spontaneously, „Oh, let me clean up the bathroom‟, like this.  

 

After speaking about different issues, she came back to the previous topic:

 

In Australia, children are educated to work equally regardless of their gender; it is natural for them to work equally at home as well. However, in fact, as Japanese women spontaneously work more than Australian men at home, they are so happy. So, Australian men always say „thank you‟ for them and it makes Japanese women happy too. But, it is the way that Japanese men are careless and never help their domestic work that makes women complain. Also, these men are too shy to represent their feelings and therefore not good at having good communication with their partner. Even if they had a chance [of having a relationship with an Australian woman], they could not stand it for long. Also, Japanese boys cannot live without having a Japanese breakfast when home staying in Australia. There are never such Japanese girls; only boys complain. 

(C. C. November 2007)

 

She assumes that western/Australian education of children stresses gender equality and criticises the fact that Japanese men‟s ways of thinking are still gender biased and outdated, while their Australian counterparts are already „developed‟, as Western individuals, as more flexible subjects. She believes it is for this reason that Japanese women are good at having a relationship with Australian partners. However, reading her discourse precisely, one has to understand that not only does her discourse on Japanese women highlight women‟s flexibility or adaptability to Western values; it also focuses on the virtue of traditional femininity, to the point that she describes the way the womeny undertake domestic chores on behalf of their partners as „spontaneous‟, similar to a sense of the very „motherhood‟ ascribed to the nature of

(Japanese) women. In fact, after the previous conversation, the respondent began to speak of Japanese men‟s „sissy‟ attitude, as compared to Australian men, by saying:

 

It should be attractive (to Australian men) Japanese women‟s spontaneous desire to look after their partner‟s lives, but Japanese men do not have this appeal (to Australia women), regardless of other good characteristics they may have. They aren‟t good at expressing their feelings either. A long time ago, Japanese would have certain guts and could exercise this masculinity to protect their family, but there are no longer such things among recent Japanese men. That‟s why it must be difficult (for Japanese men to find an

Australian partner). 

(C. C. November 2007)

 

In the case of M. B., cited previously, she represents her contradiction that: Japanese women are alienated from Japanese society; but they tend to attain independency and flexibility in terms of their ability to realise their life choice by leaving Japan. Then,

for C. C., while the Japanese feminine subject is represented as a more developed/westernised explorer who acknowledges and desires gender equality, rather than Japanese men who are still indifferent to the problem; they‟re also proud of still being sensitive to a traditional gender sense and „spontaneously‟ taking care of their partner. Thus, in the discourses on the gender imbalance in Japanese cross-national marriage examined above, by referring to their „flexibility‟, there are always entangled gender expressions of flexibility and adaptability of contemporary Japanese femininity. Nevertheless, this is the way these Japanese marriage migrants express their sense of Japanese femininity.

 

5.7. Conclusion

 

I have described two major facets of the characteristics of contemporary Japanese migrants in this chapter. First, investigating several degrees of comparative analysis of two statistic data sets extracted from Australian censuses in two periods, I showed that the residential distribution of the Japanese population is in North and Central Sydney, where arguably most of the Japanese ethnoburbs are located. Even though the bulk of Japanese are still concentrated in northern and central regions, both of which have allegedly been the centre of the Japanese ethnoburbs, it is noteworthy that the population in the outer suburbs is growing more rapidly than those in the traditional Japanese ethnoburbs located in the middle of Greater Sydney. Of course, this finding should be considered in the context of a general national trend, rather than as a peculiar trend in the Japanese population only. The fact is that all Australian households in the nation have been faced with a rapid increase in the price of property across Australia in recent years. The Japanese population did not escape the pressures of rising costs in the housing market in Sydney! 

 

I argued that issues may be expected to arise with regard to their settlement in and linkage with the co-ethnic community, as the expansion of the Japanese population continues. First, due to the small number of the population, the residential distribution causes distancing from other Japanese communities in Sydney. Such a scattering of Japanese may not only be caused by living away from Japanese ethnoburbs, but can also be a consequence of the fact that their population is too small to build satellite Japanese communities in new residential areas. In addition to the distance from their ethnic community, living in a remote suburb also means less access to Japanese goods, services and information provided by Japanese local media, generally circulated and distributed within the Japanese ethnoburbs. The question becomes, how do these Japanese, isolated from the bulk of their community, mould an ethnic association for themselves? On what grounds will they associate and who will be motivated to join?

 

I have focused on the situation faced by marriage migrants living in the western outskirts of Greater Sydney as a prime example, and I have examined the ways in which they explain how they made up their mind to come to Australia and then consequently became a permanent migrant. I extracted several remarkable facets to illuminate their lives from their narratives, especially focusing on some common incidents before and after they became consequent marriage migrants. After considering these narratives, what I propose to highlight is that their life in Australia will be a series of negotiations or adaptations with their local families‟ interest, whether they like it or not. Not only do they face a new life away from their familiar co-ethnic communities; they also experience that their home – within Australian families – becomes a series of cultural negotiations. This may also include several concerns about their children born in Australia. Under such circumstances, it is necessary to explore the ways in which these Japanese marriage migrants re-evaluate their Australian way of life, in the process of their settlement as a marriage migrant from Japan.

 

It can then be said that almost all migrants in the world are a certain type of „transnational‟ migrant; their transnationality and their ways of maintaining such circumstances are quite diversified. Some achieve a transnational lifestyle with a high mobility between their home country and settlement; others constitute a virtual transnational network using advanced telecommunication media. Even within a single ethnic community of migrants, there are several patterns and modes of transnationalty. For example, Martin O‟Flaherty et al (2007) have studied variations among migrants to Australia in the propensity to visit the home country, and conclude that formation of a „transnational‟ lifestyle is more closely associated with migratory pattern, particularly the visa category under which the migrant entered

Australia, than with place of birth (ethnicity). Also, the frequency of returning home depends on the migrant‟s life stage in the new country.  

 

My respondents expressed their difficulty in returning to Japan frequently once their children go to school, since they always associate and support their children as they begin to take part in wider social and school activities. In turn, those who are semi-retired or retired marriage migrants are more likely visit to Japan more often than before. Some scholars of transnationalism, such as Aihwa Ong (1999) or Joanna Waters (2003), point out the gender division of transnationalty (or global mobility) within a single family of migrants, since women are often obliged to engage in housekeeping and taking care of children in both local and domestic spaces, on behalf of their „transnational‟ male partners, who are often described as the hyper-mobile transnational agents of transnationalism of the present day. 

 

Looking back to their local life in Australia, I confirmed that these women‟s transnationalty, particularly with regard to the use of the Internet for virtual networking, was distinctive, while considering themselves as having a „quasi-dual citizenship‟ status seemed to be rather popular among the Japanese migrants in general, regardless of their intention to return to Japan after retirement. 

Accordingly, I propose that their life may constitute a multi-layered living space. While they are making considerable use of advanced telecommunication tools, in sustaining their transnational lifestyle in Australia, their efforts and struggles to integrate themselves into the local Australian society are playing out on a parallel track in their everyday lives. Indeed, their transnationalty is part of their multi-layered life, alongside all the strife of their local existence. While these marriage migrants, on the one hand, make great efforts to „dwell‟ in the new country, balancing between their co-ethnics and local communities, they may be, on the other hand, establishing the „translocal‟ or „diasporic‟ life that is the nature of migrant lives today.

 

Finally, I propose that, in the case of my respondents, it is imperative to consider the point that they belong or belonged to a type of „lifestyle migrant‟, whose aim to leave

Japan for Australia was an exploration of a new lifestyle or a reconstitution of self through consumption practice – consuming different lifestyle values – and that their marriage migration is a consequent of their exploration of a new lifestyle. It is, however, probable that, in the process of settlement as a migrant, they would encounter a number of „unexpected‟ incidents that affect their lifestyles in Australia more than they expected. Indeed, it is questionable as to what extent their new life in Australia, or to what extent their new „Western‟ life in association with Australian families, shifts their perception of gender role and family obligation, or remakes them accommodate themselves in the new environment. In this sense, I quote Nancy Rosenberger‟s comment with regard to the strategy of Japanese housewives: 

 

Western goods and styles are doubly “domesticated” – into Japanese homes and into Japanese family and gender relationships. Are Japanese women also domesticated once again in the process? The answer is ambiguous. 

(Rosenberger 2001, 151)

 

Here, it is fair to say that a Western lifestyle or consuming Western goods and ideas definitely transform women‟s life in Japan in a more liberal manner. In the meantime, one has to notice that engagements within the domestic space are still considerable for Japanese women across the generations. In this vein, one would be interested to know to what extent Japanese marriage migrants, through an experience of marriage migration to Australia, re-evaluate or reconsider their gender identity as they are given a new social role and position in Australia. Contrary to this, in order to re-constitute a new lifestyle in negotiation with their cultural values and those of their families in the domestic space, in what ways do they remake or reinvent their „Japanese‟ femininity? Finally, what ethnic associations for these migrants can be imagined under these circumstances? These questions will be further investigated in the subsequent chapters.

CHAPTER 6. REMOULDING ETHNO-GENDERED SELF AMONG JAPANESE WOMEN MARRIAGE MIGRANTS

 

6.1. Introduction

 

In Chapter 4, I examined the reasons why contemporary Japanese migrants in Australia became less active in managing their ethnic association. I focussed on two stable facts drawn from my research: first, while it is still important for them to belong to a Japanese ethnic association in the local region, the Japanese lifestyle migrants of today have carefully attempted to be independent from it; in the legacy of lifestyle migration, their priority in Australia is to become self-reliant and independent subjects, who are able to open up to new life in Australia on their own. Indeed, over-reliance on the ethnic Japanese community was perceived to be in possible conflict with the Australian way of life that the migrant wanted to achieve – where their desirable life is an imagined and idealised „Australian way of life‟ perceived to be unattainable in Japan.

 

In considering the nature of recent Japanese migrants in Australia, it is also necessary to note the high degree of diversification within social categories of contemporary migration. A reference to any collectivity is problematic because of the complexity of members‟ identity, as ethnicity intersects with other socio-cultural aspects such as class and gender. Most recent Japanese migrants today, however, have a certain commonality (to some degree), in that the reason for their departure for Australia arose from some exploration of new lifestyle values. 

 

There has been a rapid and considerable increase in Japanese marriage migrants to Australia. Post-war Japanese society has been considerably modified by the introduction of laws concerned with improving women‟s social justice, and contemporary Japanese women seem to be more liberated from their historically unequal status with men. Japanese women still feel, however, a residual sense of gender disadvantage which is articulated by my respondents (Brinton, 1993; Cherry, 1987; Edwards, 1992; Gelb, 2000; Suzuki & Stickland, 2007). The burst of Japan‟s economic bubble in 1991 contributed to the further reconstruction of Japanese society and its business world. Society seemed to have become more flexible, and the principle of meritocracy became increasingly popular in Japanese business. Under these circumstances, women were thrown into a more insecure and unstable world, although some may have felt that this social transformation gave them more opportunity to choose their own lifestyle (Fujita, 2008). In fact, such an increase of flexibility and mobility (associated with uncertainty) has often been disguised as the apparent expansion of individual freedom of lifestyle choice. 

 

In both positive and negative ways, as seen in previous chapters, structural problems for women (especially in their working career) have placed more pressure on them to fly away from Japan than on men. As discussed in Chapter 5, Japanese women‟s sense of marginalisation from mainstream society might have encouraged them to look beyond the nation. Not only would they see overseas as a more egalitarian or affirmative place for women; they would also see that their self recognition, as a previously marginalised feminine self, could be redefined with a positive flexibility, in the context of a new life in a new land. Of course, this logic of converting social marginality into individual flexibility is partly a result of the development of individualisation, releasing women from the yoke of socio-cultural obligation. It is no wonder that significant numbers of Japanese women have decided to be permanent settlers through marrying a local partner.

 

In this chapter, I will discuss three major questions with regard to the new life of Japanese female marriage migrants in Australia. First, I investigate the way in which a Japanese marriage migrant reconstitutes the self, once she becomes a „migrant‟ in Australia rather than a transient visitor there. How does she convert her „temporary‟ overseas experience into permanent settlement? What new experiences and unexpected anxieties does she face when dwelling in Australia? Or, how do her efforts of „dwelling‟ in Australian society affect or even clash with her desired or imagined Australian way of life, as she imagined it to be before becoming a settler?

These initial questions can be analysed as perceptions of downward social mobility as they bear upon the experience of migration. 

 

Next, I consider the meaning of „home‟ for marriage migrants. Generally speaking, migrants are apt to maintain two homes at the same time, both psychologically and materially. Their first home is also called the „homeland‟, the place they have left but still keep in mind. More recently, thanks to advanced tele-communications and transportation systems, migrants are able to live both in their homeland and their new home in a transnational manner. The other home is a material and physical home in the place of settlement, as well as a close family. Living between both homes is the basic status of today‟s migrant. Using this assumption, I will look into the ways in which Japanese marriage migrants dwell in their new society. I examine in particular the extent to which the practice of making a new home and engaging in domestic duties benefits (and perhaps risks) the integration of marriage migrants in their new society. 

 

Finally, after referring to the importance of domestic duties in making a home in Australia, I will discuss how their ethno-gendered identity is re-evaluated or re-constructed through their migratory experience. I will also consider to what extent the migrant is comfortable with her new life, in comparison with her imagined Australian way of life. These discussions launch, in turn, further debates in Chapter 7 about the ways in which Japanese marriage migrants take part in local neighbourhoods and communities, and maintain their co-ethnic networks and their own (feminine) Japaneseness.

 

6.2. Migrant Women and the Problem of Social Mobility

 

Ethnic Associations: Do They Support All New Arrivals?

Except in several privileged cases, the migrant can rarely avoid encountering a certain downward social mobility in the course of settling in a new country (Ho, 2006; Stasiulis & Yuval-Davis, 1995). As a new arrival with a different culture and customs, the migrant must experience certain handicaps in accommodating him/herself to a new life in another set of values, cultural customs and a general sense of strangeness. To deal with these issues, which are faced by all migrants in settler societies such as Australia, migrants are technically entitled to access a wide range of settlement service programs. These programs for migrants (and refugees) aim to facilitate the settlement process. Accordingly, they function as a sort of affirmative treatment to deal with migrants‟ initial downward mobility. In addition to these official support programs, the spontaneous aid of NGOs and established ethnic migrant associations should not be ignored. Under such circumstances, ethnic migrant associations are often expected to play an important role in aiding the settlement of new arrivals. Generally speaking, ethnic associations in a settler society are an association of migrants who share the same ethno-cultural identity, or simply comprise those who are from the same homeland. These ethnic migrant associations frequently work jointly with government institutions as NGO organisations, with the help of government funding. For instance, the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) offers an annual grant scheme, called the Settlement Grant Program (DIAC,  2009), and the NSW Government also set up a similar grant program termed the Community Development Grants Program, via the Community Relations Commission for a Multicultural NSW (CRC), a division of ethnic and multicultural affairs of the state (CRC, 2009). According to my research, however, no Japanese ethnic associations in Sydney have applied for these grant programs as of early 2009.

 

Japanese Women Marriage Migrants and the Local Japanese Ethnic Community Although I examined the dual function of ethnic associations as essential to sustaining the association, I also revealed that this dual function does not always include diverse patterns of migrants, under a coherent ethnic identity. As I detail in the following section, it is also relevant to speak of the perception of Japanese women marriage migrants, who sometimes express their social distance from established Japanese ethnic association in Australia. Rather, they consider that these Japanese ethnic associations would exclude them, according to the several social distinctions, such as socio-economic, marital and residential differences, between them. Nevertheless, it does not mean that these Japanese women are less concerned about taking part in a Japanese association in the region. In fact, one easily finds that small Japanese mothers‟ groups or playgroups are mushrooming and they frequently call for new members in the classifieds in Japanese magazines and on websites for local Japanese.

 

In addition to this, I also focus on the fact that these Japanese women marriage migrants are consequent settlers, who aspired to an alternative lifestyle and values to re-draw their life (or  at least attempt to find a cue for doing it) in Australia. In this sense, they can also be a type of lifestyle migrants who immigrated to Australia for the attainment of an Australian quality of life virtually unavailable in Japanese society, and this may detach some of them from a tight Japanese community and network. It may also make them less concerned about associating with a wider Japanese ethnic network. In my fieldwork in Western Sydney, I found that women were ambivalent and even sometimes negative about major local ethnic Japanese associations, such as the Japan Club of Sydney (JCS) or the Japan Society of Sydney (JSS). ^[59] Overwhelmingly, they acknowledged these large and long-established Japanese ethnic associations in Sydney, but few were interested in belonging to them, apart from their interest in sending their children to the Saturday Japanese School organised by the JCS. With regard to their relatively negative and hesitant ideas of participation in the larger Japanese ethnic associations in Sydney, I found several common feelings and perceptions (and also misunderstandings) about these associations. These derive from residential dissociation from the dominant Japanese ethnic community, generational differences, and conflict in the various aims of running ethnic associations. Some of these appear below, in the conversation I had with one of my respondents:

 

Hamano: Have you considered taking part in the Japan Club of Sydney before?

 

Maybe not ... However, as my husband worked at a Japanese institution, I know what it is like. 

 

Hamano: Do you particularly mean elder Japanese executive members?

 

Yes. But not only them. Not only is it because of these executives, there are also many senior members of upper class status. It consists of not only migrants but also chuzaiin (Japanese business expatriates). I distinguish myself from these people. For example, I‟ve visited the house of the director of a Japanese semi-governmental institution. It was a penthouse at Neutral Bay. French cuisine was served for the dinner. My husband‟s boss also lived at a place where it looked like a resort hotel. I cannot develop a relationship with those who are living in such a place, with the great financial support of their company. They earn enormous salaries that are greater than those earned by local workers. (When looking back to the dinner), I suppose they invited us to their home because they had pity on my husband and for his salary which was not large enough compared to them. I really felt that the amount of their salary was something extraordinary. 

 

Hamano: Do you mean unrealistic?

 

Yes, I do.

 

Hamano: Then, have you met actual members of the JCS before?

 

No, but it is beyond my comprehension. They‟re living in a different world. They‟re living in a place like a condominium in Hawaii in Sydney. It has a tennis court, swimming pool and even a pleasure boat. I can‟t take part in the JCS because I cannot associate with such people. 

(R. S. August 2007)

 

First of all, I would here offer a nuanced understanding of the JCS. It is an organisation of Japanese migrants, not for Japanese chuzaiin or business expatriates. Such members have their own association, the Japan Society of Sydney (JSS), although some members reciprocally communicate and belong to both associations. In fact, as Mr Yoshihide Hosaka, the founder of the JCS explained to me, he decided to establish his own association of migrants because he was not welcomed by the JSS when he migrated to Australia in 1980.^[60] Thus, it is necessary to consider how much

R. S. (and other respondents in my research) exaggerated or generalised their perception of „other‟ Japanese: here, the Japanese living in the upper-middle class northern suburbs. Leaving aside her misconceptions, however, it is worth examining the implications of her story. 

 

R. S. clearly distinguishes herself from the Japanese in the JCS, even though she has not been a member of the JCS before. To explain the distinction between her and other Japanese in the north Sydney region, she told me a story of an experience at the home of her husband‟s boss, located in a wealthy Sydney harbour side suburb. What interested me in her story was the rigid class distinction which she drew between her (i.e. her and her husband‟s life) and the life of her rich counterpart. Her awkwardness at the dinner was the result of class difference amplified over a common ethnic background. That is, in the case of contemporary Japanese migrants, ethnicity (or nationality in a Japanese sense) may not function properly to develop a sense of common ethnic identity across socio-economic differences between the members in Australia. This fact also supports my argument in Chapter 4, to explain the reason why membership of larger Japanese ethnic associations in Australia has been declining recently. Common ethnicity or nationality is no longer strong enough, or enough reason, for Japanese migrants to associate and act together. In addition to some misunderstandings about and generalisations of the Japanese living in the northern upper-middle class suburbs, the differences between residential suburbs (west and north) and lifestyle (from a disparity in income) served to repel R. S.‟s interest in taking part in the JCS.

 

During my fieldwork with Japanese marriage migrants living in Western Sydney, I often heard this same perception of the JCS and of Japanese migrants of the northern Sydney suburbs repeated, although these were often represented with a generalisation and simplification of the Japanese in the northern Sydney region. In fact, thanks to the formation of the largest Japanese ethnoburb, the socio-economic characteristics of the Japanese residents in the northern Sydney regions are the most diverse of those in Greater Sydney. They comprise not only long-term residents such as permanent settlers (including cross-national marriage couples) and chuzaiin (and their families), but also Japanese short-term residents (e.g. working holiday makers and students), all of which arise from the considerable job opportunities for young Japanese in this region. I also heard such a sort of generalisation of the „other‟

Japanese living in north Sydney region, as M. C. mentions here:

 

Hamano: Have you thought about taking part in a Japanese ethnic association?

 

No, I have never thought about it. The Japanese in the city basically consist of chuzaiin. Many chuzaiin are also working here (in the city). I do not have something in common to talk about with them. Not only are they older than I am, I also have nothing in common with them.

 

Hamano: Then, what kind of Japanese association would you join?

 

I have no idea what kind of Japanese ethnic associations are in Sydney ... I would join if I were able to share something in common with members of the same generation by going out for dinner together.  I would do this, if I could enjoy myself in an association like that.

 

Hamano: Why do you think it‟s necessary to associate with the same generation in the Japanese association?

 

Because I believe I could share common values with them. Well… when I think about myself objectively, I have been living here at a distance from the tightly knit (local) Japanese community. It would be obvious when considering the suburb I currently live in. Furthermore [after a short silence] my husband doesn‟t speak Japanese so much…

 

Hamano: So, do you feel the JCS is a duplication of Japanese society?

 

I really feel so. I don‟t want to locate myself in such an environment. Of course, I understand that there would be many advantages in taking part in the Japanese association, although I myself am not interested in that. First of all, both registration and membership fees of the JCS or, perhaps, the JSS are quite expensive. I don‟t understand the reason why members have to pay such expenses merely to join. It would be nice for me to join a relaxed Japanese community, just for having a chat about recent news with tea once a month, while I assume it would be difficult to manage it. It might be worth paying both 90 dollars for registration and 60 dollars more for annual membership if members were able to receive beneficial information in the meeting. However, I suspect the information available from the association would be useful only for residents from the northern suburbs. For this reason, I cannot see any reason to join. 

(M. C. September 2007)

 

Instead of referring to a distinct class difference between those Japanese in the west and north, M. C. mentioned only her inability to share common (values) with them. As well as R. S. cited above, M. C. also misunderstands the constituent members of the JCS by generalising their social background. Even so, it is arguable that this discourse, of course, comes from a sense of class difference between herself and her co-ethnics in the northern suburbs. 

 

When M. C. suggested there were other extra reasons for keeping away from the JCS, she firstly implied a preference for a free lifestyle in Sydney that is separate from the „tightly knit‟ Japanese ethnic community. As I have discussed in a previous chapter, her worry about this Japanese society in Australia seems to be a typical discourse of Japanese lifestyle migrants, whose initial purpose of coming to Australia was motivated by a desire to leave their suffocated way of living in Japan. Having left Japanese society for negative reasons, these lifestyle migrants (this participant is also a marriage migrant) would be careful in what involvement they might take up with the local Japanese community. However, at the same time, this woman did not envisage staying away from the local Japanese community at all. In the latter part of her interview above, she suggests that she would happily associate with other Japanese, if she had something in common with them. Taking part in JCS is pointless for her because the information provided by the club is irrelevant to her life in the western suburbs. With these aspects in mind, M. C. is not enthused by the prospect of participating closely alongside local Japanese or in their communities. Rather, she seems to be interested in taking part in this only under certain conditions, specifically, those that constitute to the fulfilment of her life in Australia.

 

One could describe the unique nature of Japanese female marriage migrants as new lifestyle migrants in two senses. First, their migration was usually carried out individually, or at least, as seen in the case of M. C., their life is established in association with their Australian partner (and in-laws maybe involved in some cases), rather than being strongly dependent on the existing Japanese ethnic community. They are technically still able to access the local Japanese community to some extent, though at the same time they are required to manage relationships with their local Australian partners and their families, as well as surrounding neighbours. This trend can be more profound where the raising of children is a factor. For this reason, some of my respondents maintained their strong interest in associating with the JCS by sending their children to the Sydney Saturday School of Japanese run by the JCS. JCS has laid down a rule that only members may send their children to the Saturday Japanese Schools, four of which are currently run by the JCS in greater Sydney as of late 2009. 

 

Accordingly, while many Japanese ethnic associations in Australian capital cities are suffering from a lack of new members and seeking an alternative way of running associations in conjunction with other Japanese societies – e.g. Japanese business expatriates (in Brisbane); or changing rules to welcome unlimited memberships (in Perth) (Funaki, 2010) – only the JCS is able to continuously receive new members. For instance, the latest Sydney Saturday School of Japanese, launched in Dundas in Western Sydney, in 2008, was a result of the specific request of the Japanese in that region, who had difficulty in sending their children to the city and north Sydney region, where Japanese ethnoburbs are located. My respondents in Western Sydney of course welcomed this new language school and indicated they might join the JCS to send their children to the school, despite lacking any other interest in JCS activity. There are many ways in which Japanese women marriage migrants re-establish their life, managing a balance between their local Australian families (including their children born and growing up in Australia) and neighbours (presumably extended by the pre-existing network of their Australian families); and local Japanese ethnic communities. They sometimes face a distance from the ethnic associations both geographically and psychologically (the struggles and anxieties encountered in constituting relationships across the „Aussie‟ family and the Japanese family, in both the domestic and the public sphere).

 

When Japanese women marriage migrants speak of Japanese women in the north Sydney region, it is important to understand that it is often generalised as a middle-class Japanese community, while it includes more diverse Japanese residents. As a same married Japanese woman, living in Australia, my respondents of Japanese women marriage migrants tended to refer to the luxurious privileged life of the wives of chuzaiin, rather than chuzaiin themselves. Studies on wives of Japanese chuzaiin (Kurotani, 2005; Martin, 2007) describe how much these wives make an effort to look after their family and maintain their home in the transferred country, as well as to engage with the local ethnic community and maintain relationship with the distant Japanese family). The same Japanese wives in Australia are obliged to perform everyday routines at home. Nevertheless, my respondents believed that these women were lucky enough to be exempt from busy daily life. Meanwhile, my respondents living in Western Sydney acknowledged that there are a large number of Japanese women marriage migrants living in the upper-middle class suburbs. Some of them also frequently visit their friends or take part in a Japanese mothers‟ group or playgroup in the north Sydney region. Hence, while Japanese women in Western Sydney distinguish themselves from the Japanese in the north Sydney region, it is not unusual for them to keep in touch with Japanese women marriage migrants (or simply their Japanese friends) across distances.

 

In meetings of these Japanese women in Western Sydney, however, I heard them speak frequently of their impressions of those living in the north Sydney region and of their lives, comparing them to their own. In the north Sydney region, as the number of Japanese mothers are large, my respondents in Western Sydney sometimes mentioned that there were numerous local Japanese mothers‟ groups or playgroups in the area, according to the common socio-economic background of members rather than their residential area or the age of their children. One of my respondents gave an interesting anecdote about a Japanese playgroup in the north Sydney region, which she heard about from a friend living nearby. In her friend‟s playgroup, there are some Japanese women who use expensive Japanese nappies and believe that their quality is higher than Australian ones. When a woman was seen changing her baby‟s nappy and using Japanese ones, someone would definitely refer to it. This is because, in addition to their high quality, the cost of sending or importing Japanese nappies identified the mother as wealthy enough to take care of her baby with a „made in Japan‟ style. Even though Japanese playgroups are separated by members‟ socio-economic status, Japanese mothers still draw attention to the different socio-economic statuses of members. Also, I was frequently told that, in Japanese playgroups in the north Sydney region, a new member is always asked her partner‟s nationality (if he is Japanese or not, or if he is Caucasian or not), as well as her partner‟s occupation, instead of asking about the woman herself. When my respondents spoke of the anecdotes they hear about the Japanese in the north Sydney region, they concluded that it would be stressful to live in such a „tightly knit‟ Japanese society, while admitting that living within such a Japanese ethnoburbs would be comfortable and convenient to some extent.

 

In conclusion, because most contemporary Japanese migrants are lifestyle migrants with diverse socio-economic status/backgrounds, they have begun to see the Japanese ethnic association in a different light. Moreover, the increase in the number of female marriage migrants should be considered, in order to investigate to what extent these women effect the formation and organisation of new Japanese ethnic associations and networks of local Japanese in Australia. Japanese women marriage migrants dwell between their Australian home, and the local Japanese community.

 

6.3. Gender Division of Labour and Migrant Women

 

Migrant Women and Mainstream Society

To consider the socio-cultural aspects of the lives of migrants in the new country, it is necessary to draw attention to gender difference as well as class hierarchies. While migrant groups have tended to be categorised in ethnic terms, a focus on internal diversity and stratifications caused by gender and class relations opens up new but important issues regarding the status of migrants in the new country. The crux of these issues is revealed by two structural divisions: migrants‟ gender, and the division between migrant women and women of the mainstream society. For instance, in the society of the new country, many scholars in Australia (Ang, 2001; Bottomley & De Lepervanche, 1984; Ho & Alcorso, 2004; Martin, 1984a; Vasta, 1991)} and in the US (Stasiulis & Yuval-Davis, 1995) argue that there has been a crucial and radical division between the status of migrant women and of mainstream women (in Australia), or women of colour vis-à-vis white women belonging to the mainstream society (in the US).

 

This division between two groups of women – migrant women in the minority group, and women in the social majority – resulted in an unprecedented division of labour, as well as a variety of social inequalities, although both sets belong to the overriding gender category of „woman‟. Furthermore, scholars also point out that migrant women, in extreme cases, tend to be the most vulnerable and insecure labour force, exploited by local industry in sweat-shops or so-called „McJobs‟ (ibid.). Under these circumstances, many feminist scholars argue that, in the new country the status of migrant women (in minority groups) and their predicament should be acknowledged as distinctive and structurally different from those of women who belong to the social mainstream. This is notwithstanding that there are common issues of gender which should be the site of a united front by all women (Ang, 2001; see also  Bottomley, De Lepervanche, & Martin, 1991). 

 

Of course, it is inappropriate to assume that all migrant women belong to the same socio-cultural status. Bottomley‟s case studies of Greek women in Australia, for instance, were of working-class women accompanied in migration by their families. It would be seemingly irrelevant to compare these Greek women to Japanese women marriage migrants today. It is also to be assumed that there are diverse socio-economic statuses among Japanese women marriage migrants. Even so, what I would like to suggest is that – regardless of socio-cultural backgrounds or different modes of entry into Australia – these women have all had to deal with the division of labour in the new country. It is also important to consider that most Japanese women marriage migrants are single migrants, who seldom immigrate to Australia in association with families and relatives, or rarely established a relationship with Japanese ethnic associations prior to becoming „consequent settlers‟ through marriage. Furthermore, as I indicated in the previous chapter, the new Australian life of these Japanese women of cross-national marriage depends greatly upon their local partner, rather than their preference. Given that contemporary Japanese women marriage migrants face these difficulties in the early stages of their migration, one must consider how they have dealt with the common issues of migrant women in these circumstances.

 

Migrant Women and Working Opportunities

In another sign of social inferiority, migrant women have a lower status in their own migrant or ethnic community in the new country. Several studies (Kuhn & Wolpe, 1978; Sargent, 1981) argue that migrant women are often used as a cheap labour force, exploited by business entrepreneurs within their own community. They also encounter the hardship of daily unpaid domestic work, the unrecognised „shadow work‟ (Illich, 1981) in the domestic sphere, with a limited access to the public. Given that Japanese women marriage migrants perceive this gender division of labour in the new country, how do they express their difficult circumstances? Due to their residential location, in a suburb remote from the Japanese ethnoburbs of the central and northern Sydney region, it is difficult for them to depend on their own ethnic job market. As I have noted a number of times, local ethnic communities tend to be the largest source of job opportunities for migrants. For instance, when I visited the Korean Welfare Association of Australia^[61] in Sydney‟s inner west, in 2007 and 2008, one of the association‟s community workers spoke of his NGO‟s functions as a training institution and employer of young ethnic Koreans. These migrants hope to build working experiences and general administrative skills in order to apply for better jobs in mainstream society. While it was stressed that the income paid by the association is not adequate for workers, he explained that the association contributes to providing young Korean migrants with a first step towards accessing mainstream society.

 

One sees, in the Japanese ethnoburbs of Sydney, the same situation as that observed by Nobuaki Fujioka (2008) in Melbourne. In the city and the commercial centres of northern Sydney, such as Artarmon and Chatswood, a large number of Japanese are employed as unskilled or part-time workers, although many of them are temporary visa holders (such as students and Working Holiday makers). In my fieldwork, my respondents frequently answered that they have worked (or still are working) in the city and surroundings. Also, as expected, their work was mostly related to Japanese service industries such as tourism, hospitality and food services, while a few of them had worked in a local company. Their work choices had had to be modified, however, as their lifestyle changed due to marriage, moving to Western Sydney, and having children. 

 

Limited Job Availability for Japanese Women in Western Sydney

First of all, it is clear that, for the Japanese marriage migrant, finding a job in her home suburb of Western Sydney is difficult. This is because, far from central Sydney and the northern areas, the migrant‟s ethno-cultural background (including her Japanese language proficiency) is not tied to job opportunity. While this ethno-cultural capital would contribute to a migrant finding a job specific to the local Japanese service industries, a niche market in the ethnoburbs, the same ethno-cultural capital does not function in this way outside that region. Rather, job searching has nothing to do with one‟s Japanese cultural capital: these women are faced with competition from local people, even though many migrants have more or less relied upon their Japanese skills and knowledge to find a job in Australia before moving to their present region.  A. D. informed me that there were drawbacks to being Japanese, when looking for a job in Western Sydney. She said:

 

I think it is a drawback for me to find a job here (Western Sydney). My (Australian) husband also says honestly it is difficult for me.

 

Hamano: Do you want to work?

 

I don‟t do so as I have a child now, but I wanted to do it before that. Of course, it would be difficult now. But I believe it is extraordinary difficult (for me) to find a job in Western Sydney, as the numbers of migrants are fewer.

 

Hamano: Do you compare here to the city?

 

Yes. In the city, people are used to work with Asians and it would be easier to find a job. Of course, I shouldn‟t have a prejudice like that and make an effort to find a job here. But my husband says to me that local employers won‟t recruit me after they find my foreign (Japanese) name on the job application form.

(A. D. October 2007)

 

In fact, this woman was living in Blacktown, the most culturally and socially diverse suburb in Western Sydney. Indeed, perhaps she misunderstood and thought there were few migrants in her region, thus discouraging her from looking for a local job. In the meantime, she acknowledges that she has a prejudice about this and suggests that she is simply reluctant to find a job. This did not only arise from the fact that she had recently given birth to a baby, but also that she had noticed that she could not rely upon her Asian (or Japanese) background when finding a job in Western Sydney. She considered her ethno-cultural capital as declining rather into a handicap, due to a lack of adequate experiences and skills, and an insufficient proficiency in English. A friend of Japanese women marriage migrants, working in the city and living in a southern suburb of Greater Sydney, suggested to me that this may be as a result of lower numbers of international corporations in Western Sydney. According to this woman, international corporations in the city or the north Sydney region tend to recruit diverse employees, including non-English native speakers such as Japanese, as an important human resource for foreign clients. In contrast, she suggested that local companies in Western Sydney take different cultural and linguistic backgrounds into less account, as human resources.

 

K. H., in the Blue Mountains, also disagreed that Japanese people living in Western Sydney have difficulty finding work. She received an employment offer from her local supermarket immediately after she applied for work. For this reason, she was critical of Japanese women who depended on the local Japanese network to find work in Australia, particularly in the Japanese ethnoburb of northern Sydney. K. H. pointed out that local employers are simply reluctant to hire young mothers with small children, regardless of other reasons of social disadvantage (e.g. being Japanese). In the interview, she mentioned that she feels employers are worried that young mothers will frequently tend to ask for leave, due to family pressures. For her, the difficulty of finding work as a Japanese migrant in Western Sydney arose primarily from this fact. K. H. also recognised that the Japanese ethnic network does not function in Western Sydney. 

 

Some Japanese marriage migrants do not support this argument, having successfully worked in local (Australian) industries with sufficient language skills and qualifications. Perhaps local job opportunities are, however, also affected by Japanese work experience. In my fieldwork, those who worked as a specialist, such as a nurse or system engineer, tend to find more job opportunities in the wider local job market at the early stage of their arrival in Australia, even after cross-national marriage. With respect to Japanese Working Holiday makers (WHMs), who are the largest source of a flexible and cheap labour force, and of intermarriage, I was told during my fieldwork that even Japanese restaurant and retail business owners hire elder WHMS (i.e. in their late 20s), due to their Japanese work experience.^[62] Even so, it would be fair to say that central and northern Sydney regions have more job opportunities for the Japanese than Western Sydney.

 

Even if some women of the region do successfully find a job in the local job market, many others are unable to do so. For example, R. P. expressed her frustration at her Western Sydney work place thus:

 

Sometimes, I almost couldn‟t help but say, „I am Japanese‟ (to my client)! Of course I didn‟t do it. When I worked in a local suburb, I remember I thought that if I had said to everyone that I‟m from Japan and am not good at speaking English, it would amount to admitting that I wasn‟t good at my job. As I wasn‟t born here, and did not grow up here, I would be unable to offer adequate service to the customer every time. Because I wanted to show that I was 100 per cent skilful and competent, and I was proud of my profession, I was always down whenever I found I couldn‟t reflect my skill and competence in my verbal communications. I was frustrated almost every day as a result. Of course, I know that clients need my skill, not my sales talk …  

(R. P. September 2007)

 

After learning a skill and gaining a qualification at an Australian TAFE, R. P. found a job as a specialist worker in her local suburb. Compared to the Japanese who are able to rely on their cultural background to work in Japanese or Japanese-related service industries, however, her cultural background instead made her frustrated: not only was she unable to compete with other local colleagues, but she also, as a professional, failed to offer the best service to customers because of her language difficulties. Given migrants‟ perceptions of their drawbacks as members of local public society, how can they dwell there, and how do they remould or situate themselves in such circumstances? I now examine these questions by looking first to ideas of Japanese gender and identity.

 

Most of these women tended to leave work in the city or its surrounds once they moved to Western Sydney. They considered that it would be impossible to commute for long distances when they had care of children. Both M. C. and Y. K. have an Australian partner and no children. They told me that they would quit their city job after giving birth, notwithstanding entitlements to maternity leave. Some of the women plan to return to work in the local area, after giving birth. Y. T. gave a reason for why she has to work locally:

 

(In response to my question about limited job availability in Western Sydney) I don‟t think so. I cannot say exactly as I haven‟t job-hunted seriously yet. But when I searched job availability with Careerone (an Australian job-search website) with key words, such as „qualified skills‟, „part-time‟ or „daytime‟ – as I could only work during school time – I hit numerous numbers of „help wanteds‟ (in Western Sydney). Some job locations were close, such as in Parramatta. So I thought there are many more job opportunities in this area than I expected, regardless of whether I can get it or not.

 

Hamano: Don‟t you think about working in the city?

 

No. I can‟t go there. It‟s difficult. I‟d do it if I didn‟t have children. I have to find a job locally as I might have to pick my children up when they get sick or if there are any other troubles at school. I worked in the city when I was pregnant with the first child. I had to get to my workplace by 7am from here (Blacktown). I used to wake up at 4am and left home around 5am everyday. I‟m not sure if I can do it again now… It‟s hard for me.

 

Hamano: Is this because of the great distance?

 

Yes, the distance does matter. But I really enjoyed long-distance commuting, in fact. I had plenty of time to read a book on the way. But, now I can‟t do it.

I‟ve got many things to do in the household.

(Y. T. November 2007)

 

Y. T. expressed her ambition to seek a job in her local area, having obtained a diploma at TAFE at the time when I interviewed with her. Contrary to other respondents, she denied that it was difficult for Japanese women to find a job in Western Sydney. Rather, she emphasised that it depends upon one‟s aspirations.

Besides, she had not carried out any serious job-hunting in Western Sydney, adding that bringing up children and managing household duties inclined her to find a job in her local suburb for convenience after she quit her city job, following the birth of her first child. 

 

6.4. Japanese Gender Ideas: Traditional Ideas of Femininity and Recent Change

 

Recontextualisng (Japanese) Gender Identity

The construction of social identity in the practice of making home is an important and inevitable aspect of how the individual constitutes the self and her gendered identity, since, as many scholars point out, making a home results in the practice of gendering a space (Bondi, 1991; Bowlby, et al., 1997; Colomina & Bloomer, 1992;

McDowell, 1999; Pratt & Hanson, 1988; Spain, 1992; Wekerle, 1996). Referring to Gayle Rubin‟s seminal argument on the understanding of gender vis-à-vis that of sex

(1975), Evelyn Nakano Glenn (2002, p. 8) proposes that the concept of gender should be conceptualised as social and cultural ideas of difference between men and women. Glenn (ibid., p. 8) insists that, „[B]y examining gender as a constitutive feature and organizing principle of collectivities, social institutions, historical processes, and social practices, feminist scholars have demonstrated that major areas of life – including sexuality, family, education, economy, and state – are organized according to gender principles and shot through with conflicting interests and heartaches of power and privilege‟ (see also Scott, 1986; Thompson, 1994; Tivers,

1985). 

 

As some feminist scholars argue (Ueno, 2009), „traditional‟ cultural ideas of social events and the roles of women were actually socially reinvented in conjunction with an image of „ideal family‟ in modern Japan. As Robert J. Smith (1978; 1983) argues, social obligations and duties regarding marriage and the household imposed on Japanese women structurally fostered their gender identity. It is also important to note that many studies revealed (White 2002, Fujimura-Fanselow, Imamura 1996, Rosenberger 2001, Ueno 1987, Yamada 2005, Muta 2006, 2009, Ochiai 2000) how the drastic cultural transformation which occurred in post-war Japanese society has resulted in a questioning of traditional female gender roles and identity, and redressed, to an extent, the division of labour.

 

The Western (the term is often equivalent to „American‟ in the Japanese context) style nuclear family unit became a new ideology for the ideal Japanese family in post-war Japanese society. Marriage itself was considered to be the most important social event for women and for their self-reliance in this era. With regard to conventional ideas of marriage for post-war Japanese women, Takie Sugiyama Lebra‟s classic work explains:

 

This view of marriage is imposed more heavily upon women, so much so that a woman without marital experience is considered deprived of meaning in her life, whereas men are seen as able to enjoy their lives at least through their work. 

(Lebra, 1984, p. 78)

 

In this explanation, for Japanese women, marriage was considered an essential social event in life, giving them a meaning in life, and social duties and obligations in the domestic sphere. Lebra (1984) also points out that belonging to one‟s family as yome

(young wife) and holding a relationship within the family, and with in-laws by marriage, in turn gives the woman a secure and confirmed social identity in Japanese society. M. B., for example, expressed her reserve with her mother-in-law as a young wife (or yome), when living with her: 

 

You know, living with parents-in-law is difficult in Japan too. 

 

Hamano: So, you won‟t live with them anymore.

 

No, I don‟t think so. We already purchased a house in xxx (a suburb in the

Blue Mountains). I really hope not anymore. I want rather to live separately than living together with them. I could not enter the kitchen when she (her mother-in-law) was cooking, because it was not my place. Nor could I open the fridge without permission for the same reason. But Australians open others‟ fridges without hesitation. They feel at home even when they stay at another‟s place. It might come from cultural differences, but I couldn‟t do it. I couldn‟t answer the phone before. 膅M. B. October 2007䐢

 

When she was living with her mother-in-law, she felt so stressed that she could not feel at home, until she moved into a new place with her husband. While she suggested that this might come from a sense of cultural difference between her (Japanese) and Australians, I understood that it was a typical perception of Japanese women, who tend to feel like a stranger in the in-laws‟ home. In particular, there is a certain tension between this woman and her mother-in-law, with regards to the ownership of the „kitchen‟, the dominant space of women in a conventional Japanese context. It is of course inappropriate to assume that Japanese women today simply apply these conventional gender ideas in the household, although some of them still persist in the perception of Japanese gender ideas. Besides, the different duties and roles of the household and the outside, in the Japanese context, are still significant for Japanese women marriage migrants, in order to re-mould the self in the new socio-cultural circumstances.

 

In fact, representing or identifying the self by referring to such cultural ideas of Japanese women and their married life seems very much alive in the minds of contemporary Japanese female marriage migrants themselves. One of my respondents explained the difference between Japanese men and women to me as follows:

 

(After talking about the remarkable gender imbalance of the Japanese in Australia, caused by increasing intermarriage between an Australian man and a Japanese woman ...)

 

I know, I know the reason. This is because the degree of Japanese girls‟ self-dedication must be very attractive (to Australian men), while Japanese boys have nothing equivalent to it, unless they have good characteristics… Japanese men in earlier times saw themselves as a breadwinner intent on protecting their families. They were men with a lot of guts, but not now. So it would be difficult (for a Japanese man to marry an Australian woman).

 

Hamano: I suppose, Australian men seem to display their masculinity more than Japanese men. 

 

Yeah, you‟re right. Especially, if you‟re living in a rural area such as Penrith, where the husband would usually be a handyman. It would be troublesome if he were like a Japanese boy (young Japanese men today). 

(C. C. November 2007)

 

In the discourse of C. C., one also sees how much she idealised Western masculinity, in comparison to that of Japanese men, as well as drawing a sharp contrast to the different social roles between men and women. Indeed, she judges Japanese men (she says „Japanese boys,‟ in fact) as failures, unable to identify the self with an idealised masculinity. In turn, Japanese women still retain an idealised femininity that appeals to men across the East/West division. 

 

In the case of M. B., she told me of her surprise when she lived with female Australian housemates:

 

I think it would be difficult to make a couple between a Japanese man and an Australian woman. But the difficulty only comes with the different cultural customs. Australian men never mind doing housework, such as cooking, or washing clothes. For a Japanese woman like me, this makes me so happy. In turn, it would be bad for an Australian woman (to live with a Japanese man). I know such a couple, who eventually divorced …When I came to Australia for the first time, I shared a house with two Aussie girls and one British man. I was so surprised how powerful Australian women were. I speculated that they immigrated to Australia around 200 years ago as convicts, and both men and women had to cooperate together to cultivate the land. Since then, the spirit of gender equality must have been natural in Australia. 

(M. B. October 2007)

 

In her ideas of the gendered sense of care and devotedness of Japanese women, and the relative lack of masculinity of young Japanese men compared with Australian men, C. C. clearly represents her ideal image of a heterosexual couple. For her, the heterosexual couple can manage a good relationship insofar as the male partner is tough and reliable, while the woman is submissive and devoted. In M. B.‟s views, she distinguishes Japanese women (including herself) from Australian women by exaggerating the toughness of local women and her sense of men‟s fairness, even citing her knowledge of the early colonial history of Australia in the early period. 

 

I also heard Japanese women frequently identify themselves with conservative Japanese gender ideas. In the case of A. S., she spoke to me of her unbelievable experience when she and her Australian partner purchased a house in the Blue Mountains. She said, „I simply thought that we‟d buy an almost built beautiful house because we are a just married young couple. I think it was a very natural expectation for a young Japanese woman. In fact, contrary to my expectation, my husband determined to buy an old and nearly collapsed house in the Mountains. I know that he loves renovating the house, but I never imagined to buy such an old and miserable place for our first property in Australia… Since then, he renovates our house every weekend and I of course have to help. But, you know, renovating a house is very hard work for a woman and I sometime cannot stand up when carrying heavy stuff, painting a wall or tiling the bathroom. This isn‟t my business. But he always asks me for help and he even scolds me when I drop such heavy stuff‟.  

 

In A. S.‟s story, we understand how disappointed she was to be involved in the renovation of her „first property‟ in Australia. As a newly married woman, buying and living in a new house after marriage automatically meant that she could live there comfortably from the beginning, while her husband would be entirely responsible for the maintenance of the house. These respondents, in comparing male and female, Japanese and Australian, seem to describe an ideal image of Japanese women within a conventional framework. 

 

Let me demonstrate this with another story of a Japanese migrant, whom I met in a Japanese association in Sydney. On our way home from the meeting, we had a conversation on the train about the rise of Japanese women marriage migrants. After having heard my research topic, the man told me that there was a rumour that many of these Japanese women quickly end up divorced in Australia. He went on to say that those sad outcomes come from the fact that Japanese women still misunderstand their Australian partner. He claimed that the Japanese woman still believes that marriage is something to make someone happy (shiawase ni shitemorau tameni) by her husband‟s efforts. In Australia, however, marriage is something in which to become happy (shiawase ni naru tameni) together, across gender difference. He considered that this different perception of marriage and a happy life, between a Japanese woman and an Australian, caused divorce shortly after marriage. Of course, there is no certainty that such a different perception of marriage is the most common reason of divorce in cross-marriage couples, but this man‟s opinion was interesting in that it is a perception of Japanese gender ideas in marital life as expressed by a Japanese man.

 

At the end of Gambling with Virtue (2001), Nancy Rosenberger concludes her appraisal of the transformation of Japanese women and perceptions of family, by insisting that Japanese society today has entered into (using Anthony Giddens‟s term) „high modernity‟. In the new era, a new Zeitgeist would further dismantle conventional ideas, in association with the large flux of globalisation. Under such circumstances, individuality is at stake and, for good or bad, one has to deal with the loss of a tacit referential framework to constitute herself (Beck, et al., 1994; Giddens, 1991). At the same time, in high modernity, individuals commence seeking an alternative and flexible relationship with each other. It is the construction of „intimate relationships‟ in a couple or family life, instead of much relying upon conventional social values about gender, family and others (Giddens, 1992). Forming and managing a relationship of couple and family, as a result, becomes a site of creativity, even though old ideas of self and relationship are still dominant to some extent. 

 

New Country, New Partnership

To explain the shift of the idealised images of family in Japan, Merry I. White (2002) relies on the different perception of family that applies in Japan, compared with

America. According to her, „Japanese families, rather than the elements that make them up, are key units in society and often act as individuals do in America, in planning their futures, developing strategies to achieve them, and controverting established principles and ideologies‟ (White, 2002, p. 21). Arguably, although ideal images of the family and conventional gender roles in society have been challenged and gradually shifted in contemporary Japan, significant and distinctive functions related to family still remain relevant. As White insists, even for Japanese marriage migrants, a new family and its founding processes are the primal practice for accommodating the self in the new society. Meanwhile, married life in Australia is undoubtedly experienced as a crucial instance of drastic life change (and of the future) for these Japanese women. The resurgence of the Japanese feminine self as it attaches with the family is the optimum way for the female marriage migrant to cope with her experience of being a permanent settler in a new country. 

 

As many scholars stress (Ochiai, 1996; Ogura, 2003; Ueno, 2009; White, 2002; Yamada, 1994), understanding Japanese women and their perception of marriage and familial life on the basis of such traditional cultural models must be scrutinised to the extent that „traditional‟ cultural ideas have been dismantled, transformed and also reinterpreted to make a new, contemporary lifestyle. These scholars also emphasise that contemporary Japanese women seek a more flexible and equal relationship with their partner, instead of binding themselves with conventional gender ideas dominant in Japanese society. In relation to the construction of family in Japan, White (2002, pp. 11-12) observes the ways in which the conventional „ordinariness‟ of the concepts of family and gender roles through marriage have been questioned. Meanwhile, as Anthony Giddens insisted in The Transformation of Intimacy (1992), a large number of contemporary Japanese believe that married life should be moulded flexibly or even creatively, stressing the intimacy developed between the couple, rather than relying upon the conventional social and cultural ideas of gender and married life. To consider the married life of contemporary Japanese women marriage migrants, it is also necessary to take into account this new relationship in the couple. It is no doubt for these Japanese women to construct an egalitarian and intimate relationship with their partner, even though it is an often idealized or essentialised discourse of Western liberalism. 

 

In my fieldwork, most of my respondents agreed that their Australian husbands definitely respect the idea of the „fair go‟ in married life, by sharing several domestic tasks as well as the duty of raising children. Accordingly, these women seem comfortable in their egalitarian relationship in Australia. At the same time, however, as the stories of purchasing a new house or of the Japanese migrant I met indicate, the contradiction is that these women still retain an ideal image of conventional Japanese femininity as a description of their self in the Australian life. In spite of the scholarship indicating the weakness of traditional senses of Japanese femininity, it can still be argued that women are situated in a different social context: the „good wife wise mother‟ ideology is still vital among Japanese women today. In particular, this can be the case when they are situated in the new socio-cultural (and even economic) circumstances through marriage migration.

 

Japanese female marriage migrants also belong to the stream of contemporary Japanese lifestyle migrants I have identified, and are ardent explorers of the aestheticisation of everyday life in consuming and experiencing new values, for the sake of establishing one‟s individual and distinctive lifestyle. Doing so means escaping entrapment by traditional and conventional cultural ideas, even if these felt comfortable in Japan. Indeed, over-reliance upon these conservative traditional cultural ideas of Japanese femininity may cause conflicts and uncomfortable outcomes in the process of remaking the self, as this is required by the new socio-cultural circumstances faced in Australia. Thus one of the most popular stories of the life of marriage migrants relates to their enjoyment of a relatively equal relationship in their marriage, with little gender difference, because their Australian husbands‟ contribution to housework is allegedly unattainable among Japanese couples^[63]. These Japanese women, especially the relatively younger generations (mid 20s to early 40s), seemed to have a positive view about their Australian husbands‟ contributions to housework and caring for children. 

 

Only a few of my respondents believed that the gender division in the Australian household prevailed in the same way as it did for Japanese couples. However, as Y. R. noted, there are those who negotiate such conservative circumstances, as they believe it is not the right way of behaving as a couple:

 

My (Australian) husband believed that the woman has to stay at home until he married me. But I didn‟t like the idea. I argued that it‟s a wrong idea, and we discussed it. I claimed I‟d be suffocated and very stressed if only doing housework at home. I also told him that I love my job (as a caseworker) and I want to go back to it some day (she had left it at the time of interview). Then he changed his mind and accepted my opinion.

 

And she continues:

 

Since then, he has changed. But I simply thought that an Australian husband must support his wife a lot in caring for children or cooking a meal. I was simply convinced of it. It was, in fact, my prejudice, because my husband wasn‟t like that. He didn‟t do any housekeeping work. He didn‟t even change the children‟s nappies. But I insisted that he had to do it because he was their father. Contrary to me, he thought he shouldn‟t do it because he is a man. So there were many gender gaps between us in the beginning. My husband sometimes thinks like an old Japanese man.

(Y. R. April 2008)

 

Unfortunately, her Australian partner did not have an egalitarian idea with regard to gender equality and wanted Y. R. to stay at home as a housewife at the beginning. She disagreed with this, however and negotiated with him to form a fair and egalitarian partnership. Finally, she made her husband approve of the new relationship she wanted of them as a married couple.

 

Nevertheless, identifying the self with conservative cultural ideas of Japanese women still seems prevalent in Japanese marriage migrants. Chikako Ogura (2003) points out that conventional cultural ideas of gender and idealised gender roles are still dominant in a certain socio-economic group of Japanese women. Masahiro Yamada (1994, 1996, 2004) also revealed similar trends through a survey of university students in Japan. Among Japanese marriage migrants in Australia, these conventional gender ideas still situate them in a certain and structural power relation.

 

To consider gender ideas of Japanese women today, it is fair to say that women still hold conventional gender identities to some extent. On these assumptions, gender divisions of several duties in the household are still considerable. It is important, however, to realise that these women disagree with gender inequality in both society and the household, while many of them still accept engaging in several household duties on a gendered account. To explain this contradiction, one of my respondents told me the reason why she takes care of children, staying at home as a housewife, while respecting an egalitarian relationship with her Australian partner. When I asked her, „why do many Japanese women in this area (Western Sydney) end up a housewife?‟, she replied:

 

As I‟ve thought of the same question, I‟ve asked my husband about it. They are not only Japanese women. So are many Australian women. According to him, as the cost of pre-school or kindergarten is very expensive, it is reasonable that the mother takes care of children at home, rather than working together and paying for it. Indeed, I thought many Japanese women are housewives, even though they must like working outside. Perhaps they are wealthy enough to depend on the husband‟s income only.

(M. B. October 2007)

 

The answer given to her from her husband seemed rational and pragmatic. For this reason she was convinced by this reason why many Japanese women marriage migrants end up as housewives in Western Sydney. Becoming a housewife is a good choice for them to save extra expenses in caring for the children, rather than an outcome of their social disadvantage or conservative gender ideas. However, when these women situate the self on the basis of this conventional gender role because of their socio-cultural (and economic) circumstances, we must investigate the ways in which they re-mould the self in the situation. Once they have immigrated to another country and need to re-mould the self or re-locate it in the new socio-cultural circumstances, how do they negotiate this ambivalent perception of a gendered self?

 

6.5. Crafting the (Feminine) Self

 

Situating Herself in the Structural Power Relations

Without exception, Japanese female marriage migrants in my fieldwork spoke to me of how marital life and caring for children were the most significant parts of their lives. For instance, R. S. met her Australian partner in Japan and immigrated to Australia through marriage. She answered that she could not find any particular identity as a marriage migrant, until she gave birth to a baby and became aware of being a mother in Australia. In reply to my question about her perception of becoming a mother in Australia, she said:

 

I‟ve got a position (pojishon in Japanese) to be here. My current occupation is housewife and mother. When I arrived at Australia for the first time, I was niito (NEET; „No Education, Employment or Training‟). I started this life as a niito. Later, both of us began to work when we didn‟t have a child, but I stopped working when I found out I was pregnant. All human beings need a position to be.

 

Hamano: did you have any other positions when you just arrived here?

 

No! I simply felt what I‟m doing here.

(R. S. August 2007)

 

In other words, she expressed that she was a „person of nowhere‟ in the early stage of migration, although she was a full-time worker in Sydney. Nancy Chodorow (1978, p. 45) argues that „women‟s motherhood and mothering role seem to be the most important features in accounting for the universal secondary status of women‟. I believe that Japanese women are no exception to this argument. Given the stories of my respondents, one can, however, see some different perceptions of home, married life (especially the relationship between husband and wife) and motherhood, with particular psychological conflicts between Japanese women and their husbands, and, on occasion, in-laws. Given that the mother-child relationship is the primal relationship in the Japanese family model (Bankart, 1989; Imamura, 1996; Kobayashi, 1994b; Smith, 1978), it is understandable that the relationship with children should be at stake. 

 

The public presence of this mother-child relationship as a principal style of communication and interaction between man and woman in Japan has been observed by several anthropological studies. For instance, in Nightwork: Sexuality, Pleasure, and Corporate Masculinity in a Tokyo Hostess Club, Anne Allison (1994) argues that ways of interaction and relationships between female hostesses at nightclubs and Japanese businessmen, as sarariman, are influenced by this paradigm. Dorrine K. Kondo (1990) also describes the ways in which female part-time workers challenge their lesser status in a small factory by representing themselves as surrogate mothers for younger male artisans. Among several of the gender roles of Japanese women, I emphasise that the role of mother, on the basis of strong attachment to motherhood as the nature of woman, is paramount for Japanese feminine identity in both the private (domestic) and public realm. That is, the status of being a mother who takes responsibility for the upbringing of children grants women an extended social role and network in the public realm, one which extends beyond the domestic household (e.g. Dyck, 1989, 2005; Imamura, 1996; Lebra, 1984). Not only do Japanese housewives remarkably play a nurturing role for the sake of family members, they also actively contribute to the development of communication and socialisation within their neighbourhood in Japan (Imamura, 1987).^[64] 

 

Even overseas, some studies (Kurotani, 2005; Martin, 2007) report a similar practice arising among Japanese wives of business expatriates. In fact, the development of communication and socialisation by mothers with the local community is often facilitated and extended by their childcaring obligations. In my research, I frequently heard that taking part in the mushrooming Japanese playgroups, as well as other diverse local groups, was a crucial instance for these Japanese marriage migrants to extend their networks and associate with other mothers in the local environment. As their children grow up, children‟s school (e.g. daycare service, pre-school, kindergarten, primary school) takes over this important opportunity for socialization in the public realm.

 

Negotiation through Femininity

The representation of feminine identity, stressing motherhood, can sometimes be used as a strategy to convert or subvert female social status in certain structural power relations, that basically place women in a lower or more vulnerable position than men. Such a practice by no means, however, guarantees any concrete outcome in subverting or contesting structural power relations. In the previous chapter, I introduced the concept of „flexible femininity‟ in order to explain a flexible and relational (re)evaluation and expression of the feminine self, depending upon the socio-cultural characteristics of the object of comparison. Japanese marriage migrants in my research saw their femininity stigmatised by their social identity in a supposedly male-dominated Japanese mainstream. These women were in this way pushed out of their country, in search of a better life and improved opportunities. 

 

On the other hand, their evaluation of Japanese femininity tended to be positive, and this might explain the reason why more Japanese women than men end up in cross-national marriage with Australians, as I introduced with C. C. in Chapter 5.

Once they come to Australia and commence making comparisons between Australians and others, an emphasis is put on the virtue of Japanese womanhood that is supposedly unattainable for other women. To situate the self in Australian society, these Japanese women in Australia re-contextualise their Japanese femininity and are making a claim for ownership of femininity itself. This logic of flexible femininity is further strengthened and provides the woman with the confidence to represent a self in conjunction with another feminine identity, such as motherhood. This identity involves male players in a new virtual power relationship, where the female performs as a surrogate mother.

 

In Crafting Selves: Power, Gender and Discourses of Identity in a Japanese Workplace (1990), Dorrine K. Kondo argues Japanese motherhood, as a discursive product in a web of certain power relations, not only contributes to demystifying motherhood as inherent female nature, it also discloses an analytical perspective helpful for examining the ways in which women make use of the „natural‟ sense of self to craft or situate the self in a certain social condition. Kondo explains the strategy and its effect as follows:

 

At the same time, however, their position as mothers gives them some position of power over the male artisans and serves to make important, though formally marginal, members of the company. In Japan, the position of care-giver or the one who indulges the selfish whims of another (the amayakasu^[65] position) is actually a superordinate one, often associated with parents or bosses. By asking favours of the part-timers or by acting childish, the young artisans are placing themselves in the amaeru^[66] position of a child or a subordinate seeking indulgence…. By casting themselves as mothers, women claim power over the younger men and stake out a central space for themselves within the informal structures of the workplace. 

(Kondo, 1990, pp. 295-296)

 

Meanwhile, Kondo critically assesses how these practices come into effect in the workplace to find how women‟s strategy of reliance upon „motherhood‟ subverts pre-existing power relations. Such practices require rigid „male audiences‟ for feminine selves to perform in the workplace:

 

Women, in enacting their genders and in being crafted by men as the receptive audience, the eroticised mother, and the undifferentiated erotic object, are marginalized and, poignantly, paradoxically marginalize themselves from the central narrative of masculine work identity. Yet in so doing they also make themselves virtually indispensable to the felicitous recital of that narrative. And through marshalling these ideologies and enacting them positively, they can also create a sense of self-fulfilment and power… In such a situation, words like “resistance” and “accommodation” truly seem inadequate for apparent resistance is constantly mitigated by collusion and compromise at different levels of consciousness, just as accommodation may have unexpectedly subversive effects… Finally, they underline the always unpredictable and incomplete nature of resistance and the impossibility of constructing a transcendent space of resistance beyond discourse, beyond power, and beyond the law.

(Kondo, 1990, pp. 297-299)

 

According to Kondo, for women, becoming a feminine subject or a (surrogate) mother is apparently seen as internalising and embodying unequal gender relationships between women and men, instead of contesting them as unfair situations. This self-feminisation is, however, rather a strategy that these women use to maximise their limited socio-cultural circumstances on their own. In doing so, these women must be aware of the unequal power relations between them and their male colleagues, and negotiate the situation rather than being subject to the status without question. In a similar vein, one of my respondents spoke to me about the importance to her of her gender identity and her family duties, as expressed in her several gender roles at home. Hence, R. S.‟s identity in Australia was focused on her feminine roles within the family:

 

First of all, I identify myself with being a mother and then being a wife comes second… However, I regard myself as rather muscular; I have never been told I‟m a girly person. I think I got my gendered identity by chance…

With regard to being a mother and wife, the wife is responsible for maintaining her marriage and her life within a couple. It is being a woman that lies at the bottom of myself. Being a woman explains everything about myself, including cooking, caretaking of children and everything. It also comes from a sense that I don‟t want to be looked down upon because I‟m a migrant. I want to show that Japanese people are competent enough (to other Australians), both in appearance and in spirit, even if we are Asian. 

(R. S. August 2007)

 

S. C. also talked about how her maternal identity had given her confidence to live in her local area:

 

I can feel myself just a human being at home. However, once I go out for shopping to a nearby supermarket, in the space of a five-minute walk, I begin to feel myself wondering, „Am I a foreigner?‟, no matter how much I go there. Of course, I think of it too much and no one sees me this way as such. Even so, comparing myself to other people, my hair and pupils are darker than theirs. I always feel it whenever I go to the supermarket… I used to be embarrassed or hesitant to claim something. For example, when the change given was wrong... I knew I had to say something straightforward to people when necessary, and that this works every time. I have learnt this after having spent a few years here. Moreover, once you become a mother, you‟ve got nothing to be afraid of anymore. Now I was even confident about the very matters which used to make me feel so embarrassed.

(S. C. August 2007)

 

R. S. admits that gender identity, which is sustained and emphasised by her gendered roles in the domestic sphere, is the primary and crucial identity for herself in Australia. She also seems to believe that she would be able to compete with Australians (or local people, in a word) in her performance of gender roles. As Kondo observed in the case of Japanese part-time women working in a small factory, care is required here in considering whether R.S. intended to contest or to convert the power structure imposed on her due to her migratory life. I suggest that she identifies herself as a feminine subject, and her ambition to accomplish her gender role is utilised to overcome her disadvantage, and her perception that as a migrant she occupies a lower socio-cultural position. The story of S. C. describes how she was able to become confident once she became a mother, and how her maternal identity contributed to her shedding her hesitation and embarrassment in the public realm, which came from her perception of her strangeness in her local area. By acquiring a certain social (gender) role, she achieved strong self-recognition in her Australian

life.

 

By looking at motherhood (or maternal identity) through the representation of a gendered self, critical insights can be developed through an analysis of the ways in which Japanese marriage migrants in Australia situate themselves. It no longer seems sufficient to speak of recent Japanese women with reference to traditional and conservative cultural ideas of Japanese femininity. As exemplified by R. S. above, a strategy of crafting selves using „Japanese‟ motherhood was commonplace among many of my respondents. For these Japanese marriage migrants, remaking the self using Japanese maternal identity comprised a large, integral part of the practice of remaking the self in Australia. It worked in association with families and surrounding neighbours in the local community. Such a strategic representation of the self reveals how power relations are modified by Japanese female marriage migrants in their Australian life. To discuss this further, I will now undertake an analysis of the strategy of crafting the feminine self, taking into account the meaning of „home‟ in Australia for these Japanese migrant women.

 

Nevertheless, not all Japanese women marriage migrants are able to re-mould the self through a very feminine identity as a mother in Australia. As A. D. notes in the following, self-feminisation in the Japanese way does not guarantee secure social identity in the migratory life, when this woman sees herself in the Australian (or new cultural) context: 

 

It is natural for Australian women to tend to work, while caring for children. Whenever I think about it, I really feel frustrated that I have no occupation now. Unlike Japan, being a housewife is neither recognised as an occupation, nor can I fill it down in the document as my occupation in Australia. I don‟t do anything now, but everyone always asks me „what do you do?‟ So I want an occupation. I‟m really obsessed by it, although Japanese women (in the playgroup or mothers‟ group) around me don‟t think of it very much. Whenever I tell them that I have no occupation and stay at home basically, they simply say „oh, I see‟ without interest. Every time, I just wonder if I‟m just too self-conscious (laughter).

(A. D. October 2007)

 

She seeks a secure social identity, which would be guaranteed by a recognised occupation in Australian society. While her Japanese friends (migrant women) are less concerned about it, A. D.  is struggling with an identity crisis. Perhaps it comes from the fact that, as I introduced when recounting her stories in this thesis, she has worked as a translator/interpreter of English in Japan and came to Australia to improve her English skills still further. She was also ambitious to compete with local colleagues in her good command of English at the early period of her migration. Thus it is fair to say that re-moulding the self with Japanese conventional gender accounts is made of identity politics for Japanese women marriage migrants, who need a place to be in the new socio-cultural circumstances. In doing so, these women re-evaluate Japanese femininity as cultural capital to maximise their presence and positionality in the migratory life. Nevertheless, when it comes to achieving a desirable „lifestyle‟ in Australia, such a strategy limits their possibilities to re-draw their new life according to their own skills and desires.

 

We have so far observed the ways Japanese female marriage migrants attempt to re-constitute the self with reference to senses of Japanese femininity, or some contradictory perception of it. In order to mould their social identity in an Australian context and their new Australian home, they apparently rely on what they consider to be very common socio-cultural aspects of femininity in the Japanese context. Considering these women‟s socio-cultural status as a marriage migrant, as I outlined above, such a resurgence of imagined Japanese femininity can be recognised as a certain form of identity politics. This explains their striving to re-locate and situate the self in a new environment. The strategy itself should be analysed in the socio-cultural circumstances in which it is located, as well as women‟s voluntary practice of situating the self in a new Australian life.^[67] 

 

In the Japanese context, several studies (Miura & Ueno, 2007; Ogura, 2003; Yamada, 1996) suggest that the degree of feminisation of self of Japanese women depends on their socio-economic status, including those of their male partner. Additionally, they agree that the lower status women are placed, the more the women tend to feminise self as the most important social identity they represent. Broadly speaking, relying upon the conventional gender ideas and roles is a strategy of women who deal with a lower socio-economic status. That is, while they accept dependence upon their partner with regard to social and financial securities, they have to play the role of submissive woman in conventional gender ideas in Japan. Apparently, it seems to reproduce a structure of gender inequality in the couple, but this, in turn, guarantees the women can situate the self with an approved social identity. 

 

Contrary to this, studies mentioned above add that a group of Japanese women, who are able to accumulate their own cultural capital through high educational backgrounds and prospective careers, do not need to feminise the self as such. Rather, they try to avoid this. Hence, what Kelsky (2001) and Kitamura (2009) revealed was the fact that those women unwillingly took on conservative and conventional

Japanese gender ideas, once they realised that they were unable to situate the self in the different socio-cultural circumstances in the life in the US. For the same reason, many of my respondents began to re-evaluate Japanese gender ideas in order to re-mould the self in the migratory life, even though they could not internalise it in Japan. However, just as A. D. expressed her frustration of having no „occupation‟, this strategy of self-feminisation does not always function, when the person really longs to be a Japanese-Australian, rather than a Japanese in Australia.

 

Identity in generic terms is constructed by highlighting differences from others. A series of different socio-cultural categories and belongings are adopted for situating the self in comparison. A nuanced power relationship in a certain social structure and relationship establishes one‟s identity. In Beyond White and Other: Relationally of

Narratives of Race in Feminist Discourse, Susan Stanford Friedman (1995) follows a similar relational evaluation of the socio-cultural attribution of the self in a (shifting) power relationship. Questioning the simple binary of racism between White

Americans and Black African Americans from a feminist perspective, Friedman focuses on what she terms „relational positionality‟ (1995, p. 16) in analysing the structural power relations underpinning racism in the US. She argues, „A feminist analysis of identity as it is constructed at the crossroads of different systems of stratification requires acknowledgement of how privilege and oppression are often not absolute categories but, rather, shift in relation to different axes of power and powerlessness‟ (ibid.).^[68]  Friedman continues:

 

(But) cultural narratives of relational positionality go beyond this foundation by resisting and dissolving the fixities of the white/other binary. They deconstruct what Homi Bhabha describes as “an important feature of colonial discourse”: its dependence on the concept of “fixity” in the ideological construction of otherness” (1983, 18). Within a relational framework, identities shift with a changing context, dependent always upon the point of reference. Not essence or absolutes, identities are fluid sites that can be understood differently depending on the vantage point of their formation and function. 

(Friedman, 1995, p. 17)

 

As a result of examining the stories of the Japanese respondents I interviewed in Western Sydney, I found that these women attempted to flexibly situate the self in their migratory life, occasionally and strategically selecting a different socio-cultural group in order to secure their place in this new environment. Nevertheless, I emphasise that the strategy of situating the self in comparison with different socio-cultural groups in that manner might not always guarantee a secure and permanent self. Rather, as the socio-cultural (power) relation transforms, in a mundane series of encounters and interaction with different types of people, one must assess and resituate the relationship between the self and others constantly. 

 

Within a complicated but sometimes rigid power structure, one‟s relational positionality would be situated irrespective of whether one likes it or not. One would occupy a certain position no matter how one might voluntarily situate or represent oneself privately. For this reason, several complex socio-cultural categories are necessary to situate the self in life. A self unsatisfied or unhappy with its lower social circumstances, arising out of ethnicity, would attempt to contest the situation by amplifying his or her gender attributions. In turn, gender aspects do not function to demonstrate themselves in a distinctive way, unless taking into account ethnic identity in a settler society such as Australia. According to shifting social relationships in association with the variety of different people surrounding them in Australian life, Japanese marriage migrants put into practice a version of the self in a very flexible manner.

 

6.6. Liberal but Conservative?: The Two Sides of Japanese Women Today 

 

In my fieldwork, the Japanese women marriage migrant respondents frequently expressed the two sides of Japanese women today. Their ideas of gender and the relationship between heterosexual couples were very liberal and egalitarian. They were also represented in their comparative gaze between (idealised) Western society and (essentialised) Japanese society, which frequently drives Japanese women to leave Japan for the West. On the other hand, these women do not give up conventional ideas of Japanese femininity. In fact, in this chapter, we observed the ways in which the Japanese women re-evaluate and re-mould the self, through apparently traditional but actually re-interpreted gender ideas, as a migrant woman in the new socio-cultural circumstances. 

 

As to those „two sides‟ of Japanese women today, Masahiro Yamada (1994), a leading Japanese sociologist of family and gender, illustrates different perceptions of marriage between Japanese women and men. According to Yamada, for a Japanese woman, marriage is an opportunity for rebirth, giving the woman upward social mobility, allowing her to rely on the socio-economic capital of her husband. Contrary to this, a Japanese man regards a marriage as a mere event that should follow as part of his general life course, with no effect on his career. Accordingly, men were more likely to prefer a woman whose personal career aspiration did not conflict with their own. Of course, this simplified the structure of interdependency between a man and woman to an initial ideotype, allowing us to investigate the different aspirations for marriage between men and women in Japan. 

 

Marriage and Rendering a New Lifestyle

Given that marriage is a great instance of „rebirth‟ for Japanese woman, Yamada‟s argument with regard to Japanese women‟s perception of marriage seems to be suitable for a discussion of Japanese migration by intermarriage. In such a drastic and perhaps unimaginable (but partly desired) event, one can see how Japanese women today appropriate conventional (but sometimes unacceptable) ideas of gender and family within a new relationship and a new life in Australia. This new life includes their Australian partner, new family members and neighbours. However, if a woman‟s unique practice in that way arises in a certain socio-cultural (and even) economic circumstance, one must investigate what power relations she is situated within and how she, in turn, accommodates/transforms herself in the environment.

 

Another question arises: to what extent does the desire for a new lifestyle and new values as an ex-lifestyle explorer affect ways of constituting a home in Australia? To consider this aspect of Japanese marriage migrants, we must consider the transformation of the perception of gender, individuality and personal relationships over the past few decades in Japan. In Chapter 2, I argued how the transformation of Japanese society affected the rise of new migratory practices, by pointing out the impact of hyper-consumer society since the 1980s. Referring to the concept of the „aestheticisation of everyday life‟, I argued that migratory experience (including long-term stay overseas or sojourner experience) became a practice of reconstituting his/her imaginary lifestyle just as it was considered to be unattainable in Japan. The achievement of such a lifestyle is often represented by stressing the value of individual choice and the liberation of the self from conventional values and social obligations, rather than the accomplishment of a materially rich life. 

 

Consequently, recent studies of Japanese emigration have focused on this „lifestyle migrant‟ (Hamano, 2010; Nagatomo, 2007; Sato, 2001), „cultural migrant‟ (Fujita, 2008) or self-seeker (Kato, 2009) – although the question still remains to what extent these studies have succeeded in rendering a deep analysis of Japan‟s social changes as a hyper-consuming, post-industrialist society. Also, it brought about celebrating one‟s individual choice and liberation from conventional (and even compulsive) social and cultural ideas in relation to the concept of gender, family and individuality in society, although conventional cultural and social ideas are still alive to some extent in Japan today (e.g. Yamada, 1996).

 

6.7. Conclusion: Westernisation, Indivisualisaion and the ‘Aestheticisation’ of

Everyday Life in Marriage Migration 

 

Consistent with this, I draw attention back to the circumstances of many of my respondent Japanese women, who longed for a new life and attempted to achieve it by coming to Australia. Although perhaps initially motivated by a desire for short-term recreation in Australia, transient stays developed into permanent migration and the establishment of a new life. Thus „consequent settlement‟ is to a certain extent derived from the individualisation of contemporary Japanese. These arguments by no means amount to a denial of the fact that Japanese marriage migrants gave up retaining or representing their feminised ethnic identity (their sense of being a Japanese migrant woman) in the process of making a home in association with their Australian families. While the associative construction of an Australian home with their families seemingly suits their desire to achieve a new quality of life virtually unavailable in Japanese society, it would be naïve to say that Japanese migrant identity was in some way surrendered. Rather, these women tacitly appropriate their ethnic identity as „given‟, in order to accommodate the self in the new lifestyle and the construction of a home in Australia, as a result of their „choice‟.

That is, one would consider that the migrant still resorts to a certain identity politics in seeking a secure self identity, and when facing the difficulties and anxieties of migration and settlement. 

 

In summary, this chapter has focussed on the extent to which Japanese women marriage migrants flexibly but contextually craft ethno-gendered selves. This arises from the desire for achieving the aestheticisation of everyday life as they seek encounters with the (unexpected) reality of life as a migrant in Australian society. I considered how women dealt with encounters in the precarious circumstances of a newly arrived migrant, from ontological insecurities to uncertainties about their capacity for upward social mobility, and analysed the ways women perform their Japanese femininity in the Australian context. I will go on to scrutinise these practices and modes in the next chapter, and, in particular, will look at the ways in which private realms, such as the home and their own ethnic Japanese association, function as a cradle for re-moulding the feminine self in the new country. Also challenging the idea that these domestic spaces exclusively encapsulate these migrant women in the private realm, I will describe the ways in which Japanese migrant women in Western Sydney gain an opportunity to take part in the wider public realm through the feminine identity developed in these private realms.

CHAPTER 7. A BRIDGE TO THE MAINSTREAM: THE PENRITH JAPANESE COMMUNITY

 

7.1. Introduction

 

For Japanese marriage migrants, making a home in their Australian context means re-moulding the self in a new socio-cultural environment. Just as the practice of building a house means to construct a safe and intimate space materially, so making a home in the new settlement is a social process in which the migrant acclimatises him/herself in a new environment. Making a home in the new place also involves a cultural translation: it is a practice in which migrants construct an intimate (and familiar) space by appropriating and re-interpreting familiar cultural ideas brought from the homeland. In the same vein, for Japanese women marriage migrants, constructing a home (or private realm) in Australia is a process of coming to terms with the gendered ideas and roles (situating the self within a gendered discourse) which define their obligations as women. 

 

Relying upon the domestic sphere as the place for the self, rather than seeking association with the public sphere, may give these women a more familiar, secure and intimate space of belonging in the new home. This particularly applies to people who live at a distance from the Japanese ethnoburb. This domestic orientation consequently strengthens the process of crafting the self in a more conventionally feminine way, which fits with external perceptions of Japanese femininity whether the woman likes it or not. In this context, her „Japanese‟ sense of self helps to construct her distinct identity as different from other Australian women. Nevertheless, as I detail later, some contradictions arise in this representation of Japanese femininity. Women refer to their Japanese femininity and spontaneously internalise it in order to distinguish themselves from local (Australian) women when speaking of their relationship with family (especially their male partners). But at the same time, they express their reluctance to obey such traditional and conservative gender roles, and attempt to develop an egalitarian relationship with their Australian partner.

 

In this chapter, I explore the process by which Japanese marriage migrants in Western Sydney make a new place in which to belong. In particular, I focus on the ways in which the home functions as a springboard to form wider local networks and links with their neighbours. I suggest that her Australian home not only functions as an intimate and comfortable space that makes the woman feel a sense of homeland culture and customs (e.g. Kurotani, 2005; Martin, 2007), but also as a more mediated space, located in between the private (her cultural heritage) and public (her partner‟s culture as well as the local community). In this way, the home is not merely a space of intimacy and cultural conformity, as argued by numerous studies of diasporic lives of migrants (e.g. Constable, 2005a; Owen-Brown, 2002). Rather, the home is a space of mediation that involves migrants in public life. Given that their Australian home is an inter-cultural (and inter-communal) space, this mediated space can be seen as a sort of „third space‟ (Oldenburg, 1989), a space linking communities and cultures. These women‟s home-making is enmeshed in interactions with local Japanese and with the local neighbourhood. More precisely, these migrants necessarily mediate their own cultural ideas and new ideas in the domestic realm, before entering into the wider public realm. For the same reason, one can discuss the role of their local ethnic association as another mediated space that moderates the members between their private and public realm of the members, rather than forming an exclusive ethnic cluster in the local community.

 

Above all, in this chapter I examine the way in which these Japanese marriage migrants in Western Sydney began to create their own ethnic association. Looking at several stories of inter-married Japanese women in the region, I analyse a variety of degrees of involvement of the members with their Japanese association. Additionally, I discuss their differentiated prospects for and attachment to their own Japanese association. In so doing, I particularly focus on their ambivalent perceptions of their own association. I conclude that this indecisive sense of attachment/detachment to the local Japanese association comes from their longing for a pure imagined Australian way of life, one pursued by contemporary Japanese migrants as lifestyle seekers. 

 

7.2. Home away from Home: Making Home in the New Settlement

 

Images and Realities of Western Sydney

Western Sydney, where I mostly conducted my fieldwork, is said to have several unique features compared to other regions (2010b)^[69]. Although normally considered a culturally and socially diverse area (New South Wales Government, 2009), the label „Western Sydney‟ suggests a certain distinctive socio-cultural formation in

Greater Sydney. Historically, this area has been described as a frontier of Greater Sydney. This description involves a distance from the city centre as the centre of civilization and development in modern Australia (Collins & Poynting, 2000; Grace, et al., 1997; Mee, 1994; Powell, 1993; Watson, 2005). Diane Powell describes this region, in contrast to the city:

 

In Sydney, over a period of time, the term „western suburbs‟ has come to indicate a social category rather than a geographic region. A string of stories in all the mass media about social problems, life in particular locations, and specific events in the area have reinforced urban folklore surrounding the working class, public housing and the urban fringes of the city. „Sydney‟s west‟, as it is abbreviated in many newspaper and broadcast stories, has become a generic label. It shares much the same image as other generic labels such as „No Name‟ or „No Frills‟.  

(Powell, 1993, p. 1)

 

Despite the generic label, the Western Sydney area comprises a high degree of diversification within social categories (WSROC, 2010a). First, this region shares the largest area in Greater Sydney in terms of both geographical size and population. Next, due to the influx of young couples and immigrants seeking affordable residences, the growth of the population in this region is considerable. Such a rapid growth in the region has resulted in the most ethnically diverse region in Australia. 

 

The rapid socio-cultural transformation of Western Sydney from a „still and homogenous suburbia‟ to a „sprawling and culturally diverse suburbia‟ has often seen the area demonised as the cause of increased social problems and conflicts among residents (Grace, et al., 1997; Powell, 1993). Also, as many early studies revealed, Western Sydney has been reported and represented by the media as a problematic case of „urban sprawl‟ (Burchell, 2003; Johnson, 1997), with related issues such as: the dislocation of local communities (Collins & Poynting, 2000; Costello & Dunn, 1994;

Lee-Shoy, 2005); lack of infrastructure (Glesson, 2006; Glesson & Randolph, 2001; Waitt, 2003); ethnic tension and refugees‟ settlement problems (Dunn & McDonald,

2001; Gow, et al., 2005; Noble, et al., 1999); and indigenous disadvantage (Cowlishaw, 2009; Grace, et al., 1997; Morgan, 2006).  

 

Contrary to these relatively negative images of Western Sydney, the region can also be perceived positively, for its rich natural environment, and ideal images of suburban residence, found in the perceptions and representations of the residents themselves. Interestingly, Michael Symonds argues that the comparative images of Western Sydney in relation to nature can be drawn from the historical colonial discourse of Australia, from a modern European perspective. He says, „[T]he west‟s real and imagined relationship to nature can be understood as being located at the end point of a specific Australian tradition – a highly influential tradition of Australian experience of nature which disallowed the possibility of the European modern subject from the outset. Australia was, from some of the earliest colonial descriptions, considered a barren, ugly and virtually uninhabited landscape. The convenient legalism of terra nullius partly flowed from this understanding‟ (Symonds, 1997, p. 85). Indeed, one would see that Western Sydney and its images seem to have been generated in an extensive idea of the city and suburbia, being overlapped with another, contrasting the image of the modern metropolis with the uncultivated colony.   

 

Local residents of the region in fact describe their suburb and community with their own terms and values, in reference to other regions. For instance, the rapid and wide range of development of new suburbs appeal to large numbers of young couples and 

Table 12. Basic Socio-Demographic Profiles of Three Local Government Areas  in Western Sydney

Local Government Area	Blacktown	Blue Mountains	Penrith
Mean Age	34.7	36.6	31.9
Australian Born	61.4	78.5	72.7
Person with Qualification	42.8	56.3	42
Ave. Weekly Individual Income (A$, 2005)	555.96	617.2	592.76
Unemployment rate (%)	6.7	3.9	4.6
Ave. Weekly Household Spending  (A$, 2005)	1,019.55	1,043.91	1,034.68
Approvals of Residential Buildings  (March 2005)	1087	124	131

 

(Source: New South Wales Government, 2009)

 

families, who desperately seek both a large and affordable property in Greater Sydney (WSROC, 2010a). Its rapid change and suburbanisation sometimes cause

controversies, however, with the disappearance of pastoral and peaceful suburbs (e.g. Allon, 2005). Also, the recent rise of „aspirational‟ suburbs is re-drawing the conventional images of regional suburbs (Marris, 2008).  Just as these diverse and still transforming images of Western Sydney indicate, the perceptions of my respondents of the local Japanese differed, as we will observe later. For instance, the following table shows a comparative socio-demographic aspect of three local government areas in Western Sydney, where I predominantly conducted my fieldwork.

 

Relocating Japanese Home Overseas

In Home Away from Home: Japanese Corporate Wives in the United States, Sawa Kurotani (2005) describes the ways in which Japanese wives, who in association with their partner are assigned to a foreign branch of their company, struggle with remaking a new home in a temporary settlement. In these Japanese women‟s practices, making a home away from home is not only about providing a secure and comfortable domestic sphere in the unfamiliar environment on their family members‟ behalf, but also for the sake of carving out a place to be in an American life. They have to establish relationships with their neighbours and with other Japanese wives in the region, as well as developing a new social identity, through exercising certain household tasks and duties. Recently, in the UK, Ruth Martin (2007) observed that the wives of Japanese expatriates contributed to developing wider and diverse neighbourly relationships in their new home. Martin insists that these women‟s everyday lives  comprise both keeping the domestic sphere as an intimate site for the family, and placing their family in the wider public realm in the local community. In particular, the education of children in the local school provides them with the greatest opportunity to associate with locals, by meeting other mothers and teachers at school and even acting with them in school events. The relationship with other mothers seems to develop their engagement with other local people particularly well, through the sharing of common interests in children and education.

 

In both Kurotani and Martin‟s literature on Japanese wives, those Japanese women not only perceive their home as their obligation and responsibility, but also as a good opportunity to integrate into a wider local community. In this sense, the migrant‟s home is a springboard to the wider public realm, such as the local neighbourhood, the broader community and society. In the same vein, for Japanese marriage migrants in my research, their „home‟ and „family‟ by no means comprise only those who are from the same cultural background or ethnicity. Rather, home as a private realm is a dynamic site of interaction and intersection between themselves and their Australian families. In the case of a cross-national married couple, home is a site for the reinterpretation of the woman‟s own Japanese culture and values, as well as the Australian ways of life that the woman imagined herself entering into, in the early stages of her settlement. In that sense, unlike the Japanese corporate wives of Kurotani and Martin, making a home, for Japanese marriage migrants, cannot be represented as a linear process of „acculturation‟. It is a place of intercultural negotiation. 

 

For this reason, my respondents could not see their private realm either as relocation or as a materialisation of a Japanese home. Instead, home in Australia is an ongoing process of mundane reflexive intersection and amalgamation of „our‟ and „their‟ cultures and values, a result of negotiation, bargaining and even compromise, for the sake of acquiring a new family and new life in Australia. As I discuss later, in the practice of making an Australian family and home, these Japanese women also strive to materialise their perceptions of the Western lifestyle and of personal relationships as they had presumed them to be (Rosenberger, 2001), and which motivated many of them to make the push overseas in the first place.

 

Home for Japanese Women Marriage Migrants

How do Japanese marriage migrants in Australia reconceptualise the meaning of home in the new settlement? To what extent do they take into account or challenge general ideas of Japanese home and femininity in the new environment? Do they progressively adapt to the new cultural and social values of home and family they come to know in Australia? Moreover, how do they attempt to hybridise „our‟ cultural ideas and „theirs‟ (their partners‟ and in-laws)? 

 

Before exploring these questions, I will investigate the migrant perception of „home‟ in the new environment. Generally speaking, Japanese marriage migrants are comprised of individual female migrants, who came to Australia alone. This means that they did not have any family or relatives in Australia and that they are less interested in calling their families from Japan, even after long-term settlement in Australia. They would also have been unknown to the established Japanese community in Australia on arrival. Many of them first came to Australia as individual transient visitors, and ended up becoming marriage migrants for a variety of reasons. Others came to Australia from Japan as direct marriage migrants seeking Australian residence/citizenship. 

 

These marriage migrants could not, therefore, conceive of relying upon any pre-established local Japanese community in Australia, as early Japanese lifestyle migrants did in the early 1980s in Sydney (see Chapter 4). They are neither mass migrants nor chain migrants, immigrating associatively to Australia with family and relatives or business partners. In terms of their residential preference, I have already revealed the reason why they are unable to form a Japanese ethnoburb in Australia. Furthermore, given the nature of a young married couple, it is not unusual to see that they move to outer suburbs in order to find a better living environment and affordable property, to raise children and bring up their family. Without exception, as I discussed in Chapter 5, these issues have been the dominant reasons why my respondent Japanese marriage migrants of Western Sydney had to move to the present suburb from more central parts of Sydney. 

 

Under such circumstances, it is no wonder that these women relied mostly upon their local partner (including in-laws, occasionally) to establish a new sense of home. The family tends to be the only place to belong in the new settlement in the first instance, even though some of them might go out for work and maintain a relationship with other local Japanese or neighbours shortly after. Here are some examples of such initial experiences of Japanese female marriage migrants.

 

Here is a story of M. B. about her early life in Australia. It was the year of 2004 when M. B. came to Australia as a working holiday maker. Before that, she had been to Australia as a tourist. During her first visit to Australia, she met her current partner (husband). Contrary to ordinary working holiday makers who need to stay close to casual job opportunities because of the lack of high profile work experience and language proficiency, she lived in the Blue Mountains for the first half of her working holiday and then moved to Queensland with her partner. When I asked her the reason why she stayed in these regions, away from Japanese ethnoburbs, she straightforwardly answered that she lived with and followed her partner. Interestingly, she said that the purpose of applying for a one-year working holiday was only to stay with him in Australia. She also added that she considered her period of working holiday (as she was living with her boyfriend at that time) was a one-year trial period to confirm whether she was able to immigrate to Australia. After the completion of her working holiday, she became a marriage migrant by marrying her boyfriend, and moved to another larger suburb in Western Sydney. After I interviewed her in 2007, she moved again, to the Blue Mountains. 

 

T. G. spoke of her residence in the Blue Mountains. T. G. has been living in Sydney since 1987. When I asked whether she had been to Australia as a working holiday maker previously, she replied that she had met her husband when she visited

Australia for a holiday. Before her marriage migration to Australia, she had been to Australia several times. Hence she mentioned that marriage with an Australian partner was crucial for her to immigrate to Australia permanently. After living in a southern suburb of Greater Sydney for three years, she moved to the Blue Mountains in 1991 and is still living there. The first place of her residence was, according to her, simply chosen for the reason that her husband had already been living there a long time. However, they decided to purchase a larger house in a better environment once they began to raise two children. Up to this point, she said that she had maintained a long-term relationship with Japanese people in her first place of residence. Before moving to the Blue Mountains she hardly imagined that there were Japanese people living there. Two months had already passed when she met the first local Japanese there. Compared to other Japanese marriage migrants who are ex-working holiday makers, who are presumably ambitious to learn English or even speak it fluently, she still remembers how hard she had to work to learn English just after migration, since, as she emphasised, she had been a mere tourist until then. 

 

The majority of Japanese female marriage migrants apparently came to Australia as tourists, students or Working Holiday Makers (WHMs) for the first time, irrespective of their personal interest in learning English or enjoying different cultural experiences. It would be fair to say that they entered Australia as transient visitors, and then decided to stay in Australia permanently through marrying a local partner in Australia. However, as the cases of M. B. and T. G. illustrate, there are those whose visit to Australia was motivated by the intention of marriage to an Australian partner. Also, among my respondents, there are those who met their future Australian partner in Japan. In that case, many of these Australians were also WHMs who taught English at language school in Japan. Due to the socio-demographic characteristics of my research field, most of my respondents for in-depth interview were married to an Australian of European background. However, my respondents were, in fact, so diverse that they included two Japanese-Japanese couples. In my fieldwork in Western Sydney, I had a few opportunities to meet Japanese men married an Australian women, although they were reluctant to take part in my research. Despite the different pattern of entrants among the marriage migrants, I suggest that Japanese marriage migrants are generally migrants who come to Australia for variety reasons but who decide to stay only after forming a relationship with a local residents.

 

Thanks to her local partner, one could imagine that a Japanese marriage migrant feels a sense of both social and psychological security in the new environment from the beginning. However, it is also important to consider that such circumstances sometimes cause an over-reliance upon the local partner and family. The women‟s residential preference may typically be driven by the interests of their local partners, although this could happen to all married couples. Even so, it would be a more serious issue for migrant women. These female marriage migrants, as evident in some responses in Chapter 4, frequently suffer a lack of social relationships with others beyond the family. Some of these marriage migrants apparently strive to keep a relationship with friends and acquaintances, which they established when they were still a transient visitor in Australia before their marriage, however the relocation of their place of residence after marriage (migration) often removes this pre-established social network in Australia.

 

Making a Place to Be in Australia: Situating Self at Home

Generally speaking, for migrants the home is the most significant place in the new country. No matter how much the migrant may feel anxiety or discomfort in the new country, their home and their family are supposed to offer a secure and intimate place at all times, affording the migrant temporary rest. The home becomes a place where the cultural heritage of the homeland can be represented and passed on to newer generations. However, in the case of my respondents, what one would presume to be an intimate place – home – is frequently constructed by negotiation with their (Australian) family members, who hold different cultural and social values. Here, the home is not simply a site of relocation and re-adaptation of cultural ideas transposed from the homeland. The home of marriage migrants cannot be simply perceived as a site of „our‟ culturally familiar sphere, in a clear-cut contrast to the public realm of the settlement society. Even in the domestic realm of the home, marriage migrants have to deal with the different cultural and social values represented by their families. Accordingly, no matter what effort they make to re-locate cultural and social ideas taken from their original society, these familiar ideas must be selected, negotiated and even remade, to some extent. 

 

In interviews, migrant women frequently explained to me how much effort they make to obtain Japanese ingredients for cooking Japanese at home, or how they make the most of local Australian ingredients to cook Japanese meals since, due to the distance from Japanese ethnoburbs in northern Sydney, there are difficulties obtaining stock from specialist Japanese supermarkets. Their practice and strong persistence with Japanese culinary pursuits reminds me of Anne J. Kershen‟s theory (2002), which describes the ways in which diasporas (migrants) put a great emphasis on their food culture in the new country. One of my respondents spoke of a local Japanese gathering where her Australian partner expressed a dislike for Japanese dishes. She complained about having always to cook both a Japanese dish (for herself) and Western meal (for her partner). Nevertheless, none of the Japanese women in my research gave up cooking or eating Japanese food at home, regardless of the difficulties. Some said that they grow particular Japanese vegetables in backyard gardens, for these items are still unavailable at local Asian groceries. 

 

More interestingly, not only can the practice of cooking and consuming Japanese food in Australia be an integral part of maintaining their ethno-cultural identity as Japanese in Australia, the cooking was also encouraged and reinforced by the familiarity with and popularity of Japanese food in Australia. For this reason, one respondent spoke to me of her frustration with a Japanese (sushi) restaurant newly opened in her suburb. According to her, it was the first sushi restaurant in her suburb and it was run by non-Japanese Asian and they served „wrong‟ sushi. When she went there with her Australian husband, who had lived with her for a while in Japan previously, not only she but also he was quite dissatisfied with the poor quality of the sushi. She said to me that, „We had something like a sushi but it was a hint of radish sprouts with mayonnaise on the rice. It wasn‟t sushi. I‟m really worried that such a bad sushi restaurant might harm the good reputation of Japanese food, as the locals don‟t know what real sushi is like in this suburb. Don‟t you think so?‟ This story suggests how proud she is of the good reputation of Japanese food in Australia and she clearly recognises the authenticity of Japanese who alone cook real Japanese food.

 

When migrants mentioned that their partner sometimes prefers Japanese food to Australian food, I noted how being ethnic Japanese was being re-evaluated in a positive manner through food. For instance, when these women speak of how to cook Japanese cuisine, they are always concerned with the ways in which they are able to substitute local ingredients for Japanese ingredients which are not available locally. For them, cooking Japanese food does not mean reproducing authentic Japanese food in the Australian home. Rather, it is represented as a process of cultural translation. Also, not only does serving Japanese dishes at home work for the preservation of their cultural tradition; it also provides them with a means of exploring the degree of acceptance of their ethno-cultural difference by their Australian families. In an interview with me, Y. R. spoke of how her Australian partner could eat Japanese food she prepared for a home party with her local friend: 

 

It was when a Japanese friend of mine, who married an Australian, invited me to have a New Year party one day. She planned the New Year party in a potluck style. Ah, it was last New Year. So, I prepared stewed hijiki (seaweed) for everyone and I particularly prepared grilled fish for Australian husbands in the party, because it was a New Year and I thought to bring some Japanese food for the New Year [but she brought grilled fish for those who were unable to eat Japanese food]. At the party, only my husband tried my stewed hijiki among all the Australian husbands. No other Australians even touched it at all. The colour of the stewed hijiki was black and it didn‟t look so delicious to them. I think everyone was just suspicious whether it was edible. So they asked my husband if it is edible when he was trying it. Yet he looked strange because everyone was asking him if my hijiki is edible, even though he was just eating it.

(Y. R. April 2008)

 

According to these engagements with her „mother food‟ in Australia, it seemed that this woman‟s Japanese identity (rooted in her culinary custom) was welcomed only by her partner, while their relatives were not tolerant enough to accept it. She expressed her gratitude to her Australian husband who always welcomed her introducing Japanese cultural customs (especially a Japanese diet) at home.

 

Accordingly, a positive reception of a Japanese diet can guarantee these migrants a site to identify with a Japanese ethnicity in the Australian home. Additionally, I suggest that the wider popularity of Japanese food in Australia encourages these Japanese women to provide them to the cross-national married family. One could say that they are keen to see their cultural heritage accepted at home, even though they are eager to build an „Australian‟ family. For this reason, like the women I referred to above, these Japanese women often complain that many Japanese restaurants are now run by other Asians, since they are worried that the reputation of Japanese food will be harmed by „others‟, who are supposedly unable to serve authentic Japanese food as they do. 

 

One cannot dismiss, however, the importance of the popularity and wide recognition of Japanese food and culture in contemporary Australia. For example, in Brisbane in 2004, I interviewed Japanese war brides, who came to Australia a half century ago as a marriage migrant with Australian servicemen. These war brides often spoke to me of how it was impossible for them to either introduce or preserve Japanese cultural customs even at home. One reason was that Australia in that period enforced migrants to assimilate into White Australia. The other reason derives from the fact that the Australians in the early period had a quite strong negative attitude towards the Japanese just after WWII. Under such circumstances, cooking and serving Japanese food to their family was completely out of the question, they said.

 

One should acknowledge the point that even the home is, for these Japanese marriage migrants, represented as a place of negotiation and mediation: between their ethno-cultural background, on the one hand, and the new socio-cultural environment on the other. The story of Y. R. about the hijiki for the New Year party indicates the way in which she experiences challenges in bringing her cultural aspect into her Australian life. In fact, hijiki is not included as a particular food (called osechi, special New Year dishes). Indeed, in the light of Japanese tradition, it is not usual for the Japanese to prepare hijiki for the occasion. Hijiki is, rather, one of the popular foods for an everyday meal, but it would represent a distinctive Japanese food, as the consumption of seaweed rarely forms part of the Western culinary tradition. Given that Y. R. prepared a stewed hijiki for an Australian New Year party on purpose, one could consider her challenge of merging her pure cultural custom (not grilled fish but also hijiki) into her Australian life, and then she felt as if only her Australian husband partook of it.

 

Nevertheless, according to a story recounted to me by A. D., some Japanese marriage migrants face difficulty introducing or relocating their cultural customs at home. On the understanding that the identity of the person would not be revealed, A. D. told me this story:

 

I cannot tell you about personal details. But I often hear that (Japanese marriage migrants) suffer because of the fact that their in-laws are reluctant to accept Japanese culture at home. A conflict would come to the fore between the migrant and her in-laws, although their husbands may tend to accept it. But, I wonder how stressful it is for a Japanese woman if her in-laws don‟t welcome it (Japanese culture) … For example, I‟ve heard a story about this conflict. When a Japanese woman of inter-marriage made a lunch box of onigiri (rice balls) for her child, one of her in-laws told her not to put such an awful thing in the children‟s lunch box. I also have heard that some Australian families get irritated when she speaks Japanese at home, since they don‟t understand what she says. If your in-laws don‟t welcome your Japanese culture as something good for you, you would be faced with such trouble at home … I would feel as if my own identity is totally denied if I had such an experience. 

(A. D. October 2007)

 

This story is one that A. D. heard from someone else and she herself had never, in fact, had such a bitter experience in her Australian life, although she really felt empathy on hearing this story. As for another similar story, I also met a Japanese marriage migrant who cooked three types of meal at the same time: a typical Australian dish for her husband, a light meal for her children, and a Japanese dish for herself. 

 

In contradistinction to this story, A. D. confessed that she sometimes feels sorry for her husband, as he never complains about the way in which she manages her household in a Japanese way. Her perception of feeling sorry for the „Japanisation‟ of the domestic space derives from the fact she believes that her „home‟ also belongs to her Australian family as well. After recounting the story above, she spoke to me about how recently she prefers to bring her own Japanese lunch box (a set of rice balls) when going out with her family, while she leaves her husband to eat anything he likes. Thus, it is clear that in addition to her interest in preserving her Japanese culture, she is also concerned about her husband‟s culture, and also has her own personal desire to build an „Australian‟ lifestyle, which is what many contemporary

Japanese lifestyle migrants, including herself, have sought in their Australian life.

 

When these Japanese women spoke of Japanese food, I also frequently heard them compare the health aspect of Japanese foods to Western foods. This generalisation about the healthiness of Japanese food – low fat, plenty of vegetables and rich nutrition – definitely reflects the popular media discourse of Japanese food in Australian society (and other countries). Hence, my respondents, Japanese mothers, felt that feeding Japanese food was essential to their children‟s well-being and that it would also encourage them to keep cooking Japanese at home. In addition to their Australian husbands‟ preference for Japanese food, cooking healthy food for children is another important aspect. In this regard, S. C. told me that she is concerned about her husband sometimes taking their child to McDonalds when she is away, and feeding her anything she likes. After telling me the story, she said that it is not good for her daughter to get used to such junk food and she does not want her daughter to be like her husband, who is putting on a lot of weight since they married (this said with laughter). For these Japanese women, cooking Japanese food is sometimes their important duty, because they believe they are obliged to look after the well-being of their family.

 

As I will discuss later, bringing up „Australian‟ children seems to follow a similar vein. Japanese mothers are quite anxious to pass on their cultural heritage (Japanese language and customs), no matter how far from their Japanese community they live. Nevertheless, after talking about the future of their still very young children, Japanese mothers of cross-national marriage tend to conclude that their children will grow up as  „Australian‟ and these mothers wish that their children will indeed do so, projecting their desire of re-situating the self in a Western context. Of course, this is not only a matter of their language but also a matter of their cultural habitus (ways of thinking, values and behaviours) (Bourdieu, 1984). For instance, one of my Japanese respondents related an anecdote to me about feeling embarrassment when watching her daughter (born and brought up in Australia) crossing her legs on the couch when speaking to an elderly person. For her, as a Japanese middle-aged woman, this is still perceived as inappropriate behaviour in her own cultural context. But she also realised that her daughter rightly grew up as an Australian and it was natural for her to behave thus when enjoying a casual conversation (even with her Japanese elderly family).

 

7.3. From Home to the Local Region: Forming a Local Japanese Group

 

Japanese Perceptions of Western Sydney: Perspective from the Local Residents

After analysing the ways in which cross-national married Japanese women in Western Sydney are living in an in-between space at home, let us explore stories and representations of their residential areas from the perspective of a local in Western Sydney. To what extent do they take into account the dominant discourses of their region by the metropolitan media? How do they feel setting up their new life, at a distance from the Japanese ethnoburb of northern Sydney? What kind of terms can be employed in order for them to explain the locale of their new life in Australia? Without exception, Japanese residents in the Western Sydney also share conventional images of their region as represented by the media, as well as through their personal networks in Sydney. Indeed, this comparative gaze on the local socio-cultural characteristics of Western Sydney does not come from a popular public discourse, but is also generated by comparison with „those Japanese‟ on the North Shore. This comparative gaze, however, contributes to the development of their self-identity as being Japanese in Western Sydney. 

 

My Japanese respondents in Western Sydney generally expressed their life in Western Sydney in positive terms, even though they had not positively chosen to live there as I discussed in Chapter 5. In fact most of my respondents expressed the sentiment that „once you live in a place, you‟ll come to like it‟, irrespective of which suburb it is, while also acknowledging the broader reputations of both their own suburbs and Western Sydney in generic terms. In the case of S. C., living in Penrith, she expressed her satisfaction with her life in Western Sydney, although she was not happy when she first moved there from the south of Sydney, where she was closer to the city. Yet her satisfaction did not mean, on the other hand, that she felt assimilated into the local community. In fact, she added that her Asian appearance still seemed to be overly noticed by locals in public places. While stressing how many good and friendly neighbours she was surrounded by, she said she felt more comfortable and relaxed in her life in the West. She had had more negative experiences (especially in the context of dealings at service counters) towards her in her previous suburbs than in the West.

 

This positive evaluation of the Australian way of life in Western Sydney is frequently compared with Japan‟s notoriously crowed housing conditions. The cliché in interviews was, „I wouldn‟t live in such a big house with a large backyard if I lived in Japan!‟ With regard to such an expression of their lifestyle in Western Sydney, I still remember one conversation with one of my respondents. In conversation with other local Japanese women in a meeting, she said, „(Compared to the Japanese living in other suburbs) I think it is we Japanese in Western Sydney who are living in the real Australia.‟ I interpreted her to mean that her lifestyle in

Western Sydney met the Australian way of life as she ideally imagined it, with less of an Asian migrant population and better living conditions, with larger spaces and a rich natural environment, which holds most appeal of all for contemporary Japanese lifestyle migrants.^[70] For example, R. S. explained to me what the real Australian lifestyle is, by pointing out her present life in Penrith. In response to my question „How is your life in Penrith?‟, she says:

 

Both good points and bad points exist, something like each side of a coin, in the Penrith life. There are few Japanese in Penrith, but I feel I’m living in Australia. When I lived in a suburb in North Sydney before, (there were many Japanese in the area and) I worked at a Japanese company. In fact, even in Penrith, it is a bit of a question whether I‟m living in Australia as my husband speaks to me in Japanese at home (laughter). But, while your poor English may be acceptable in the city, the local people in this area wouldn’t understand you unless you’re speaking fluent English. There are migrants in this area, but most are Australians who have spent the whole of their lives in Australia. I feel I am living in the real Australia (honto no ┖sutoraria). As I had a chance to live overseas, living in such an environment would be good for me, although I have to deal with many issues.

(R. S. August 2007, my italics)

 

On another occasion, R. S. also said, „thanks to this Australian environment, we

Japanese in this region are better at speaking English than the Japanese in other regions (because they frequently associate only with other Japanese and other Asian neighbours only, even though they are living in Australia)‟. Eventually a positive attitude to Western Sydney is constructed on the basis that the migrant is residing in a suburb that suits the ideal images of the Australian way of life, which are represented by large spacious living environment close to the nature. 

 

Popular discourse on Western Sydney still seems to be dominated by negative terms and so the local Japanese internalise these discourses in speaking of their local community. But most of them began to like the life in Western Sydney as it probably gave them a chance to live the imagined ideal of the Australian lifestyle. There are also those who express a distinction for their local suburb, which they see as different from others in Western Sydney. This positive image of their suburb is in particular amplified in contrast to inner city suburbs – culturally and linguistically diverse suburbs – located around the city. In addition to these positive accounts of their local environment, they often refer to the good personality of their local neighbours. Interestingly, many of them suggested that, compared to the city and surrounding suburbs, those living in Western Sydney would be less stressed in their suburban (even rural) life, such as to eventually incline them to express a friendly and tolerant attitude toward newcomers such as themselves.

 

Contrary to these stories about the ideal Australian way of life, one Japanese marriage migrant living in the Inner West region, which is the most culturally diverse area in Greater Sydney, spoke of the cultural diversity of her neighbourhood. In her statement, I discovered that she is proud of living in a multicultural community (in fact, she listed a number of different ethnic/migrant mothers whom she regularly meets at her children‟s school). For her, such a multicultural atmosphere would be what she sees as her distinctive Australian way of life. These two different perceptions of the Australian way of life would indicate how much the socio-cultural environment of neighbourhood has significantly impacted upon making a „home‟, as

Iris Marion Young argues (Young, 1997, p. 143).  

 

In my fieldwork, I met with Japanese who still hold negative perceptions of their own residential suburb. A. G. was living in Blacktown when I visited her. She was a long-established Japanese migrant who lived in a northern suburb for a long time before purchasing a house in Western Sydney. She expressed her negative feelings about her local suburb in Western Sydney. Throughout the interview, she frequently expressed her negative feelings about her surrounding suburbs and how these were seemingly amplified by her experiences. She emphasised that the reason why she moved to the present suburb was only to acquire a larger living space for her children. 

 

In her first story she related how she visited a friend‟s house with her daughter. Her friend was married to an Australian man and he asked her daughter, „How are you xxx (her daughter‟s name)?‟ Her daughter replied in one word, „Good‟, but this one word was enough for him to laugh at her and say, „Oh, you speak with a Western

Sydney accent!‟ Even though she never recognised that she speaks English with a „Western Sydney accent‟ herself, she was shocked to hear this and realised that those from Western Sydney are destined to be compared to those from other regions in a negative way. Another occasion was when her friend visited her home, and spoke to her about a conversation the friend and her husband had had just prior to this. When asked about visiting her home, the husband just said, „Ah, I know xxx (her name). It‟s the woman from Blacktown?‟ When she heard her personal identity was linked with her residential suburb (and all the negative implications of the region as well), she felt marked. Considering the fact that she had lived in a northern suburb for long until she married, her negative stereotype about Western Sydney was enhanced by her prejudice that she could not get rid of this in her life in Western Sydney. When comparing it to the life in Japan or the inner suburbs of Greater Sydney, my respondents could see life in Western Sydney as preferable, but for A, G,, her frame of reference – her previous life in the northern suburbs – prevented her from regarding life in Western Sydney in a positive manner.

 

7.4. The Penrith Japanese Community: An Emerging Japanese Community in

Western Sydney

 

From a Japanese Gathering to a Japanese Association

As shown in Chapter 3 above, it is surprising to see the rapid increase of the Japanese population in Western Sydney over the first decade of the 21st century, even though absolute numbers are still smaller than counterparts in the northern and central suburbs of Sydney. While the number of Japanese has been increasing in the western suburbs and the population of Japan-born residents increased 50 per cent over the last five years, its small population is scattered across this wide region. Under such circumstances, it is not surprising that local Japanese have started to organise their own Japanese associations. These emerging Japanese ethnic associations are worth investigating, in light of the peculiar socio-cultural characteristics of the local Japanese, as well as their geographic (and psychological) distance from the major Japanese ethnoburbs in northern Sydney. In the following sections, I explore the rise and organisation of one unique Japanese ethnic association in Penrith, Western Sydney.

 

Penrith is located on the western fringe of Greater Sydney and is one of the largest suburbs in Western Sydney, as shown in Figure 17. The city is located 54 kilometres by road west of the Sydney CBD. The Blue Mountains rise to the west of Penrith. According to the Penrith City Council (2004) , Penrith has been a major town, a 

 

Figure 17. Location of the City of Penrith, from the Homepage of the Penrith City Council

(Source: Penrith City Council, 2010c)

 

 

 

Figure 18. Migration Flows from/to Penrith City, between the 1996 and 2001 Census

(Source: Penrith City Council, 2010c)

gateway to the Blue Mountains since the colonial period. It was also a great agricultural area that supplied food for Sydneysiders. In the last few decades, Penrith has provided much housing, with a significant proportion of Sydney‟s demand on its urban fringe (Penrith City Council, 2010b), and has developed a large industrial area, becoming one of the major satellite cities of Greater Sydney. 

 

The Penrith City Council Population Forecasts (Penrith City Council, 2010a) record that the total population of Penrith City, at the last census in 2006, was 172,140. The population of Penrith is noteworthy for its large number of younger people. In the 1996 census, the 0-4 year-old age group was the largest within the population. The next largest age group was the 5-9-year olds and the 25-29-year olds. The population of Penrith is primarily in residential estates spreading north and south from the Great Western Highway, the M4 Freeway and the railway. It is both an agricultural centre (including dairy and poultry farming, fruit, vegetable, beef and turf farming) and a focal point for the manufacturing industries. Penrith represents one of the growing suburban satellite cities on the fringe of capital cities in Australia. In particular, the growth of a younger population indicates that this outer suburban city has been growing by welcoming a large number of young couples and families, including migrants from overseas. Two major sources of migration to Penrith are those from the neighbouring suburb of Blacktown and from overseas, as Figure 18 indicates. These socio-regional profiles of Penrith support the stories of my Japanese respondents as to the reason they moved to this area after a certain period of settlement in Australia.

 

Tomoko-san, Vice-president of the Penrith Japanese Community (PJC), who has been living in Penrith since the early 1980s, remembers that there were small Japanese gatherings in Penrith until the early 2000s. In the last quarter of the 20th century, some Japanese industries set up overseas factories in Penrith. The establishment of this Japanese manufacturing industry in Penrith consequently created employment there. The company also used to engage charities, such as the donation of TVs to local schools or invitations of the local community to their factory fete. For example, Panasonic launched its factory in Penrith in 1970 (Panasonic Australia 2009) for the production of television sets. While this Japanese firm employed local Australians for the assembly line, they sent a certain number of Japanese staff to the Penrith factory from Japan for the management of the production line and other administrative business. These Japanese business expatriates or chuzaiin and their families formed the first visible Japanese gathering in this region. Leaving aside the major Japanese community of chuzaiin families on the North Shore and the bayside area of central Sydney, Japanese corporate wives in Penrith formed their own gatherings at any event. In addition to these families of Japanese chuzaiin, a small number of Japanese lived in the region, such as Tomoko-san.

 

Although a few Japanese war brides have been living in the region for a long time without developing any relationships with local Japanese, these local Japanese women of early intermarriage sometimes took part in the gatherings of these

Japanese corporate wives and Tomoko-san was one of them. Eventually, Tomoko-san began to organise a small Japanese group for Bible study in Japanese in the early 2000s, and invited other young Japanese women, to participate, whenever she and other members met them. While Tomoko-san‟s Bible study group was associated with and organised for Japanese Christians and those who are simply interested in reading the Bible in Japanese, her gathering was also appealing to various types of new Japanese residents in her region. As the study group was in Japanese, this would have been a precious occasion for local Japanese to associate with other. For still isolated Japanese marriage migrants in this region, Tomoko-san‟s Bible study group was seen as a chance to associate, and enjoy

conversation, with other local Japanese. 

 

Over time, more new Japanese marriage migrants turned up at Tomoko-san‟s Bible study group. Yuka-san, who would later become the founder and the President of the PJC, was one of these new members. While the population of intermarried Japanese was gradually growing in the Penrith area, the local Japanese community of corporate wives had faded out after the Panasonic factory in Penrith closed in 2000.

Due to the change in the type of Japanese woman joining Tomoko-san‟s Bible study  

 

Figure 19. Information about the PJC in Japanese, Nichigo Press, November 2006 (Source: Nichigo Press 2006b)

 

 

Figure 20. Information about the PJC, The Blue Mountains Gazette, 13 September 2006

(Source: The Blue Mountains Gazette 2006a)

 

group, some early members, including Tomoko-san and Yuka-san, found that it was becoming difficult for them to run their Bible study group, with the increasing numbers of young mothers who had to bring a baby or toddler along. While some new young members saw the group as a chance to socialize with other local Japanese women and share common anxieties and exchange information with them, others wanted to maintain the group for the sake of the Bible study. Also, with the increase in the number of participants, the group was getting harder to run as a regular meeting , held in rotation at a member‟s home. Members were especially stressed and worried about whether increasing numbers of children might break or damage things in their homes, and they wished to seek a larger space for children to play together in Japanese. 

 

At this time, Yuka-san had almost completed her diploma in community work at TAFE and was working with Nepean Migrant Access (NMA), a Penrith-based NGO acting for the settlement support of local migrant communities. Finally, by making use of her knowledge of community work, as well as forming a relationship with the NMA, Yuka-san, Tomoko-san and their Japanese associates launched a new Japanese ethnic association at St Marys Community Centre in September 2006. It was, as the name suggests, located in St Marys, a suburb of Penrith, near the border with Blacktown. This is because the PJC was able to use a meeting room free of charge at St Marys Community Centre, where the NMA owns its headquarters. This was the birth of the Penrith Japanese Community (PJC). 

 

The PJC then called upon other local Japanese to take part in the association. Since its establishment, some members began to join the PJC after being spoken to in person by members of the PJC at Westfields, the only large shopping mall in Penrith. The PJC launched its website for publicity and formed a mailing list for correspondence with members. They also advertised the association through Japanese ethnic media, such as Japanese web classifieds and several magazines, which are organised and published for the local Japanese in Sydney (see Figure 19). Yuka-san and the other management committee members of the PJC also had

opportunities to talk about the PJC and the lives of the Japanese in the region in local newspapers, such as the Blue Mountain Gazette (in the Blue Mountains, see Figure 20) and the Penrith Press (in Penrith, see Figure 21). 

 

 

Figure 21. Article on local Japanese women in Penrith Press, September 2006

(Source: Penrith Press 2007)

 

 

As of late 2009, when I terminated my fieldwork in Penrith, the total number of members of the PJC was around 30, but the actual participants of the PJC have changed from time to time. This is because, as Figure 18 indicates, internal (domestic) migration is quite frequent in Penrith. Some have moved to Penrith for a better living environment at a more affordable price, and others have moved out as their lifestyle and family composition shift. Nevertheless, members are predominantly young Japanese females who have recently moved to Western Sydney from other suburbs, or who have recently immigrated to Australia after marrying an Australian. 

 

General Activities of the PJC

In participant observations of regular meetings of the PJC since late 2006, since it was an inclusive association, I have met a variety of Japanese women. Most of them are married to a local Australian of European background, although some members had a Australian partner of non-European background. Only few participants had a Japanese partner, which suggested that most local Japanese in Penrith and surrounding suburbs are women marriage migrants. There were not only Japanese migrants, but there were also Japanese temporary residents in Western Sydney in the PJC. I have also met non-Japanese women who were interested in associating with local Japanese women and children. Even though they were not fluent in the Japanese language, they saw the PJC as a chance to make local Japanese friends and have their children play with Japanese kids in Japanese. Indeed, members‟ social (and economic to some extent) backgrounds were very diverse, but these Japanese women could share the common ethno-cultural and gender backgrounds with those who took part in the PJC. In particular, such a sense of sharing commonality seems to have been amplified by speaking of common problems and anxieties in their everyday life and daily routines in the household. They were growing a collectivity through the PJC based on their shared socio-cultural backgrounds: they were Japanese women, and they were living in Western Sydney.

 

I often heard that these Japanese women had difficulties expanding their social network and finding friends in the local region. They consequently felt a sense of isolation until they joined this association; the PJC thus catered for these women. Although small and unofficial Japanese groups had already existed in Western Sydney, thanks to Yuka-san‟s period as President, the PJC has been anticipated to play a central role in connecting Japanese who have difficulty networking with other Japanese, due to the geographical distance from the communities of the central and North Shore regions. At the same time, this group was also aimed at contributing to providing new Japanese settlers with instructive information on how to live in Western Sydney – for example, in relation to accessing welfare services and legal rights. Indeed, the PJC has occasionally coordinated both topic-based group discussions and formal lectures by guest speakers from local government institutions, NGOs and Japanese specialists on a regular basis, the purpose of which is to share the many problems in members‟ everyday lives as an ethnic minority, new migrants, or women or mothers in Western Sydney.^[71]  

                         Table 13. A Proposed List of Events of the PJC in the First Half of 2007

Date	Event	Topic
6 Mach	Regular meeting	How to make a relationship with your neighbour (no guest)
20 March	Seminar	the Japanese community in Sydney: A lecture*
3 April	Regular meeting	Anger management (Guest speaker: TBA)
21 April	Picnic	Venue: TBA
1 May	Regular meeting	Topic: TBA
15 May	Seminar	School system and education in Australia  (Guest from the Department of Education of NSW)
5 June	Regular meeting
19 June	Seminar	Money management (Guest from ANZ Bank)
17 July**	Seminar	Woﾏeﾐげs aﾐd Childreﾐげs Health  (Guest: a community nurse in Penrith)
7 August	Regular meeting	TBA
21 August	General meeting	The 1st general meeting of the Penrith Japanese Community

 

    * This lecture was given by Hamano and another Japanese researcher ** The first meeting of July (3rd of July) was cancelled due to school holidays.

 

Additionally, I have frequently observed that long-established members of the PJC often pass on their knowledge and skills on ways to acclimatise in the new settlement, by giving diverse suggestions and advice: from the way in which new and young arrivals are able to overcome isolation and anxiety in relation to their families (and families-in-law) and neighbours, to information on Asian grocery stores in the local suburb where they can purchase ingredients for cooking Japanese food. These activities of the PJC are opportunities that involve the wider local community as well. Having seen these activities of the PJC, it is obvious that the main purpose of the PJC is to constructively retain a sense of commonality of the ethno-cultural identity as Japanese. However, efforts of the members to integrate themselves in the local region should not be dismissed: for example, when they regard themselves as a group of „Japanese-Australians‟ instead of „Japanese in Australia‟. In other words, for these women, integrating into the local community or situating themselves in Australian society means re-moulding the self in a new Australian context.

                                                                                                                                          

one after the other at St Marys Community Centre, on a weekly basis.

 

Figure 22. Group Snapshot at Glenbrook Park, January 2009

A local Japanese family (left) joined for the first time in this picnic.

 

 

Table 13 shows a proposed schedule of PJC activities in the first half of 2007, which was submitted in the executive meeting of November 2006. According to this list, while the PJC planned to run a regular meeting every two weeks, they organised a seminar with a guest speaker (including one given by myself) on a monthly basis. All seminars were either conducted in Japanese or interpreted into Japanese by Yuka-san or other members with a good command of English.

 

In addition to these seminars and regular meetings held every two weeks, the PJC has coordinated the school holiday picnic during every school holiday (twice a year in December-January and July) since its foundation. This school holiday picnic is normally held in a local park, such as Glenmore Park or in the Blue Mountains (see Figure 22). The main purpose of the picnic is to get families of the Japanese members into the network of the PJC and to encourage the Japanese marriage migrants to take along their Australian husbands and children. Due to the relatively homogenous composition of the members‟ family (a nuclear family of Australian husband and Japanese wife), I observed at the picnic that small groups were formed in the park by gender and generations. Australian husbands associated together and enjoyed conversation in English, drinking beer and tending the BBQ, while Japanese wives chatted in Japanese, as seen in the regular meetings. Their children, on the other hand, were playing together in the park, running and shouting in both English and (hints of) Japanese. 

 

This reminded me of what Yuka-san and other members frequently emphasised at the PJC, with regard to the aims of the PJC within their local community. Not only was the PJC working for the members‟ ethnic solidarity, formed and maintained through sharing the same cultural background and ideas, but it was also seeking for some integration into Australian society. Compared to regular meetings, where „Japanese matters‟ tended to be shared among each Japanese individual, this picnic seemed to be about sharing „our family matters‟, peculiar to inter-married families living in the same local region. 

 

Gender Roles in the Local Community and the PJC

A prominent finding in my fieldwork with the PJC was that members‟ representation of their ethno-cultural identity was highly contingent upon their local socio-cultural context, by and through the management of daily household duties. While the association was named „Japanese Community‟, signifying that the group is an ethnic association of migrants across Australia, activities in the Community are basically planned in keeping with daily routines and households, rather than maintaining or preserving their cultural heritage within these. The ethno-gendered identity of these women, re-moulded collectively in the PJC, refers to their social roles (or domestic duties) at home. Yuka-san, the President of the PJC, frequently told me that the PJC is established for the sake of the better and smooth integration of Japanese marriage migrants in the local community, not for forming a small and exclusive ethnic Japanese cluster in Western Sydney. 

 

In the PJC, members mainly speak of their household duties and caring for children. Of course, these topics can be shared not only in the PJC but also with other mothers in their neighbourhood or local community. In particular, I heard senior Japanese mothers speaking to junior mothers about how they developed a relationship with other mothers when their children commenced school. When these children made friends with their classmates at school, Japanese mothers automatically communicated with other mothers (in English). Nevertheless, this gives them a good opportunity to extend their personal network in the locale. On the process of socialisation through children, one respondent explained the importance of the PJC in her region:

 

As there are many differences between Japan and Australia, such as language, I‟m still afraid I might misunderstand things I‟ve heard in English. But such an anxiety is relaxed in sharing it with other Japanese women in Japanese… It isn‟t only about children but also every part of life in general. So, when you‟re worried about your understanding of what you learnt in Australia, you can discuss it with other Japanese. They might say „Don‟t worry about it and just go for it,‟ but, in Japan, they would do it in another way‟ and vice versa. I‟m confident to do things in Japanese ways (in taking care of children and the household) as I was born and grew up in Japan. But I‟m not confident to do so as I learnt in Australia. Then, I‟m worried and think „am I doing the right things?‟ At such a time, I‟m saved by speaking to other Japanese women living in a similar situation. They give me suggestions by pointing out the difference between Japan and Australia. That is why the Japanese community in the locale is so important for me. I can easily count on it. So I really hope the PJC will be more active. It must be very stressful for those who live in a different country with limited friends and without such a community.

(J. M. December 2007)

 

The story of J. M. clearly indicates the fact that she expects the PJC to mediate her Japanese self and a new life in Australia. In so doing, the PJC and the members give her a great deal of opportunity of integration into a new life through households (and taking care of children), instead of assimilation to the local society. In the PJC, they speak of the difference between what they learnt in Japan and what they are learning in Australia, and manage to mediate and compromise these ideas. In this sense, it is fair to say that the PJC is an ethnic bubble^[72] in Western Sydney. 

 

As their children grow, the topic moves on to local schools and their reputations as education providers. As several studies on Japanese mothers indicate (Allison, 2000; Kobayashi, 1994a; Lebra, 1984), in this regard, they may be seen as performing the conventional role of the Japanese mother. Meanwhile, some Japanese mothers showed their reluctance in educating their children in that Japanese way. It was as if they still play a significant role of Japanese mother who are supposed to be responsible for supervising education of children in the family. S. H., living in the Blue Mountains, says:

 

Although I have a different view about it, there are young (Japanese) mothers enthusiastic about their children‟s education. They send their children to a good Grammar School and make them learn music, such as piano and other artistic things. I thought they were so enthusiastic about the education of their children. 

 

Hamano: Do you mean the Japanese in the Mountains?

 

Yes, I do. They‟re so inspired to do it.

 

Hamano: What do you think of the bilingual education of children? Have you thought of it?

 

Young Japanese mothers are likely keener on it. I really respect their hard efforts to do it for the children. I was lazy (leizi in Japanese-English). It would be easier if both of their parents were Japanese. If one of the parents is an English-speaker, everyone speaks English at home and children naturally speak much English. They would reply in English, even though they understand what their Japanese mothers say in Japanese. So do my children. They spoke Japanese to me until they went to kindergarten. But they no longer spoke it outside, so I didn‟t push them (to speak Japanese).  

(S. H. October 2007)

 

Comparing herself to local Japanese mothers, she admits that she was not very kyôiku-mama (a Japanese term ridiculing mothers who take their supervision of children‟s education to extremes) and let their children go as they like. Most importantly, for a migrant mother, the education of children involves a bilingual education of their newer generation. Nevertheless, as pointed out in Chapter 5, due to a lower Japanese population in public, and the status of cross-national marriage in private, Japanese women do not necessarily peruse passing on their language to their children. In fact, as S. H. said, many Japanese women pointed out that as their children go to school, they are reluctant to speak Japanese not only in the public realm, such as at school, but also at home.  Contrary to these „Australian‟ children,

Japanese mothers are gradually gaining a good command of English in their Australian life. Although their English is not yet fluent, they even told me that taking care of children in English feels more comfortable and easier for them in everyday life, rather than switching between two languages occasionally.

 

In a similar vein, in the PJC I often heard Japanese mothers discuss topics related to children, or the relationship with their Australian husband. While some decided that their Australian husband was moderately supportive, others directly complained about their partner. In such an exchange of personal stories and family life, members shared a sense that they were part of a similar family of inter-marriage in the same region. The members‟ common identity as being Japanese was moulded with an emphasis on factors such as their gender, marital status and place of residence. As a consequence, a large number of my participants answered that they mostly identified themselves with the gender identities of Japanese „woman‟, „wife‟, or „mother‟, roles deriving from their household duties.

 

In sum, as an ethnic Japanese association in Western Sydney, it is not difficult to suggest that the PJC contributes to the moulding of a distinct Japanese identity in members, but I argue that this is done by mediating their local socio-cultural context – such as their shared marital status, similar familial or household duties, and residential proximity. Furthermore, the members of the PJC believe that these socio-cultural commonalities cannot be shared with other Japanese migrants once they leave Western Sydney. Certainly, they are rarely able to have something in common with the Japanese living in other regions for this reason. Instead, they prefer to maintain a wider network of communication within their locale. Thus while ethnic communities often grow, so that their exclusive ethnic solidarity results in conflict with other local communities, the PJC carefully negotiates its relationship within the other local communities (e.g. Baumann, 1996; Uitermark, et al., 2005), by identifying itself with female residents who are involved in the local society through their everyday practices, such as housekeeping and taking care of their children. 

 

To think of these Japanese women‟s even desperate interest to becoming a local or their efforts of dwelling in the new social circumstances, one has to remember how much difficult for Japanese women to take part in the mainstream Australian society. This might come from a combination of the lack of language proficiency and of the scattered distribution of the population. The status of their marriage migration permits them a permanent residency in Australia, without assessing (or developing) social skills acquired to live in a new country. This is particularly the case of those Japanese women who had not accumulated a sufficient job experience or higher education for secure employment in Australia before their migration. Indeed, the status of marriage migration sometimes causes a contradiction that these women find it relatively easier to gain a visa to stay in Australia permanently, while many of them have to struggle with settlement issues due to the lack of adequate social and cultural skills.

 

In fact, most members of the PJC are housewives and many of them confessed that they have difficulty finding a job in their region, even though many of them previously worked in Japanese companies or service industries in Sydney. In that sense, being Japanese no longer works as a kind of cultural capital in the region. It is therefore still uncertain to what extent this type of Japanese association will be able to have an impact in the wider public sphere in the local communities. At this point, collective engagements within the PJC seem to provide its members with complicated outcomes regarding a process of moulding their cultural identity. The reformation of ethnic identity as being „female‟ Japanese-Australian is a result of mediating their ethnic and feminine identity in two circumstances: in relation to their native (Australian) family in private space; and in communication and engagements with local neighbours in public space. 

 

Alternatively, it can be said that their „situated ethnic identity‟, accentuated by being woman, is amplified through their ethnic community organisation. The entanglement of ethnic and gender identity, and of a belonging to a certain space/home among women of lower status, have been analysed by feminist cultural geographers (McDowell, 1999). They insist that the practice of self-feminisation should be seen as a positive strategy, a means for these women to seek their identity and place of belonging in their own right. However, it is also a passive result of the gender division of labour in the household and, especially for migrant women, of social disadvantages which include racial discrimination and language insufficiency. In the case of the PJC, although it is an ethnic Japanese community organisation in Western Sydney, it exists not only to mould members‟ diasporic identity as a certain type of

Japanese-Australian, but also to be a site of mediation where members connect to other locals, with the help of other local Japanese, by sharing their knowledge and skills in person. At the same time, such a collective practice with their feminine ethnic group can reproduce members‟ passive, vulnerable identification as an „Asian woman‟ in Australian suburbia.

 

Situating the (Japanese) Self in ‘the West’ (of Sydney)

Just as the PJC is a site where members build a collective, local, and gendered identity, so also does this association give the members a sense of difference from Japanese who are resident in other regions in Sydney. Regardless of their personal relationships with the Japanese in other regions, the PJC members‟ expressions about

„other‟ Japanese (or non-Western Sydney residents) were at the level of generalisation regarding each Japanese community. For the members of the PJC, the difference between those living in Western Sydney and those in the North Shore regions was definitely clear-cut. In particular, the distinction between the two derived from different constituent members of two Japanese ethnic associations: their new and small PJC of local members; and the long-established and large Japan Club of Sydney (JCS) in the north. Despite the fact that the majority of the members of the JCS lived in the North Shore region, the membership as a whole included those living in various regions across Greater Sydney. Some members of the PJC even maintained a personal relationship with the members of the JCS. Some of the PJC also sent their children to the Sydney Saturday School of Japanese run by the JCS. However, in generic terms, those in the PJC tended to conclude that the JCS (as if it were the one and only representative Japanese association in the northern suburbs) was a community of Japanese sojourners and wealthy migrants, and that this was why they could afford to live in such an upper class suburb. The story of R. S.

(introduced in the last chapter) clearly illustrates this.

 

When talking about the largest Japanese population in the North Shore region, the members of the PJC for the most part repeated rumours: for example, that the

Japanese in the North Shore region suffer from living in a „Japanese village‟

(nihon-jin mura). They have no choice but to live in a tight Japanese society because of the Japanese population in their local suburbs. I have often heard that the members of the PJC distinguished „them‟ (Japanese in North Sydney and North Shore) from „us‟ (Japanese in Western Sydney). The different distinction is not only geographical but also social. First, the PJC consists of homogenous members: female marriage migrants of cross-national married couples. Most members are Japanese women who settled in Western Sydney as a consequence of marrying an Australian and all are predominantly engaged in housekeeping or only engage in casual part-time work. In addition to this, they are always aware that they are one of the smallest and least visible groups of Japanese in Sydney, especially when compared to those in North Sydney and the North Shore, where the Japanese are often noted as being one of the largest ethnic groups in the local community. Compared to the central and northern suburbs, the Japanese in Western Sydney recognised that their lifestyle choices in the region were limited, due to the nature of its suburban characteristics. Indeed, I remember an interview with Y. K. living in Penrith while working in the Sydney CBD She had no children when I met her. She observed how difficult it is in Western Sydney to engage with the locale unless you have a child, because so-called „family culture‟ is so dominant in this region. In fact, many real estate advertisements, as well as local governments, enhance such an image of the growing family suburb in Western Sydney.

 

Thus, in contrast to the variety of lifestyles that are available for Japanese women living in the city and inner suburbs, I suggest that the lifestyle of these Western Sydney residents is relatively homogenised, and this similar lifestyle amplifies a sense of belonging to the region. Consequently, these stories (or myths) about the Japanese in the Japanese ethnoburb (e.g. North Shore), represented by those in Western Sydney, could be summarised by the following points: 

 

1)            The members of the PJC are aware of the local socio-cultural reputations of their region and their own economic characteristics, both of which are considered to be less privileged as against their counterparts in the North Shore region. 

2)            Members are tacitly proud of living in a very Australian social context, compared to the Japanese of the North Shore region. 

 

7.5. Leading Domestic Roles to Public Networking: Mothers’ Network through

Children

 

Beyond the Japanese Community, Beyond the Japanese Self

In regard to the PJC, I drew attention to how the PJC refers to members‟ daily practices in managing household duties, that is, being a mother and wife of a suburban nuclear family. Members acknowledged the great contribution of the PJC to members‟ integration in the local community. Accordingly, the PJC as an ethnic association resonates with both members‟ ethnic and gender identities. I noted that while Japanese members account for their association in terms of gender, they express their ambivalence about being seen as an exclusive ethnic bubble in the region.

 

Let me introduce an interview with Y. G. in my fieldwork: I asked her if she was still interested in supporting the PJC as a member of the management committee, if the PJC grew enough and was sustained by many local Japanese. I also suggested, at that time, that the PJC would be like a general ethnic association that may possibly represent the interests of the Japanese members in Western Sydney. Instead of a clear reply to my question, Y. G. mentioned that this might happen one day. She then amended her response, saying that she would have to leave the PJC before such a chance took place. Her ambivalence arose because, insofar as the PJC is a group of Japanese mothers of young children, it would be just a matter of time before she had to leave, once her child had grown up and entered school. Also, from her experience, she knew that her local network and personal relationships with other mothers would be developed through her children and their school, and that these would be the most important for her in her Australian life. Meanwhile, she questioned to what extent she would be able to contribute to the „Japanese‟ association, since she had now been living in Australia longer than she had lived in Japan. In the interview, she continued to say that, because she had been living in Australia so long, she sometimes felt difficulty sharing anything in common with other Japanese mothers:

 

I‟m Japanese, but as I have been living in Australia I feel ambivalent (in the PJC). It is almost more than half of my whole life (that I have lived in Australia). I have known lots of new things in Australia (that I hadn‟t known in Japan), so I understand these only in an English or Australian way. If I discuss these things with other Japanese in Japanese, I can‟t express myself. It is completely impossible to explain in Japanese. Things drop an important nuance in translation. For example, even speaking in English, Australians tend to state something in a roundabout way, compared to Americans. Australian ways of expression are somewhere in between Japanese and American. So, (when speaking to an Australian) one should be careful not to state something too directly. I had such bad experiences before in Australia. (For me) speaking English still tends to be much too direct. So does writing in English. I used to regret that I had not spoken in a more moderate manner or more indirectly. I‟m afraid the same thing happens when I speak about something detailed in Japanese.

(Y. G. October 2007)

 

Y. G. refers to the difficulty of translating nuanced expressions into Japanese, when she has to translate an idea or concept she learnt during her life in Australia, into Japanese, at the PJC. Since things became lost in translation in a single language (English) in two different cultural contexts (Australian and American), it gets worse in two different languages, between Japanese and Australian. While she explicitly mentioned here her difficulty in translating nuances between two languages, I interpreted this to refer also to her ambivalent attitude toward the PJC. In fact, she added that she feels less stress associating with local Australians in her area, but remains frustrated with her Australian husband, family, relatives and neighbours, who still regarded her as a Japanese woman of unique and different cultural ideas and values. She said, „No matter how much I speak fluent English and no matter how much I behave like an Australian, my (Australian) husband still teases me that my way of thinking or behaving is still that of a Japanese. At gatherings of family or relatives, I face the same experience‟. In the meantime, she stressed to me that she has no idea what Japanese femininity actually is, or how one would behave in the way that her Australian family or relative expect of her.

 

Thus, Y. G. believes that she has lived in Australia long enough to have become

Australian, but is ambivalent about belonging to the Japanese association as a new Australian. Instead, she wonders if she retains an „appropriate‟ relationship with the

PJC. It does not mean that she will suddenly give up her local Japanese association, once she has no use for engaging in it. Irrespective of her personal interest, she acknowledges that, as a mediator, her contribution to the PJC is still important for new and young marriage migrants. Some members, especially executive members, remain in the PJC for this reason. Even though they no longer have much in common with new and young marriage migrants bringing up small children, they keep taking part in the meetings and pass on their local knowledge to these new members, as I described before. The presence of these senior mothers seems to be appealing for some members, who want to rely on their knowledge and experience in regard to their family as well as migratory life. Even at her personal level, Y. G. is also located in an in-between position. It is fair to say that her confidence identifying herself with new Australian-ness is sustained by her long-term life in Australia. Nevertheless, at home – her private realm – she is identified by her ethnic background, not by her strivings to situate and even re-mould herself in her new life. 

 

Ambivalence toward one‟s own ethnic association is therefore amplified when migrants situate themselves in both public and private lives in Western Sydney. In the public realm, Japanese marriage migrants seem afraid that their Japanese gathering and subsequent activities would lead to a conflict with their striving to integrate into the locale as a new Australian. They are afraid that confirmation of their Japaneseness through the PJC will interfere with them becoming „Australian‟.

Meanwhile, both Penrith city and the Blue Mountains have been maintaining a strong and intimate relationship with their sister cities in Japan. They annually send delegates to each city and organise several cultural exchanges among the locals. In Penrith, both Yuka-san and Tomoko-san and a few of the PJC act as a member of the Penrith International Friendship Committee and they host Japanese delegates to Penrith. This experience would have made these local Japanese consider how the Japanese and Japanese cultures are perceived, while it also encouraged them to promote the presence of the local Japanese as such. Even so, I wonder if their attitudes towards representing the interests of „local Japanese‟ are still careful in order not to harm such a good reputation of „Japanese guests‟ among the Penrith locals. Similar concern can be found in their private realms as well, when they make an effort to make a new Australian home in association with their „Australian‟ families. This sense of ambivalence is prominent in many Japanese marriage migrants in their attempt to balance their Japanese community with their Australian family. 

 

One has to remember that, in Chapter 2, I argued that contemporary Japanese migrants are lifestyle migrants. In the maturation of hyper-consumer society since the 1980s, they learnt the ways in which they identify the self with consuming a new, alternative and different experience. Instead of the material fulfilment of mass-products, those who are living in the hyper-consumer society situate the self in consuming difference. This consumption of different values also allows one to contest conventional social identities and their obligations. As several critics and theorists have argued (Mamada, 2005, 2007; Miura & Ueno, 2007; Otsuka, 2001[1989], 2001[1996], 2004; Ueno, 1992[1987]), identifying the self through the consumption of difference was the most important outcome of the transformation of Japanese society in the post-Fordist era. Given that one‟s identity can be re-moulded through the consumption of difference, it is arguable that, in order to identify the self, people put more importance on their own choice in re-moulding the self, rather than referring to the conventional socio-cultural ideas. In this vein, for Japanese women marriage migrants, a series of encounters with new socio-cultural conditions in Australia is a great opportunity to re-mould the self in reference to difference. This experience of differences is not only a mere „defection‟ or „escape‟ from Japanese society, but it would be perceived as a chance for „re-birth‟ through marriage migration to Australia. When Y. G. expressed her disappointment at being seen as a Japanese (female) subject by her Australian family, she was dissatisfied with the fact that she was still recognised by her „given‟ aspects (her Japanese femininity), rather than her „chosen‟ (Australian) self definition.

 

Return of Japaneseness among Japanese Marriage Migrants

Across Western Sydney, the Penrith Japanese Community is not the only group or association of Japanese women of marriage migrants. Among the dispersed

population in this large area several local-oriented Japanese groups/gatherings can be found. There is one interesting story in particular, which I heard in another Japanese gathering in Western Sydney in June 2008, when visiting a Japanese mothers‟ gathering in the upper Blue Mountains. Unlike the suburbs of the lower Mountains, it takes more than one hour to get down to Penrith city from this region. When I visited the gathering, it was held at one of the members‟ house in Blackheath. It was my first time joining this casual gathering and it was a different gathering from those at the PJC in which I‟d been participating regularly since 2006. Before visiting, I contacted the group‟s leader and related the purpose of my visit, and mentioned that I had already been working with the PJC. When I visited the gathering in person, I still remember members warmly welcoming my visit and voluntarily disclosing to me many interesting and personal stories about their background and everyday lives.

 

According to the leader of the gathering, they organise a monthly gathering which is held on rotation among members‟ homes rather than in a public space, such as the

PJC does. While most members acknowledged the PJC and remembered that one of the members of the PJC visited their gathering and introduced the PJC to them as a local Japanese association, the leader remembers that the Japanese women gathered in that place seemed reluctant to join the PJC. When I asked the leader why, she replied that they were simply less interested in such a „tight‟ Japanese association. In contradistinction to the PJC, the leader of the gathering saw her group as a more casual and informal meeting, rather than an ethnic welfare association along the lines of the PJC. For this reason, during my visit, the Japanese women in the gathering always seemed to pay attention to maintaining a relaxed atmosphere and never to force other local Japanese women to join the gathering. 

 

Naturally, they depicted themselves as the most independent Japanese migrants in Greater Sydney, being far away from Japanese ethnoburbs, living in a region with the smallest Japanese population. Most of the Japanese women at the gathering were married to Australian. However, the difference between them and members of the PJC was that the majority of women at this casual Japanese gathering were self-employed or engaged in professional work. Their English language skills thus seemed higher.

 

In the gathering, I often heard that they called themselves „the Mountain people‟

(yama-no-ningen) in contrast to those living in my major research field, such as in Penrith and other surrounding regions. However, no matter how much they recognised that they were self-reliant migrant women living in a remote suburb, they sometimes referred to their ethnicity (Japaneseness) as a role demanded by others. No matter how much they felt integrated into Australian life, as independent migrants, they were always encountering a sense of strangeness in everyday life. In the middle of the gathering, the topic naturally shifted to matters relating to their children‟s school. I noted that they often mentioned that in Australian schools, mothers (fathers as well, perhaps) are responsible for supporting children‟s school events, as well as accompanying their children to school every day. When the participants were speaking of several party events and school fetes, some of them began to talk about food they had cooked and contributed to the events. 

 

Most of the Japanese women in the gathering agreed that they tended to bring Japanese food since they were accustomed to cooking it, and they felt some Japanese foods were popular in Australia. One mother related that in a meeting of the mothers at school, they discussed the dish that each of them would prepare next time. In order to avoid clashing, they made a list of available dishes and entered each mother into the list. The Japanese mother, who told me this story in the gathering, found that there was no Japanese dish on the list. She was not sure whether she should prepare Japanese sushi for the group, or if the other members implicitly wanted her to voluntarily offer a Japanese dish, given that she was the only Japanese mother at the meeting. 

 

She retrospectively analysed herself as the only Japanese mother in the place, and she felt that she was naturally inclined to meet the hidden expectations of the other mothers. She could not help but internalise the good and positive reputation of Japanese food in Australia (especially what people call sushi, even though it is a very Australianised sushi). Unfortunately, this story was interrupted halfway and I could not confirm if the person eventually did make sushi or other Japanese dishes for the party. However, Japanese mothers in the circle of conversation expressed their sympathy for her dilemma. Everyone agreed that her voluntary wish to prepare Japanese food proved the privileged role of Japanese culture (food in this case) in Australia. No matter how much they attempted to integrate into the local community where the Japanese population is small, and no matter how much effort they put into assimilating the self in an ideal migratory life in the Western country by getting rid of their Japaneseness, they could not help but feel awkward in retaining both: identity as „given‟ by their ethnicity and gender‟, and identity as „re-moulded‟ in the pursuit of an improved lifestyle in Australia. 

 

Accordingly, one might point to this as profound evidence of their hybrid identity as a diasporic subject: an identity is always swinging uncertainly between plural belongings (Ang, 2001; Hall, 1993; Werbner & Modood, 1997). Even so, what is interesting to me is the point that, for these Japanese women, the perception of a hybrid identity rather causes an anxiety and frustration with regard to their effort to become an Australian: the recognition of hybrid identity is always suggested by others, rather than recognised in their own spontaneous awareness. It might also sound to them as if they still have difficulties in reaching the desired Australian lifestyle, such as their Australian family, neighbours and local community experience it. I would also stress that their sense of ambivalence derives from the fact that their marriage migration is in the course of lifestyle migration. That is, these Japanese women today believe that one‟s life(style) can be re-drawn on one‟s own, challenging socially and culturally „given‟ attributes of self. Given that their first arrival in Australia was motivated by the desire to re-mould the self in the new environment, being still regarded as a Japanese woman is frustrating for them, even while they occasionally have recourse to the „idealised‟ ethno-gender identity in situating the self in Australia.

 

7.6. Ambivalent Self between the Japanese and the Local Community in Sydney’s West

 

Seeking a Place to Belong in Western Sydney

In addition to the interview with Y. G., the story I noted above revealed the ambivalent attitude of Japanese marriage migrants in between their ethnic gathering/association, family and local community. Overwhelmingly, they welcome and support the establishment of a local Japanese association or gathering and, consequently, frequently turn up at regular meetings. One can imagine how important it would be for these women to have a conversation with other local Japanese woman and share common issues and concerns in their own language. In particular, the process by which senior marriage migrants pass on their knowledge and experience to younger members is a remarkably significant role for them. Even so, as I referred to in the case of Y. G., the degree of attachment to the local Japanese community depends upon individual social skills to take part in the local community. 

 

This type of Japanese gathering/association of marriage migrants is a certain diasporic practice in the settler society. It gives a member the ability to retain and even reinterpret their ethnic identity in a new social-cultural environment. For example, members of the PJC frequently shared experiences when they provided Japanese cultural ideas or customs for their family or local community. They often spoke of how their family reacted when they served a Japanese dish at home. Another popular topic was that Japanese mothers often felt sorry about making their babies (or even toddlers) sleep in another room, since, in Japan, young children generally sleep with their mothers. A mother in Japan will generally leave her baby in her own bed when she goes to sleep. 

 

These local-oriented Japanese gatherings/associations are thus the space where Japanese women reconfirm their cultural difference. Nevertheless, their gathering/association is a diasporic community in another sense, given that the sense of „being a diaspora‟ retains an ambivalent sense of belonging in between two homes: the home of origin and that in the new country. In this way, the PJC and other similar

Japanese gatherings were initially launched and subsequently managed on behalf of Japanese „mothers,‟ based on their new social role in Australia. These local Japanese gatherings/associations, such as the PJC, functioned in this sense to mediate a space that enabled members to accommodate themselves in a new Australian life.

 

Meanwhile, it is obvious that members were less interested in forming an exclusive ethnic bubble in their region, nor in belonging to it, considering the point that they are lifestyle migrants who regard an Australian life as an improvement over that of Japan. That is, its perception leads them to convince themselves that their desirable lifestyle can come true, through the Australian way of life that they idealise in contrast to that of Japan. Instead, their relationship with the local Japanese association is necessarily balanced between „our association‟ with other local Japanese woman, and „our life‟ within their family and neighbourhood. The members would take part in the Japanese gathering/association insofar as they felt able to have something in common with others regarding their migratory life or striving to dwell in Australia. One should remember how much their everyday lives are drawn from gendered accounts in relation to their Australian family and neighbourhood, instead of those of Japanese colleagues or the local Japanese community. In this light, belonging to a Japanese ethnic association/group may cause a sense of ambivalence among the members, in that they still rely on the Japanese community, while they are seeking an improved lifestyle in an „Australian‟ way in the pursuit of the „aestheticisation of everyday life‟ through marriage migration.

 

Furthermore, the development of a high individualism in contemporary Japanese society, as discussed in Chapter 2, would enable these women to go on re-making an achievable lifestyle by their own effort, contesting their „given‟ socio-cultural positionality in society. In the last part of her book, Nancy Rosenberger concludes:

 

Amidst great variation, new hybridities of self and personhood emerge as Japanese women negotiate the story lines of personal, local, national, and global plays. Women use their culturally learned abilities to develop inner strength of character, to adjust their ki, and to stretch the stages of their societal theatre in all directions. They combine these abilities with their interpretations of individuality, which emphasize emotionally satisfying relations, meaningful work, and personal preferences in leisure and consumption. The outcome is a hybrid sense of self, expressing an individual character while ultimately avoiding selfishness or isolation through strength of character that contributes to others. 

(Rosenberger, 2001, p. 239)

 

Rosenberger refers to Japanese women today seeing westernisation, of both society as well as individuals, as opening up to the chance of remaking a lifestyle and remoulding the self (see also Kelsky, 2001). Even in domestic society, as Nancy Rosenberger describes it, „[Y]oung women were living in the questions surrounding Japan‟s incorporation of individuality – seen as global and modern – and the maintenance, or perhaps rejuvenation, of compassion, respect and group life – seen as representing the unique high qualities of Japanese self‟ (Rosenberger, 2001, p. 115). Also, in relation to the image of Western society in this vein, Karen Kelsky (2001, p. 87) notes the extent to which Japanese women today translate and interpret generic ideas of Western individualism as a metaphor for liberalism toward Japanese women. However, later, Kelsky (2001, p. 213) introduces the voices of Japanese marriage migrants who have realised it is naïve to believe that Western individualism simply liberates (Japanese) women of intermarriage. This shift from the claim of gender equality in the Western discourse to the re-discovery of the virtue of Japanese women can also be examined by Aya Kitamura‟s study (2009) of Japanese women in

Hawai‟i. Consequently, some of them, as I have argued through this thesis, began to consider their Japanese gendered accounts as „the virtue of women‟ in a strategic sense, in relation to their Western partner or their life in the West. 

 

For lifestyle migrants, situating themselves in a new Australian lifestyle is rather preferable than sticking to Japanese models. As Rosenberger remarked, for Japanese women, searching for a creative and desirable lifestyle is also to introduce the value of a Western lifestyle, based on the relationship between independent and egalitarian individuals at home, which is to contest the conventional gender obligations imposed on women at home. Namely, the westernisation of the home is not only a mere project of desirable lifestyle, but also these women‟s desire to maintain a fair but reciprocal relationship between themselves and their husbands, as they see happening in imagined Western lifestyle. With regard to the ideal image of the Western lifestyle, T. S. clearly spoke to me of her ideal image as derived from the American soap operas she used to watch in Japan as a child. It is probable that many of the Japanese women marriage migrants envisaged an ideal image of Western lifestyle and heterosexual partnership through domestic media, as T. S. did, before they became a migrant in Australia. 

 

Being a Western subject through becoming an Australian is, for these lifestyle migrants, an enthusiastic project for putting this „ideal‟ life into practice, in making an ideal partnership with their husband come true. In the meantime, in their migratory life, it is almost impossible for these women to give up relying upon the relationship and networks with local Japanese as a most reliable diasporic community. Finally, with regard to the degree of belonging and engagement, these women ended by expressing their ambivalence at making home in between their Australian home/society and the PJC.

 

My research indicates that one should not dismiss the power relations these Japanese migrant women are placed in, when referring to or even glamorising their gendered account with an ethnic accent. Both re-moulding the self in the course of re-evaluating the virtue of Japanese femininity, and striving to integrate into a local community as a new Australian individual, are ways of making sense in their strategy to situate themselves and find their place. In this regard, I still remember what Yuka-san of the President of the PJC told me one day. Yuka-san said to me,

„After all, the art of maintaining a good relationship with an Australian guy is, I think, don‟t be too much of a „feminist‟ (she used this English term, rather than feminisuto in Japanese).‟ When I asked her to clarify this for its implications, and in relation to the term feminisuto, she replied that Japanese women, including herself, should try not to be too selfish or even independent. The woman should express her Japanese femininity as she would do if she lived in Japan. This anecdote revealed to me that the Japanese woman marriage migrant has limited space within which to re-mould or express herself. At the same time, endorsed by her own experience of living in Australia, she clearly denied that Australia, as a Western society, is a liberal egalitarian society with regard to gender.

 

7.7. Conclusion: Ambivalence towards Being Both Marriage Migrant and Lifestyle Migrant

 

In this chapter, I have argued that both the home and the ethnic association function as a mediated space for women, encouraging them to associate with or integrate into the local community. In these mediated spaces, which are neither an exclusive shelter nor an ethnic bubble, these Japanese women exercise several social roles inevitably shaped by their gender. As a result, I have shown how they express the significance of their ethnic association in terms of gender, rather than ethnicity. They distinguished themselves from other Japanese by pointing out their regional or local characteristics within Western Sydney. At stake in this chapter was the way in which these Japanese women found and managed their ethnic association in the region. For them, commitment to the Japanese community in the locale made them feel ambivalent. Accordingly, in both mediated spaces – the home and the ethnic association – their belonging and their degree of attachment are expressed ambivalently. They are spaces which provide both intimacy and awkwardness at the same time. 

 

Finally, when Japanese women re-evaluate and make use of their Japanese

femininity in order to maximise their presence in a certain power relation, one has to consider that the feminising self of Japanese marriage migrants unprecedentedly indicates their marginality, even though they inevitably rely on the „given‟ cultural capital of Japanese femininity. Indeed, this strategy still leaves these women with a sense of ambivalence, rather than resolving it. They are both marriage migrants and lifestyle migrants. Indeed, re-moulding the self with Japanese femininity provides them, on the one hand, with a secure social identity, as a minority migrant woman in Western Sydney, and it aids them in associating with a local Japanese network that definitely contributes to their integration into the local community. On the other hand, it might also take place as a result of the negotiation of the reality of life as a migrant woman, at the cost of giving up an ideal lifestyle that was thought to be achievable in the change of life made possible through migration.

CHAPTER 8. CONCLUSION

 

8.1. Gender in Fieldwork: A Reflection

 

In concluding my thesis, it seems pertinent to discuss the gender relations at work in the fieldwork itself. Since I determined to work with Japanese women marriage migrants, this gender difference between us naturally and repeatedly came to the fore in the course of my research. For instance, whenever I gave a paper or spoke of my research, the most frequent question to me from the audience was, interestingly, how I dealt with the gender difference between myself and my respondents. Another common question was whether I could truly be involved in the women‟s community, as a male outsider, even though we shared a common ethnic background. 

 

In feminist anthropology, this issue has been highlighted as the problem of male anthropologists being unaware of gender power relations in the field (Bourdieu, 1993), in their pre-occupation with „objectivity‟ or „neutrality‟ (Bell, et al., 1993;

Breitbart, 1984; Oakley, 1990; Okley & Callaway, 1992; Warren & Hackney, 1993). Furthermore, postmodern anthropology (e.g. Clifford & Marcus, 1986; Gupta & Ferguson, 1997) insisted that ethnography in anthropology is an interactive process between the researcher and the respondents. This critique of ethnography also dismantled the idea that the researcher in the field should be an objective observer at a distance from his/her informants. Indeed, in fieldwork today, it is more necessary for the researcher to be reflexive about his/her social and cultural positionality and its impact on the respondents (and their world). For example, Carol A.B. Warren and Jennifer Kay Hackney explain the possible dynamic and ongoing relationship between the researcher and the respondents as follows:

 

[W]e view the roles and relationships of the field-worker as the dynamic and fluid processes of interaction and negotiation. Although the field-worker may seek to find or keep a particular place, respondents are simultaneously putting her into a place. Furthermore, the place the researcher seeks or finds herself or himself in changes situationally and over time.

(Warren & Hackney, 1993, p. 14)

 

Instead of recording objective discourses and narratives of the respondents, the researcher should be aware of describing and analysing what he/she experienced in the process of reflexive fieldwork.^[73] 

 

In the expectation of such a reflexive relationship in the fieldwork, the researcher has to consider to what extent each gender difference affects the process of building a relationship with the respondents. This is also to be aware that the perceptions of gender and related accounts are diverse up to the different socio-cultural context. Helen Callaway claims the benefits of presenting a gendered account, instead of claiming neutrality or objectivity, are as follows:

 

[T]hat a deepening understanding of our own gendered identities and the coded complexities of our being offered the best resources for gaining insights into the lives of others. The project of „engendering knowledge‟

(Caplan 1988) requires that the study of other societies, including their gender relations and ideologies, be carried out with scrupulous examination of ourselves as gendered identities. This means continuing scrutiny of the submerged power relation in the discourses and concrete practices of our own society as well.

(Callaway, 1992, p. 30)

 

In my research, while my respondents seemed able to relate to me because of our common ethnic background, I frequently perceived that the gender difference did have a distancing effect. In addition, the difference between us in marital status was an important marker of difference. It is also important to consider to what extent my „intervention‟ as a researcher affected their self-recognition, after I explained my research objectives and sought their participation. Indeed, our relationship in the fieldwork was continually transformed reflexively, in reference to our ethnicity, gender and other social status markers between us.

 

Researcher and Respondents

When I contacted Yuka-san, the President of the Penrith Japanese Community (PJC) and had a short conversation with her in a local pub in Penrith, in November 2006, I still remember that she, as the leader of this women‟s group, complained that

Japanese women marriage migrants receive little attention as a migrant group in this outer suburb (Penrith), even though they are unable to rely upon the major Japanese ethnoburbs in north and central Sydney. For this reason, both Yuka-san and Tomoko-san (Vice President of the PJC) welcomed my interest in their group and my attention to women marriage migrants in my research. They expected me, as a researcher, to make them „visible‟ or to obtain for them more recognition in

Australian society, through the research and my thesis. Most other members of the PJC cooperated with my research. They also expressed their interest in my findings, analysis and arguments drawn from their engagement with me. As this story indicates, the gender difference between us had not yet been problematised in fieldwork. Rather, they regarded me as a „researcher‟ (or stranger) who is presumably expected to mediate between them and the wider society. In other words, at the initial stage of my fieldwork, both I and my respondents attempted to understand each other by reference to our common ethnic background (Japaneseness), rather than considering gender. Even though gender difference was by no means a major obstacle in my fieldwork, as these stories show, this „difference‟ frequently called for more complicated relationships, as well as the construction of rapport between myself and my respondents.

 

Given that fieldwork signifies the fact that the researcher throws him/herself into the everyday life of the respondents, it is no wonder that the researcher is expected to play a certain role in their everyday life, in reference to his/her positionality as a stranger. For instance, Erving Goffman details the radical structure in society as an entity of interactions between individuals as follows:

 

Society is organized on the principle that any individual who possesses certain social characteristics has a moral right to expect that others will value and treat him [sic] in an appropriate way. Connected with this principle is a second, namely that an individual who implicitly or explicitly signifies he has certain social characteristics ought in fact to be what he claims he is.

(Goffman, 1959, p. 11)

 

And he continues:

 

When the individual employs these strategies or tactics to protect his own projections, we may refer to them as „defensive practices‟; when a participant employs them to save the definition of the situation projected by another, we speak of „protective practices‟ or „tact‟.

(Goffman, 1959, p. 12)

 

In order to protect the given role and social identity, I suggest that the respondents, as the host, expect the researcher, as the guest (or stranger), to perform a certain (acceptable and understandable) role. In my fieldwork, I was recognised as a researcher who could possibly lead them to wider public recognition in society. Goffman does not, however, deny that the entity of performance by each expected role is not always secured and disruption could occur at each instance (ibid.). Even so, Goffman‟s amendment – about this possibility of disruption of the given characteristics of individuals in society – should be understood as that, in our society, everyone has to perform several roles, according to the different relations, networks and power structures of everyday life. 

 

In the early stage of my fieldwork, I was recognised as and expected to be a researcher, who was a stranger but supposedly had the specific knowledge to interpret what the leaders of the PJC wished to achieve in the wider local community or society. My initial relationship with the leaders of the PJC was that they were gatekeepers (key informants) in my fieldwork. We then exchanged roles, because I, as a gatekeeper to the wider society, was expected to bridge their interests with the wider public. Again, given that the field belongs to the side of the respondents, and the essence of fieldwork means that the researcher devotes him/herself to „their‟ world, the researcher, as either an audience or player, inevitably maintains and reforms the social world of the respondents. As such, the researcher is involved in the complicated role of performing with the respondents in their field. 

 

In fact, I had been expected to play several roles in the fieldwork. In reference to several differences between us – such as marital status, social background and purpose of taking part in the PJC and living in Australia – they saw me as a researcher, as a single male, or even as still a young student, even though they were as young as I. As a consequence, one has to acknowledge that the researcher and the respondents are necessarily placed in a certain social relationship, reflexively. 

 

Gender and Fictive Familial Relationship

I would like to stress that this initial „happy contact‟ and achievement of credibility between myself and the respondents does not deny that gendered concerns ever came to the fore in my research. Yet what is interesting to me was the point that the sense of femininity and masculinity had always re-contextualised and embodied in other socio-cultural relationships between the researcher and the respondents. One of the most profound critiques of Goffman‟s argument on the principle of our social relationship is that, I assume, it overestimates certain power structures in society, whichmakes people play a certain social role as if it is given by nature. As several scholars insist, gendered structures between the researcher and the respondents are by no means innocent in the fieldwork in this regard; as I discussed before, when I referred to the strategy of playing „surrogate mother‟ by Japanese women in the small factory, in Dorinne K. Kondo‟s study (1990). In other words, the researcher cannot neutralise his/her socio-cultural components in relation to the respondents in the field. However, I suggest that this sometimes leads to improvising a new dynamic relationship between the researcher and the respondents in the field. 

 

In particular, from my own experience in the fieldwork, I would like to examine the process by which the researcher (myself) was involved in my respondents‟ field; by making use of gender roles and identities they re-mould and re-constitute in their everyday life in Australia. There, it would not be unusual for the researcher to be involved in playing a certain social relationship with the respondents, which is regularly derived from the familiar socio-cultural frame of reference of the respondents. Warren and Hackney (1993, p. 18) term this „fictive kin‟, even though they suggest it would happen more to young married women. In my fieldwork, I state that such fictive kinship occurred between myself and some of my respondents. In my case, as our relationship made progress and I succeeded in developing a certain credibility, it was profound to me that the relationship between myself and my respondents became framed as a relationship between (proposed) mother and son, a frame with which they are most familiar in expressing their identity in their life in Australia.

 

To detail the growth of this unique relationship between I and my respondents, I must describe the ways in which I conducted my fieldwork. After several meetings with the leaders of the PJC, I began to take part in their regular meeting. In the meetings, I arrived every time and introduced myself to those women whom I was meeting for the first time. My standard introduction was that I was a research student at a local university in Western Sydney where they were living, and that I was participating in the PJC for my research about Japanese women migrants living in the outer suburbs of Greater Sydney. As the statistical data set revealed in Chapter 3, the further from the city centre one goes, the more one finds that gender imbalance is striking among Japanese populations. Accordingly, apart from weekends or school holiday picnics with the families, I had been the only male participant in the regular meetings in my long-term fieldwork. Additionally, I was the only participant living by myself in Australia (in fact, I had always been living with housemates in Australia), while all the members of the PJC are living in the surrounding suburbs with their partner or family members. Here, one would acknowledge that not only were the differences between myself and my respondents defined by the differences between the researcher and the respondents in this research field, but also that they were demarcated by our different social status, according to gender, occupation and even familial status in Australian life, while we shared something in common based on our ethnicity and geographical area.

 

Under these unique circumstances, my credibility or rapport seemingly improved to some extent, until I commenced in-depth interviews with the members of the PJC. Until the interviews, most of my respondents were already familiar with me, as I had spent a long period with them at regular meetings of the PJC or had had several casual conversations with them. Also, I had already spoken to them about the possibility of conducting an individual interview with them one day. Almost 10 months had passed since I met them at the PJC, when I conducted the first interview with a respondent. As I mentioned previously, I frequently conducted individual interviews with my respondents at their home. This is because it was most convenient for them to make time for me in this way. I also wanted to meet and talk with them in a familiar environment. Partly, I was interested in the domestic realm of their life. Our interview was carried out on the couch in the living room, or at the table in the kitchen, in a casual way.

 

Even though I basically planned to have an interview with them for around one hour, so as not to interfere with their daily duties, interviews tended to be longer; except for when babies began to cry (it was the most common cause of interview interruption). However, before switching on my IC recorder for the interview, we usually had a very casual conversation and talked about how each of us was getting along recently. Even after I had switched off the recorder and I had stated that the „official‟ interview had ended, we often kept talking. Many of them, in turn, would ask me questions about my private life. As a stranger (researcher, male, single Japanese living in Australia), they seemed to be curious about me. In particular, my status as a research student was a curiosity for them and it was not easy to explain my ambivalent position as neither being very student-like nor an independent researcher. Hence, they frequently asked me: why I did not have any coursework even though I was a university student (this is because I am a postgraduate research student), or when exactly I would graduate from university and go back to Japan, or whether I would remain in Australia. Furthermore, they were even curious about my future job prospects, after the completion of this „research‟ (not study). Moreover, after they knew about my partner in Japan, they asked me how often and in what way I kept in touch with her at such a great distance. Some of them even directly asked me when I would get married to her, while they often said they felt sorry for her. They used to say that, as a woman, they had sympathy for my partner living by herself in Japan. In their perspective, it was as if I were a selfish villain who left his partner in Japan, in order to do what I liked in Australia. These women used to say that they sided with my partner in Japan.

 

These counter-questions to me were frequent after the official interview and the women sometimes arranged a meal for me or cooked lunch (I did not carry out any interviews at night or early morning, due to their home-making and child-care duties during those periods). In any case, they asked me what I usually cook and eat in Australia and they sometimes worried that my diet is not healthy enough, imagining the life of a single male student living by himself overseas. Mostly, I appreciated their offer and we had lunch together or had more cups of tea or coffee, until they had to leave home to pick up their children at school or go out to run errands. In other cases, they prepared a lunch box or a meal pack for me when we had an interview at a public place, such as a food court in the shopping centre or at a local café. Having imagined that, I was a male student living by himself, and worrying about my unhealthy lifestyle, they used to comment on this when passing the lunch box or meal to me after the interview. 

 

There were a few precious opportunities when they offered me a chance to stay at their home for a night, as I travelled long hours to visit them on the fringes of Western Sydney. Of course, they were precious opportunities for me to carry out participant observations with a Japanese woman and her family, as well as having conversations with her husband, in-laws and children. At such a time, I had more time to talk about my personal background, my research interests, my family and my partner, and even my future prospects. Looking back, their unforgettable and warm kindness to me in my fieldwork, and their perception of me, reminds me of what I have discussed through the whole of my thesis. Our gender difference was accordingly converted into the familiar gender role of female care-giver. Even though some of them were almost as young as I or even younger, these Japanese women marriage migrants repeatedly performed and represented themselves as if they were a Japanese mother. Nevertheless, it would be arguable to see this particular gender relationship realised between myself and these women in my fieldwork, considering how important it was for them to refer to those gendered accounts in the process of re-moulding and situating the self in Australia, as I have argued in this thesis. Put simply, it could be said that I was involved in the politics of mothering, having been expected to play a certain male role with them. Let us explore, then, this representation of their motherhood in the fictive kinship that occasionally took place in my fieldwork (as was particularly the case when conducting an individual interview with them at their home). 

 

First, in contrast to the suggestion of Warren and Hakney (1993, pp. 18-19), this fictional kinship occurred to me as a single male researcher. Their example was of a single female anthropologist who could achieve a good relationship with elder informants, by being recognised as if a daughter of the couple. However, my understanding of the emergence of this fictive kinship among us should be scrutinised as a way in which my respondents strive to re-mould and situate the self in new socio-cultural circumstances, relying upon their gendered accounts and roles in everyday life. Rather than simply looking at this as granting my entry into their field, which possibly happens to any field-worker, I would like to suggest that even this experience is evidence of the extent to which these Japanese migrant women depend on these gendered accounts and subsequent social roles, in search of the best lifestyle in their migratory experience in Australia.

 

Mothering or representation of motherhood can be seen as a social construction, against the grain of the ideological presumption that it derives from women‟s natural sense. Linda Renny Forcey claims that „[M]othering is a socially constructed set of activities and relationships involved in nurturing and caring for people‟. However, it is also the main vehicle through which people first form their identities and learn their place in society (see also Chodorow, 1978; Forcey, 1994, p. 357). Nevertheless, I argue that their projection of fictive kinship, which occasionally took place after I had individual interviews with them, reveals their ambivalence in the course of re-moulding the self as a migrant woman in Australia. Evelyn Nakano Glen (1994, pp. 16-17) critiques the ideological aspect of the mothering discourse, which assumes it is a „natural sense‟, but she also discusses the politics of mothering as the dialectic process of one‟s struggle of re-moulding the self in a certain social relation/power structure (see also Kondo, 1990). Given that the practice of mothering is a result of the political struggle of women in social circumstances involving unequal power relations, it is necessary to draw a picture of this social practice in a new light (ibid.). To explain this „other side of the coin‟ of mothering, Evelyn

Nakano Glen says:

 

Mothers of all classes have not simply acquiesced to oppression, but have struggled to gain resources needed to nurture and preserve life. They have also asserted the validity of their own knowledge and still in the face of messages that they were inadequate mothers. For this reason, it is important to look at the other side of the coin, focusing not just on the way women are oppressed as mothers, but on the way they act to assert their own standards of mothering and to attain the resources necessary to sustain their children‟s lives.

(Glenn, 1994, p. 18)

 

Taking this into account, the fictive kinship that took place between me and my respondents can be explained in the light of these Japanese women‟s identity politics, an expression of their ambivalent re-moulding of the self as a migrant woman – as I argued in Chapter 6 and 7. In the Japanese context, Nancy Rosbenberger (2001, pp. 44-46) observes the ways in which Japanese women rely upon the identity politics of mothering, in order to have power in their families. Hence, on the one hand, mothering is passively a result of their limited access to social resources in their migratory life in Australia. As I discussed in the previous chapters, they could not help but re-mould their self with these gendered accounts in the new, challenging socio-cultural context. On the other hand, it is definitely their decision in which they re-interpret their socio-cultural context in search of building the most desirable lifestyle in Australia. 

 

In summary, not only did my interviews and participant observations reveal how much these Japanese women strive to find the best lifestyle and way of re-moulding the self in Australia, it was also demonstrated clearly in my long-term fieldwork relationship with them. As Warren and Hackney (1993) indicate, patterns of fictive kinship seem essential to conduct fieldwork and construct a deep rapport between himself and the respondent. In this context, in addition to the gender structure in the field, the researcher needs to consider another gender difference between the researcher and the respondents. However, contrary to remarks that were frequently made about my fieldwork, I insist that such a gender difference is no necessary impediment to the fieldwork. As James Clifford argued (1986), given that every fieldwork (or ethnography) can only reach a partial truth of the field, we interpret this argument that every researcher possibly draws a different picture from and may write a different thick description (Geertz, 2000[1973]) of the same field (or with the same respondents), insofar as he/she occupies a different positionality relative to the respondents. 

 

8.2. Lifestyle Migration and Marriage Migration: A Conclusion

 

This thesis commenced with an examination of the transformation of the social characteristics of Japanese migration to Australia in the last three decades. The history of Japanese migration to Australia goes back to the late 19th century, until this experienced a total disjuncture at the end of WWII. Japanese communities and ethnic associations across Australian capital cities were re-established by those who largely immigrated to Australia since the 1980s. In the meantime, Japanese society entered into a post-industrial phase (Tiffen & Gittins, 2009). In the new production system, a post-Fordist style has been dominant in order to provide unlimited commodities and leisure experiences for those living in such an affluent society. Such prosperity in society was said to have reached its peak around that time. As a consequence, Mamada Takao (2005) explained the maturation of consumer society in Japan today by the term „de-materialistic consumption,‟ even after the burst of bubble economy in the early 1990s.  In society, leisure was highly involved in the consumption practice, as the service industry had grown in the post-industrial society. Hence, the Japanese began to regard international travel, including migration as an alternative path that would lead them to improving a better life„style‟.  

 

They sought a way to create a lifestyle individualistically, instead of  depending upon traditional socio-cultural values (Giddens, 1990, 1991). The

post-industrialisation of Japanese society in the last two decades also raised another influence in the life course of people. Firstly, by the contestation and replacement of traditional socio-cultural values, ongoing since the late 1960s, each individual had more responsibility for designing his or her own life course. People had to be more conscious about re-moulding the self and re-create one‟s lifestyle reflexively (Beck, et al., 1994). Meanwhile, the post-Fordist production system is also signified as reflexive in the sense that it emphasised the variety and temporality of production, in the use of vast information resources. As a consequence, one of the profound aspects of socio-cultural transformation around that period in Japan is the maturation of a hyper consumer society (Mamada, 2005; Miura & Ueno, 2007; Yoshimi, 1996). 

 

This hyper consumer society is both sustained and developed by a new mode of consumption practice – consumption of sign values (Baudrillard, 1988; Clarke, 2003) or „semiotic consumption‟ (Mamada, 2005), This consumption practice is how implicated in the practice of re-moulding the self and envisaging one‟s lifestyle reflexively, through the use of differences among products and experiences consumed. Also, interestingly, as some argue (Otsuka, 2001[1996], 2004; Rosenberger, 2001; Ueno, 1992[1987]), this new mode of searching for the self had more impact on women than on men.  

 

Surely, Japan‟s economic prosperity reached a peak in the late 1980s ended by the burst of the bubble economy in 1991. Since then, a more drastic social change has occurred in Japan, along with the long-term economic recession and increasing impact of globalisation. Nevertheless, as Hideki Azuma (2009) emphases, I suggested that the new mode of consumption practices has remained the principal method of searching and re-moulding the self for contemporary Japanese. On these premises, I illustrated Japanese migration to Australia, since the 1980s, in the light of this alternative consumption practice that can be found in the migratory experience. Also, among these „lifestyle migrants‟, the sharp distinction between leisure experience and permanent migration overseas has become blurred. Many of them become a „consequent settler‟ (Mizukami, 2006b), people whose migration is frequently driven by the pleasure of the Australian lifestyle discovered during their temporary stay. Due to the nature of these lifestyle migrants, who are relatively middle-class and self-reliant individuals in search of his/her own lifestyle abroad, I revealed that certain conflicts are brought about in the formation of Japanese ethnic associations by merely depending on the abstract diasporic (ethnic) identity.

 

‘Becoming’ a Japanese Woman in Ambivalence

Toshiaki Tachibanaki (2010) indicates that socio-economic inequalities recently became more serious among Japanese women themselves. In these circumstances, it is alleged that more women than men are leaving Japan (MSN Sankei News, 2009). Recent studies (Kitamura, 2009; Thang, et al., 2006; Toyota, 2006; Yamashita, 2008) also indicate the internal diversity of Japanese women, with regard to their motivation and purpose of going abroad. The increase in intermarriage between Japanese woman and foreign nationals (MHLW, 2007) can be considered as a result of the increase in the global mobility of Japanese women today.^[74] While I referred to the rise of a new type of Japanese migration – lifestyle migrants – to Australia since the 1980s onwards, I developed a more considered analysis of the increase in the number of Japanese women marriage migrants. In particular, I looked into these women‟s trajectories from Japan to Australia in inquiries about the perceptions of marginalities in Japanese society that eventually inclined them to look aboard. In such experience, the perception of being a woman was by no means very positive in Japan, whilst these women I interviewed in Sydney explained that being a Japanese woman is about ambivalence. They felt a sense of marginalisation in Japanese society (especially in terms of business society), while they regarded it as a positive opportunity of re-making the self on their own, without devoting themselves to contributing to the development of the nation. Namely, their marginality in domestic society, in turn, encourages them to reconsider a new and preferable life overseas. In their stories of coming to Australia, this ambivalence of being a woman in Japan was described as both: in negative terms about departure from Japan; and in positive terms to demonstrate their flexibility or adaptability to a different culture and society. 

 

I then observed the ways in which they strive to concentrate on re-moulding the self with a new interpretation of Japanese femininity in the new country. For these women, I demonstrated that „becoming‟ (not being) a Japanese woman was regarded as a relatively convincing social identity in their social circumstances in Australia. The ambivalent perception of being a woman in Japan was re-contexualised and re-interpreted in the new Australian context. This strategy apparently essentialised not only themselves as Japanese women but also others, such as Japanese men, Australian men and even Australian women (White Australians) in their frame of reference. In turn, this practice gave them a convincing social identity in relation to their Australian family, neighbours and local environment.

 

Home and Ethnic Association: Re-Consideration of Its Ambivalence

Against the grain of the exclusive gendering private and public space, my fieldwork observed the ways in which these women obtain more opportunities to take part in a wider local environment, precisely through their daily duties as a wife, mother and migrant woman. Apparently, these women‟s feminisation seems to result in confining the woman within the private realm. In contradistinction to this argument, I found that feminising the self through gendered duties in the private space can lead the women to integrate into the public, taking part in a wider local environment. Going shopping, chatting with neighbours, taking children to school and back, associating with local mothers through children, were opportunities for these Japanese women to take part in the public realm. Furthermore, these opportunities in the public space were highly linked with their gender roles and daily routines in the private space. In this sense, I argued that, for these Japanese migrant women, the private space (home) and their everyday routines, based on gendered roles, by no means resulted in the confinement of these women in this space exclusively. 

 

Nevertheless, it is interesting to me that, while they never regarded re-moulding the self with Japanese femininity as an obstacle to improving their Australian lifestyle, they sometimes displayed some hesitation regarding the extent to which they could rely on, and commit to, the local Japanese community. This is an ambivalent identification of the self as ethnic Japanese, who spontaneously accommodates the self in the imagined Australian way of life, even though these ideas drawn by them were still vague. In detail, I emphasised that these ambivalent feelings were represented between becoming a Japanese (woman) and being a member of an Australian family and local community. To explain their ambivalence of belonging between a Japanese self and Australian society, I emphasised that these Japanese women marriage migrants were partly lifestyle migrants, whose migration was expected to seek their desirable life„style‟ in the new environment. Having conducting both long-term fieldwork with the members of the Penrith Japanese Community and individual in-depth interviews with the constituent members, I revealed that they were probably afraid of destroying their imagined Australian life in the legacy of lifestyle migration in cross-national marriage, no matter how much they occasionally needed to depend upon the local Japanese community at the initial stages of settlement.

 

Japanese Marriage Migrants:  Further Investigations

In conclusion, I would like to say that my research with Japanese women marriage migrants reveals the common problems of migrant women, regardless of their different socio-cultural as well as class backgrounds. On the one hand, these Japanese women are can definitely be classified as new migrants. Their motivation and migratory pattern can be slotted into the category of lifestyle migration from a developed country, regardless of whether the migration was „consequently‟ brought about. However, while I attempted to explain this new Japanese migration in the world today, I devoted a large extent of my discussion of these Japanese women migrants to the gender divides and inequalities with which they continue to struggle within the new settlement (Brettell, 2000; Palriwala & Uberoi, 2008; Piper & Roces, 2003; Robinson, 2007; Stasiulis & Yuval-Davis, 1995; Waters, 2003). 

 

As migrant women, even Japanese marriage migrants would face several difficulties in the process of settlement that derives from the structure of double marginalisation, although my point is that they always attempted to express their predicament in a positive manner, rather than expressing its difficulties as they did in interviews with me. Nevertheless, my conclusion is that their strong positivity in the representation of the self as a Japanese woman in Australia, rather than a Japanese-Australian, indicates the fact that re-moulding the self in ethno-gendered terms clearly shows us the social circumstances and disadvantages they face in the migratory life. Thus, I believe my exploration of contemporary Japanese marriage migration raises the common problems of migrant women, such as the lack of specific support and attention to their peculiar predicaments after the failure of marriage (Matsuo, 2005), and issues with regard to child custody (Ito, 2010; Japan Today, 2010), as well as social security of divorced migrant women. There would also be the problem of custody between the parents in two countries, once they began to live separately after divorce. Also, as the number of Japanese women of cross-national marriage is becoming the largest part of the Japanese community in Australia (and in several other countries), we need to draw attention to the growing intercultural second generation throughout the world.

 

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Appendices

Appendix 1: Questionnaire for Background Information of the PJC members

 

Appendix 2: Survey Results

 

 

 

Frequency Table

Gender

		Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Valid	Female Male Total	21 1 22	95.5 4.5 100.0	95.5 4.5 100.0	95.5 100.0

 

Age

		Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Valid	20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 Total	5 7 6 4 22	22.7 31.8 27.3 18.2 100.0	22.7 31.8 27.3 18.2 100.0	22.7 54.5 81.8 100.0

 

Family

		Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Valid	1 2 3 4 5 Total	1 4 7 9 1 22	4.5 18.2 31.8 40.9 4.5 100.0	4.5 18.2 31.8 40.9 4.5 100.0	4.5 22.7 54.5 95.5 100.0

 

Children

		Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Valid	0 1 2 3 Total	5 7 9 1 22	22.7 31.8 40.9 4.5 100.0	22.7 31.8 40.9 4.5 100.0	22.7 54.5 95.5 100.0

 

Job

		Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Valid	Full time Part time No Total	3 5 14 22	13.6 22.7 63.6 100.0	13.6 22.7 63.6 100.0	13.6 36.4 100.0

 

 

Year of Moving

		Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulativ e Percent
Valid	1982 1997 1998 1999 2001 2002 2004 2005 2006 2007 Total	1 1 1 1 1 4 2 3 5 3 22	4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 18.2 9.1 13.6 22.7 13.6 100.0	4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 18.2 9.1 13.6 22.7 13.6 100.0	4.5 9.1 13.6 18.2 22.7 40.9 50.0 63.6 86.4 100.0

 

First attendance to the PJC

		Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulativ e Percent
Valid Missing Total	AUG 2006 SEP 2006 NOV 2006 DEC 2006 FEB 2007 MAR 2007 JUL 2007 AUG 2007 Total Sy stem	8 4 1 2 1 1 1 3 21 1 22	36.4 18.2 4.5 9.1 4.5 4.5 4.5 13.6 95.5 4.5 100.0	38.1 19.0 4.8 9.5 4.8 4.8 4.8 14.3 100.0	38.1 57.1 61.9 71.4 76.2 81.0 85.7 100.0

 

How to know the PJC

		Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Valid	By the President By word of mouth By the information from a family member By the Internet By the advertisments on Japanese magazines Other Total	9 4 1 3 3 2 22	40.9 18.2 4.5 13.6 13.6 9.1 100.0	40.9 18.2 4.5 13.6 13.6 9.1 100.0	40.9 59.1 63.6 77.3 90.9 100.0

 

Degree of attendance

		Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Valid	Every time Sometimes Seldom Never Total	6 7 7 2 22	27.3 31.8 31.8 9.1 100.0	27.3 31.8 31.8 9.1 100.0	27.3 59.1 90.9 100.0

 

Birthplace

		Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Valid	Japan Other Total	21 1 22	95.5 4.5 100.0	95.5 4.5 100.0	95.5 100.0

  

Reason for stay before moving to WS

		Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Valid	0 Marriage Working Holiday Study Other Not lived Total	1 2 5 8 1 5 22	4.5 9.1 22.7 36.4 4.5 22.7 100.0	4.5 9.1 22.7 36.4 4.5 22.7 100.0	4.5 13.6 36.4 72.7 77.3 100.0

 

 

Reason for moving to WS

		Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Valid Missing Total	0 Marriage Partner's choice Other Total 9	1 10 4 6 21 1 22	4.5 45.5 18.2 27.3 95.5 4.5 100.0	4.8 47.6 19.0 28.6 100.0	4.8 52.4 71.4 100.0

 

Occasions to go back to Japan

		Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Valid Missing Total	0 Every year Once in 2-4 years Once in 4-5 Depends Never Total 9	1 10 4 1 3 2 21 1 22	4.5 45.5 18.2 4.5 13.6 9.1 95.5 4.5 100.0	4.8 47.6 19.0 4.8 14.3 9.5 100.0	4.8 52.4 71.4 76.2 90.5 100.0

 

Length of stay in Japan

		Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Valid Missing Total	0 Less than 2 weeks Less than 1 month Less than 1-2 months More than 2-3 month Depends Never Total 9	1 1 9 1 1 1 1 15 7 22	4.5 4.5 40.9 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 68.2 31.8 100.0	6.7 6.7 60.0 6.7 6.7 6.7 6.7 100.0	6.7 13.3 73.3 80.0 86.7 93.3 100.0

 

 

 

Multiple Responses

Case Summary

						Cases
		Valid				Missing			Total
	N			Percent	N		Percent	N		Percent
$q7a $q8a $q12a		1 4 1		4.5% 18.2% 4.5%		21 18 21	95.5% 81.8% 95.5%		22 22 22	100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

a. Group

 

$q8 Frequencies

		Responses		Percent of Cases
		N	Percent
Previous a residence Total	City Innter west Northern suburbs Eastern suburbs Western suburbs Suburbs in other states	2 2 3 1 3 1 12	16.7% 16.7% 25.0% 8.3% 25.0% 8.3% 100.0%	50.0% 50.0% 75.0% 25.0% 75.0% 25.0% 300.0%

a. Group

 

$q12 Frequencies

		Responses		Percent of Cases
		N	Percent
Most interestinga activitie(s) Total	The 3rd Tuesuday meeting School holiday event	1 2 3	33.3% 66.7% 100.0%	100.0% 200.0% 300.0%

a. Group

 

 

 

 

Appendix 3: List of Individual Interviews

 

Initial (pseudonym)	Gender	Age (Generati on)	Place of Residence	Date of Interview	Second Interview	PJC Membership
S. C.	F	30	Penrith	28/August/2007	27/June/2008	Y
R. S.	F	30	Penrith	28/August/2007	23/April/2008	Y
R. P.	F	30	Blacktown	05/September/2007	17/July/2008	Y
M. C.	F	30	Parramatta	12/September/2007		N
S. E.	F	50	Penrith	22/September/2007		Y
T. E.	M	50	Penrith	22/September/2007		N
Tomoko W.*	F	50	Penrith	07/October/2007		Y
M. B.	F	30	Blacktown	11/October/2007		Y
T. S.	F	30	Blue Mountains	16/October/2007		Y
A. D.	F	30	Blacktown	20/October/2007	26/April/2008	Y
Y. G.	F	40	Blue Mountains	20/October/2007		Y
M. N.	M	50	North Sydney	22/October/2007		N
S. H.	F	50	Blue Mountains	23/October/2007		Y
Y. K.	F	30	Penrith	27/October/2007		Y
N. W.	M	30	Hornsby	28/October/2007		N
Y. W.	F	30	Hornsby	20/October/2007		N
Y. T.	F	40	Penrith	06?November/2007		Y
N. W.	F	60	Willoughby	07/November/2007		N
C. C.	F	40	Hornsby	07/November/2007		N
T. G.	F	50	Blue Mountains	19/November/2007		Y
A. S.	F	30	Blue Mountains	19/November/2007		Y
J. K.	F	50	Blue Mountains	28/November/2007		Y
J. M.	F	40	Blue Mountains	01/December/2007		Y
C. J.	F	30	Parramatta	12/December/2007		N
K. K.	F	30	Penrith/Japan	18/January/2008		Y
A. G.	F	40	Blacktown	26/March/2008		N
Y. R.	F	40	Blacktown	08/April/2008		Y
Yuka W.**	F	30	Penrith	18/April/2008		Y
K. H.	F	40	Blue Mountains	20/April/2008		N
Y. M.	F	40	The Hills	08/May/2008		N
M. K.	F	30	Penrith/Hobart	03/June/2008		N

* Vice President of the Penrith Japanese Community

** President of the Penrith Japanese Community

 

Appendix 4: WSROC Regional Snapshot (2006 Census and other data)

 

WSROC Councils*	Eleven : Auburn, Bankstown, The Hills, Blacktown, Blue, Mountains, Fairfield, Hawkesbury, Holroyd, Liverpool, Parramatta and Penrith.
MACROC Councils*	Three:Camden , Campbelltown, Wollondilly.
Area (GWS*)	8,940 sq km. The largest council is Hawkesbury (2,776 sq km), the smallest Auburn (32 sq km). The majority of land in GWS (over 60% by area) is in National Parks, reserves, special protection areas, regional or local parks, mostly in the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury Council areas.
Population	The GWS region had a population of 1.8 million (1,788,967) at the 2006 Census, representing 43% of all persons in the Sydney Statistical Division (SD). The local government areas (LGAs)  ranging from Blacktown (over 270,000) to Auburn (just under 65,000). GWS average annual growth from 2001 to 2006 was 4.3% compared to 4.0% in Sydney as a whole. By 2021 it is estimated GWS will ha┗e a populatioﾐ of o┗er ヲ.ヲ ﾏillioﾐ or ヴΓ% of Sydﾐeyげs populatioﾐ.
Age	The GWS region has a younger age profile than Sydney as a whole. In 2006 22.6% of the population were aged less than 15 years compared to 19.5% in Sydney SD. In 2006, 9.9% of the population were aged over 65 years compared to 12.3% in Sydney SD. However, there has been a differentially greater shift away from younger age ranges and towards older people in GWS compared to the whole of Sydney.
Ethnicity	In 2006 33.1% of the population were born overseas, compared to 31.7% in Sydney. The proportion of those born overseas is increasing faster in GWS than it is in Sydney as a whole, up from 24.9% per cent in 1981 to 33.1% in 2006. In Fairfield and Auburn over half of the population were born overseas at 2006.
Households	There were 573,035 households at the 2006 Census in GWS (or 40.3% of the Sydney total), ranging from 85,604 in Blacktown to 19,054 in Auburn and 12,888 in Wollondilly. Between 1981 and 2006 household numbers in GWS increased by 214,377, or 59.8%, substantially higher than the growth in households in Sydney over this period (33.7%). In 2006 there were 3.1 persons per household in GWS, down from 3.4 in 2001 but still higher than in the rest of Sydney.
Families	In 2006 54.3% of all families were couple families with children, compared to 50.1% in Sydney. Almost 27% were couples without children (32.4% in Sydney) and 17.4% single parent families, compared to 15.5% in Sydney. While the number of single parent families increased in GWS by 5,227 in GWS and 6,522 in Sydney SD, the proportion of  single parent families increased by 1% in GWS from 2001-2006 compared to a 0.5% increase for the whole of Sydney during the same period.
Tertiary	117,848 GWS  region residents attended a tertiary education institution in 2006 with just under 41.4% (48,880) at TAFE and ヵΑ,ヰΒヵ ふヴΒ.ヴ%ぶ at uﾐi┗ersity. Β.ヵ% of the GWS regioﾐげs populatioﾐ ┘ere atteﾐdiﾐg a tertiary iﾐstitutioﾐ Ioﾏpared to a Sydﾐey average of 9.4%. Over 70% of students attending UWS live in Greater Western Sydney. A similar proportion of students at UWS are also the first members of their families ever to attend a university course.
Education:	While the proportion of the GWS population attending tertiary education as a whole dropped by 1.2% between 2001 and 2006, the decline in attendance in TAFE was 0.6% while university attendance increased by 0.2%. During the same period tertiary education participation for Sydney as a whole dropped by 0.9%.
Economy	Greater Westerﾐ Sydﾐey produIes ﾏore thaﾐ $Βヰ Hillioﾐ iﾐ eIoﾐoﾏiI output aﾐﾐually, ﾏakiﾐg the regioﾐ Australiaげs third-largest eIoﾐoﾏy ふafter Sydﾐey CBD aﾐd MelHourﾐeぶ. ヱヵヰ of Australiaげs top ヵヰヰ Ioﾏpaﾐies are loIated iﾐ the Greater West.
	An estimated 913,806 GWS residents were in the workforce in June 2005, an increase of 49.9% from 1991. In 2001 nearly 70% of the workforce was employed in the region, which had 80 jobs for every 100 resident workers (the difference is due to the number of people resident outside GWS who have jobs in the region). The unemployment rate in GWS in June 2005 was 5.6% and all LGAs achieved a trend unemployment rate below 10%.
	However, parts of the region still contain areas of relatively high unemployment, particularly Auburn (9.0%) and Blacktown (7.4%),
Employment	compared to the GWS region as a whole (5.6%) and Sydney SD (4.5%) in June 2005. Councils with new release areas on the urban fringe recorded the highest rates of increase in employment between 1986 and 2005, while some the older middle suburbs saw no increase in their employed resident base.
	Employment remains a critical issue: projected rates of population increase over the next 20 years mean very significant employment growth will be needed to just maintain the present degree of labour market regionalisation. An estimated additional 215,000 to 250,000 jobs will need to be created within GWS and another 100,000 jobs outside the region for GWS residents.
Transport	Just 8.9% of all journeys to work were made by train or bus in GWS in 2001, compared with 12.6% in the rest of Sydney. Of these trips 7.5% were by train and only 1.4% by bus (compared with 8.0% and 4.6% respectively in the rest of Sydney). Car trips aIIouﾐted for ヶヶ% of the regioﾐげs Ioﾏﾏute to ┘ork Ioﾏpared to ヵΑ.Α% iﾐ the rest of Sydﾐey.
	Since the 1970s over 100km of motorways have been constructed to serve Western Sydney, including the M7 Orbital which added ヴヰkﾏ aﾐd largely Ioﾏpletes the regioﾐげs ﾏotor┘ay ﾐet┘ork. Iﾐ the period siﾐIe the ヱΓンヰs, ho┘e┗er, the rail ﾐet┘ork iﾐ Westerﾐ Sydney has had less than 15km of rail track added. In addition two bus transitways have been constructed.
	In 2006 over half (50.3%) of GWS households had two or more motor vehicles compared to 46.2% in Sydney SD. In 2006 only 2.3% of GWS residents walked to work compared with 3.8% in Sydney SD.
Housing	Between 1996 and 2006 the proportion of dwellings fully owned in the GWS region dropped by 9.9%, while those being purchased increased by 8.9%. The proportion of households in rented dwellings increased by 0.6% in the same period. While the proportion of gro┘th iﾐ separate houses deIreased Hy ン.ヶ% there ┘as a Iorrespoﾐdiﾐg iﾐIrease iﾐ けotherげ resideﾐtial d┘elliﾐgs Hy ン.ヶ%.
	The Department of Planning estimates that by 2031 there will be over 350,000 additional dwellings in the GWS region compared to the 2004 of total of 609,000, an increase of over 57%.

* As of 25 February 2009

** „GWS‟ stands for Greater Western Sydney that includes both WSROC and MACROC regions

---

[1] Chapter 7 is dedicated to the analysis of the engagement of this Japanese association with the local Japanese living in Western Sydney.

[2] Regardless of the social transformation of the 1990s, Karen Kelsky argues that this tendency (women‟s defection or „female internationalism‟ (2001, p. 35) derives from the radical structure of gender division of labour in society and the further facilitation of this by the 1980s. On Japanese women‟s struggle between the reality of life in Japan and the search for a desired lifestyle, see also Rosenberger (2001). 

[3] As Paul Morris (1996) argues, the strict dichotomy between Gemeinschaft and Gesellschat (or “community” and “society” in English translation) should be relativised by the fact that, in our society, both social formations co-exist, rather than the former being taken over by the latter in the process of modernisation.

[4] For a similar discussion of class distinction in consumer society, see Baudrillard (1988) and Bourdieu (1984). My own understanding of consumer society having been remained in Japan in the 1980s was that consumption practice was a more popularised phenomenon across social strata, rather

[5] The people who hold Japanese citizenship are officially called Japanese nationals, not Japanese citizens, by the Japanese Government. For further discussion on the difference between two terms, see Cesarani and Fulbrook (1996).

[6] The numbers recorded in this report include any type of Japanese nationals who intend to stay abroad for more than three months.

[7] I detail social characteristics of the Japanese in Australia in Chapter 3. I also precisely investigate the detailed proportion and residential distribution of Japanese population in Sydney in Chapter 4.

[8] In contrast to this „consequent-settler‟, Mizukami also suggests „consequent-sojourner,‟ one who attempts to be a migrant or permanent resident in another country, but fails to do so and returns  to the homeland in the end (Mizukami 2007 27).

[9] Regarding „Japanese‟ migration, some questions remain whether the 1860s was the first period of modern Japanese migration, for the reason that the first group of Japanese migrants were an „illegal‟ group of migrants who were not endorsed as nationals or citizens of the Tokugawa shogunate that still imposed maritime restrictions. The Tokugawa shogunate finally endorsed, however, a document to identify a Japanese acrobat (an entertainer performing gymnastic feats) to the US in 1866 (MOFA 2010).

[10] As racial tension due to the increase in Japanese population grew, along with political conflict between Japan and the receiving country, the intake of Japanese migrants was often restricted. For instance, the immigration of Japanese to the US was strictly controlled from the early 1890s and finally terminated by the introduction of the Immigration Act 1924 (Lowe 1996 7, Japanese American National Museum 2007).

[11] However, with respect to female migrants as labour, women tend to be employed in a very limited

[12] For further understanding of the ways in which the Meiji Government desired to establish the first modern nation-state in Asia in the late 19th century, see Marius B. Jansen (1995) and Junji Banno (1992).

[13] Of course, even during this period, there were a number of Japanese business entrepreneurs and expatriates who were unlikely to be linked directly with nation-building, such as Japanese business expatriates and entrepreneurs in Sydney in the early 20th century.

[14] I exclude those who study abroad and business expatriates in this discussion, although I realise that the number of these people should not be dismissed.

[15] This name maybe a nickname or stage name.

[16] It is also important to acknowledge that the Japanese government does not principally allow nationals to hold more than two nationalities/citizenships.

[17] It is important to draw attention to the fact that the figure includes multiple entry of individuals, as well as entrances of long-term Japanese residents or migrants.

[18] MOFA (2008) include these Japanese WHMs as Japanese nationals overseas, while they leave them out of five typical occupations of Japanese overseas. The Japanese proportion in the Oceania region consequently consists of a unique socio-demographic profile, compared to that of other regions.

[19] However, it is uncertain how long these permanent arrivals are going to stay in Australia in the future from this data set.

[20] DIAC updates the database‟s contents on a regular basis.

[21] However, I would add that a few Japanese were granted a permanent visa in the category of

[22] In Japanese usage, being a Japanese person is regularly and legally defined as „nationality,‟ while the concept of „citizenship‟ is less popular to refer to someone‟s belonging to the country.

Furthermore, the Japanese government officially adopts the term of „Japanese national(s)‟, not

„Japanese citizen.‟ In this sentence, in order to refer to the data of the Japanese government, I adopted „nationality‟ to refer to both sides as it is in the original resource.

[23] For this, Weber (1978[1968], p. 395) argues the definition of ethnicity as follows: „The concept of the “ethnic” group, which dissolves if we define our terms exactly, corresponds in this regard to one of the most vexing, since emotionally charged concepts, the nation, as soon as we attempt a sociological definition‟.

[24] In this sense, race/ethnicity must be understood as a socio-cultural discourse, rather than objective scientific discourse. A counterpart to this can be found in the assumed distinction between „scientific‟ sex and „cultural‟ gender category, challenged by Judith Butler in Gender Trouble (Butler,

[25] [1990]).

[26] Notwithstanding, problems of racism or racial discrimination cannot be made to disappear simply by replacing the term „race‟ with „ethnicity.‟ In reality, the racial concept is still working to discriminate or look down on an antagonistic or minority groups in society. Moreover, as Étienne Balibar urges in „Is There a Neo-Racism?‟ (1991), ethnic or cultural differences are by no means innocent of racism either. Ghassan Hage (2000) also examines the structure of such „cultural racism‟ in contemporary Australia.

[27] There have, however, been associations formed to deal with migrant women‟s problems, such as

Immigrant Women Speak Out, an NGO based in western Sydney, which has been acting for migrant (NESB) women across ethnic communities.

[28] Nevertheless, I do not deny that there is room for identity politics or „strategic essentialism‟, that strategically insists on (imagined) essential ethnic or other cultural identities for political struggle from social minorities.

[29] There still remain strong tensions and conflicts, however, between some ethnic groups and local communities in Australia.

[30] With regard to this social welfare aspect of ethnic associations of migrants, it is worth drawing attention to an argument by Laksiri Jayasuriya (1990b, 2003) who insists that, in addition to the protection of „cultural heritage‟, drawing more attention to social justice and inequalities experienced by migrants should be considered a central aspect of the meaning of „multiculturalism‟ in Australia.

[31] Many religious bodies need to be recognised in this regard as associations providing settlement services for migrants. In fact, with regard to settlement services, a large number of ethnic associations associate with these religious associations by sharing funds and services for their clients. 

[32] I have represented a different concept of ethnic in an Australian usage, owing to the fact that the concept was adopted in order to develop Australian multiculturalism, rather than being elaborated for taking political action by social minorities themselves, such as the Civil Rights Movement in the US or other identity politics for minority rights. I would also say, however, that in Australia ethnic lobbies of Italians and Greeks have made contributions to the introduction of multiculturalism in Australia. For further details, see James Jupp (2002) and Mark Lopez (2000).

[33] For example, a survey conducted in 1948 (London, 1970) shows how strongly the Japanese were perceived as the most „unwelcome‟ among non-European migrants, owing to the very harsh sentiments against the „wartime enemy‟ during this time. Nevertheless, one war bride in Adelaide reports that she has maintained a small gathering with other local Japanese war brides since the time she settled there.

[34] Interestingly, these are mostly women‟s groups, based on networks of Japanese mothers in the local area. This trend may suggest that Japanese female migrants are finally seen as part of the „target group‟ which needs proper settlement services. However, as was seen in the previous chapter, the majority of contemporary Japanese migrants are Japanese females who have come to Australia as a marriage migrant. This topic will be discussed in the following chapters.

[35] In contrast to this number, recent statistical data by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (2007) shows that in 2005 the number of overseas Japanese nationals passed one million. 

[36] In the American context of this type of identity politics, Japanese-Americans grew a generic diasporic nikkei identity in order to deal with exclusion and discrimination against the Japanese in society. Additionally, the Japanese American internment during WWII was a critical incident to rely on an identity politics of nikkei or American Japanese to claim an official apology and compensation from the Reagan Government in the 1980s. Further details on the political actions of Japanese Americans are given in (Maga, 1998).

[37] I would like to express my great appreciation to Mr Yoshihide Hosaka, who kindly gave me access to more than thirty years of his personal correspondence, and collections of newspaper articles and newsletters of the Japanese Clubs in Australia. 

[38] The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) was established in 1974 in order to support Japan‟s ODA (Official Development Assistance) toward other countries, especially in the field of technical and agricultural cooperation in developing countries (Jain & Weeks, 1994, p. 46).

[39] JICA‟s largest contribution these days is to send young skilled Japanese engineers and volunteers to developing countries across the world.

[40] Yoshihide Hosaka was one of the early arrivals of contemporary Japanese migrants to Australia since the 1980s and the founder of the Japan Club of Sydney (the ethnic Japanese society for Japanese migrants in Sydney) and the first President of the Japan Club of Australia.

[41] By its suggestion that a national Japanese ethnic association be formed, JICA‟s aims may have been both to establish a strong settlement community of Japanese in Australia and to promote their eventual autonomy (from it).

[42] On this issue, there had been a larger global network among Nikkei communities around that time. Hosaka had a great interest in this issue personally and played a significant role for political lobby, in association with others across the world. I explore the engagement of Hosaka and the JCA for this issue in detail in the following section.

[43] In the end, the JCA received an answer from the Consulate-General that it was unable to have the

[44] Hosaka also contributed his opinions on the Pauline Hanson phenomenon to Japanese magazines and newsletters of both the JCS and JSS, claiming it was an issue that should be considered by all Japanese in Australia.

[45] This period saw several anniversaries of events between Australia and Japan such as: the 20th anniversary of the taking effect of the Cultural Agreement (February 1976); the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Australia-Japan Foundation (in 1976); the 20th anniversary of the Basic Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation (July 1976); the 40th anniversary of the Australia-Japan

Agreement on Commerce (July 1957); and the 100th anniversary of a Japanese consular presence in

Australia (at Townsville in 1896, at Sydney in 1897)

[46] As discussed in the previous chapter, due to the Japanese legal framework regarding nationality and the nature of contemporary Japanese migrants, the Australian citizenship rate among Japanese-Australians (Japan-born people) is quite low. DIAC estimates it is approximately between 15 and 20 percent, though this ratio includes second generation Japanese-Australians who were born in Japan. The actual citizenship rate among first generation Japanese-Australians is almost certainly lower. 

[47] This lobbying by Japanese nationals overseas developed widely, supported by certain Japanese MPs who were sympathetic to this case. Finally, in 1998, through a change to the electoral law, changes in the voting rights of Japanese nationals overseas were approved. Then, on 14 September 2005, the Japanese Supreme Court decided that depriving Japanese nationals overseas of their right to

[48] The notice in which the JCA announced its decision to end the exchange of newsletters shows a list of addressees including two Japanese ethnic associations in Canada and one in France, as well as local clubs in Australia (Hosaka, 2000b).

[49] On the detailed achievements and contributions of the organisation for the residents of involved councils, see the website (WSROC, 2008).

[50] The Australian Bureau of Statistics may control small figures in census to protect the privacy of those who are counted in the number.

[51] This region is defined by constituent councils in Figure 12.

[52] Office Lady stands for a female office worker in Japanese English. ⁵⁶ This term means Caucasians.

[53] Working in a local company is, of course, not the only way to integrate into mainstream society, though it may be definitely considered to be a sort of effective „socialisation‟ for achieving it.  

[54] She moved to the Blue Mountains in the early 1990s.

[55]  This person misunderstands the citizenship test. It is in fact a multiple-choice exam.

[56] It is possible that they tend to retain Japanese nationality since they consider returning to Japan after retirement. In fact, in my fieldwork, some young Japanese marriage migrants suggested that they might go back to Japan after bringing up their children. However, contrary to these young migrants, those who are already semi-retired told me that they found that they no longer have a place like „home‟ or „family‟ in Japan after spending long periods in Australia with the family. Eventually, even though these semi-retired marriage migrants frequently travel to Japan, they seem to realise they have to spend the rest of their life in Australia, which causes them anxiety about isolation after retirement.

[57] Most respondents in my fieldwork answered that they have an account with Mixi (http://mixi.jp), the largest Japanese social network service (SNS), similar to facebook. Along with running personal diaries and blogs, they participate in several „communities‟, which are topic-based groups, on the service. The use of this virtual community would consist of an integral part of building and managing a local Japanese association for recent Japanese migrants.

[58] For further debates on mazakon discourse in Japanese culture, see James E. Roberson and Nobue Suzuki (2002) or Takie Sugiyama Lebra (1998).

[59] See Chapter 3 for general information about the JCS.

[60] Interestingly, another reason for the establishment of the JCS was to organise a Japanese ethnic community for Japanese war brides, who had already been living in Australia since the 1950s but had had no chance to organise a Japanese association. It can thus be said that the JCS was initially launched for both new arrivals in the 1980s, and for early Japanese marriage migrants!

[61] The Korean Welfare Association of Australia (KWAA) is the largest Korean NGO association in Australia, working on behalf of Koreans in Australia.

[62] See Chapter3 for eligibility for a Working Holiday visa.

[63] „Housework‟ in this sentence means the sort of domestic work assumed to be the province of women (or the wife) in a conventional Japanese idea of marriage. Of course, the degree of an Australian husband‟s contribution to housework varies. In particular, a considerable generational difference emerged in my fieldwork. Elderly intermarriage couples maintained an obvious gender division of labour at home.

[64] Similar discussions of women and their outgoing social practices through the engagement of their domestic duties of motherhood can be found in the Western context. See the studies of Debora Chambers (1997), Isabel Dyck (1989), Geraldine Pratt (2003) and Susan Thompson (1994).

[65] This can be translated as „to spoil‟.

[66] This can be translated as „to depend on‟.

[67] I refer to the case study of Japanese femininity as discussed in section 5 of Chapter 5.

[68] Naturally, her critique of the simple dichotomy of White/others in racism draws attention to the difference between the Whites and the others (people of colour) in racial power structures. She also scrutinises the ways in which internal differences with others (arising from ethnic, class and gender differences) are often neglected, regardless of the superior/lesser situation of the individual.

[69] For geographical information on the Western Sydney region and its constituent local councils, see the figures and tables in Chapter 3.

[70] Of course, this socio-demographic profile is relevant to some suburbs of the Western Sydney region only. However, most of my Japanese respondents are, in contrast to A. G., living in Penrith and surrounding regions, such as the Blue Mountains; they often depicted their suburb and their neighbourhood as such. See Table 12 for different social characteristics between these local government areas (LGAs). It is of course the case that each LGA has an internal diversity with regard to this.

[71] Meanwhile, the PJC is also running a regular playgroup for mothers and children. When the PJC was launched in September 2006, the PJC playgroup was running once a week, apart from regular meetings of the PJC. However, due to the difficulty of securing a place for playgroup, outside of the meeting venue of the PJC at St Marys Community Centre, the PJC playgroup has finally merged into the regular meetings of the PJC in 2008. As of 2009, the PJC runs a regular meeting and playgroup

[72] I borrowed this idea from the concept of the environmental bubble (Cohen 1972 168), denoting the peculiar characteristics of mass tourists who only enjoy their excursions in well-organised and familiar circumstances, instead of jumping into a new world as an independent traveller.

[73] Not only does gender difference of the researcher draw attention in relation to the respondents in the field, but he/she is also concerned about every aspect of cultural-social differences between him/her and them. It is necessary to be aware in reflexive fieldwork, when considering that the researcher (and his/her socio-cultural difference), as a stranger, consequently affects the field where the respondents live a life.

[74] I must add that, as has been shown in Chapter 3, an increase in the number of intermarriages between Japanese women and foreign nationals is also reported in Japan. Additionally, among the couples of cross-national marriage between Japanese and foreign nationals, couples of Japanese men and foreign women are recorded more than their counterparts in intermarriage couples.