"The Japanese New Yorkers": "Adventurers in Adventure Land" in globalized environments
Item
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Title
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"The Japanese New Yorkers": "Adventurers in Adventure Land" in globalized environments
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:fbce7f1bf761:11177
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identifier
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11535
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Creator
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Hyodo, Hirosuke,
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Contributor
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Paul Attewell
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Date
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2012
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Ethnic studies | Social psychology | Asian American studies | akogare | Japanese | migration | New York | Nihonjinron | shin-issei
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Abstract
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After the Immigration Act of 1965, the volume of almost all Asian immigrants drastically increased; however, the proportion of Japanese immigrants, which used to be the largest in the prewar years, dropped to being the smallest. In mainstream studies of American immigration, contemporary Japanese migrants to the United States seem to have disappeared. If the lens of "immigrants" is removed, however, a quite different picture emerges. The number of native Japanese living in the United States today is actually three times as large as that of the prewar Japanese-American community on the U.S. mainland. Removing the lens of "immigrants" also enables us to see some new forms of contemporary international migration.;This study explores Japanese-born persons living in the United States today called the shin-issei ("new first generation"), drawing upon several sets of data, theories, and previous studies, and concluding with an interview analysis of those living in New York---or "Japanese New Yorkers." A basic assumption of this study is that migration in our highly transnational environment no longer necessarily entails a change of nationality, or permanent settlement, or even a socio-cultural transition from one society to another.;The statuses of Japanese New Yorkers include: the chuzaiin ("corporate transferees"), entrepreneurs, international students, their families, and others. My research reveals that: (1) the Japanese New Yorkers are mainly from middle- or upper-middle-class families; (2) the primary "push factor" behind their migration stems from the constricting aspects of the Japanese traditional social organization while the "pull factor" seems to be liberating images of New York that have been widespread in Japan; (3) their exodus seems to have been initiated largely by the example of Japanese celebrities who began utilizing New York as their vacation home in the late 1980s, during Japan's bubble economy; (4) contrary to the seeming indifference among Japanese to the "open-handed" U.S. Immigration Act of 1965, a large number of them actually struggle to obtain a green card; (5) nonetheless, they are not interested in naturalization; (6) these Japanese migrate as individuals not as families, and, unlike other Asians, do not engage in "chain migration"; (7) customarily, almost all return to Japan once in a while, typically every summer; (8) a majority including those married to Americans say that they will return to Japan permanently "someday" although very few have a clear plan for it.;I argue that Japanese New Yorkers are, so to speak, "adventurers" in highly transnational environments, placing themselves in ongoing self-adjusting processes in their journey. Most of them, unlike the issei ("the prewar Japanese emigrants"), willingly exit Japan as if resisting its traditional social organization. Like the issei, however, they almost inevitably encounter dilemmas in terms of legal status, culture, and social identity in the United States, and experience an unexpectedly rough transition into the society with which they try to identify.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Sociology
