Author Archives: japansociology

Does Japanese mono-citizenship policy limit diversity of thoughts and activities?

Posted on by

by Naoko Yoshida

In the last class, we talked about dual-citizenship. Our group was in the negative side, and we ended up with a conclusion that dual-citizenship can make a big confusion of political regulations, laws, and sanction, and that is why Japanese government does not allow us to have more than one citizenship. However, actually, since all of students from our group personally agree to allow dual-citizenship, we focused more on positive side. One of the topics we discussed at that time was relationship between citizenship, and thought and activities. I believe Japanese policy of mono-citizenship limits diversity of thoughts and activities. In this essay, I will discuss relation between citizenships and thoughts by using an example of a friend of mine.

According to the Japanese Ministry of Justice, everyone who has both Japanese citizenship and foreign citizenship should choose his/her citizenship before he/she becomes 22 year-old or within two years after he/she has got dual-citizenship. Otherwise he/she could lose his/her Japanese citizenship.

During my studying abroad in the US, I made friends with one Japanese-American man. His father was born in America, and his mother was born in Japan and moved to America because of her marriage. Since he is still 19 years old, he is one of the people who have both Japanese citizenship and American citizenship. He told me that he is still wondering whether he will keep having either his Japanese citizenship or his American one. Although his personality seems more like American than Japanese, he has been really proud of himself as Japanese and he really loves Japanese custom. Moreover there seems a much stronger likelihood that he would get Japanese citizenship if he had no dream. His dream is to be in the American military. In order to be in American military, he should have American citizenship. In other words, he should give up on his Japanese citizenship if he makes his dream come true. That is why he is still in wonder if he gets Japanese or American citizenship. Of course, I think one’s citizenship do not greatly influence one’s way of thinking. But if Japanese government allowed us to have dual-citizenship, he would live both as American and Japanese. By not allowing having two citizenships, his thoughts and activities as Japanese would be limited. By knowing that fact, I feel like by mono-citizenship policies, Japanese government limits diversity of thoughts and citizenship’s activities by itself.

In conclusion, Japanese mono-citizenship policy limits the diversity of thoughts and activities of their citizenship. That is why, I agree that Japanese citizenships should be allowed to have dual-citizenship.

Reference

Japanese Ministry of Justice.国籍選択について. Retrieved October 22nd from http://www.moj.go.jp/MINJI/minji06.html.

Identity problem from Dual citizenship

Posted on by

by Sungryoung Yoon

Dual citizenship is a status in which a person has two citizenships under the law. The number of the countries which allow dual citizenship has been increased by globalization like a lot of immigration. The United States is one of the representative countries which is multicultural country and also allow this system in the world. However Japanese government still doesn’t allow this system today. Japanese government forces people to choose one nationality when people get 22 years old. I think that system of dual citizenship will be one of the ways which helps solving the problem of people’s identity. I guess only one national system in Japan constrict one’s identity who have some roots so I would like to talk about good point of dual citizenship for identity problem. I am going to talk two different styles of people who have some different roots.

First one I will talk here is hafu style. Hafu people naturally get two different roots or more than two different roots from their parents when they were born, and then they grow up with their different roots. It should be so difficult for people who have some roots to choose only one nationality because different roots grow people’s identity naturally. For example, I have one friend whose father is from the United States and mother is from Japan. She was grown up in Japan until 6 years old and then she moved to the United States. She had to choose one nationality when she got 22 years old because of Japanese system even if she speaks both English and Japanese so well and she loves both cultures too. She didn’t want to throw away Japanese nationality if she could because she feels her identity is made by both. She told me when we talked about identity problems. Japanese government forced her to choose only one nationality even if her identity comes from both roots.

Second style is a foreigner living in Japan. I pick one example about Korean who were born in Japan and the United States. I am one of this example because I was born in Japan with Korean nationality. I was grown up in Japan and went to Japanese school and my almost friends were only Japanese before I go to Korea last year. My personality adapted to Japanese society but nationality is Korean. I was so surprised when I met a lot of Korean who were in the United States. They asked me why I do not have dual citizenship and told me Japanese government should give me the chance to choose. I hadn’t thought until then I could choose nationality but if I could have two citizenship, I think something would change to my identity problem.

I know a lot of problems will happen like government problem if we introduce dual citizenship system to Japanese society. However I don’t think it is the best way to force people to choose nationality because identity comes to people so naturally. Dual citizenship will make big helpful for people who have different roots more than bad points.

Is globalization making our world homogenized?

Posted on by

by Chika Yamamoto

We often hear the word “globalization” these days in everywhere and we actually see and feel all the outcomes of globalization. As we talked in the first class, it is often said that globalization makes our world similar. For example, if you go to the big cities such as New York, London, Vancouver, and Tokyo, there are not so much differences in the buildings, companies, shops there. Big cities always have high buildings and skyscrapers, and we see lots of common international corporations such as Macdonald, Starbucks, Gap, Zara, Louis Viton, Nike and so on. Now we can find sushi restaurants everywhere in the world. All the signs in those big cities are in English even though it’s in non-English-speaking countries. So, people say that the world is getting similar. But, is it really true? Are all the international companies are selling exactly same things? Do people feel that they are in Japan when they are in Macdonald in New York? I think globalization is not making our world homogeneity but is actually making our world more various and diverse.

Here is one of the examples of the variety and diversity resulted from globalization. Sushi is getting really famous and popular food in the world. When I went to Canada, I was surprised at a huge number of sushi restaurants there. I guess there was the same number of sushi restaurants in Toronto and Montreal as the number of convenience stores in Japan. If we explain that you can find sushi restaurants anywhere in the world, it may mean that world is getting same. However, are those sushi sold in Canada same as Japanese sushi? Some restaurants sell the real Japanese sushi like “nigiri sushi”,but it seems common to have “their” sushi. The most common one is California roll that contains avocado and crab mixed with mayonnaise. Not only that, but also they have whole bunch of “their” sushi we’ve never seen in Japan. So, sushi is arranged to fit in that culture.

According to Matsumoto (2002), there are sushi restaurants in New York that serve specific sushi topping for Jewish keeping “Kosher”, the rule of what they can eat and cannot eat. In South America, some people dip sushi in salsa source instead of dipping in soy sauce, which is targeted for Latin people. Thus, sushi has spread all over the world changing the content of sushi and the style in order to fit in that culture and society. I think those sushi are not “Japanese” sushi anymore. People around world get an idea from sushi and they create new types of sushi for people living there. As a result, sushi culture is enriched and now there are various kinds of sushi in the world.

In conclusion, I think globalization enriches cultures in the world. In other words, new types of cultures or way to provide international products are appeared when culture is influenced by other culture or when people try to adopt foreign products or culture. I show only one example, however we can say the same thing about menu of Macdonald or clothes of H&M and Gap. I guess that’s because globalization is always strongly tied to economy, and market place differs in different places. So, naturally it results in varying their culture and their products. And, I think it is really important to have their color or flavor in internationalized cities. Therefore, I believe that developing countries that are going to be like world cities had better take account of this idea and apply this so that they won’t lose their culture and they will develop themselves. I think that is the good way to be globalized.

Reference

Matsumoto Hirotaka (2002). ”お寿司、地球を廻る” Kobun-sha.

Dual Citizenship in Japan

Posted on by

by Sayaka Umei

Dual citizens are the people who have more than one citizenship. In Japan people have to choose one of them when they are 22 years old but in some countries people do not have to choose it, which is why they can have two citizenships. I think Japan needs to permit the dual citizenship because of two reasons below.

First, people can live better off in the host country if they are permitted to have dual citizenship. I have a friend who has American and Mexican citizenship. He was born in Mexico and moved into America when he was a little. He got the American citizenship because he needed to have been living in America for the rest of his life. When people live in one country, they need citizenship if they need to live contemporary. So they need the rights to live, pay taxes, use the taxes, use the medical care and so on. Moreover they need the protection against the crimes or wars. To be relieved that they can feel protected, they need to have citizenship literally.

Second, they can be proud of having two identities. Other friends of mine who have American citizenship and Japanese citizenship are really proud of their Japanese identity. He has Japanese parents but was born in America. He actually rose in America so he does not have Japanese background, culture, and custom but he is really proud of his Japanese nationality. When I hear their background, I was really glad because even though he does not know Japan so much, his nationalities are both America and Japan. Another friend has both American parents but he was born in Japan because his father is in army. He does not look Asian but he can speak Japanese and he really likes Okinawa where he was born and he love Japan as well. If he was born and grew up in America, he would never think about Japan. I think he will never come back to Japan because he was in Japan just because of his parent. If they are allowed to have dual citizenship, they will never think they are rejected to have Japanese and can be more proud of their nationalities.

Some people say there are some difficulties to have more than one citizenship to live in one country. Usually people do not pay attention at how many citizenship he has but occasionally when they travel around the world, or they want to join the army, dual citizenship is a kind of confusing. However, just Japanese government needs to establish the new law to correct, reduce, or clear these problems. Just they need to take an action to these problems.

Above all, I think Japan needs to admit the dual citizenship so that people who have dual citizenship can live better off and be proud of their nationalities and background.

The necessity of international perspective in Japan

Posted on by

by Mayu Uehara

“Identify yourself within ten words.” This was first question in the Canadian government class which I had taken in Canada. My answer was “I’m Mayu who was born in a small island ‘Japan’.” I identified myself with given name and nationality. What surprised me was that other Canadian students identified their self with hobbies, personalities, dreams but they didn’t state “I’m Canadian.” International Migration has become controversial problem in Japan. What makes Japan being conservative and then what kinds of things may change current situation?

As far as I’m concerned, the word ‘only’ and historical culture make Japanese conservative. Generally, despite there are many temples and shrines in Japan, Japanese tend not to have strong religions. Then what ties Japanese bond strongly is language which is used only in Japan, habits which are only Japanese adopt, sense which we only have, common ancestors who had worked for only Japanese development, and gene and blood which we only have as Japanese. Though there are many times to connect with countries from overseas by trading products, food, ideas and so on, we are not used to live with foreigner except Asian. We had developed only our culture in this society. I think Japanese are concerned about whether these ‘only’ things are going to fade away and also life styles in case if government put less priority for protecting Japanese than before because of pursuing multi-nationalism. To add, the more we have consciousness toward being Japanese, the more we don’t understand much to be transnational immigration of other countries, because generally speaking, we don’t try to change nationality for profit. Being other country’s nation is concerned as serious decisions except global marriage. This is why we so-called homogeneous nations are mostly conservative. Though world become globalized, inside of Japan is still not globalizing.

Even though inside of Japan is still conservative, we still have ways to develop as a globalized country. These ways are improving communication tools such as second-language, adding global studies in high school education for learning basic knowledge of global issues, and improving working conditions for labor recruitment of foreigner. Nevertheless, government decided to adopt English as a subject in compulsory education, and numbers of people studying abroad has increased, there are few people who can speak or use English in Japan. English which is taught in schools mostly focus on much more grammar and make light little of speaking. It’s not useful and waste of time if we can’t use it in daily life. When we have foreign neighbor and if we can’t speak English or any other language which can be useful, it’s hard to tell them any kinds of rules of the communities which probably they don’t know. Improving second-language makes communities and society prepare for inside of globalization. Secondly, global studies are also important in the time for students to expand their perspective broader. The more they have chances to think about these issues, the more they can prepare for making judgments when they face them. Give students chances to observe Japan from world view must be helpful for them when they consider Japanese future. Thirdly, the numbers of foreigner who is working in Japan has increased; however, their working condition is unstable. Especially, though Japanese government is progressing recruiting Vietnamese or Thai for making up for a loss of nursing elderlies, their treatment is too cold-hearted. They must be treated as one of worker even they are employed as temporary workers. If there are international center which can help foreigner to support giving advises or teach Japanese systems, the Japanese society itself will be more active and the global society will become realistic.

In conclusion, the international immigrations are pretty difficult topic in Japan however; the thing can be optimistic ways to take step by step. To teach English and other second-language must be necessary for global society and also to train students to have opinions which are considered with both Japanese and international perspective will be more practical in the time. Though the inside of Japan is still not globalized, the world is shifting to more globalized perspective therefore we should think about these situations in more positive and global way. 

Integration, automatic or an individual decision?

Posted on by

by Sian Taylor

In this essay I will analyse some different levels of integration of immigrants in certain places of the world. I will then state that immigrants aim to achieve different levels of integration depending on the reasons that brought them to migrate and what they want to do when they are in that determined country.

In the second part of the essay I will give my personal opinion on the utility and necessity of immigrants being bilingual, knowing both their original language and the language of the host country they are living in.

The reading “Salsa and ketchup: transnational migrants straddle two worlds” analysed the immigration and integration levels in America, but that is not the only way of integration. In Europe, for example, people decide to migrate to one country or another depending on what their aim is.

In Great Britain, for example, the situation is quite similar to the one of the U.S.A., immigrants are interested in settling down for a long period of time in the country, and manage to become integrated in society, but still nurture some traditions and sense of belonging of the country they are from. They will normally return to their home towns to see their relatives once or twice a year.

Many people will also decide to run a shop selling their typical products, as a way of keeping their two worlds connected.

In Italy on the other hand, the situation is considerably different. Immigrants plan on staying in the country only for a few years, just until they make a satisfying amount of money to take back home to their families. Immigrants won’t therefore try and integrate themselves, but consider living in Italy as merely a way to send the money back home. By not integrating themselves, people don’t have a sense of belonging to Italy and I think that is a negative and potentially dangerous both for them and the  country itself.

If immigrants, who decide to live that way tend to go to Italy and not the UK for example, that means that consciously or unconsciously the Italian State is promoting this type of relationship with immigrants, and that should get to an end.

In conclusion, depending on what migrating people are looking for, they will decide to go to one or another country and decide what level of integration they want to pursue. The process, in my opinion is not that automatic as we may think it is, but it is rather decided by the single individuals.

At this moment in time, I will briefly focus on the bilingualism of immigrants. Once immigrant families get to the country they want to live in, their children will have to go to school and learn the local language. It is shown that immigrants lose the ability of speaking their original language in the third generation of offspring.

I consider knowing both languages an opportunity that cannot be lost. Immigrant children should be able to speak the host country’s language in order to communicate and integrate in society, and should be able to speak their parents and ancestors language in order to communicate with their families and nurture at least a little part of where they originally belong to.

Moreover, the study the reading was analysing proves that bilingualism is positive in many different ways for children, starting from when they are going to school and before, regarding cognitive performances and self esteem, to the better job opportunities they will have in the future, being able to speak two or more languages fluently.

I was brought up as a bilingual child myself, and I think that this really paved the roads of the world for me. So I would like to conclude by saying that bilingualism, is most definitely a positive aspect that should be pursued by everyone and especially by the immigrants for the reasons I previously stated.

International immigrants: Case study in Berlin and how should we consider the issue?

Posted on by

by Sanae Tanaka

International immigrants and issue of coexistence has been a big issue in the global society. History has led people to live in the country with different languages and different cultures including belief, so how we should consider this issue?

Germany is one of the economic winning countries among Europe and industry has significant meaning in the country. Fifteen minutes from central Berlin, there is an area called Kottbusser Tor where is popular residence are among immigrants from Turkey. There are more signs in Turkish than German and poor working class Turkish people are living there. This area is often called “Turkish ghetto” or “Little Istanbul” from local Germans and there is almost no German living with Turkish immigrants.

Since the end of the World War Two, West German government strictly banned the exclusion and discrimination towards non-Germans, however, in local level, the confrontation between Germans and immigrants has never faded away, and it still exists.

Local Germans question the need for Turkish immigrants to integrate with German society, however Turkish immigrants retort the impossibility of integration into German society since Germans never let them allow coexist. Turkish immigrants said the present situation, that Turkish immigrants living by themselves in limited area, is not what they want. They insist that they cannot find any place to live in German society because of the social rejection.

The mixture of people from different countries and cultures cannot be avoided and ignored in this world anymore since the impact of globalization is so huge. This confrontation between local people and immigrants is a very sensitive issue, however, I consider it always needs to be challenged to make the better society, which achieve closer to win-win relations, from the both of the actors. I think people need to continuously pursue the better situation because it is very hard to determine what is right or wrong decision to be made in this issue, since the actors are always different in each case. I consider seeking is very important and necessary to make both actors agree on the issue.

References

Masaki Matsuo. (2010). Case in Gulf Arabs: Ethnocracy. Utsunomiya University department of International studies research essay, Vol. 30, pp. 117-128.

Masanori Naito. (2004). Europe and Islam: the possibility of coexistence. Iwanami.

Welcoming Immigrants, Not Just Accepting Them

Posted on by

by Ryo Tanaka

American society is one successful nation that has accepted transnational migrants. They have strong ties with their home countries and help strengthen political and economic relationships between both countries. Transnational migration is a worldwide phenomenon in the way that it involves rich countries and many other countries looking up to rich ones. Thus, Japan which is one of the biggest economic countries in the world is not an exception. However, it is also important to look at the unsuccessful aspect of transnational migration.

Japanese society has accepted immigrants for a long time. They come to Japan for a variety of reasons, but they commonly expect the host Japanese society to give them some benefits or compensate for some lack in their life. Immigrants recently coming to Japan as represented by the newcomers are typically seeking job opportunities. The majority of them are in blue-collar occupations. Some of them are looking for jobs in Japan to economically support their family in their home country; others come to Japan to seek refuge from discrimination, violation, or natural disaster in their home country. No matter what reasons they have, they come to Japan to seek better quality of life.

Thus, Japanese society has the responsibility to live up to immigrants’ expectations or needs as long as it officially accepts them. However, Japanese society does not fully live up to its responsibility. In some cases, it does not even fulfill their basic needs. For example, many blue-collar immigrant workers are not receiving fair treatment at workplace. They are mostly employed as irregular-workers, and thus, not given opportunities to get promotion. Moreover, due to recent unstable economy, employers cut the salaries of or even dismiss irregular workers including migrant workers. Thus, many migrant workers find it difficult to attain the purpose of their migration and even get disadvantaged from the environment around them.

The question linked to the reality above is how to establish equal relationships between them and other Japanese citizens. The reality is that migrant workers are “used as wood for fire” as discussed in class. They are concentrated in the bottom level of labor market. In this sense, migrant workers in Japan are assimilated into Japanese society in negative ways. First, as discussed so far, they have fewer opportunities to succeed in Japanese society due to its social structure. Second, more importantly, they are forced to follow Japanese value systems such as language and customs. In many cases, they are required to understand Japanese language at workplace to cooperate with Japanese workers. Thus, there is a big power structure that deprives migrant workers of opportunities to get the average or higher standard of living. Also, Japanese attitudes towards migrant workers negatively affect migrant workers’ lives. Some Japanese are denial or ignorant about foreigners. Thus, they often have trouble associating with migrant residents around them.

In conclusion, to the extent that not many migrants are socially and economically advantaged, it is hard to expect transnational migration between Japan and other countries to strengthen their political and economic relationships. This would negatively influence the relationships between the host Japan and the home countries. Therefore, Japanese society needs to guarantee equal opportunities for migrant workers to succeed and pay back to their home countries. In fact, America has established strong relationships with other countries by “welcoming” immigrants, not just “accepting”.

Dual Citizenship as a Global Consensus

Posted on by

by Manami Suetomo

Recently, the world has become increasingly globalized, that is why we cannot neglect the problem about dual citizenship. In fact, the numbers of countries which allow dual citizenship have been increasing, especially in Europe and the United States. Globalization will make further progress the acceptance of dual citizenship.

Thorough the discussion in the last class, I think dual citizenship have to be decided as a global consensus. In addition to the discussion, there are some advantages and disadvantages to allow the dual citizenship. First, I will explain the advantages. If the dual citizenship is accepted, it might provide an important bridge between two countries. It might connect two countries together strongly, and also, it might progress to expand opportunities of business overseas because it can help the employees’ lives. In short, dual citizenship can forward globalized world and it progress the global economy in many ways. Next, I will explain the disadvantages. If people have dual citizenship, they have rights and responsibilities in each country and the duplication might bring problems. For example, if people have two citizenships in two countries which have military conscription, people would have to choose the country where they are inducted into the army. It means people cannot do theirs duty in another country. In addition, dual citizenship may accelerate the hollowing-out especially in the developing countries, because people can move in search of jobs which give more money.

It goes without saying that one thing these advantages and disadvantages I mentioned above have in common is that at least two countries are involved about it. Therefore, it has to be decided whether dual citizenship is allowed or not as a common decision. Furthermore, because every country could be these two countries, it is preferable that dual citizenship have to be legislated as a global consensus. Even if dual citizenship is not allowed, global legislation can avoid conflicts between the countries over the rights and responsibilities.

In my opinion, promotion of globalization by dual citizenship can become good opportunities to accelerate the movement of people, culture and economy, so every country should accept dual citizenship as a global consensus. The movement can develop the world. However, there are still problems like the hollowing-out in developing countries and stereotype that immigrants cause troubles. These problems must be solved before the adoption of dual citizenship and it is a big issue in the future of dual citizenship.

Why is the presence of women important in the tech industry?

Posted on by

by Sherry Stanczyk

Sean O’ Riain’s article on the tech community, “High Tech Communities: Better Work or Just More Work,” examines and criticizes several aspects of the industry’s work model, which include instability, lack of job security, and excessive working hours. He also criticizes the fact that the tech community can be very exclusive towards certain demographics; namely, women. As O’ Riain points out, the “individualistic [and] macho imagery” that is widespread amongst the community, combined with the before-mentioned long and unpredictable working hours, make the industry a difficult place for women to both enter and succeed in.

The tech industry, like the political arena, is a field in which women make up only a small percentage of the community, especially in significant roles such as in leadership and management. In America women only make up less than a quarter of the jobs in the science and technology industries–this figure being relatively consistent around the globe. These numbers, as well as the current attitude towards women in the tech industry can be seen in the major tech companies operating today. In the recent news, companies such as Facebook have been facing criticism for not including any women on their boards or in the upper circles of management, while Google has admitted that their number of female tech employees has been increasingly shrinking. Yahoo’s new female CEO Marissa Mayer has also been the subject of media attention, as many have been finding it difficult to wrap their heads around the idea of a pregnant woman working as CEO for a large internet corporation.

So why is it so important that more women are able to enter and succeed in the technology industry? Belinda Parmar argues that it is beneficial to the industry to hire more women, as women comprise a large percentage of the users of social media and of the consumers of electronic gadgets, having a more female input into product design and functionality will help further draw in and expand the demand of female consumers. Her point is a compelling and practical one, and also likely has a lot of truth behind it. However, as financially beneficial as using the creative output of women may be, the most important reason more women need to be in the industry is because it is important for women to be involved with an industry whose influence is vast and far reaching; technology such as the internet, software, and electronics are increasingly playing more and more of a vital role in connecting the world and shaping the way everything from business and politics to everyday life. Excluding women from the creation and ownership of these technologies also excludes women from exerting influence and control over global affairs and their own lives.

There is no easy answer to decide how to make this change happen; one consideration is to follow Google’s example, and actively try to include women during the hiring process. Other considerations could be introducing fairer working hours, offering more female led mentorship and support for women working in the industry, and introducing young females to the idea of working in tech from a younger age.

References:

O’Riain Sean. “High Tech Communities: Better Work or Just More Work?” Contexts, Fall/Winter 2002.

Parmar, Belinda. “Viewpoint: More Women Needed in Technology” BBC News. Oct. 11, 2012.