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. 

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.

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.

by Samuel Slaten

Now more than ever our world is seeing an increasingly globalized economy that is connecting nations economically and socially. Many countries view this a lucrative time for expansion and development, while others see it as an undesired nuisance that is stripping them of their own culture. To gain a better understanding of this we are going to examine both of these outlooks and their effect on migrants and local peoples.

Before we can gain understanding of the varying views we must first look at the factor that gives birth to these issues; global cities and international companies. Multinational companies are becoming more and more essential to the job seekers every year and they can be found in most areas of the world regardless of country origin. This is bridging cultures together in ways never seen before. The top 500 companies worldwide originated in 37 different countries with the top 50 of those companies employing upwards of 235 million people (migrants and locals) combined (Rapp). Over the past decade we have witnessed a shift in the location of these companies moving from western countries to the east. North America has seen a drop from 215 leading companies to 146, whereas Asia has seen a rise 116 companies to 172 (Global). With this shift we have seen different cultures spread to many other countries via the initial workforce transferred, investments, and global cities. In this time of transition the world has also witnessed the greatest economical disaster since the world wide depression during the 1930’s. This has pushed the spreading and influence of companies even faster in-order to stay afloat in these turbulent times. This has in turn pushed the speed at which global cities are formed and, as a side-effect, is mixing cultures together faster than they can naturally adapt. Due to this varying views and opinions have been formed dealing with the wave of migrant workers following the corporate transition across the globe.

Next, we will examine one of these previously mentioned views; the boom. The boom is the period of time a global city or area is being formed and when the initial excitement and mixing of cultures occur. Change comes fast to these cities as exemplified in Bangalore India. The city has the highest growth rate in India and the companies that has transferred there have seen at least a 40% growth in the last couple of years alone (Goldman, and Longhofer). Following the companies are various investors and real estate firms, building the malls, roads, airports, new railways, and complexes that transform the cities. To the new migrant works this is a time of exciting change and of exploration. A time when they adapt to a new culture and help create a new one. We are also seeing the possibility of a cyclical effect being formed. Now we are seeing corporations in countries that have traditionally been the receivers of attention from international companies, due to various factors, begin to look to the previous corporate hotspots and begin focusing on their undeveloped areas as potential locations for expansion and growth (Goldman, and Longhofer). This brings up the possibility of, in the future, seeing the cultures that have been exploited begin to shift their cultural aspects to the previous cultural dominate nations where the same problems facing them now begin to appear in the “old” dominate nations. This can already been seen in Europe where a wave of immigration has steadily been in progress for the past decade. Many European countries are raising the same concerns that can be found in Bangalore. They are having an identity crisis and claim that the cultural aspect of their cities and countries are changing politically and socially due to this new immigration wave (Erlanger). Whereas these new citizens and workers are experiencing the boom aspect of this global city phenomenon.

This leads into the next view that exemplifies this cyclical effect and the issues in both “old” and “new” global cities; the bust. The local peoples of cities like Bangalore or in the various concerned nations in Europe are forced to adapt to these new and fast changes and at times they feel like their way of life is being threatened. Their culture is changing as more and more cultures mesh together and values are morphing. Along with this change of culture comes a change in scenery. Many locals re forced to move from their family land to accommodate the new rising industries and infrastructure. This can be seen by the concern of the locals in Bangalore; at one point of 90 thousand concerned citizens marched through the streets protesting the destruction of original buildings and beatifications in order to build the various new infrastructures (Goldman, and Longhofer). This can also be observed in the concerns of Europe where they claim their communities are socially changing from what they are used to and they blame crime and other problems on these observations (Erlanger). This occurs even if no justification for their allegations can be found. This is an issue because it further separates communities and leads to racial and ethnic prejudice. Along with these concerns there is also the problem of the rising number of slums and poor living conditions being forced upon low income locals. Its estimated that in Bangalore anywhere from 25 percent to 45 percent of its original population are living in slum like conditions (Goldman, and Longhofer). Thus, though there is boom in international recognition and investment there is also a bust socially as thousands are forced to move against their will and prejudice is rising. Until these global cities begin to address these issues the gap between the finical classes, living conditions, and ideologies will only continue to grow.

Bibliography

Erlanger, Steven. “Amid Rise of Multiculturalism, Dutch Confront Their Questions of Identity.” New York Times. 13 2011: n. page. Web. 21 Oct. 2012.<http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/world/europe/14dutch.html?pagewanted=all&gt;.

Global 500. 2012. cnn.comWeb. 21 Oct 2012. <http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2012/performers/companies/biggest/&gt;.

Goldman, Michael, and Wesley Longhofer. n. page. Print.

Rapp, Nicolas. A New Perspective of the Corporate World. 2012. cnn.com. Web. 21 Oct 2012. <http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2012/global-company-growth/iid=smlrr>.

by Mayu Shibata

As the globalization goes on, we can no longer consider things only at a level of ‘nation’. Now transnational relations and transnational organizations are required more and more. A notion of transnationalism started in 1960s and I think growing corporations were the booster of it. Corporations have been opening its doors to the world like moving its factories overseas and changing its target from domestic market to the world. These corporations are called transnational corporations (TNC) and they have advanced more and more globalization as they grew up. However, transnational corporations generated several new issues related to its globally opened attitude. One of them is the migration problem. Thanks to technology, it’s a lot easier to know things across borders and it’s also easy to get in touch with people in another country. Migrants usually tend to move to where they have ties and there are many ways which they can possibly have ties to other countries through technology like the Internet. I think these ties to other countries are not always official ones like their ancestors come from the country but also newly made up ones in many ways. So there are so many ways and possibilities people have an idea of migration to another country. They can get news of a country which they have ties to through the Internet and TVs in their homeland and they can get enough information about the country to assess if they can be alright over there in migrating.

A popular country for migrants like U.S. has often has big corporations which will offer recruitment for both skilled and non-skilled people in ‘suitable’ positions. The positions they will engage in affect their wages but even for the non-skilled people with lower wages it’s believed to be better than their homeland’s and that’s why most of them move to another country as migrants. For the skilled people corporations will offer them a higher position according to their skills so that there are more job opportunities and dreams for those people and that’s why those people choose to leave their homeland, where they will have no difficulty to find a job, and move to another country.

I think migration always comes with some kind of hardship even though you’re a friendly and flexible person. Only one year of studying abroad is sometimes hard. It’s not easy to live in and adapt to the host country. It doesn’t matter how strong tie you may have to the country as long as you have the background of growing up in your homeland. However, migrants seek various opportunities that they won’t find in their homelands to another country and transnational corporations have a big role as an adopter of migrants. They don’t really care about workers’ nationality in both a good and bad way. Anyway, one thing for sure is that transnational corporations are open to the world and I think it might be interesting to see the migration problem from the view point of transnational corporations as a booster.

by Anonymous

Today, it is estimated that the number of international emigrants come to be over 200 million in the whole world (Facts&Figures), and this number is more than the population of Brazil that has fifth biggest population in all over the world. The reasons why people have moved from country to country are various, economic problems, political problems, looking for jobs and as refugees. Especially America has the largest number of migrants and sometimes it brings conflicts and discrimination due to prejudice or differences.

There is an example, the discrimination because of prejudice against Arab immigrants, especially after the 9.11 attacks. According to “Arab Americans continue to Face Discrimination” by Abdus Sattat Ghazali, there were over 700 reports that the violent incidents against Arab Americans in the weeks after the terrorist attack in 2001. Even between 2003 and 2007, 120 to 130 reports of some kinds of attacks or discrimination have been reported (Ghazali, 2008), so we can imagine it is continuing still now. Actually, the terrorist attacks was said that occurred by Al-Qaeda the group of Islamic extremists, but it could not have been the reason for the attack against ordinary Arab Americans. After the 9.11 attacks, Arab Americans came to receive strict passport control at airport, lose jobs, lose friends and be the victim of the bully at school. Suddenly, they lost their calm life and were considered as criminals or target for hatred. What this example shows is that the lives of international emigrants tend to be influenced by the relationship between host country and the other. It means the state of emigrant is so insecure because the surrounding is always changing, and we cannot know what will happen tomorrow.

We can also see the insecurity at today’s Japanese emigrants in China. Historically, we had have border problem among China, and after Japanese government tried to buy the Senkaku Island recently, Chinese who were against it began to attack Japanese by attacking Japanese company, no-buying movement against Japanese products or violent incidents. Wherever they live, emigrants may not be able to have absolute security, because international circumstance has possibility to change suddenly. Once something inflames a nation’s emotions, the emigrants there will be convenient targets. Thus, discrimination or prejudices against emigrants are continuing still now, and it is hard to wipe away these kinds of feelings. However, if we can see a person as just a person, not as a member of specific groups, races, nationalities, languages and religion, we might be overcome it.

Citation

Facts&Figures. (n.d.). Retrieved Oct 17, 2012, from International Organization for Migration: http://www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/about-migration/facts-and-figures/lang/en

Federative Republic of Brazil. (2012, Mar). Retrieved Oct 17, 2012, from Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Japan: http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/area/brazil/data.html

Ghazali, A. S. (2008, Dec 5). Arab Americans Continue to Face Discrimination. Retrieved Oct 20, 2012, from OpEdNews: http://www.opednews.com/articles/Arab-Americans-continue-to-by-Abdus-Sattar-Ghaza-081205-935.html