Recently, globalization has made many foreigners come to Japan to get jobs but not for only sightseeing. However, there is strict law of dual citizenship in Japan. Compared to Japan, some countries, for example, U.S. has loose law about dual citizenship and many foreigners can be citizens of U.S., even if their parents were not born in U.S. As this situation, many workers from foreign countries cannot get any protection or services from Japanese government and because of this, foreign workers has facing with difficult time to spend hard life in Japan. If Japanese government allow dual citizenship, foreigners who already living in Japan and who has some plan to live in Japan make more comfortable. As I mentioned previously, U.S. has loose law about dual citizenship compare to Japan, so foreigner in U.S. can get protection or services easily and that can make foreigners able to have better life.
However, to having dual citizenships have both advantages and disadvantages. To start from advantages, people who have dual citizenship can go and back to both two countries easily. For example, people who have only one citizenship have some procedures to get in to country A, but people who have dual citizenship have few procedures than people who have only one citizenship if that people have citizenship of country A. However, there are also disadvantages to have dual citizenship. For example, most of people who have dual citizenships are “hafu” people. They might feel their identities belong to country which grew up, but some of them had difficult time with figuring which country they belong to. If people who had an experience of living half of their life in country A and other half of life in country B. Their identities were mixed up with both countries and they confused by which country really belongs to. Eventually, those people might lose nation awareness of which country they belong to and their identity of who they are truly.
In conclusion, it is better to allow or loose the law about dual citizenship in Japan because it has strong advantages other than I mentioned and those will help foreigner to live better life. Also, “hafu” people in Japan don’t have to choose which country they belong to and not imposing by Japanese government so they can have both identities. However, allowing of dual citizenships also has disadvantages so government has to set a baseline carefully.
Today, in international society, some countries such as the U.S., Australia, and Canada allow people to have dual citizenships legally. In these countries, there are a lot of immigrants from other countries and various types of races. Therefore, the rate of international marriage or over-ethic marriage is higher than the countries that do not allow people to have dual citizenship like Japan. Japanese government does not allow dual citizenship because of a bias or stereotype that “Japan is the homogeneous nation.” According to the Constitution of Japan, Japanese people who have dual citizenship must choice either of two by 22 years old. If people choice the citizenships of other country, they legally treated as “foreigner” through their life in Japan.
To be begin with, why do people have two citizenships? This is because each country adopt different requirement to give citizenship to the people. Some country adopt Jus sanguinis, the notion that regards blood of their parents as important, and some country adopt Jus soli, the notion that regards birth of place as important. Until international society standardizes the requirement of the citizenship, those who have dual citizenship will exist in the future. In addition, the extinction of the stateless person is also one of the biggest problems of international society because these people cannot get any protection or rights, and this strengthens the possibility of violation of fundamental human rights. From these reasons, people are given a citizenship, or in some cases given two citizenships.
There are some merits for people who have dual citizenships. First, these people can come and go both two countries easily because they do not have to get the visa. These people have relatives in both countries, so this convenience is helpful for them. Second, it relates to the determent of wars by increasing the number of people who have plural patriotisms on plural countries. This claim is argued positively in the U.S.
Even if dual citizenship has some merits, Japanese government do not allow it. According to the opinion of the Ministry of Justice, dual citizenship will make legal unfairness between people who have it and who do not have it. In addition, increasing the number of people who do not have the patriotism on Japan will have a bad effect on Japan. For these reasons, government force people to choose the citizenship into one.
In the end, should Japan allow people to have dual citizenship? Actually, dual citizenship has strong merits, and these merits are very helpful for them. However, the unfairness also cannot be overlooked. On one occasion, dual citizenship is profitable for them, but on another occasion, it is unfavorable for them. On the other hand, the way of giving the citizenship also has a problem. Japan adopt the way base on the blood of their parents. In this way, for example, people who have American parents and grow up in Japan cannot get the citizenship of Japan nevertheless they may have an identity as Japanese. However, that is not to say the way that bases on the place of birth is good. The important thing is preparing rules for forming individual identities, not imposing of them. Come to think of this, dual citizenship should be allowed after all because the choice of citizenship may mean the imposing of an identity. Today, the number of “hafu” is increasing sharply in Japan, and the condition drastically changed the one in half century ago. Therefore, today’s laws are not enough to correspond to the complex situation in Japan. Government should prepare rules in older to cope with complex situation flexibly, and admitting of dual citizenship may one of the solution of it.
Through globalization, a lot of companies have an office and a factory in foreign country, and people have many opportunities to work overseas. However, Japanese government allows people to have citizenship of only one country. As a result, Japanese people who work in a foreign country cannot get a service as citizen of the country without resigning their Japanese citizenship. However, getting other citizenship makes people difficult to come back and live in Japan. In some countries, government allows people to have dual citizenship, and it helps people to work in other country, but I think that dual citizenship has also some disadvantages.
Dual citizenship has both advantage and disadvantage. Firstly, getting dual citizenship makes people feel more comfortable to work in foreign country. For example, people have no right to vote for the person who governs the country where they live if they have only Japanese citizenship. Moreover, people cannot get service without citizenship there such as a support of a fee for medical care and education. Therefore, dual citizenship gives people a support to live in the country. However, it also has demerits. Dual citizenship makes the tax system much more confused. Which government do people have to pay tax to? Which government do people get pension from? Now, tax and pension are already very complex problem which the government has. By introducing dual citizenship, the government must manage people who work all over the world.
Then, I suggest that people have two types of citizenship, main citizenship and sub citizenship. This system has the advantage of dual citizenship and solves the disadvantage which it has. First, this system gives people services such as medical care support and education in the country where they work like dual citizenship. Moreover, this system solves the problem of tax and pension. By dividing two citizenships into main and sub, it is easy to divide tax into the tax for home country and the tax for the country where people work. Moreover, this system makes people more flexible to change the second citizenship because they have the main citizenship.
In conclusion, following the globalization, the opportunity to work overseas is increasing. The current system of citizenship cannot support people to work in foreign country. I think that Japan should suit the change of the society by introducing dual citizenship. However, dual citizenship has still disadvantages. Then, allowing two types of citizenship, main and sub, makes up for the weakness of dual citizenship.
Recently, in Japan there are a lot of “hafu” who is one parent is a foreigner who is white people. Their faces are different from so-called “Japanese” and they are often thought as a foreigner in Japan, because consciousness of Japanese people is “Japanese is Japanese”. This means that people think Japanese has a similar face as Asian ethnicity, so they are thought as a foreigner. Another reason why people think they are foreigner is also that Japan is said to be a mono-racial country. Hafu is rare to ordinary Japanese. These facts result in that situation in Japan.
Hafu has a Japanese citizenship, and they have lived in Japan since they were born. Some of the hafu has an identity as a Japanese citizen. However Japanese people have a consciousness as mono-racial country. This is a serious problem to hafu. In order for them to be accustomed to Japanese society comfortably, Japanese government should create a class about multiculturalism or different culture from the elementary school. By taking a class in the early period of children, they can understand or learn hafu or another culture and foreigner. International school is a good example. In our class, we watched a movie about discrimination and the identity of hafu. In the movie, one hafu said that his company forced him to use his French name because he could be forgiven by customer when he mistook. This is a terrible discrimination. I think that the boss of him who forced him to use the name hasn’t touched another culture or foreigner in his childhood and he doesn’t understand the feeling of them. If he understood the feelings, he would not say such a terrible thing. In Japan, a lot of people don’t have an opportunity to contact with foreigners who have different culture and racial background. This contributes to that discrimination indirectly, so it is important for children to take the class.
I think that it is difficult for us to change this situation because Japan is said to be a mono-racial country and people don’t have a consideration as to foreigner or hafu even today when globalization has progressed. Besides, Japan doesn’t have a lot of immigrants and the policy toward foreigner is also hard or rigid. I don’t intend to say that Japan should take an action drastically to multiculturalism because the measures about it are not prepared for. However Japanese education should be changed to multiculturalism because globalization is progressing now and from now, more people will come to Japan from foreign countries. In addition to it, the number of the hafu will increase more and more. According to it, for children to take the class must be so valuable and to be a person who can understand foreign stuff is important.
Two messages came across my inbox recently, and I’ve been thinking about how they’re related. The first is a brilliant animated film that captures the rigors of the job hunting process, or shūkatsu, in Japan. (You can find some insightful analysis of the film here.) In their final year of studies at the university, students dye their hair black, get more formal business haircuts, put on matching black suits, and go out to try to show how well they can toe the company line and become good corporate drones. In the process, students can lose themselves and become a person they no longer recognize.
Failing in this process also stings, as applicants can feel that their personal worth is wrapped up in the outcome. You’re reducing yourself to a commodity and peddling it to companies, and finding yourself dehumanized in the process.
The second message came from a workshop on “The Power of Brand ‘You’: Personal Branding for Career and Life Success.” The workshop is led by Peter Sterlacci, who, according to his own ad, is “known as ‘Japan’s Personal Branding Pioneer’ and is one of 15 Master level Certified Personal Branding Strategists in the world.” (Let’s set aside grammar issues with the excessive use of capital letters, and the questions about who, exactly, knows Mr. Sterlacci in this manner. Maybe it’s just him. Let’s also set aside questions about just what a personal branding strategist is, who certifies such a person, and how many levels there are.)
In the messages on Sterlacci’s website, we can find a few kernels of truth. For example, the Japanese workplace places a high value on workers fitting into the existing hierarchy of the company. In a changing, 21st-century economy, workers need to look for jobs in a more global marketplace—and that marketplace can include settings in which workers need to promote themselves less as workers who can fit in, and more as workers who bring something unique to the company.
So far, so good. But the messages go further, to encourage workers to become their own “personal brand.” You are to be the brand, believe in the brand, and live the brand. But beyond Ophrah-esque messages of believing in yourself, listening to your heart, following your dreams, and opening yourself up to wealth, what does this mean? Am I a brand? (And if I am, are my children my “product line,” like from the iPad comes the iPad mini?)
In my introduction to sociology classes, I discuss Karl Marx’s notion of species being, which we can also think of as human nature. Marx states that humans are unique in our creative ability to produce things. Some animals can build bridges, and a few gorillas have learned sign language, but that doesn’t compare with humans’ ability to create things, from food to clothing, to buildings, to the global computer network on which you’re reading this.
In this sense, this ability is part of what defines us as humans, and we have an intimate connection with the things we create. We become alienated if the products of our labor are taken from us, or if we become little more than appendages to the machines in the factory. Think of the the satisfaction we feel when we make ourselves a nice dinner, compared to the disdain we felt toward the burgers many of us flipped in minimum-wage service jobs. (And if you ate any of the food I prepared at the Solano Drive-In in the 1980s, I apologize.)
In recent decades, our experiences at work have changed dramatically. Once-solid factory jobs in countries like the US and Japan have moved elsewhere, and workers find themselves struggling to find jobs that pay enough to support themselves and their families. Commitments from companies to long-term employment have practically vanished, replaced by temporary or contract work. We’re all free agents now, freed from being trapped in the same job and also free to go hungry while we search for work.
In this environment, it makes sense for workers to retool themselves for the changing dynamics of the workplace. Keep your resume up-to-date, and always be on the lookout for the next opportunity. Believe in yourself, market yourself, take charge of your destiny—think Stuart Smalley meets Gordon Gecko—become the product others want to buy.
And there’s the catch: are you a product? or a brand? or a commodity? or whatever synonym you prefer? What is your value in the marketplace? If you are your brand, and you live that brand all the time, 24 hours a day, are you really living up to your full human potential? Are you reducing yourself to your exchange value? What is your brand worth?
As I kid I remember my brother and I arguing with our dad about what something was worth. We loved some of our stuff so much that we imagined someone would pay us a fortune for it. Then we’d make all sorts of plans to sell our things and reap our rewards. Our father would then tell us that the things were only worth what someone would pay us for them, and that was probably a lot less than we imagined. Not yet schooled in the economics of capitalism, my brother and I confused use value and exchange value. The joy we got from playing with something (it’s utility, or use value) didn’t match the value of that thing in the marketplace (it’s exchange value).
So what happens when the thing we’re trying to sell is ourselves? And what if we buy so deeply into the process that we literally become the product, that we live the brand? Becoming and living your personal brand would involve not only matching the marketing of yourself with your skills and interests, but also shaping your daily life to fit the brand you’ve become. With the brand and the person one and the same, and the brand also a product that is marketed and sold at its exchange value, how in the world can we do this without reducing our humanity down to a tag line, a logo, and a website?
“What makes you unique, makes you successful,” says Sterlacci’s ad in bold print. But what if you’re not successful? Not everyone gets the job of their dreams, since capitalism requires there to be a sufficiently large population of people to be out there, looking for work. And if you don’t succeed, do you blame it on your brand? Do you reincarnate yourself as version 2.0? 3.0? 4.0?
While mired in this process and focusing on your personal brand, how can you engage your sociological imagination, to connect your personal experiences to the bigger picture? How can we find a middle ground, in which people can pursue work that rewards them without selling out and becoming tools. Or brands.
Nowadays you see western culture everywhere in Japan. If you turn on TV, there are very gorgeous actors and actresses in many advertisements. If you watch western movies or dramas, you see their rich style of living like having gorgeous dinner and going abroad for vacation and people wearing very elegant clothes. The same things happen in other non-western countries, too. Having a huge influence of western culture makes our culture and idea change little by little. It somehow differentiates us from western people and our way of living from their way of living. By watching those affluent lives and people, people in non-western countries start to wish to have their lifestyle someday. It becomes very ideal and utopia for those people to have the western way of lifestyle that is seen in movies and magazines. People tend to have such a very attractive image especially for America besides the concept of American dream. These people dream of having such a great lifestyle if they can go to America. That is because the images shown in magazines and movies are so strong that they can easily believe in them. It gives them very narrow view, which they just look at the only positive image of America not any negative sides. Those huge influences of cultural globalization have some issues for people who believe in the dream.
The problem caused by this culture image is linked to immigration issue in some ways. When people in developing countries see very rich culture such as American gorgeous culture often on screen or TV, they notice how different their way of living is. Because western culture is very different from their lifestyle, they somehow compare their current lifestyle to western lifestyle and think it is inferior to western lifestyle. It starts to change the idea into dream that if they can move to America, they might have chance to have such a lifestyle. It is not only because of cultural globalization but also American dream, too. These people assume that there are opportunities to make their life better like what they see in magazines and on TV by making efforts there. That goes with some of the reasons of immigrants in America. Those immigrants work super hard and keep waiting patiently for time when they can have better life relying on the dream they have from cultural image. However, even though there is a concept of American dream, almost all of immigrants can never be promoted and have such a lifestyle they have dreamed of. It is very rare for immigrants to be half top of American society regardless of their efforts. For me the cultural image and a little bit of American dream seem to just provide them motivation to work hard in the very unfair system of society. The result is either quitting their jobs and dreams of having rich lifestyle or keep working harder and harder so that they can have better lives. It is far different from what they dream of when they decide to immigrate. The gap between the dream from cultural image and the reality is biggest factor for this.
The influence of cultural globalization is still strong today. Especially nice image of western culture gives us so many feelings and ideas in non-western countries. But I think it is very important not to look at just bright side image seen on magazines and TVs but to see other side of the culture and country. Also, looking at other culture makes you realize the significance of your culture, too. I am not saying that globalization of culture is not preferable. I believe that looking at the world not only with a frame provided in cultural globalization but also with a frame that is different side of the image frame is very important in globalized world today.
Globalization; it is a term thrown around loosely in today’s societies. However, when people say “globalization,” what do they actually mean? Increasing employment from foreign companies? The spread and mixture of cultures; or could it the growing interdependency between the current nation-states of the world? Well, according to an entry in the Oxford dictionary it is in a general sense, “the increasing worldwide integration of economic, cultural, political, religious, and social systems” (Black, Hashimzade, and Myles). So as one can see the term is very vague. However, due to the growing number of complications caused by this phenomenon (globalization), it is becoming increasingly important to narrow down globalization and focus on each aspect independently so we can address the unique problems each one causes. So how can one separate the positive aspects of globalization from the negative? I believe the solution comes from a popular principle known as the Goldilocks Principle. According to Bill Tierney, the Goldilocks Principle “states that something must fall within certain margins, as opposed to reaching extremes” (Tierney). Thus, in the following paper I will focus on the cultural aspect of globalization and by using the Goldilocks Principle analyze different problems associated with the mixing of cultures.
The first extreme that needs to be balanced is the degree to which cultures are introduced. Instead of replacing whole communities with new foreign strip malls or putting one culture’s products on a lower tier than another, we should slowly mix foreign cultural products with indigenous products. Building a global market which would sell imported goods along side domestic might be good way to for a community grow accustomed to the idea of foreign products without totally removing their own cultural identity. However, if the demand for slower cultural spread is too great, the possibility of censorship or negative stereotypes being implemented is ever present. Thus the idea would be to allow for a steady flow of culture yet at a pace that suits each society’s needs.
However, closely tied with culture are the social norms of a society. These can vary greatly even between regions within a country, let alone countries themselves. Take my own country for example. America has greatly different values just based on the regions one is from. For example, what may be considered normal in the western United States might be viewed entirely different in the southern or northern United States. We can see this with such topics as gun control, abortion, the environment, and much more. So if different regions can differ so greatly about their own country’s cultural norms, how can they be expected to adapt to another country’s cultural influence in the same manner as each other? Thus, I think each region (based on each country) should be balanced according to their rate of acceptation while catering to the needs of the migrant populations, who are helping to speed along this phenomenon of globalization.
However, balancing cultural globalization can at times encroach on the productiveness of the other aspects of globalization, such as the economic and social aspects. So then the problem becomes how do we balance between the difference in ideals between the categories of globalization? The answer is not easy because what might benefit one aspect might hurt another. Thus once again I believe the answer relies on regional-based analysis. Not only can we cater to a region’s cultural needs more efficiently but we can also cater to their economic situations. Just as regions have different social norms such as family values, each region has different social standings and economic situations. We can observe negative impact caused by this in India, where the standard of the economic gains are being standardized based on more prosperous cites like Bangalore while affecting the less developed cities’ cultural standards and self-identity. Here is a good example of different aspects of globalization affecting one another. This happens because instead of basing economic aspirations on the region’s cultural adaptability, people are basing it on the the more prosperous and faster growing regions which usually have a more global population than the other regions, or, in other words, are the less traditional regions.
Thus, in the end I think the best approach to cultural globalization is trying to find a balance between regions and catering to each in a different way.
In the last class we watched TV commercials of cosmetics for lighter skin, which are mostly on air in darker skin nations. We simply enjoyed watching it but it meant a lot. It’s not only about western culture coming into a nation. Well, I read a book about Indian economic growth before and it tells that in India many women seek cosmetics to get lighter skin. According to the book, Indian women pay more attention than ever with the influence of TV shows and magazines and its beauty market has been expanding. Among beauty goods, cosmetics for lighter skin are selling best. As for Indian women, they have cultural and historical backgrounds that they want to get lighter skin. In early days they had the caste system and the higher caste people had lighter skin than lower castes. Their castes were decided partly on their color of skin and therefore they had dreamt of lighter skin for long. And what boosted their adoration is an influence of western TV shows and magazines.
Here’s another story in India. With the rapid economic growth more women are taking part in society. There are more career women and women students and motor scooters are popular with those women now. Honda and local company cooperated and produced motor scooters for women ‘Just for Her’, which hit the market. In India women still struggle with local custom which requires women to stay home and do all the house work. Many men even marry a woman to look after their family and home.
These two stories represent a variety of culture coming into India.
I visited Malaysia last summer to study its culture. In stores there are many cosmetics for lighter skin, American instant noodles, foreign daily products and other countries’ TV shows are on air like Chinese, Japanese and American (with Malaysian/English subtitles). I felt that they live in a much more multi-national country and so that they know about those countries and its culture very well.
It’s pretty much the same in Japan, I think. People like American music, fashion, gossips and TV shows. They know about those stuffs through media and moreover they are mostly available here in Japan, too.
I think it’s fine that another culture comes into a country because I think it has externality in an economically good meaning. In my opinion it’s a matter of people whether the other culture invade the country or not so just let it be because that’s what people want. I do concern that the world goes standardized but I’m not sure if we should avoid it even by sacrificing people’s desire, dream and consumption. I mean that’s a lot. In any way I think now we cannot totally avoid other cultures from coming into a nation.
There are a lot of call centers in India and many Indians are educated to speak in an American accent to talk with their clients in the United States. The call center itself belongs to IT companies in the United States but it is placed in India and Indian workers there are educated to have an American accent and playing a role of customer service as company members. This is because it is cheaper to employ Indians than employ Americans. Indian employees are well educated and they usually have IT and programming skills but they have struggled with getting job though they graduated from good school. So this sounds very nice because this creates a job in developing country. But this causes a lot of problems. You can find problems both in India and the United States.
First, problems in India are about their identity and career. Customers call the company and expect that they are going to talk with an American worker. So first thing to do for their job is learning American accent, speed of talking and expressions. Also they need to learn American culture to pretend to be American workers. They check local weather and news in the States on the internet and talk with customers there as if they were also there. They are forced to keep themselves surrounded by American culture and to make themselves think they are not Indians but Americans. So they kill their own identities to get money. This is not good but they need to do that because otherwise they can’t get money. IT companies take advantage of it because they know India have a lot of young people who have knowledge of IT are having hard time to find a job and they can hire them for very cheap. If they work for 7 hours a day, they need to be Americans for one-thirds of a day. It might make them confused.
Second, these Indian workers are doing the same thing every day. It’s just pretending and talking and it doesn’t require any professional skills. This keeps them from a professional and good job even though they graduated from good schools. And you must not forget that there are problems in the United States, too. Because they started outsourcing, a lot of Americans have lost their jobs and opportunity to get a job in their country. The last two problems about career in both countries bring inequality to our society. Japan also has this problem. We don’t have enough job spots for Japanese today but Japanese companies build their factory outside of Japan because it is cheaper. Some people say we are creating job in developing countries but we must not forget this also creates inequality.
Since Japan was defeated in World War II, Japanese society had been strongly influenced by the Western culture. Wearing Western clothes, following its fashion trend, putting on fake eyelashes, wearing high heels, and looking for love marriages, Japanese have imitated Western lifestyles. However, people could not simply get rid of their own cultures and identities, so that they have been struggling in a process of acceptation of a new lifestyle. Different social groups show different reactions to get involved in the Western culture invention.
Although globalization has enabled Japanese people to have access to greater information of what Western cool people wear, eat, and buy, their different financial levels caused various reactions to the Western lifestyle. For example, the rich could buy the exact same products that they saw in Western TV dramas, but the poor could not. Young Japanese women buy western trendy clothes and dye their hair in lighter colors following an influenced perception of beauty, but some of them cannot afford many new clothes and/or monthly hair care. It seems, in this westernized consumerist society, people who cannot follow the dominant lifestyle are marginalized and labeled as “different,” which often contains negative images.
However, the relatively poor also try to get involved in the Western lifestyle stream. Those who cannot afford expensive Western goods create new affordable products to still adopt the Western lifestyle. In Japan, many cheap fashion brands have been established, such as Honey’s, INGNI, earth music&ecology, moussy and so on. They retail around 5000 yen items that most of all Japanese can afford. Borrowing the essence of the high end fashion, a new fashion was produced for the relatively poor to follow new values.
Moreover, as to Western images of independent women and love marriages, few Japanese women can enjoy the Western career women life because the most of women are still valued within gender ideologies. Although Sex and the City got very popular, in reality around forty year old women who have not married yet are called makeinu (負け犬), losers, which goes back to an old-fashioned idea that women’s happiness is marriage. Yet, other groups of people have started opposing this, and cerebrated those independent unmarried women as ohitorisama (おひとり様), which simply means one person but without any miserable nuance. Japanese social structure had conflicts with the Western value of career women, but creating new norms the whole society are involved in the process of adaptation. Independent “makeinu” women gained new identities as ohitorisama.
All over, it is difficult to determine what is bad and what is good of Western cultures. Globalization brought many changes in Japanese society, and certain groups of people have struggled with them. However, the whole process of acceptation of new values rolled up all groups of people and produced various solutions to join in the Western lifestyle. Adding new Western cultures on existing Japanese cultures, society and people are getting culturally globalized.
JAPANsociology 