Abstract
The Chinese in Japan show two curious characteristics. First, they object to being called ‘immigrants’. Instead, they embrace the identity ‘New Overseas Chinese’, a label invented and popularized by the Chinese in Japan. Second, they prefer permanent residency over naturalization. Although it is generally considered easier to obtain Japanese citizenship than permanent residency, three times as many Chinese immigrants applied and obtained permanent residency as Japanese citizenships between 2003 and 2007. This chapter argues that both the choice of ‘New Overseas Chinese’ identity and the preference for permanent residency in Japan speaks of the Chinese migrants’ desire to maintain a flexible cross-border living and are in congruence with their transnational outlooks. It shows that such desire and outlooks are shaped by the intersections of the social and cultural contexts of Japan and supported by the expanding transnational economy between Japan and China. On the one hand, Chinese migrants’ identifications and transnational outlooks represent their strategies to overcome their marginality in a society they perceive as resistant to immigration and closed to outsiders. On the other hand, Chinese migrants, especially skilled migrants, typically employ their Chinese cultural and linguistic skills in the Japanese labor market and occupy economic positions that have to do with businesses in China. Moreover, with the expanding global economy, the recent Chinese migrants in Japan have begun to interact with older and well-established global overseas Chinese networks. Their economic roles and practices further strengthen their identity as ‘New Overseas Chinese’.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
Representative literature include Gans (1979).
- 3.
The status of “Special Permanent Resident” grants legal status of permanent residence to foreign nationals whose Japanese nationality was taken away as the result of the San Francisco Peace Treaty between US and Japan and to those who lived in Japan before the end of the war, as well as the descendants of such foreign nationals (Article 2 of the Special Law on the Immigration Control of Inter Alia, Those Who Have Lost Japanese Nationality on the Basis of the Treaty of Peace with Japan).
- 4.
There are exceptions. People who are considered to have made important contributions to Japanese society or who are spouses of Japanese nationals are eligible if they hold a 3-year visa status. But whether or not they are granted the permanent residency status is upon the deliberation of the Ministry of Justice.
- 5.
He (2007) points out that the scholars who study the Chinese in Japan do not necessarily agree upon the boundary between the new and old overseas Chinese. Yet, the emergence of this classification indicates newcomers’ awareness of the significant cultural and demographic differences between themselves and the old overseas Chinese who mostly came to Japan before the end of WWII.
- 6.
Please see his website: http://www.debito.org/.
- 7.
“Chinese in Japan Pondering over Permanent Residency and Naturalization,” by Du Hailing, December, 2007, available at URL: http://www.chubun.com/modules/article/view.article.php/58802/c43. Accessed on March 26, 2008.
- 8.
This case and the quotes are from a report by Hayashi Nozomi titled “Kachinuku: ‘Jinsei ha kyousou’ eisaikyoiku wo tettei (To Win: ‘Life is Competition’ and Elite education is to be Thorough)” in Asahi Shinbun’s “Chinese in Japan” series on March 9, 2009. The translation is by the author.
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Acknowledgements
I want to express my sincere gratitude to Caroline Plüss, Chan Kwok-bun, David Chapman and the anonymous reviewer for their constructive comments on this chapter.
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Liu-Farrer, G. (2012). Becoming New Overseas Chinese: Transnational Practices and Identity Construction Among the Chinese Migrants in Japan. In: Plüss, C., Chan, Kb. (eds) Living Intersections: Transnational Migrant Identifications in Asia. International Perspectives on Migration, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2966-7_9
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