Japanese Overseas Research Articles

Japanese cuisine in Iceland: A story of multiple mobilities

Traditionally, the global spread of Japanese cuisine has been viewed as a result of twentieth-century Japanese emigration. This view, although fitting for many countries, is not helpful for analyzing the case of Iceland with its small Japanese community. Hence, the paper takes special interest in a recent study by James Farrer et al. (2019), who challenge the usual assumptions that Japan is the epicenter for spreading Japanese cuisine, and that key actors are Japanese. As will be demonstrated, not only migration, but also short-term movement of people is highly relevant to the Icelandic experience. Hence, the paper also pays attention to other types of mobilities, namely the “corporeal travel of people” and “the physical movement of objects” as defined by John Urry (2007). The study is mostly based on archival research and content analysis. The paper demonstrates, first, how Icelanders, rather than Japanese and other Asians, have played a leading role when it comes to introducing and spreading Japanese cuisine in Iceland, and second, how emphasis on Japanese authenticity has changed over time.

The Effect of Technology Transfers on Productivity Increment in Japanese Overseas Manufacturing

Technological innovation and technology transfer play an important role in enhancing the productivity of MNEs, especially the Japanese overseas manufacturing subsidiaries. The purpose of this study is to examine the association between R&D cost, technology purchase, and total factor productivity change and regression models with the survey data of Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry on Overseas Business Activities conducted over 2021-2023. Basic and Trend Surveys were combined to create a sample of 1,798 affiliates across 38 countries with variables such as R&D spending, Technology Transfer payments, capital stock growth, and employment growth. The evidence presented suggests that both technology and R&D payments enhance productivity improvement for the company, and the estimated returns on R&D investments is 0.54 Yen (JPY) for every JPY spent and technology transfer payments 0.76 JPY. The regression results also show a synergistic relationship between technology and R&D payments indicating that affiliates involved in both processes report higher levels of efficiency. In addition, the study also focuses on geographical specialization of technology transfer and R&D in industries including chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and machinery, where major expenditure on R&D is done across the globe and particularly in United States and in Europe.

Hisaye Yamamoto’s Silence-Voice Interplay in Japanese American Imprisonment Camps

Abstract Within times of war and U.S.-state-imposed guilt, Japanese American female characters in “The Legends of Miss Sasagawara” experience repeated status changes throughout World War II and the Japanese American imprisonment camps. The tense conflictual relations between U.S. authorities and the Nikkei (Japanese diaspora in the United States) echo within the intra-Nikkei communities held in camps: branded as enemies by the state, Nikkei individuals re-segregate within camps, leading to a fractured communication and tribalist attitudes. The present paper investigates the silence-voice interplay of female characters in confinement narratives, as depicted by Hisaye Yamamoto in her literary rendering of the Japanese American imprisonment camps phenomenon. The historical context of the 1940s ruptures the communication inside the Nikkei community, especially concerning the female character Miss Mari Sasagawara, leading to misunderstandings, tribalism, and (self-)isolation.

습률의 변화과정과 축제로서의 복원 가능성 재고

The chestnut picking play ‘Ssupyul’ shows the aspect of modern festivals during the Japanese occupation period. A 'chestnut picking' competition was held near Uijeongbu Station in 1921. It developed as an annual event in October by opening private chestnut tree forests. Active participation in activities and entertainment were encouraged, with geishas affiliated with the association presenting dance, song, and new faction drama. The chestnut picking event was renamed and held as the ‘Women's Chestnut Picking Competition’ in the Annyang area in 1933 and 1934. The organizing institution of the competition responded to the changing times, transitioning from ‘Maeil Shinbo’ to ‘Chosun Ilbo’, ‘Dong-A Ilbo’, and the magazine company Shin Gajeong. Japanese overseas study women emerged as main participants, beginning to raise various voices. The chestnut picking competition held in Gyeonggi area centered on Uijeongbu came to an end in 1938. With the visibility of base return in 2020, theUijeongbu local government is also actively working on the long-desired project of cultural restoration and activation of cultural space. This article aims to provide a foundation by analyzing the status of the chestnut picking competition during the Japanese occupation period and publicizing the possibility as a local festival, aligned with the excavation and expansion of cultural resources in the Uijeongbu area

Has Brexit affected employment in Japanese affiliates in the UK?

AbstractOn 23 June 2016, a referendum was held in the United Kingdom (UK) to decide whether the country should leave or remain a member of the European Union (EU). The ‘Leave’ vote won by 52 per cent to 48 per cent of voters, leading to the EU–UK Withdrawal Agreement that came into force in 2020 and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement that came into force in 2021. Brexit is not exclusively a European matter; it affects third parties as well. In this article we examine the presence of Japanese affiliates in Europe during 2000–21 by analysing data obtained from the Toyo Keizai's Overseas Japanese Companies database. While the UK has been a major beneficiary of Japanese investments in Europe, its share of Japanese affiliates in Europe has decreased, especially during 2000–10. Brexit has had no negative impact on direct employment created by Japanese affiliates in the UK in the short term, but its impact in the long term could be exacerbated by any further policy divergence between the UK and the EU.

Development and feasibility of an oral health e-learning program for long-term Japanese overseas workers: a pilot randomized controlled trial

BackgroundThis study aimed to assess the feasibility and acceptability of an oral health self-care e-learning intervention for overseas workers as well as the research procedures for a future controlled trial.MethodsWe randomly allocated participants to either the intervention (n = 48) or control (n = 51) group. The intervention group received a standardized leaflet plus a theory-based oral health e-learning program. The control group received only the standardized leaflet. We assessed health behaviour related to fluoride toothpaste use, oral care knowledge, motivation, oral care self-efficacy, and oral health related quality of life (QoL). Chi-square and t test analyses were performed to make comparisons between the two groups. To evaluate the research process, participants in the intervention group were asked open-ended questions to assess the acceptability and feasibility of the research procedures in practice.ResultsA total of 82 participants (Intervention = 36, Control = 46) were included in the analysis. The dropout rate was 17.2%. The modal time taken to complete the e-learning intervention was more than 30 min (33.3%). Of the 36 respondents in the intervention group, 27 (70.4%) said that the e-learning intervention had changed their behaviour. At the three months follow-up, oral care knowledge alone was improved in the e-learning group.ConclusionThis pilot study provides evidence that the theory-based self-care for oral health e-learning intervention is feasible in overseas workers. Next, this feasible and acceptable pilot study should be used with an appropriate sample size in a randomized controlled trial.Trial registrationThe trial protocol was registered with UMIN-CTR (ID: UMIN000045883) on 27/10/2021.

Evaluation of potential rabies exposure among Japanese international travelers: A retrospective descriptive study.

Although Japan has been a rabies-free country for >50 years, a few cases have been reported among people traveling abroad. This study aimed to investigate animal exposure among Japanese travelers using the Japanese Registry for Infectious Diseases from Abroad (J-RIDA). In this retrospective analysis, we examined Japanese overseas travelers with animal exposure, as included the J-RIDA database, reported from October 1, 2017, to October 31, 2019, with a focus on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) administration and the animals to which the patients were exposed. Among the 322 cases included in the analysis, 19 (5.9%) patients received PrEP and 303 did not. The most common purpose of travel was a non-package tour (n = 175, 54.3%). Most trips (n = 213, 66.1%) were to a single country for <2 weeks. Most patients (n = 286, 87.9%) traveled to countries with a rabies risk. The majority of patients with and without PrEP were injured in rabies-risk countries [n = 270 (89.1%) for non-PrEP and n = 16 (84.2%) for PrEP]. Animals associated with injuries included dogs (55.0%), cats (25.5%), and monkeys (15.5%). Most patients were classified as World Health Organization Category II/III for contact with suspected rabid animals (39.5% and 44.1% for categories II and III, respectively) and had exposure within 5 days of travel. Southeast Asia (n = 180, 55.9%) was the most common region in which travelers were exposed to animals. Japanese overseas travelers had contact with animals that could possibly transmit the rabies virus, even on short trips. Promoting pre-travel consultation and increasing awareness of the potential for rabies exposure are important for prevention of rabies among Japanese international travelers.

A Comparative Analysis of the Japanese Overseas SEZ in Phnom Penh and the Chinese Overseas SEZ in Sihanoukville, Cambodia: from the Perspective of Porter’s Diamond Model

This study focuses on the development and influence of special economic zones (SEZs), examining factors such as enterprise competitiveness, main industries, supply chain relationships, and the development environment of the zones. The lack of a consistent framework for assessing the performance and impact of SEZs has been a challenge in research. To address this, the paper employs Porterʼs Diamond Model to analyze the factors that contribute to the development and influence of SEZs, suggesting that this model can serve as a comprehensive framework for future SEZ research. The existing research on SEZs in developing countries is found to be inadequate. However, the SEZs established in Cambodia through collaborations with China and Japan have played a significant role in the countryʼs rapid economic growth. By examining two specific cases — the Japanese-invested Phnom Penh SEZ and the Chinese-invested Sihanoukville SEZ — this study identifies common operational challenges faced by developing countries in establishing SEZs. Furthermore, by exploring different collaboration models and assessing the impacts on local communities, this research offers valuable insights for policymakers and international investors in their decision-making processes.

Does official development assistance benefit the donor economy? New evidence from Japanese overseas infrastructure projects

Given the growing pressure on donors to curtail foreign aid budgets, analyzing the effectiveness of bilateral official development assistance (ODA) in realizing national interests has become more significant than ever. From the viewpoint of economic interests, prior research has revealed that ODA can help expand donor exports and outward foreign direct investments. This study is the first to provide evidence that ODA can also help firms from donor countries to win infrastructure projects in recipient countries. Employing unique contract data on Japanese overseas infrastructure projects, I estimate a fixed effects Poisson model with a panel dataset for 158 recipients for the period between 1970 and 2020. The results suggest that 17% of the total number of overseas infrastructure projects contracted to Japanese firms during 1970–2020 were attributable to Japanese ODA disbursement. I also explore the potential mechanism, finding that the Japanese ODA-infrastructure link is strengthened when Japanese loans and grants are simultaneously provided to a recipient country. This finding is consistent with the view that pre-investment studies conducted as part of technical cooperation could generate goodwill effects on Japanese firms during their bidding for Japanese yen loan projects.

Mathematics in a Japanese overseas school: Connecting classroom study and curriculum

The aim of this paper is to investigate how the contents related to the arithmetic of fractions, as described in the official curriculum issued by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT), are implemented in actual teaching at the so-called Japanese supplementary school in Denmark. Additionally, at a methodological level, this case study demonstrates how so-called praxeological reference models can be developed at different levels of detail to describe classroom teaching at a particular grade level and the overall curriculum of primary school in a connected way. This study is based on the notions of praxeological reference models and moments of didactic processes from the Anthropological Theory of the Didactic. The findings reveal that (1) not much time is allocated to each moment and (2) the flow of gradually building up techniques, as intended by the textbook authors is to some extent disrupted in the lesson.

Japanese Imperial Subjects Transplanted to Asia and the ‘Crack between the People’ - Hikiage’s Multilayered Character and ‘Post-war’ -

This article dissertation intends to examine the problem of migration and return that developed during the period of Japanese imperialism in connection with the problem of conceptual identity. Since hikiage began in earnest after August 15, 1945 when World War II came to an end, it is associated with postwar Japan and thus the hikiage issue should not be overlooked when discussing postwar Japan. Rather than discussing hikiage in the postwar history, the comparative study shows the need to discuss preand post-war Japan from the perspective of hikiagesha, or returnees from Japanese overseas colonial territories. In post-war Japan, the progress of hikiage and hikiagesha’s experiences were featured in novels, autobiographies, and the media, with their image being formed. Hikiage was extremely simplified and defined as the returning of overseas Japanese people to Japan after Japan lost the war, and the image of hikiagesha was formed, which is different from that of the local Japanese people. Hikiage was described using words like ‘homecoming,’ ‘return,’ ‘repatriation,’ ‘stowing away,’ and ‘eviction,’ concealing the fact that hikiage reflects hikiagesha’s experiences in different countries and regions. In order to clarify this, this article examined hikiage in relation to regional characteristics of several concepts and relationships of international politics. This article also shows that hikiage involves a ‘level’ that is different from ‘human migration’ or an ‘immigration issue,’ which appear in existing studies. In other words, the aspects of hikiage experience are very different and complex to interpret as ‘being victimized’ and ‘victimizing others’ overlap in hikiage. This causes difficulty developing historical awareness or bringing back memories of war. This article examines hikiage in relation to national imperialism and examines how it was perceived by the colonized by looking at the use of such concepts as salvage, homecoming, and return in Korean society. Notably, this article suggests the need to consider the hikiage issue as a medium to reconstruct the war experience and Cold War system experience of East Asia beyond the logic behind the colonizer and the colonized.

Transpacific Exodus: Japanese American Migrants in Japan through the 1950s

Arguing for a reconceptualization of Asian American history that utilizes a transpacific framework, this important and welcome study expands our understanding of Japanese American history by tracing the migration of young U.S.-born Nisei to Japan and its colonial empire during the decades prior to the Second World War. Michael R. Jin argues that this migration, in which as many as one in four Nisei participated, should be regarded not as a return to Japan but as a separate wave of migration originating in the United States. The resulting diaspora, as such, was a U.S. and not a Japanese diaspora. In so arguing, Jin explains, he “writ[es] against the predominant orientation of ‘diaspora’ as fixated on diasporic subjects belonging to a timeless, ethnicized, and often romanticized ancestral home,” in this case, Japan (5). Key among those who comprised this “highly mobile transpacific diaspora” were Nisei born in the United States who were sent to Japan as children to be educated and were known as Kibei (written with characters representing “return” and “America”) on their return to the United States (4). Also among those Jin includes are children who accompanied immigrant parents who decided to return to Japan, sometimes in response to the alien land laws adopted by many western states by the 1920s, as well as older Nisei who chose to emigrate to Japan or other parts of an expanding Japanese empire as young adults in search of opportunities denied them in the country of their birth on grounds of race, only to be confronted by “a world with its own complex racial ideology and hierarchy” (9).

Constructive career development of Japanese local employees and the human resource employment strategies of Japanese overseas subsidiaries in Asia

Global human resources and overseas local hiring is a concept unique to Japan. Professor Kyomi Koizumi, Sagami Women's University, Japan, is conducting a study on constructive career development of Japanese local employee and human resource (HR) employment strategies of Japanese overseas subsidiaries in Asia. In this study, she is working closely with Associate Professor Akira Sugiyama, Tokyo University of Social Welfare. Key factors that led the researchers to this project are the anxiety and dissatisfaction experienced by local hires who are neither Japanese expatriates nor local staff but intermediaries between the two and a lack of understanding of a local subsidiary on the part of the Japanese HQ, which could lead to human resource management issues that could affect performance. Sugiyama and Koizumi are exploring whether establishing an effective strategy of hiring locally based Japanese nationals could enhance the competitiveness of Japanese companies in overseas markets. The project's focus on Japanese nationals who are already present in a variety of overseas regions and who may offer the best solution to the HR management needs of Japanese companies expanding overseas makes it truly unique. The researchers want to identify the elements and conditions necessary for Japan to once again become a leading country in Asia and the world. Their intention is that their research will lead to corporate activities and individual career design.

Effects of Cultural Intelligence on Perceived Stress Among the Japanese Overseas Workers

AbstractWe evaluated the effects of cultural intelligence (CQ) on perceived stress and explored the factors associated with CQ. We constructed a model that included the antecedents that may affect the CQ based on hypotheses derived from a preliminary feasibility study. The main study comprised an Internet survey of Japanese workers who were currently working or had previously worked overseas (n = 296). The Expanded Cultural Intelligence Scale (E‐CQS) was used to assess the CQ and the Perceived Stress Scale was used to assess the cognitive appraisal of stressors. The path analysis results showed that “Self‐efficacy to adjust” in CQ was influenced by all explored antecedents and negatively related to perceived stress. This suggests that facilitating the antecedents of CQ and developing “Self‐efficacy to adjust” may ameliorate perceived stress in overseas Japanese workers.

Japanese Culture in the Modern History of Brazil

Japan is an economic power, but also wants to be a political power. What will be the state of Japanese culture when it comes to the world? Brazil, home to the world’s largest Japanese diaspora, certainly provides us with plenty of realistic material and topics. The immigration from Japan to Brazil and the formation of the Japanese community is a major event and one of the important elements of the Japanese “participation in the new world”. For example, what role has Japanese culture played in Brazil’s modern history? How was Japanese culture transplanted and recreated by Japanese immigrants? It is of great significance and value to discuss this subject. In its century-long history, Japanese immigration has been a unique continuation. For the sake of convenience, this paper describes the evolution of Japanese culture in Brazil from the following four eras.

FBI Opposition to German and Japanese Nationalist Organizations in the United States (1941–1945)

In modern research on the history of the United States in World War II, it is quite popular to study the opposition of the American special services and, in particular, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to various organizations of the German and Japanese diasporas in new historical conditions. The appeal to traditional methods of historical research, comparative studies and the principles of historicism will make it possible to more accurately trace the process of tightening the counterintelligence work of the Bureau and the close connection of concerns about the involvement of public organizations in the intelligence activities of the enemy. The broadcast of nationalist ideas by various communities of Germans and Japanese under the auspices of their governments quickly attracted the attention of the FBI, which is in the process of consolidating its powers as the main US counterintelligence service. At the same time, the investigations and trials conducted by the John Edgar Hoover department following these investigations often had an openly political color and increasingly consolidated the beginning of a political investigation in this service. This practice and its implementation ran into a tough contradiction between the legal norms of America, which proclaimed &amp;quot;democratic values,&amp;quot; the right to freedom of speech and the needs to strengthen the internal security of the state and society in wartime. All these processes and the associated nuances and complexities are considered on specific examples of the work of federal agents against various pro-German and pro-Japanese organizations in the period 1941-45.

대구지역의 일본인 디아스포라에 관한 질적 연구

This paper is a qualitative study of the Japanese diaspora in Daegu Metropolitan City. To this end, the purpose is to analyze storytelling using an autoethnography thesis method. Data collection was preceded by reflective background, educational experience, graduate coursework, and field investigation from critical thinking about the world of the self. Analysis results: First, it was analyzed as a researcher's self-realization, a common history, second, a marriage migration community excluded from the community, third, It was analyzed as social capital. In this study, a series of research processes and results suggesting changes in the perspective of the nature of diaspora were an extension of diaspora research, and it is meaningful in that it derived diaspora autoethnography thesis method based on practical experience.

Japanese Diaspora and the Narratives of Migrants：The Case of Australia and Diasporic Literature

The overseas emigration of Japanese citizens has been on the rise in the last three decades, reaching at the level of 1.34 million in 2021 (MOFA 2022). While the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in its downturn, the number of Japanese citizens who obtained permanent residence overseas continued to increase, hitting a record high of 537,662 in 2021 (MOFA 2022). This article examines the factors behind this growing overseas emigration of Japanese citizens, particularly looking at its flows to Australia, which is now the second most popular destination for Japanese permanent residents. Based on the narratives of 62 research participants, this article will present the basic ideal types of Japanese emigrants and examine the themes that appeared prominently in their emigration decision-making, including the acquisition of global experience, work-life balance, gender inequality, aversion of disaster/environmental and long-term economic risks, and political concerns. It will also discuss the ways in which Japanese emigration and the diversifying experiences of Japanese citizens have impacted Japanese literature so far and how the growing presence of ‘global nomads’ moving across multiple borders is likely to enrich the Japanese literature in the future by challenging the existing understanding of “Japaneseness” and the meaning of migration.

New Perspectives and Challenges in Japanese Diaspora Studies:

New Perspectives and Challenges in Japanese Diaspora Studies:

Separate National Apologies, Transnational Injustices: Second World War Oppression, Anti-Japanese Persecution, and the Politics of Apology in Five Countries

AbstractDuring the Second World War, several Allied countries oppressed Japanese diaspora groups (also known as Nikkei). The United States and Canada apologized in 1988; today, Brazil and Mexico face reparative demands for their persecution of Nikkei communities. There has been no integrated analysis of these interconnected injustices. This article offers a preliminary account, highlighting some of the key transnational factors involved. It also addresses the significant domestic bias of public discussions about the injustices, a bias that ignores the historical centrality of transnational forces in historical processes of anti-Asian oppression. We ask whether the possible spread of apology politics from the US and Canadian cases to Brazil, Mexico, and Australia might help to promote a new political awareness of the transnational character of the wartime oppression of Nikkei civilians in Allied countries. However, our analysis reveals that the politics of apology tends to promote domestic bias in public understandings of anti-Japanese racism. Indeed, to the extent that transnationality emerged in our cases, it was in the perverse form of “White civility” comparisons that chided countries in the Global South to emulate their allegedly more advanced apologetic counterparts from the North. Yet, there remain compelling reasons for domestic political apologies in our cases. The point is not to proscribe apologies but rather to understand their biases and, in the cases at hand, to use the spread of apology debates in our cases to promote a more widespread understanding of transnationality in the production of anti-Asian racism and White supremacy.