The movement of Brazilians of Japanese descent to Japan is one of
the most intriguing transnational migrations of recent years. In
1990, seeking a supply of ethnically acceptable unskilled workers,
Japan permitted overseas Japanese, along with their spouses and
children, to enter the country as long-term residents. The prospect
of high salaries eventually drew about 200,000 "nikkeis," as
Brazilians of Japanese descent often call themselves, to Japan,
making them Japan's third-largest minority group.
"No One Home" is an ethnographic study, based on fieldwork and
extensive personal interviews, of nikkeis living in Toyota City.
The migrants' dual identities coexist uneasily. The book focuses on
how Brazilian factory workers and their children work through the
problems arising from their ambiguous status. In Toyota City and
environs, Brazilian men and women do hard, dirty, and dangerous
physical labor in automobile-parts plants that supply Toyota Motors
and other large automobile manufacturers. Japanese schools confront
their children with an array of cultural, linguistic, educational,
and personal obstacles. In the immediacies of the shop floor,
classroom, and their leisure activities, nikkeis remake in Japan
selves they had forged as citizens of Brazil, a process that is
dynamic, varied, and unpredictable.
The book complements the recent literature on transnationalism in
several important respects. While recognizing the influence of
global economics and media, it emphasizes how transnationalism is
"lived." It highlights people's experiences rather than the
conditions of those experiences, and examines their senses of self
rather than identity constructs. Instead of treating neighbors and
interviewees as members of social categories, the author explores
personal realms--the rich, complex, idiosyncratic selves nikkeis
continually refashion during their sojourn in Japan. Overall, he
underlines the significance of consciousness, experience, and
biography for comprehensive studies of transnationalism and
identity.
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