Abstract
This chapter explores diversifying educational experiences of immigrant students as they grow up in Japan, which is becoming increasingly multicultural in the past several decades due to the influx of immigrants. We provide a broad picture of acculturation patterns and diverging academic trajectories of the second-generation immigrants by presenting our own data analysis on Filipino youth. Then we explore some in- and out-of-school policies and practices that contribute to the educational outcomes of immigrant youth. Our analysis of multivariate educational experiences of second-generation immigrants suggests an increasing diversification within the immigrant population and a need to look carefully into the intersecting effects of various factors – ethnicity, class, gender, nationality, migration history – and an understanding of contexts that together shape students’ educational experiences. We also suggest the significance of social networks and local educational support on immigrant youth’s acculturation and academic achievement, given the lack of social integration and national education policies for immigrants in Japan.
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Notes
- 1.
In this chapter, we use the term “immigrants” to refer to “newcomers,” most of whom immigrated to Japan after the 1990s.
- 2.
Ainu is the name of indigenous inhabitants living in the northern part of Japan (see Nozaki 2010).
- 3.
- 4.
See Noiri (2011).
- 5.
See Fukuoka (1993).
- 6.
Japanese children left behind in China at the end of the WWII.
- 7.
Calculated based on the statistics on foreign residents in Japan (Zairyu gaikokujin toukei), Ministry of Justice (2015).
- 8.
Statistics on foreign residents in Japan (Zairyu gaikokujin toukei), Ministry of Justice (2015).
- 9.
Statistics on foreign residents in Japan (Zairyu gaikokujin toukei), Ministry of Justice (2015).
- 10.
Berry (2005) defines the term “acculturation” as a “dual process of cultural and psychological change that takes place as a result of contact between two or more cultural groups and their individual members” (698). He explains acculturation process at two levels: group and individual (Berry 1992, 1997, 2005). In this chapter, we focus on the acculturation process at immigrant individual level. According to Portes and Rumbaut (2001), it is also a process by which immigrants learn the new language and normative lifestyles of the host society and is a first step toward assimilation (53).
- 11.
In line with Portes and Rumbaut’s definition (2001), we define 1.5 generation as those who were born abroad and arrived in Japan in their early teens (before the age of 14).
- 12.
The interviews were conducted by one of the authors, Nukaga, and two other researchers, Akiko Miura (Chukyo University) and Kohei Tsubota (Polytechnic University). A part of the analysis presented here appeared in Nukaga and Miura (2017).
- 13.
Out of 26 youth, 5 are children with a Filipino mother and a Japanese stepfather, 2 are Nikkei, and 19 were born to a Filipino mother and Japanese father.
- 14.
Gender may be another significant factor that impacts youth’s acculturation process. Nukaga (2014, 2016) identified that girls, rather than boys, hold stronger relationship with their Filipino mothers and that they are strongly influenced by the social networks and ethnic practices of their mothers. In our study, six out of eight ethnic devotees were girls. Filipino boys, rather than girls, might be more prone to gang culture, in which boys are usually dominant.
- 15.
There are a number of ethnic schools (e.g., Brazilian schools, Chinese schools, Korean schools, etc.), many of which are not accredited by the Japanese government, that teach native language, affirm ethnic identities, and prepare the students for their education and career beyond Japan (see Shimizu et al. 2014).
- 16.
While this chapter mainly focuses on public daytime schools, there is a large number of immigrant children who are above the compulsory school age studying in nighttime junior high schools. These schools provide opportunities for the students to start working in Japan while studying Japanese language and preparing for high school simultaneously. Although there are challenges, the growing attention to nighttime junior high schools in these few years may have a profound impact on Japanese society by creating a supportive educational route for immigrants (Sumino 2015).
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science [JSPS KAKENHI grant number 15K17387], [26285193].
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Tokunaga, T., Nukaga, M., Takahashi, F. (2018). Growing Up in Multicultural Japan: Diversifying Educational Experiences of Immigrant Students. In: Yonezawa, A., Kitamura, Y., Yamamoto, B., Tokunaga, T. (eds) Japanese Education in a Global Age. Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, vol 46. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1528-2_9
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