Asia-Pacific Week 2006 Japanese Studies Graduate Summer School ABSTRACT

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Japanese people move to Australia as independent, temporary migrants in various forms, such as working holiday makers, skilled workers, retirees and students of English, vocational courses, and at universities. Most of these migrants enter Australia on a temporary visa, and many, if not most, end up returning to Japan. They exemplify common and popular forms of transnational migration among people who occupy the 'middle' position - often educated but not always have university degrees, relatively comfortable financially but most likely perceive themselves as simply middle class.

Despite the popularity, however, surprisingly little is know about these types of transnational movements. Recent studies in this area seem to focus on movements of peoples between Western and/or English speaking countries, and issues of power around languages, gender and race have rarely been discussed. By looking into Japanese women and men in Australia, particularly their practices through anthropological methodology, this research hopes to fill the gap in the existing knowledge.

In the past couple of decades, migration has increasingly been understood as a gendered phenomenon. Where Japanese migration is seen through the gendered lens, most past studies have focused on females (often university students) and their motivations for the move to the West. Particularly, they are inclined to understand Japanese female migration to the West as a flight from the repressive gendered system in Japan. For this reason, discussions revolve around Japanese women's negative perceptions of Japan as sexist, having rigid gender, familial and social roles, and generally limiting opportunities to materialise their desires. In contrast, Japanese women are reported to perceive the West as having greater gender equality, allowing more diverse roles for women, and providing opportunities to gain new skills (eg the English language), be more assertive and, in general, feel a sense of freedom.

By critically building on but going beyond existing studies, this research sets out to investigate

• Is Japanese migration to the West really an escape to a better life, or are there other factors (economic and non economic) involved? Do women and men leave Japan for different reasons?
• Why is Australia chosen as a destination?
• What Japanese women and men as gendered and racialised subjects actually experience once in Australia?
• What happens to the Japanese migrants upon return to Japan? How does it contrast with those who end up staying?