A Look at the Economic Subjectivities and Consumption Places of Nikkei Immigrants in Japan

Made in Brazil, consumed in Japan: A look at the economic subjectivities and consumption places of Nikkei immigrants in Japan

A thesis submitted to Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts

Dorris Scott

May 2008

Thesis written by Dorris Scott B.A. University of Arkansas, 2006 M.A., Kent State University, 2008

Approved by

______, Advisor Dr. Shawn M. Banasick ______, Chair, Department of Geography Dr. Jay Lee ______, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences Dr. Jerry Feezel

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

LIST OF FIGURES ...... vi

LIST OF TABLES...... vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...... viii

CHAPTER

1 Introduction...... 1

2 Background...... 9

3 Theoretical Framework...... 28

Being Japanese ...... 29

The Re-emergence of Nihonjinron...... 31

Surplus to Shortage ...... 34

Constructing Migration ...... 35

Resistance through the Economy ...... 36

Alternative Economic Subjectivities...... 37

Performativity...... 40

4 Methodology...... 44

Being Reflexive...... 44

Difference in Perspective ...... 45

Race and Gender ...... 46

Overcoming Limitations...... 48

Site Location and the Interview Process ...... 51

Discourse Analysis...... 56

iii

5 Analysis...... 60

Knowledge is Situated...... 60

Brazilian Occupations ...... 62

Fragmentation of Japanese-Brazilian Subjectivities ...... 62

Prevailing Constructions of the Japanese Brazilians...... 63

Economic Construction...... 67

Cultural Construction...... 72

Subjectivities Within the Brazilian Community ...... 74

Japanese-Brazilian Discourse of Japan and the Japanese ...... 76

Japan Being Safe and Secure...... 76

Japan Being Organized and Structured ...... 77

Difficulties Adjusting...... 77

Issues With Japanese People ...... 79

The Creation of Brazilian Places...... 81

Creation of Alternative Economic Subjectivities...... 85

Resistance through Entrepreneurship...... 89

Creation of Alternative Subjectivities through Business Collaboration ...... 91

Conclusion...... 95

6 Conclusion ...... 97

Overview ...... 97

Contributing to the Current Literature...... 100

Future Research Possibilities...... 101

Final Remarks...... 103

References ...... 105

LIST OF FIGURES

Page

Figure 4.1: Prefectures in which fieldwork was conducted...... 54

Figure 4.2: Cities visited during fieldwork...... 55

Figure 4.3: Information board in front a Brazilian store...... 84

Figure 5.2: Free Brazilian publication ...... 84

Figure 5.3: Takara supermarket...... 89

Figure 5.4: Article about Associação Commercial Brasilera No Japão ...... 93

LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 2.1: Categories of Status of Residence in the Revised Immigration Control Act...... 22

vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to thank Dr. Tsunetoshi Mizoguchi and the Department of

Geography at Nagoya University for assisting me with my stay in Japan. Without their help, it would have not been possible for me to come to Japan. My translator, Sergio

Okuma, also played an extremely instrumental part in making this research a reality. I thank Mr. Okuma for taking time out of his busy schedule in order to personally take me to the interview sites and provide translation services. I also would like to thank Takahiro

Nakamura and the Ozawa family, especially Amelia and Susumu Ozawa for their contributions to my project as well. Finally, I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Shawn

Banasick for guiding me through every step of the research and writing process.

viii

Chapter 1 : Introduction

While Nagoya is known for being the third largest city in Japan and being a major

industrial center, the city is also known for the large amount of immigrants in the area.

One of the most striking examples of how immigration is affecting Japan is riding on the subway in the Nagoya metropolitan area. Right before the subway arrives at the Nagoya

Station stop, the announcement which says that Nagoya station was the next stop was not only spoken in English and Japanese, but in Chinese, Korean, and Portuguese as well. I have traveled across Japan, but not even the transit system in Tokyo announced their main station in five languages.

I could also see the rising diversity in the Japanese population when I traveled by train to Hamamatsu which is known for its large Brazilian population. There were two men who looked Japanese sitting across from me. While they might have looked

Japanese, they did not “act” Japanese and they definitely were not speaking Japanese.

These two men were quite boisterous and were speaking Portuguese. Once I reached

Hamamatsu and left the station, I felt a bit out of place. There were barely any Japanese signs; all the signs were written in Portuguese on a blue, green, and yellow background.

Usually outside the train station there would be small Japanese restaurants or convenience stores. Instead, there were Brazilian grocery stores and restaurants. For a

brief period, I had to ask myself, “am I really in Japan or am I in Brazil?” Given the rate

of Brazilian immigration in Japan, there is going to be more of these Brazilian places in

Japan. In my thesis, I plan to explore some of the consumption places of Brazilian

immigrants in Japan as they pertain to the creation of subjectivities. The issue of

Brazilian immigrants in Japan is a very complex matter. Currently, there are about

286,557 Brazilians in Japan, who represent 15% of all foreigners in Japan (Japan

Statistical Yearbook, 2005). The majority of these Brazilians have immigrated to Japan because they can make more money in Japan than they can in Brazil. So why is Japan opening its borders to these Brazilian immigrants? The main driving force behind Japan accepting a large influx of Brazilian immigrants has to do with how some individuals in the Japanese government have constructed the economic and cultural subjectivities of the

Brazilians. By doing this, these Japanese government officials can still can uphold their discourse of not being reliant on immigrant labor for fulfilling labor demands in the industrial sector.

Traditionally, Japan has had one of the toughest immigration policies in the world. A significant number of Japanese have created a discourse that Japan is a homogenous and self-dependent country. This is definitely reflected in Japan’s strict immigration policy. Out of all the highly industrialized nations, Japan has the lowest proportion of foreign residents. On the surface, this makes Japanese immigration policy to appear very stringent, but this is not the case. Since pre-war times there has been a history of immigration into Japan. One example of this is the 528,450 ‘special permanent residents’ of Korean descent who came to Japan during the height of Japanese imperialism which lasted from 1910 to 1945 (Japan Immigration Association, 1999).

Some of the Koreans were forcibly brought into Japan. Since these Koreans were

considered to be members of the Japanese empire, they were not considered to be

immigrants.

The use of the Korean language was banned and Koreans were forced to take

Japanese names. Also, the Korean family registration system was transferred from Korea

to Japan. As a result of Japan’s expansionalist policy, large numbers of Koreans flowed

to and from Japan and Korea. This migration heightened during World War II, for

example in 1939, approximately 900,000 Koreans was conscripted by Japan for the War effort (Chapman, 2006).

The second big wave of immigration that hit Japan started in the late 1980s. One

of the main factors which caused this mass migration was globalization. Globalization

not only accelerated the flow of capital, trade, information and transportation, but it also

accelerated the flow of migration as well (Sellek, 2001). Even though the Japanese

economy achieved high economic growth in the 1960s without relying on foreign

workers, Japan became dependent on foreign workers in the late 1980s and since then has

been a destination country for foreign workers coming from East and Southeast Asia

(Sellek, 2001). The emergence of foreign workers in Japan began in the 1980s when there was a shortage of labor in the Japanese labor market. When Japan transformed into a post-industrial society, there was a huge shortage of unskilled labor in the industrial sectors.

According to Japanese immigration policy, foreign workers can only be accepted if they have some sort of special of expertise that cannot be provided by Japanese nationals (Sellek, 2001). Due to this definition, unskilled workers are considered illegal.

Even though unskilled workers are considered illegal, there has been a large influx of illegal workers in Japan to fulfill labor demands. While many of these immigrants entered

Japan as tourists, others worked with labor brokers and obtained counterfeit passports, visas, and cheap air tickets to Japan (Sellek, 2001). Others would overstay on tourist or student visas. Before the revision of the immigration policy in 1991, the majority of these immigrants came from other parts of Asia (Sellek, 2001). Many people were concerned about these unskilled workers coming to Japan not only because of the general fear of

“the other”, but also because Japanese society feared that the growing amount of illegal

immigrants entering the country will cause a rise of crime within the country. Because of

this, there was a considerable amount of pressure for the immigration code to be revised.

Since there was a high demand for unskilled laborers in the factories which could

not be met domestically, and Japanese society was not particularly fond of opening its

doors to foreigners, the Japanese government was inclined to allow open immigration of

Nikkei Brazilians and Peruvians (people of Japanese heritage) into Japan. By creating a

new category of the Long-Term resident visa for third-generation Japanese along with

making the process easier for second-generation Japanese to obtain a “Spouse of

Japanese” visa, many Brazilians and Peruvians were able to immigrate to Japan in the

early nineties and most of them have been working as unskilled laborers (Tsuda, 2003).

Since they are of Japanese ethnicity, some influential members of the Japanese

government considered the Nikkei to be Japanese rather than Brazilian. Through creating

a discourse in which Brazilian immigrants are considered “returnees” as opposed to

“immigrants,” the Japanese government is able to satisfy demands for unskilled labor. In

addition, these various government ministries and officials are able to uphold their discourse of the country not being reliant on foreign labor since the Nikkei are not considered to be immigrants.

In this thesis I will not only discuss the discourses created by some entities of the

Japanese government that underlie the migration process but I will also discuss the subjectivities that are created once the Brazilians arrive to Japan. Some Japanese have created multiple discourses of the Brazilians. These particular people create a negative image of Brazilians, stating that they are the main causes for the rise of crime in Japan and the fact they engage in “dirty work.” On the other hand, there are growing numbers of Japanese who think positively of Brazilians and feel that Japan should be more tolerant of them along with other foreigners. From their point of view, it is the Brazilians that are keeping the Japanese economy from experiencing a complete collapse.

Another prevailing discourse that many Japanese have constructed of Brazilians in Japan is one that is economic in nature. Because a large number of Brazilians work in the factories, many Japanese create a subjectivity of Brazilians that is bound to the factories; in other words, many believe that the Brazilians are only capable of doing factory work. This negative subjectivity is furthered by the media’s portrayal of Brazil being as a violent and primitive place.

While the Japanese government, media, and business sector are not the sole actors creating economic discourses for the Brazilians. The Brazilians have created economic subjectivities for themselves as well. One way in which Brazilians can resist these discourses is through engaging in various economic practices that results in the creation

of multiple economic subjectivities. Examples of this include engaging in entrepreneurship or working in a non-factory job at a Brazilian enterprise. These

multiple subjectivities allow the Brazilians to resist in a way such that they show that they all are not economically dependent on the Japanese and are capable of doing work that does not involve working in the factory. Through owning a business or working for

Brazilian business, Brazilians are showing that their economic subjectivity is not static; factory work is only one of several economic labor practices that Brazilians can engage in.

Both the Brazilian and Japanese immigrants have also created multiple discourses regarding these Brazilian places. While some Japanese frequently visit these places in order to have a “feel of Brazil,” many people shun these places because of the fact that they are run by Brazilians. Many Brazilian places transcend just being spaces of consumption; they can be social spaces, spaces of belonging, and spaces which connect the Japanese, Brazilian, and foreigner communities as well.

I did my fieldwork in Aichi, Gifu, and Shizuoka prefectures, areas which are known to have large Brazilian populations. I did not limit my interviews to certain businesses because I felt that would limit the study and fail to show the diversity of economic subjectivities created. As a result, I did interviews at various Brazilian-owned businesses such as restaurants, clothing stores, and aesthetic salons. I also took photographs as well. Through my interviews, I will create a multi-layered narrative to convey multiple subjectivities and discourses of the Japanese-Brazilians. I will pay particular attention on how Japanese-Brazilians create alternative economic subjectivities

to resist the discursive constructions that Japanese create of them. In addition I will also

show how the creation of these alternative economic subjectivities result in the creation

of Brazilian spaces and places.

The way subjectivities are created is a very important issue for post-structural

approaches in geography. The construction of subjectivities by individuals has a

powerful effect on space and place. According to Massey (1994), space is something that

is constituted out of social relations and place is an articulation of those social relations.

Since space is constituted out of social relations, and since these social relations differ by

person, the conceptualization of a particular place is not static. Rather, it is subject to

negotiation. For example, while some Brazilians might go to a Brazilian owned salon in

order to get their hair done, others might see the salon as a place in which they can come

and get advice if they have problems. Places are also sites in which subjectivity creation

can occur. The subjectivities that individuals created in these places are multiple because

each individual uses space in a different way. The Japanese-Brazilians each have their

own idea of what ‘being Brazilian’ is and this is reflected through the creation of these

subjectivities.

One of the main research issues I am concerned with is the various roles that

Brazilian sites of consumption play in both the Japanese and Brazilian immigrant

community. I want to show that there are multiple subjectivities created concerning

Brazilian places of consumption. Brazilian businesses such as restaurants or aesthetic

salons can be social spaces or spaces of belonging as well. I am also interested in the economic subjectivities that the Brazilians working in the Brazilian stores construct in

relation to the Brazilians who in factories. In addition, I want to explore how these

Brazilian businesses create bridges within and beyond the Brazilian community.

This thesis is organized as follows. The second chapter will give background

information regarding Brazilian immigration to Japan. I will go into the history of

Japanese migration to Brazil and the factors that caused return migration to Japan. The third chapter is dedicated to explaining the theoretical framework behind this thesis. The fourth chapter will discuss the methods in which the information was retrieved. This chapter will not only elaborate on the technical details of where and how the information was retrieved but will also discuss my role and positionality within my research. The fifth chapter will be analysis of the interviews that I conducted with the Nikkei Brazilians. In

this chapter, I discuss the overlying themes of my interviews and observations with workers at Brazilian owned businesses. I also connect this information to the theoretical framework which was explained in chapter two. In the sixth chapter, I conclude by giving an overview of this research and discussing ways to expand this research.

Chapter 2 : Background

The issue of Japanese-Brazilian return migration can be complex without a proper

background on how the Japanese-Brazilian community came in existence in the first

place. In this section, I will examine the history of Japanese migration to Brazil. I will

first discuss the factors that caused the Japanese to immigrate to Brazil. I also will

examine what factors changed this migration flow such as the weakening of the Brazilian

economy and the strengthening of the Japanese economy. In addition, I will give an

overview the current situation of the Japanese-Brazilian community in Japan, the current

immigration policy of Japan, and how it has affected the Brazilian community.

The reason that there are many Brazilians of Japanese decent in Brazil is due to

the mass migration of Japanese to Brazil in the early 20th century. Officially, the year

that marked the first Japanese immigration to Brazil was in 1908, when 781 Japanese, who were mostly farmers, arrived in Brazil aboard the Kasato-maru (Roth, 2002). The

primary reason that Japanese farmers immigrated to Brazil was because they were hit by

economic difficulties in Japan and there was demand in Brazil for laborers to work on the

coffee plantations due to the abolishment of slavery in 1888 (Tsuda, 2003). From 1908

to 1941, about 190,000 Japanese entered Brazil (Tsuda, 2003). Japanese immigration

was temporarily put to a halt during World War II because the Brazilian government

suspected the Japanese immigrants of being spies. Japanese immigration to Brazil

continued in the post war period; from 1953 to 1962, around 50,000 Japanese immigrated

to Brazil. Currently, there are 1,228,000 Japanese in Brazil which constitutes the largest community of Japanese outside of Japan (Tsuda, 2003).

One event that contributed to reverse migration in Brazil was the Brazilian economic crisis in the 1980s. During the 1980s, high unemployment and hyperinflation hit the Brazilian economy; by 1991, the unemployment rate hit 15 percent and by 1993 the annual rate of inflation was 2000 percent (Tsuda, 2003). While the Japanese-

Brazilians did not suffer from high unemployment, they did experience a decline in income and purchasing power.

While the Brazilian economy was declining in the latter half of the twentieth century, Japan was experiencing an economic boom. Japan was quickly changing from having an economy based from the rural sector to having an economy based on the industrial sector. It was going from being a country that had limited trade contact with other countries to a country that exported all over the world. From the 1970s, Japan’s exports, especially autos, consumer electronics, semiconductors, and machinery were the backbones of the booming Japanese economy.

Another reason why these industries prospered is because of Japan’s

“developmentalist” policies that were designed during the 70s to protect Japanese industries from foreign competition (Katz, 1998). Due to this, there was a big migration of Japanese from the rural to urban areas. During 1955-1973, Japan quadrupled its GDP per worker from $3,500 to $13,500, something that had never been done by any major country (Katz, 1998).

Because of Japan’s developmentalist policies, the country turned into a dual economy that consisted of extremely strong export sectors and extremely weak domestic sectors. Even though Japan should have eased the entry of imports and focused more on innovation, the government continued to invest money in industries that were becoming highly inefficient. In addition, many of these industries were borrowing bank loans for investment purposes. During 1973-1990, Japan’s use of capital was so unproductive that it had to invest 35 percent GDP to get the same rate of growth that other countries had with only 25 percent GDP (Katz, 1998). Even though this use of capital was inefficient,

this large concentration of investment in the export sectors allowed them to flourish at the expense of the domestic sectors.

During this high-growth era, which lasted until the mid 1980s, the electronic, machinery, and automobile industries successfully expanded their exports to overseas markets. They were able to keep their profits high by restraining investment in plant machinery and equipment that resulted in these industries having a large surplus.

(Oizumi, 1994). Starting in the 1980s, these industries started to invest their surplus funds in various financial assets such as land. Land was considered a financial asset and during the mid 1980s, and many Japanese corporations engaged in increasing their acquisitions of land in urban land. This caused an extraordinary rise in urban land prices, especially around Tokyo while the price of land in rural areas fell (Oizumi, 1994).

One reason that the price of urban land was going up was because of the massive development of the urban areas during this period. Since Japan was experiencing low domestic growth, some government officials felt that this domestic growth could be

boosted through urban development. Since the government and municipalities were experiencing a fiscal crisis, the government encouraged private enterprises to carry out urban development projects through offering subsidies and tax breaks (Oizumi, 1994).

The National Land Planning agency proposed a policy to redevelop Tokyo as an

‘advanced space for international financial business’ and to promote ‘advanced land-use’ for that purpose (Oizumi, 1994: 202). As a result, there was a countrywide construction boom in urban areas, especially around Tokyo, which was led by private enterprises. Any profit made out of the land deals were reinvested into stocks and securities that were mostly speculative in nature and in more land. Through these practices, the companies increased their capital accumulation.

While Japanese financial markets were doing well abroad, the same could not be

said domestically. The protectionalist policies implemented in the 70s hurt both foreign

competitors and the Japanese people. Since Japan was protecting export industries from

foreign competition through investment and few imports were coming into the country

due to trade restrictions, domestic sectors were being neglected. As a result, the prices of

Japanese-made goods rose domestically. The prices were so high that customers could

not afford many of these products and consumption declined as a result. This was further

exacerbated by firms using their profits to reinvest in factories rather than to increase the salary of the workers.

While Japan had a severely restrictive policy towards imported goods and money was being pumped into these exporting sectors, Japanese exports were extremely cheap which gave these industries an edge in trade. Because of this, Japan built up a substantial

trade surplus while other countries built up a substantial trade deficit. Japan’s unfair practices were put to a halt with the 1985 Plaza Accord, which raised the price of the yen and consequently resulted in the price increase of Japanese exports and the shrinking of the trade surplus. Between 1985 and 1986, exports fell by 15.6 percent while the rate of

GDP growth in Japan slowed from 4.7 percent in 1985 to 2.7 percent in 1986 (Itoh,

1990).

Instead of reforming policy, the Japanese government decided to try one more attempt to artificially boost the economy by lowering the interest rates. This did revive investment and brought a boom to the economy, and during 1985 to 1991, investment rates were as high as the rates during the high-growth era (Katz, 1998). When the official discount rate fell to 2.5 percent in 1987, the money supply greatly increased. One way in which this is shown is by comparing the total volume of fund transactions in Japan between the years of 1975 and 1984 and between 1985 and 1990 which went from ¥58.6 trillion per annum to ¥122.9 trillion per annum (Kasman and Rodrigues, 1991).

The “bubble economy” created by these factors started to collapse in 1990 when the bank of Japan began to raise interest rates and moved upwards four more times in a fifteen-month period (Leyshon, 1994). By August 1991, the official discount rate went to

6 percent which caused an appreciation of the yen. (Leyshon, 1994). As a result of this, the stock market fell sharply which also caused a collapse in stock and land speculation

(Oizumi, 1994). This rate of collapse was further accelerated when the Ministry of

Finance started to regulate financial institutions (Oizumi, 1994).

Japan’s unproductive domestic industrial sector not only had to do with financial practices during the bubble economy but also with the changing population demographics as well. The shift from an industrial to a post-industrial economy caused an increase of jobs in the service sector. Because the population was becoming more educated, many did not desire to work in the industrial sector because they felt that the jobs were dirty and economically unfulfilling. Between 1992 and 1996, one million manufacturing jobs were lost and another 1.25 million was expected to disappear by 2000 (Katz, 1998). In addition, the labor force was declining as well due to such factors as the graying of the population and the decline in the birth rate. By 2024, the working population will decline to 60 percent and by 2050 Japan’s non-working and working population will almost equal each other (Katz, 1998; Vogt, 2007). As a result of this, their employment in the industrial sector dropped and will continue to drop.

The serious shortage of labor during the bubble economy contributed to creating a large surge of foreign workers. Many were attracted to Japan because of this shortage of workers along with the strength of the yen and high income levels (Sellek, 2001). Since the companies were not able to meet their employment needs domestically, they started to depend on illegal immigrants instead. Not only did these immigrants fulfill business demands, the companies can pay them a lower wage than regular workers. Right before the immigration codes were changed, there were around 166,080 illegal immigrants in

Japan (Stanlaw, 2004).

Since the illegal immigrant community was increasing in Japan, many Japanese were becoming more xenophobic. An increasing number of Japanese felt that this influx

of immigrants was threatening Japanese stability. Some members of the Japanese elite created a discourse that Japan was a homogenous country that does not rely on immigrant workers; the arrival of these unskilled laborers is in direct opposition to this ideology.

Another reason that Japanese became more concerned about the growing number of

immigrants is because of the increase in crime that was occurring in Japan during this

period. These two discourses have had an influence on molding Japanese immigration

policy.

Even though some Japanese produce a discourse of Japan not having waves of

immigration, Japanese history would prove otherwise. One of the biggest examples of

this was in 1910 when Korea was annexed into Japan which resulted in a forced

migration of thousands of Koreans to Japan. Many came to Japan as forced laborers and

were targets of mass discrimination. After World War II, the Korean population in Japan

was as high as two million, which is twice the number of the whole foreigner population

currently present in Japan (Chapman, 2006). After the war, many Koreans repatriated

after the signing of the San Francisco Peace Treaty in 1951 which recognized the

independence of Korea and rejected any Japanese claim over Korea. There are about

700,000 Korean residents in Japan who have settled in Japan with children who were

born in Japan (Itoh, 2000). Even though the Koreans have obtained ‘special permanent

residence’ which virtually gives them the same rights as Japanese citizens, they still are

not automatically granted Japanese citizenship upon birth.

The notion that citizenship is based on blood is integral in the discourse of

homogeneity that is held by many Japanese. This discourse that some Japanese have

about Japan being a homogenous nation is referred to as tan’itsu minzokuron or monoculturalism (Chapman, 2006). This discourse, which has had a significant influence on Japanese immigration policy, states that there are no ethnic minorities in Japan. One of the most potent examples of this monoculturalist sentiment is the 1986 speech of former

Prime Minister Nakasone given to the Liberal Democratic Party where he stated that

Japan is a homogenous nation without ethnic minorities (Siddle, 1996: 2). Granting automatic citizenship to Koreans would go against the idea of monoculturalism for

Japanese would have to acknowledge people of non-Japanese blood as being citizens.

Because some influential government officials feel that there are no ethnic minorities, the immigration policy has been set up in order to uphold this stance. The way in which this has been done is through outlawing immigrants working in unskilled labor. The reason that unskilled labor was deemed illegal is because a large number of foreigners tend to migrate to countries with better economic situations in order to seek employment in the unskilled labor sector. During Japan’s economic boom a large proportion of unskilled labor was coming from Southeast Asia and East Asia (Sellek,

2001). By limiting the type of job that foreigners can work in Japan, these policies result in limiting the number of foreigners that can come into the country.

Another discourse that has been created due to the increasing number of immigrants into Japan is the discourse that all foreigners are potential criminals.

According to Yamamoto (2007), there is a discourse among some Japanese that relates foreignness and criminality. This discourse constructs foreigners to be associated with criminality and there has been an urge to present crime control as a central issue to

immigration policies. This discourse produced by the National Police Agency, politicians, and the media claims that migrants, especially those who do not have proper documentation, are a major threat to public safety in Japan (Yamamoto, 2007).

One way in which this discourse is reinforced is through statistics. An example of this is how the Police White Papers assert the criminal threat of immigrants through their statistical reports of migrant perpetuated crimes. The problem with these statistics is that they are limited to comparison within foreign-perpetuated crimes (Yamamoto, 2007). It is natural that an increase in immigration is going to give a rise to an increase of foreign criminals. Since the number of immigrants is low, the number of these foreign national offenders only comprises a small proportion of penal code offenders in Japan.

It is significant that the immigration codes were revised around 1990-1991, the same time in which the bubble economy burst. Some Japanese demanded that the government take measures to strengthen the then current immigration policy. To these people, a foreigner was automatically associated with being a criminal. According to the immigration policy during that time, legal immigrants were defined as those who are able to work in professions that the Japanese workforce cannot supply. Examples of these professions are technical and business positions. Illegal immigrants were defined as

those that engage in unskilled labor, such as working in the factories.

While the public demanded that the immigration codes be strengthened,

businesses depended on illegal immigration in order to fulfill labor demands in the factories. Some influential members of the government had to find a way in which they

would be able to uphold the discourse on Japanese self-dependence and homogeneity

while meeting the domestic demands for labor. The government found a solution to this problem with the Nikkei, people of Japanese heritage who reside outside Japan. Many of these Nikkei come from Latin America, more specifically from Peru and Brazil. Since their economies were experiencing a downturn, many government officials felt that many

Nikkei would immigrate to Japan. As a result, the Japanese government was inclined to allow open immigration of Nikkei into Japan.

In 1989, the amendment of the Immigration Control Act was proposed by the

Ministry of Justice and was accepted by the cabinet for submission to the National Diet.

The act was passed by the 116th session of the diet in December 1989 and was enforced

from June 1, 1990. The purpose of this act was to respond to foreigners’ aims for landing

and residence in recent years, to react to Japan’s growing demand of labor, and the call

by the public to control the number of illegal foreign workers, (Sellek, 2001). The revised

act divided immigrants into two main groups based on their activities.

Table 2.1: Categories of Status of residence in the Revised Immigration Control Act

Annex Table I ATI1 Diplomat, Offical, Professor, Artist, Religious activities, Journalist ATI2 Investory, Business manager, Legal/Accounting services, Medical services, Researcher, Instructor, Engineer, Specialist in humanities/International services, Intra-company transferee, Entertainer, Skilled labor ATI3 Cultural activities, Temporary visitor ATI4 College student, Pre-college student, Trainee, Dependent ATI5 Designated Activities

Annex Table II Permanent resident, Spouse or child of a Japanese national, Spouse or child of a permanent resident, Long-term resident

Sources: Japan Immigration Association (1990, p.26-37). This table is based on Mori (1997, p.11) and Sellek (2001, p.61). Notes: Categories in bold are newly established.

Annex Table II provided a framework for Nikkei to obtain Japanese residence.

Through the creation of new category of the Long-Term resident visa for third-generation

Japanese along with making the process easier for second-generation Japanese to obtain a

Spouse of Japanese visa (Tsuda, 2003). In contrast to Annex Table I in which

employment activities are restricted, those who are classified under Annex Table II can

engage in any activity, including unskilled labor.

Through the revision of the immigration code, the Japanese government was able

to find a way to fulfill demands for unskilled labor without compromising its stance on

being a country that depends on immigrants. According to an announcement made by the

Ministry of Justice in 1991, those who qualified for the Long-Term resident visa were

those ‘who are recognized as having a particular connection with Japan’ (Ministry of

Justice, 1991). In other words, the Long-Term visa classification classified these

immigrants as ‘returnees’ who were given the opportunity to live in their homeland and rediscover their Japanese roots.

Before the immigration revision, only a small number of Nikkei who were mainly first and second generation with dual nationality went to Japan to work in the 1960s and

1970s (Sellek, 2001). These people worked on construction projects for the 1965

Olympic Games in Tokyo and for the Expo in Okinawa in 1972. Because there were few people with dual nationality and many of the first and second generation were getting older, these numbers were limited. For second and third generation Nikkei, it was difficult for them to come to Japan not only because it was expensive, but because of the difficulty of obtaining short-stay visa.

When the Brazilian economy got worse in 1982, a Nikkei assemblyman lobbied to the Japanese government to open the door for Nikkei and allow them to obtain long-

term visas (Sellek, 2001). This proposal did not pass because the main sentiment among

the Diet was that those who returned to Japan for temporary work were deemed failures who were not successful in the countries they emigrated to and consequently wanted to return to Japan to find work (Sellek, 2001).

Three years later, the government reversed its decision by broadening the definitions of ‘spouse or child of a Japanese national’ (Sellek, 2001). By doing this, many Nikkei entered Japan and changed their status to ‘spouse or child of a Japanese national’ and it was easily approved. This was the beginning of the Japanese government finding indirect ways to supply an unskilled labor force to Japanese industries. The number of Nikkei immigrating to Japan further increased when the Immigration Control

Act was revised. The justification that the government stated for giving them Long-Term residence was that they wanted to see their homeland and their relatives. By doing this, the Nikkei were not defined as immigrants, but rather returnees.

Many Japanese-Brazilians felt that their earning potential will be higher in Japan and started to immigrate to Japan. As a result of the immigration revision, the number of visas issued from Sao Paulo went from 8,602 to 61,500 (Stalker, 1994). During the peak of Nikkei immigration, which was from the early to mid 1990s, about 150,000 Nikkei came to Japan each year, (Stanlaw, 2004). Since there are no employment restrictions, many of the Brazilians secured jobs working as unskilled laborers. This immigration of

Japanese-Brazilians to Japan also benefited Japanese industrial businesses as well for there was a high demand for unskilled laborers in the factories which could not be met domestically. Currently, there are about 286,557 Brazilians in Japan, who make up 15% of all foreigners in Japan (Japan Statistical Yearbook, 2005). The Nikkei are concentrated in non-metropolitan areas where there are a high proportion of manufacturing industries.

In 1995, half of the registered Brazilians in Japan lived in five prefectures of the Tokai

(central Pacific coast) and Kanto (north-central) regions which are Aichi, Shizuoka,

Kanagawa, Saitama, and Gunma prefectures (Yamanaka, 2000). Out of these five prefectures, those with the highest proportion of Brazilian immigrants are in Aichi,

Shizuoka, and Gunma.

The Nikkei Brazilians were not the only source of legal unskilled labor in Japan.

One other way in which the Japanese government was able to increase the supply of

unskilled labor without directly opening its borders was through the Trainee Program and

the Technical-Intern Training Program (TITP). In 1992, 43,649 foreigners were admitted to Japan as ‘trainees’ (Cornelius, 1994). The majority of these trainees came from mainland China, Thailand, the Philippines, Korea, Vietnam, and Indonesia (Cornelius,

1994). While the purpose of this program was to give workers from developing countries the chance to gain skills that they could not obtain at home, in reality, the

program gave Japanese firms the chance to use these ‘trainees’ as ‘workers’ in order to

fulfill their labor demands.

The 1990 immigration revisions actually allowed more trainees to be accepted by

a broader range of organizations, and gave small and medium-sized firms an opportunity to accept trainees. The Ministry of Justice also set a quota in which the number of

trainees would be no more than 1/20th of the accepting firm’s regular employees (Sellek,

2001). The revisions resulted in increasing the amount of time that trainees could

receive on-the-job training by setting up quotas on how much on-the-job training a

trainee can get. Even though the period of time devoted to on-the-job training could only

represent 2/3rds of the total training time, those who already had training in their home country and those who were planning to take on-the-job training for more than four months were considered to have less than 4/5ths of the on-the-job training of the total training time (Ministry of Justice Immigration Bureau, 1991). In other words, any training that has been done out of the country would only count as a small portion of on- the-job training and the longer the duration the trainee wishes to stay in Japan, the more on-the-job training they will be able to receive. Also, because they are trainees, their wages were much lower than the usual Japanese worker.

The trainee program was also revised in 1993 with the introduction of the

Technical-Intern Training Program (TITP). The TITP prolongs the stay of the trainees by allowing the trainees to receive supplemental training. The trainees must have resident status and be certified by a training facility in Japan for having a particular level of proficiency. The candidates then have to apply to have their visa status changed from

‘trainee’ to ‘specific activities’ and they participate in a practical work session which can last up to 1.5 times of initial training but cannot exceed three years (Sellek, 2001).

According to Sellek (2001), “the TITP provides a mechanism for the legal supply of

‘unskilled labor’ into companies suffering from shortages of labor and has the potential to become a major route for accepting foreign workers into Japan in the future” (71).

Since Japanese businesses had a new supply of unskilled labor, these businesses were the impetus behind a large numbers of Latin-American Nikkei to immigrate to

Japan. One way in which these businesses were able to recruit workers is through contractors and outsourcing companies. These companies would recruit the Nikkei in

Latin-America and offer them round-trip airfare to Japan along with a short-term labor contract which usually lasted around a year. This airfare was not free, but was considered a loan which had to be repaid by the end of the contract period. Even though these

Nikkei worked jobs that were considered economically unfulfilling to Japanese, the salaries they received were three to five times the minimum wage in Brazil. Usually the

Nikkei leave their first job and try to search for another job that pays a higher wage. The wages for these workers usually were higher than those of Japanese workers. The reason behind this has to do with simple supply and demand. Sellek (2001) states that the

shortage of willing and affordable indigenous workers was so sever that some industries had no choice to employ the Nikkei if they could afford to do so. The Japanese-Brazilian workers were in high demand by factories because of the fact that they were a legal source of unskilled labor.

Many of the Japanese-Brazilians only wish to stay in Japan long enough to save a particular amount of money for their families. After reaching that specific amount, many state that they will return to Brazil. Even though many Brazilians say that they are going back to Brazil, this is not the case. There are two common scenarios which occur as a result of this. The first scenario is that the Nikkei do return home, but they end up returning to Japan in order to make more money. The second scenario is that the Nikkei permanently stay in Japan and send remittances back to their families in Brazil. The reason that the Brazilians either stay or return to Japan is because they have become used to a higher standard of living, higher purchasing power, and a higher salary in Japan.

While the revision of the immigration act was meant to ease social ills by limiting the amount of immigration into Japan, it did quite the opposite. Through the creation of the Long-Term visa for those who are of Japanese ethnicity or spouses of Japanese, the

Japanese government opened the door for a large influx of Latin American immigrants.

Many government officials made a large assumption that these Nikkei will be able to easy assimilate into Japanese society because they are of Japanese blood. These politicians completely disregarded the fact that the place of birth or culture these immigrants were raised has a large influence on their social behavior. This cultural difference naturally caused conflicts within both the Japanese and Nikkei community.

Another effect of this mass immigration on the Japanese community is that it reinforced the xenophobia which was present before the Immigration Control Act was revised. Even though there were many Nikkei that ethnically looked like they were

Japanese, there were a growing number of Nikkei who did not look Japanese. Also, many

Brazilians who do not have Japanese blood are able to immigrate to Japan because their

spouse is Japanese. Because of this, the fear of the increase in crime due to increasing

migration was reinforced.

Another source of this xenophobia is the cultural differences which exist between

the Japanese and the Brazilian immigrants. An obvious cultural difference between

Japanese and Brazilians is language. Many Brazilian immigrants in Japan cannot speak

Japanese and do not bother to learn when they arrive to Japan. Another cultural

difference is that Brazilians are perceived to be more outgoing and relaxed compared to

Japanese. One other reason that many Japanese discriminate against the Brazilians is

because many feel that their ancestors are “traitors” to Japan; they leave the country when

the times are tough and return when the times are good.

One example of how these cultural differences manifests in Japanese society is

through the public housing complexes that have a large Brazilian population. Karen

Yamashita (2003) shows the cultural differences of Japanese and Brazilians through

explaining the rules of conduct at Homi-Danichi, a condominium complex which house

8,000 people – 2,000 who are Brazilians. These rules restricted such things as

barbecuing on the veranda, using the plaza late at night, and making loud noise during

any time of the day, especially during early morning and night (Yamashita, 2003) In

addition to these rules, ‘Precautionary Notice for Daily Living’ flyers are also distributed throughout Homi-Danchi. These flyers are only distributed to the Brazilians living in the complex in order to further explain and expand on the rules that have been set up by the landlord. By setting up these rules, a power relationship between the Japanese and

Brazilians has been set; a power relationship in order to silence the immigrants, thus minimizing their presence in the complex:

A tour of Homi-Danchi and its environs gives you a sense of an oppressive quiet – the sound of sleeping people who work the night shift, the sound of a silent majority who want very badly to be accepted, the sound of people trying very hard to be quiet. This is as quiet as Brazilians can possibly be. This is probably as ruly as it gets (Yamashita, 2003: 71).

The Brazilians apparently have difficultly following these rules because it goes against fundamentally who they are: “No late-night conversations in the plaza. No churrasco. No speeding on motorcycles…Brazilians forget to pass the clipboard or don’t read the contents” (Yamashita, 2003). The conflicts that are present in this housing complex are analogous to some Japanese sentiment towards the Brazilians for many

Japanese do not embrace these cultural difference and find them to be a nuisance. Instead of embracing the immigrants, many want to minimize their presence.

Since there is a large Brazilian population in Japan that seems to be staying in

Japan for a long period, there has been the growth of ethnic businesses that have catered to dealing with the various needs of Brazilians. Such businesses include restaurants, bars, clothing stores, and Brazilian retail stores which sale a variety of Brazilian foods, books, magazines, videos, CDs, and computer software. Both Brazilians and non-Brazilians

realize the economic opportunity in owning a business. Many Brazilians come to Japan to work in the factories, but they find their work economically unfulfilling. Some Japanese-

Brazilians feel that running or working at a Brazilian store will be more personally fulfilling. Even some Japanese business owners are trying to target the Brazilian consumer market. Some of the most successful chain stores are owned by Japanese. In addition, many Japanese people are becoming interested in Brazilian culture which has also contributed to the increase of Brazilian businesses in Japan.

It seems that the government found a temporary solution to the problem of dealing with immigrants through the Nikkei. The presence of the Nikkei in Japan not only holds up the discourse of homogeneity held by both Japanese politicians and

Japanese, but also fulfills employment demands in the industrial sector. While the government and industries seem to be well off, the same cannot be said for those who were concerned about the rising number of immigrants in their communities. The

Japanese government might define these people as returnees’ but in general, a majority of

Japanese society sees these people as immigrants who have a different language and culture. This is coming increasingly apparent with the number of Brazilian ethnic enclaves which are becoming a part of the Japanese landscape. A large number of

Japanese and Nikkei alike are starting to realize that blood relations do not lead to commonality. What many in the Japanese government fail to notice is that the same laws that were revised in order to enforce monoculturalism are also breaking it down.

Chapter 3 : Theoretical Framework

Discourse reflects the idea of language being the vehicle in which we construct our knowledge and meaning of the world. According to MacDonnell (1986), discourse is a “group of utterances or sentences, statements which are enacted within a social context, which are determined by that social context, and which contribute to the way that social context continues it existence” (Mills, 2004: 10). Various discursive practices contribute in the creation of subjectivities. According to Weedon, subjectivity is a “site of disunity and conflict, central to the process of political change and to preserving the status quo

(1997: 21). As a result, ‘being a subject’ is replaced by thinking of one as always in the process of ‘becoming’ a subject due to a variety of discursive constructions.

The subjectivities of the Japanese-Brazilians are not static because a variety of discourses are being produced on the local and national levels. On the national level, the discourses related to the Japanese-Brazilian subjectivities are often based on the notions of Japan being a ‘small island nation’ that is characterized by a ‘homogenous’ population.

Since the Japanese-Brazilians are now being discursively produced as ethnically

Japanese, many in the Japanese government consider them to be ‘returnees.’ This discourse differs on the local level. Since many of the Japanese-Brazilians do not look

‘Japanese’ and cannot speak the language, Japanese-Brazilians become discursively constructed as immigrants on the local level.

28 29

Being Japanese The multiple discourses Japanese produce about ‘being Japanese’ are related to

the discourses on immigration and the Japanese-Brazilians. One reason that the Japanese

discourses developed the way they did was because of geographical reasons. Japan’s

geographic isolation leads itself to the creation of discourses of a ‘homogenous’ culture

and ‘island-nation mentality.’ The elite constructed Japan as a homogenous state through

government policy, most specifically the Tokugawa shogunate’s isolationalist policy which lasted around two-hundred years. According to Sellek (2001), the natural isolation due to geography and the artificial isolation created by the Japanese elite forced the

Japanese to live separately from the world which allowed them to develop a distinct cultural and mentality.

This discursive construction by the Japanese elite is based on the perception of a unique relationship between land, people, culture, and language:

In short, a claim is made for equivalency and mutual implications among land, people (that is race), culture, and language, such that those and only those who practice the culture also speak the language and have inherited Japanese ‘blood’ from their forebear, who have always lived on the Japanese archipelago, and that no other person speaks the language natively and practices the culture (Befu, 2001: 71).

Because of this perception, this Japanese discourse constructs identity as being homogenous and permanent (Lie, 2001). Through this discursive construction, many of the government officials and media outlets constructed other national identities to be

ethnically homogenous as well. Even though this is a bit contradictory, it sets up the

notion that ethnicity is bound to citizenship. This discursive construction of citizenship fixes space and place at the nation-state level. In other words, Koreans are considered

Koreans, Chinese are considered Chinese, and so on. Thus, discourse sets up a

dichotomy of “Japanese” versus “non-Japanese.” Lie (2001) states “in the dominant way

of thinking, nationals share descent; others are foreigners forever.”

The discourse of Japaneseness contributes to a sense of cultural exceptionalism in

which some Japanese consider their culture to be unique and superior among other

cultures. This discourse was prevalent among the elite during the Meiji Period. Even though the Meiji elites constructed Japan to be an isolated country, their policies were the impetus behind Japan’s expansion policy during the pre-war era. During this period, the

Japanese felt inferior to the West, and felt the need to imitate the West in order to become more modernized. The Meiji period dissolved the class system established in the

Tokugawa period and re-installed the Emperor as the head of state. During this period, hereditary classes were deemphasized and the ie system, a vertical construction of

Japanese society which made parallels between the familial unit and the state, was reemphasized. By doing this, the Meiji leaders moved towards reinforcing the idea of a homogenous state.

Since the Meiji leaders equated Westernization with superiority, they felt that

Japan was superior to the other nations in Asia. The Meiji elite felt that China and other nations were backward and felt that colonization would benefit these countries since

Japan was a ‘civilized’ country (Sellek, 2001). The Japanese empire was based on the

notion of being an ethnically homogenous ‘family-nation’ with the emperor as the head

and had no place for non-Japanese people except as assimilated imperial subjects with

loyalty to the emperor (Kashiwazaki, 2001). This nationalism was reinforced with the victories over China and Korea. Even though the state rhetoric was to create “one family, one nation” within East Asia, the truth was that Japan was not a resource wealthy country and needed to find more resources in order to modernize. Japan was also going through economic hardships which resulted in a large number of Japanese farmers emigrating to

North America and Latin America.

This discursive construction of Japanese nationalism was severely weakened once

Japan was defeated in World War II. The defeat resulted in the dissolution of the ie system and the Emperor was removed from being the head of state. Many Japanese were so ashamed of their defeat that they tried to forget the pre-war years (Lie, 2001). Japan went from being a culture of ethnocenticism to a culture of remorse (Lie, 2001).

The Re-emergence of Nihonjinron In the 1960s and 1970s, Japan experienced a remarkable amount of economic

growth. Unlike many industrializing countries, Japan was able to achieve this amount of

growth without relying on immigrant workers. The reason Japan did not need immigrant

workers during this period was because the country had a labor surplus; there were many

agricultural workers who wished to work in the industrial sector. In addition, women

were entering the workforce as well. During this time, Japan was near full-employment.

This led both Japanese and non-Japanese alike to believe that Japan was unique

compared to other countries in this regard.

The economic boom that occurred during the 60s and 70s led to the popularity of

Nihonjinron (theory of Japaneseness). According to Lie (2001), the universal theme behind all Nihonjinron writings is the assumption and conclusion that the Japanese people are different and unique. Nihonjinron did not start during 1960s, but rather in the late 1800s during the Tokugawa Period with the publication of Nihonjin in 1888 and the newspaper Nihon in 1889 (Tominaga, 1990). These publications not only discussed what it meant to be part of a nation state, but were literary reactions to the West as well.

Nihonjinron books are extremely popular among Japanese society. About 700 books on Nihonjinron appeared between 1946 and 1976 and more have appeared since then (Aoki, 1990). While some scholars call Nihonjinron an ultranationalist discourse

(Befu, 2001), others suggest that Nihonjinron is a form of Occidentalism (Aoki, 1990) and a form of auto-orientalism. Many western writers who agreed with the discursive construction of the uniqueness and homogeneity of the Japanese people also wrote

Nihonjinron texts as well. One western writer who had considerable success in Japan was

Ezra Vogel (1979). Vogel (1979) wrote Japan as Number One, which became one of the all-time best-selling nonfiction books in Japan (Aoki, 1990). The economic success of

Japan contributed to a revival of Japanese nationalism.

Because Japan was the only industrialized country that did not rely on foreigners as a source of unskilled labor, efforts to discursively construct Japan as a homogenous place was revived by the government and the leading intellectuals at that time. Because of this homogeneity, Japan was also being constructed as being a rather egalitarian society in which everyone is of the middle-class (Lie, 2001).

Unlike the discursive construction of the Japanese during the pre-war and war era,

this discursive construction was focused on the preservation of territorial space as

opposed to the expansion of it. This new Japanese identity was opposed to the pre-war

Japanese identity that was representative of imperialism and a multiethnic world view which destroyed the country (Lie, 2001). As a result, Japan was now being constructed

as a ‘small and peaceful’ nation. Homogeneity represented peace, security, and stability

as opposed to heterogeneity which represented conflict and instability. The Nihonjinron

discourse also led many Japanese to believe that Japan is a nation that has no history of

immigration. Even though there were a number of minorities in Japan during this time, many Japanese scholars still upheld the notion that Japan was a homogenous nation.

According to linguist Takao Suzuki (1980), Japan’s discourse of homogeneity is

made up of a culturally constructed ‘perceived homogeneity’ which upholds homogeneity

regardless of any heterogeneity that might be apparent. Suzuki downplays the

heterogeneity in Japanese society at the time by stating that the Ainu minority is too

small to be considered an issue and the Koreans do not pose a problem because many of

them are culturally assimilated and indistinguishable from Japanese. Befu (2001) states that writers like Suzuki makes a conscious decision to ignore the presence of minorities

in Japan in order to promote their own construction of the Japanese state: “[i]n short, racial and ethnic homogeneity is not an objective fact, it is instead a construct of those who are motivated to promote a certain cultural conception of Japan.”

Surplus to Shortage As discussed in the background chapter, Japan went from having a labor surplus

to a labor shortage in the industrial sector during the 1980s. This labor shortage not only

occurred because many Japanese found factory work to be undesirable, but also because

of changing demographic factors such as the graying of society, a falling birthrate, and a more educated population. Since these labor demands could not be met domestically,

Japanese industries gradually started to employ immigrants from East Asia to work in the factories. Employing these immigrants became problematic for many of these immigrants were illegal visa overstayers. These immigrants were also engaging in illegal activities and according to Japanese immigration law, it is illegal for any immigrant to be employed as an unskilled laborer. Also, many Japanese became concerned with the increasing number of illegal immigrants in the country since they attributed their presence to the rise in crime rates.

The Japanese government looked to find a way in order to appease the Japanese public and to fulfill labor demands in the industrial sector. The majority of government officials knew that the only way this demand could be met was through allowing immigrants to work these jobs. The Japanese government found a solution by creating a

new discourse on immigration and changing its immigration laws in such a way that allowed limited immigration through the admittance of immigrants of Japanese heritage.

Since these individuals are considered Japanese by blood, they are not discursively constructed as ‘immigrants,’ but rather as ‘returnees.’ By modifying the immigration laws in this particular manner, these officials can help meet the labor demands while

upholding the discursive construction of national subjectivity in which Japan is a homogenous country that does not rely on immigrants.

Constructing Migration According to Tyner (2004: 3), “when governments, private recruitment agencies,

employers, employers, activists, and the ‘migrants’ themselves speak of migrations, they

do so within their own discourses, their own understandings, and interpretations.”

In addition, Tyner (2004) also states that the discursive making of “migration” has

legal and governmental consequences for individuals and institutions. Because of the

discursive constructions that the government puts forth regarding migration, Japan has

one of the strictest immigration policies in the world, with only 1.5% of the population

documented foreigners in the country. Even though this seems like a small number, this

percentage represents 1,973,747 foreigners (Japan Statistical Yearbook, 2005). Out of

this number, a large proportion of immigrants come from South America (178,336) and

Brazilians represent 79% (141,580) of the immigrants from South America (Japan

Statistical Yearbook, 2005).

Another way in which the Japanese-Brazilians are discursively produced is

through the word often used to describe Japanese-Brazilians, dekassegi. Ishi (2003)

states that this term was originally applied to peasants in the northern and southern parts

of the country that moved to the big cities for winter seasonal work. The jobs that the

migrants work are also constructed by language used in the popular media. The types of

jobs that these migrants usually are employed are called 3K jobs. The 3K jobs are

considered to be kitsui [hard], kitanai [dirty], and kiken [dangerous]; jobs which are

considered undesirable in Japanese society (Ishi, 2003). One result of the intersection of

these discourses is that the Japanese-Brazilians are perceived as being uneducated and

poor.

As a result of these various discursive constructions, the subjectivities of

Japanese-Brazilians are fragmented. Bonus (2000) argues that subjectivities can be

destabilized by transnational networks of distribution, production, mass communication,

and immigration. Such transnational networks make ethnicity contingent, unstable, and

an open-ended site of contestation between various individuals and institutions (Bonus,

2000).

However, another reason the Japanese-Brazilian subjectivity is unstable has to do with

Japanese-Brazilian subjectivities being constituted out of various ethnicities; while there

are some Japanese-Brazilians for whom both parents were born in Japan, there are other

Japanese-Brazilians for whom neither parent was not born in Japan.

Resistance through Economic Practices For the reasons discussed above, the Nikkei Brazilians were differentiated from

other immigrants because of the discursive constructions that specified ‘unskilled

laborers.’ Since many Brazilians see some economic benefit to working in Japan even

under the label of ‘unskilled laborers,’ they came in order to pursue employment in the

industrial sectors. While there many ways to resist such discursive constructions including political activism, I am primarily interested in the counter discourses that the

Japanese-Brazilians create through their economic performances. Mills (2004) states that through discourse one can map out new terrains in which one can construct different and

potentially more liberating ways in which one can exist. According to Collins (2000),

“there is always choice and power to act, no matter how bleak the situation may appear to

be” (290). As a result, there is no power relation that is totally dominant; power can be

used to challenge power (Mills, 2004). Gibson-Graham (2006) expands on this idea by

exploring how the creation of new alternative economies challenges the hegemony of capitalism. According to Gibson-Graham (2006), our economy is what we discursively make it (xxii). Gibson-Graham seeks to create a new language of economy in order to widen the field of economic possibilities.

Alternative Economic Subjectivities Gibson-Graham (2006) addresses the creation of alternative economic discourses

as they pertain to capitalist development by staying that there are other legitimate

economic activities that do not fall under the capitalist discourse. Such examples of these

non-capitalist economic activities are engaging in unpaid work such as housework,

childrearing, or trading and bartering. I wish to expound upon this idea not by exploring non-capitalist practices, but by exploring the alternative discourses and performances articulated within Japanese capitalist spaces by Japanese-Brazilians.

Out of the various discourses that have been constructed for the Japanese-

Brazilians arises the perception that they tend to work in unskilled labor. Because of this, many Japanese stereotype Japanese-Brazilians as being factory workers. While this discourse does exist, not all Japanese-Brazilians work in factories; some also work in the municipal governments as translators or are business owners. The possibility of such

alternatives creates what Gibson-Graham (2006) calls the potential for ethical self- transformation:

To join such a group is to engage in new practices of the self…in the process, new senses of self are instituted – through self-development as citizens, house designers, investors, or entrepreneurs, through self-recognition of their survival capacities as poor women and migrants, through daily recommitment to the cultivation of solidarity. (xxv).

Gibson-Graham (2006) also emphasizes how we as subjects have the power to imagine and enact new economic politics. By doing this, we bring new ways of thinking about the economy and become different kinds of economic beings (Gibson-Graham, 2006). While many in the government and in Japanese society produces subjectivities of Japanese-

Brazilians in order to uphold the status quo, the Japanese-Brazilians are able to counteract this discourse through the creation of their own discourses to performances. For example,

Japanese-Brazilians can be seen as doing this through their businesses. Those who are engaged in entrepreneurial activities are expanding the ways Japanese-Brazilians think about their economic opportunities in Japan.

In addition, I would like to attempt to build on the relationship between language and discourse and connect it to how space and place are implemented in the economic practices of the Nikkei and performances of Brazilian subjectivities. Weedon (1997) states that the social structures and processes that shape our subjectivities are situated in discursive fields in which language, power relations, and discourses exist, intersect, and produce various ways of giving meaning to and constructing subjectivity. Because there are competing discourses, space is an entity that is not fixed and subject to negotiation.

According to Massey (1994), space and place are dynamic and are constituted out

of social relations. As previously mentioned, trans-national migration from Brazil to

Japan illustrates how space is dynamic; space is always unfixed, contested, and multiple

(Massey, 1994). The Japanese-Brazilians may lose space in the sense of having a sense

of belonging; due to the dominant perception in Japanese society of Japan being a

homogenous country, many Japanese construct space to be homogeneous. According to

this perception, Japanese believe that if one looks Japanese, then they must ‘act’

Japanese. While some Japanese-Brazilians might look ethnically similar on the outside,

they are culturally different from Japanese. As a result of this homogenous

conceptualization of space by Japanese society, in a sense, Japanese-Brazilians have been

dislocated ‘out of space.’

While space is constituted out of social relations, place can be seen as an articulation of those social relations. As with space, place is something that is unfixed

and multiple as well. Due to the migration process, the Japanese-Brazilians also

experience a loss of place because they experience a loss of their homeland. Because of

this, many Japanese-Brazilians miss Brazil and they may compensate for this through the

buying of Brazilian goods. This demand in Brazilian goods contributes to some

Japanese-Brazilians engaging in entrepreneurial practices by creating Brazilian stores that

cater to these needs. Gibson-Graham (2006) states that place is a site of becoming for

these places will allow for new meanings and mappings. These Brazilian places result in

the changing of the Japanese landscape for Brazilian enclaves are being developed in a

place that has been discursively constructed as homogenous. These places discursively

constructed as ‘ethnic’ not only respond to the needs of the immigrants, but are also sites of becoming for they result in the creation of a perceived ‘ethnic community’ in Japan.

These consumption places are unfixed and have multiple discursive constructions as well. They could also be ‘safe places,’ or areas in which Japanese-Brazilians feel free from discrimination. Also, these “Brazilian” places could also be meant as “tourist places,” in which a particular construction of ‘Brazilian’ is being marketed to attract

Japanese customers. One example of this is the popularity of churrasco (Brazilian barbeque) among Japanese. While many Japanese might see this as a food commonly eaten by Brazilians, in reality, Brazilians might not eat churrasco at all. In other words,

Brazilian places in Japan have multiple constructions, which vary from person to person.

Performativity As a result of the fragmentation of subjectivity, there is a sense of alienation between the immigrants and Japanese society. I am basing my work on Mansvelt (2005), who, drawing from Goffman (1971), is interested in the concept of performativity, or the processes of body management and subjectivity formation with social practices that occur in everyday settings (Mansvelt, 2005). I am also basing my work on Butler’s (1996) theory of gender performativity which emphasizes a process of repetition, and produces a gendered subjectivity. Even though Butler’s work is based performing gender, I feel that her theory is applicable to performing alternative economic subjectivities. According to

Butler (1996), subjectivity categories such as race, class and gender, are “sites of necessary trouble” since they are beyond one’s control to fully signify because what is excluded always returns to disrupt this meaning, thus deterring it. Butler (1996) also

states that such categories are meant to regulate people through “hailing” an individual

into a certain order of social existence. The Japanese-Brazilians, who are discursively marginalized in Japanese society, disrupt mainstream society’s idea of the “Japanese-

Brazilian” through their economic activities. As a result of this, it can be seen that the category of “Japanese-Brazilian” is not static, but rather unstable and subject to negotiation.

Through these alternative economic performances, the Japanese-Brazilians are reacting and struggling against the Japanese discourses of the Japanese-Brazilians and homogeneity and are producing new economic “ways of being” for themselves. By doing

this, the Japanese-Brazilians are destabilizing the economic subjectivities produced by

many in Japanese society. The Nikkei do this in part through creating places and spaces

of consumption. These areas function as stages in which Japanese-Brazilians perform

Brazilian subjectivities and create new discourses for themselves. Like language, these acts of performativity are instrumental in the creation of Brazilian subjectivities.

Thus, this work aims to close a conceptual gap found in studies of how transnationalism, migration, consumption relate to subjectivity. While there has been substantial work done on these three subjects, much of the work done on these topics either connected trans-nationalism to migration and subjectivity or connected

commodities to the trans-national process. This work aims to do something that has not

been done before; connecting all three of these subjects together to produce a new

perspective on this issue.

Another gap that needs to be addressed is that this subject has not been

approached from a geographical perspective which emphasizes the discursive

construction of place and space. I would also like to add to the geographic literature

concerning trans-nationalism and commodity culture. Geographers such as Crang et al.

(2003) have done substantial work on transnationalism and the spaces of commodity

culture, but they are more concerned with how commodities circulate. According to

Crang et al. (2003: 447), “commodity circuits allow us to explore the commodification of

‘ethnic’ difference without re-inscribing simple dichotomies between minoritized trans-

nationals and ethnically unmarked members of a nationalized ‘mainstream’ majority.”

As a result, Crang et al. (2003) are more concerned with the multiple actors that play a significant role in trans-national commodity culture such as wholesalers, buyers, retailers, and consumers. While Crang et al. (2003) critique the idea of exploring marginalized trans-nationals in ‘mainstream’ society, for my study, it is integral that I explore how the Japanese-Brazilians are discursively marginalized in Japanese society.

Because of the Japanese-Brazilians are marginalized, they desire to create particular

Brazilian subjectivities which counter the Brazilian discourses created by Japanese society. One way in which the Japanese-Brazilians create these subjectivities is through participating in various economic practices such as running a business or working at a

Brazilian store. Because there is a demand for these Brazilian commodities, places in which these demands can be met are created. Through the creation of these places, the

Japanese-Brazilians have created spaces in which they can perform various Brazilian-

Japanese subjectivities.

I also wish to add to the knowledge of existing work done on Japanese-Brazilians from a different perspective. Many of the work done on Japanese-Brazilians (see Tsuda,

2003; Roth, 2002), have focused on how the Japanese-Brazilians have been exploited. In addition, the existing research on Japanese-Brazilians emphasizes the subjectivity crisis that Japanese-Brazilians face because many who are working in these factories usually come from well-educated and middle class backgrounds. Through my work, I wish to show how this representation of Japanese-Brazilians is only one of many types of representations possible for Japanese-Brazilians who are in Japan.

In this thesis, I show the role that these businesses play in creating other economic and cultural subjectivities for the Japanese-Brazilians. In addition, I explore how these constructions of the Japanese landscape are applied, and disrupt the discursive constructions that describe the Japanese landscape being culturally homogenous. By doing this, I am producing a new discourse on issues related to Japanese-Brazilian immigrants and subjectivity. Finally, I illustrate the alternative economic subjectivities that are present within Japanese capitalism. By examining the intersection of transnationalism, migration, subjectivity and alternative economic spaces and connecting these concepts to the production of space and place, I hope to produce a new discourse on the issue of Japanese-Brazilian immigrants.

Chapter 4 : Methodology

Being Reflexive It is important to discuss my role and positionality within my research, for even

though I am playing the role of ‘researcher,’ I am also taking on the role as ‘researched,’

because the subjects I am researching are also ‘researching’ me as well. In other words, I am as much a subject as the subjects I am researching. I think that such critical reflexivity is important when it comes to conducting my research, for the researcher should always take in consideration how his or her presence is going to affect the subjects in which they are doing fieldwork.

There is an argument within the positivist approach that researchers should be

objective when doing fieldwork. This is problematic, for researchers cannot be as objective as they want to be because they have their own preconceptions about their

research topic which can affect how they interpret their research. Before I went to Japan,

I had preconceptions of the Japanese-Brazilians, but while I was there, I realized that

many of my preconceptions were incorrect and this initiated a change. This change in

conceptions did not take place immediately, but rather gradually changed as I stayed

longer in Japan. Massey (2004: 86) states that “if you take a position that the world out there, or more specifically your object of study, can speak back, that it too is an active

agent in this process of research, then what is at issue is a real two-way engagement.”

Researchers should realize that research is not a static, one-dimensional process, but

rather dynamic; researchers should let their process of doing research change them which

will give them a new understanding of their research and allow them to explore areas that were not previously explored. I initially wanted to focus on the consumption patterns of the Japanese-Brazilians, but after interviewing a few of the business owners, I decided to also focus my research on the role that these businesses play in facilitating the construction of alternative economic subjectivities.

Difference in Perspective One thing that I need to take in consideration is the difference in perspective between my role as a researcher and the Japanese-Brazilians. Even though I have done substantial research on Japanese-Brazilian migration, this knowledge is produced discursively. Because of this, the knowledge I have received might just give one aspect that might not be important as it portrayed. Consumption and performativity might not be significant factors in producing Japanese-Brazilian subjectivities. Many Japanese-

Brazilians might not think of eating or buying certain products as resistance. Also, the tendency of Brazilians going into Brazilian places may be dependent on how integrated they are in Japanese society. In addition, there is a discourse among the current literature on Japanese-Brazilians that constructs them as coming from middle-class backgrounds.

In my case, the majority of my interviewees worked as unskilled laborers in Brazil or were high school students in Brazil.

I also need to be aware of the differences within the Japanese-Brazilian community that can be a source of tension. For example, age-related discourses could play an important role. Also, discourses related to ethnicity should be taken in consideration for some Japanese-Brazilians might have an African heritage while others

have a European heritage. These factors might have an effect on the discursive construction of Japanese-Brazilian spaces and places. For example, maybe ‘African-

Japanese-Brazilians’ go to one store and ‘European-Japanese-Brazilians’ go to another store. In addition to these two factors, not all Japanese-Brazilians come from the middle class. Maybe some Japanese-Brazilians have to save more money than others, thus performing Brazilian subjectivities through consumption might not be as significant in lower-class Brazilians as it is for middle-class Brazilians.

Race and Gender Because I acknowledge that I am not merely an objective observer, I realize that my physical presence as an African-American female affects my fieldwork. Rose (2004) states that the body is culturally constructed; bodies have no particular meaning within themselves, but rather their significance is built by culturally specific meanings given to them. Not only will my knowledge regarding Japanese-Brazilians will have a significant effect on my research, but the discourses that Japanese-Brazilians have towards African-

American females will also affect my research.

My gender is another factor that I need to take in consideration when doing this research. According to Dowling (2005), gender plays an important role in doing research because we often ascribe certain characteristics to people on the basis of gender. Also, interviews also vary with the gender of participants for people tend to react differently between men and women (Dowling, 2005). This is especially true when it comes to interviewing in Japan. According to Christena Turner (1995):

There is very clear gender segregation in most situations in Japan and a high consciousness of gendered differences in

language and cultural practice. One of the consequences of this situation is that women are less threatening because they are less powerful. Another consequence is that a female researcher has the freedom to speak to women and to men alone or in groups, whereas it is more difficult for men to speak either to a woman alone or even to small groups (p.27).

Other considerations that need to be taken in consideration are how gender and race will affect the research, for my gender and race might create an unsettling environment for some of the interviewees. I felt that my gender and race actually gave me an advantage when doing my fieldwork. Even though the majority of Brazilians in

Japan are of Japanese descent, there are many Brazilians in Japan who are of African or

European descent. When I went on site to conduct my interviews, many assumed that I was Brazilian and started to talk to me in Portuguese. Once the storeowners or employees realized that I was not Brazilian, there was no overt negative attitude expressed. Since I looked like a Brazilian, many of them felt more comfortable talking to me even though they knew I was not Brazilian. I also felt that because of my gender, my female respondents could open up more to me.

Another issue that will arise with my research is the fact that I am an “outsider.”

Since I am not Japanese-Brazilian, it might be difficult for people to talk to me freely because I am not ‘one of them.’ The fact that I am African-American could also prove to be problematic when it comes to communicating with the Japanese-Brazilians due to the stereotypes of African-Americans or African-Brazilians that are prevalent in society.

One position that is held about an ‘outsider’ is that their information and interpretation might be less valid than that of an ‘insider’ (Dowling, 2005). Even though it seems that

outsiders are at a disadvantage, it does have some advantages for people might make more of an effort to clearly articulate events (Dowling, 2005).

I feel that even though I might be considered an outsider, I have some experience as being a foreigner in Japan for an extended period of time and have an understanding of how foreigners are discursively marginalized and treated in Japanese society. I also feel that my experience of being a minority in America will be advantageous with opening the line of communication with the Japanese-Brazilians. I feel that in one aspect, I do share some commonality with the Japanese-Brazilians for there is a degree of negative stereotyping that occurs with both ‘Japanese-Brazilians’ and ‘African-Americans.’ While the knowledge of being marginalized for the Japanese-Brazilians is probably very different from mine, hopefully having some common ground on this issue will allow them to be more willing to talk about their experiences with me. Dowling (2005: 26) states that one is never simply an insider or an outsider: “[w]e have overlapping racial, socio-economic, gender, ethnic, and other characteristics. If we have multiple social qualities and roles, as do our informants, then there are many points of similarity and dissimilarity between ourselves and research participants.”

Overcoming Limitations One issue of concern with my research is that I will often be receiving information indirectly through a translator. I must also consider the effect that my translator/cultural contact has on the interview process. Because my translator/cultural contact can speak Japanese fluently and has a government position, he has been able to assimilate more into Japanese society than many other Japanese-Brazilians. Tsuda

(2003) states that Japanese-Brazilians who occupy high-level positions become the target of much resentment and jealousy from unassimilated Japanese-Brazilians which makes them susceptible to being alienated within their own group. Another issue of concern with the translation process is that some of the dialogue can be lost in the translation process. There are some phrases that cannot be directly translated from Portuguese or

Japanese into English that can result in some of the context being lost.

However, there were no major problems with the research process and many of the limitations that I mentioned did not have an overly negative effect with my research.

My status as being an ‘outsider’ actually proved beneficial in conducting my interviews.

Many of my respondents said that they felt more comfortable talking to me about these issues as opposed to talking to a Japanese researcher because I have the perspective of an

‘outsider.’ In addition, my respondents were happy to see that someone who is neither

Japanese nor Brazilian has an interest on the Japanese-Brazilians and many encouraged me to continue with my work. Also, some of my respondents expressed interest in seeing the final product of my research.

Because I was constantly being mistaken as being Brazilian, I decided to teach myself Portuguese during my stay in Japan. Since I already knew Spanish, I was able to pick up Portuguese quickly and by my last interviews, I was able to introduce myself in

Portuguese along with giving a simple explanation of my purpose in Japan. I felt that many of my respondents appreciated the fact that I attempted to learn their language and they were more willing to help me out with my project.

I also felt that the presence of a translator did not negatively affect my fieldwork

as well. Having a third person actually made the environment more comfortable for

everyone. I relied on two types of translators when doing my fieldwork. Half of the

time, I worked with a translator whom I hired who translated from Portuguese to English,

and the other half of the time, I relied on volunteer translators who translated from

Japanese to English. These translators were just more than interpreters, but gave me

guidance on choosing interview sites and gave me insight into the Japanese-Brazilian

community.

The translator who translated from Portuguese to English is Japanese-Brazilian

and had his own positionality towards the Japanese-Brazilian community. He was aware

of perspectives from both the Japanese government and from the Brazilian community

since he worked for the prefectural government. My translators who translated from

Japanese to English were friends who lived in areas that had a high concentration of

Japanese-Brazilians and had an interest in the topic. Both of these translators were

Japanese and felt the need that Japanese should do more to reach out to the Japanese-

Brazilian community.

I also conducted interviews in Japanese jointly with an American who lived in an area with a large number of Japanese-Brazilians. While this might seem to be an impediment on the interview process, it actually allowed me to give a decent interview in

Japanese. The reason that I had assistance in conducting interviews in Japanese is because I am not completely fluent in Japanese. My companion is also not completely fluent in Japanese, but our Japanese is relatively of an upper immediate level. We were

able to formulate the more difficult questions in Japanese after discussing it with each

other. In addition, we consulted with each other when one did not understand parts of the

dialogue with the respondent. In other words, if there was something that I did not grasp,

there was a chance that she understood what the respondent was saying, and vice versa.

In the end, I had little difficultly conducting the fieldwork. While I initially

expected that gender, race, and language issues would create roadblocks on doing this research, they proved beneficial. Finally, I think that my attitude towards my respondents

was one of the main reasons why my fieldwork was successful. I was always courteous

and introduced myself along with giving them my business card. In addition, I would

always say “ajudame por favor” (please help me) after introducing myself. One of my

translators said that saying such a thing would go far with the people I am talking to and he was correct. I feel that it were these small things that allowed me to successfully carry out my research.

Site location and the interview process I decided to do my fieldwork in central Japan focusing on Aichi, Gifu, and

Shizuoka prefectures. While there are a large number of Japanese-Brazilian immigrants in Tokyo and Osaka, central Japan has the largest concentration of Japanese-Brazilians, especially in the city of Hamamatsu in Shizuoka prefecture. Not only was I able to go to

Hamamatsu, but I also went to Yokkaichi which is located in Mie prefecture, and

Toyokawa, Toyohashi, Anjo, Okazaki, and Nagoya which are located in Aichi prefecture.

Another reason that I chose central Japan is because of the various resources that were available there. I had assistance from the geography department at Nagoya University

when it came to obtaining a research space and accommodation. The faculty at Nagoya

University also gave me the names of other researchers who could help me with this project and arranged meetings with them. In addition, the Nagoya International Center was helpful in helping me find a translator who was interested in my project. Also, the

Hamamatsu International Center was extremely helpful as well.

Figure 4.1: Prefectures in which fieldwork was conducted

Figure 4.2: Cities visited when doing fieldwork

I was able to find the Brazilian stores through my translator, cultural contacts and through my own preliminary research. In total, I interviewed a total of 32 people. I interviewed the owners of various businesses such as bars, restaurants, grocery stores, and salons. I also interviewed the employees who worked at those stores along with consumers who frequently go to these stores. I recorded interviews through a digital audio recorder. I decided to use this means to record my interviews because it would be easier to analyze; the audio recording would not only record the conversation that goes on between me and the participants, but it would include the translation of what the participant said. Before I left for Japan, I gave list of sample interview questions to the

Human Subjects board, which they approved.

The questions I asked centered on the Japanese-Brazilian’s life in Japan, consumption patterns, and the impact that their business is having on both the Japanese

and Brazilian community. I also took photographs of the spaces and places of

consumption and performance. In my pictures that included the participants, they are not

be identified. The purpose for taking these photographs was to give a visual

representation of these spaces of consumption which will supplement the interviews and

the social theory. I also picked up various magazines and pamphlets that were published

by the Japanese-Brazilian community. This gave me an insight on how various

businesses were being advertised along with how information was circulated in the

Japanese-Brazilian community.

Some examples of areas that I did observations and interviews were at grocery

stores, restaurants, and clothing stores. One of the groups that I interviewed was owners

of food and clothing establishments. I also interviewed Japanese-Brazilian consumers as

well. Both of these groups gave me insight on how subjectivities were produced in Japan.

I made sure that my subjects are well-informed about the project before going through

with the interview process. I felt that doing individual interviews as opposed to focus

groups would be advantageous because doing interviews will allow me to emphasize the

individual experience of each of my participants as opposed to focus groups in which

certain participants can overpower the group which can lead to many other viewpoints

not being heard. Another reason that I preferred to do individual interviews is because it

would be easier to translate one person at a time as opposed to a group of people. It took

me six weeks to conduct this research. The first to second weeks consisted of developing

community contacts and the third to sixth weeks were dedicated to conducting interviews.

Discourse Analysis I am interested in the discourses regarding the performance of alternative

Japanese-Brazilian economic subjectivities through the creation of consumption patterns.

I further explore these discursive constructions by exploring the role that place plays in

the creation of these alternative subjectivities. One of the types of places that I paid

considerable attention to were Brazilian clothing stores. According to Tsuda (2003: 54),

“Some Japanese Brazilians wear Brazilian clothes in Japan purely for physical comfort or

out of habit, but others do so as a prominent ethnic display of cultural difference, if not

defiance.” As a result of this, there is a high demand for Brazilian clothes that has

resulted in an increase of Brazilian clothing stores (Tsuda, 2003).

I also paid particular attention to the role of Brazilian grocery stores and restaurants as sites in the performance of various Brazilian subjectivities. According to

Bell and Valentine (1997), diasporic communities often maintain a sense of subjectivity

and history through food consumption. This is especially true for consuming Brazilian

food is a way in which the Japanese-Brazilians may construct alternative Brazilian

subjectivities.

Bell and Valentine (1997) state that there are multiple dynamics that surround the

food we eat:

It is packed with social, cultural, and symbolic meanings. Every mouthful, every meal, can tell us something about our selves, and about our place in the world…and in a world in which self-identity and place-identity are woven through webs of consumption, what we eat(and where, and why) signals as the aphorism says, who we are ( p.3).

Eating Brazilian food in Japan has a different meaning than eating Brazilian food in

Brazil. While eating Brazilian food in Brazil is an ordinary event, eating Brazilian food in

Japan is an action that requires effort. According to Linger (2001: 90), eating together

“reinforces sentiments of sameness, even distinction, as people share a table and

incorporate common substances into the body.” The restaurant is not only an eating place, but a social place as well. Not only are Japanese-Brazilians are consuming

Brazilian food, but they are interacting with other Brazilians as well. Linger (2001), who wrote about a popular Brazilian restaurant in Nagoya named “51” states that:

…a Brazilian restaurant such as 51 projects a green-and- yellow beacon of welcome. It offers reassuring food and drink- a bit of mother and home in its cakes and puddings, pastries and skewered meats, stewed beans, and gritty

farinha, cachaça and guaraná. Above all, 51 feeds a hunger for familiar communication, serving up a feast of appetizing, easily digestible words and images. At 51, language circulates without hesitation. Idealized Brazilian- style social interaction-casual, fluid, without adornment- is 51’s most compelling attraction (p.90).

Brazilian restaurants such as 51 are social spaces in which Japanese-Brazilians can ‘be

Brazilian’ not only through eating Brazilian food, but through interacting with other

Brazilians. Through food and community, the Japanese-Brazilians create a space in

which they feel ‘at home.’ As with the clothing stores, the creation of these Brazilian

restaurants came about through the demand of Brazilian food that resulted in the creation

for a place in which Brazilian food can be consumed.

Following the methods of Gibson-Graham (2006), who looked at the economic

geography of the LaTrobe Valley in Australia, I plan to create a narrative by weaving my

interviews, observations, and photographs with social theory and my interpretations.

These quotes are not only meant to reinforce these theoretical concepts and previous

work stated, but to expound on them as well. By interweaving theory with my findings, I

wish to convey the relationship that consumption has on the creation of subjectivities and

the production of space and place.

I will analyze the interviews not only based on my theoretical framework but on

the themes of commodity construction, the construction of Japanese-Brazilian spaces and

places, and the multiple subjectivities present in the Japanese-Brazilian community. I will

analyze these interviews not only with intention of finding these themes, but also to

discover any new themes that come to surface from the interviews. After I go through

the interviews for the first time, I will group various segments of the interviews by broad themes.

The process of going through these interviews will be iterative, for I will go through a process of continuously grouping interview dialogue into specific themes until the information cannot be grouped into any themes that are more specific. Through this method of discourse analysis, I wish to produce a narrative interweaving the established theory, my own conceptualizations, and any new concepts with the informationthat surfaces from my interviews.

Chapter 5 : Analysis

Knowledge is Situated When I first entered Japan, I came with an established knowledge of the discourses related to the Japanese-Brazilians based on the texts of Tsuda (2003), Roth

(2002), Linger (2001), and Ishi (2003). These authors’ work gave me the foundation to create my own representation of the Japanese-Brazilian subjectivities. I thought that the

Brazilians I would meet would be well educated and come from the middle-class.

Because of this, they would feel a loss of status for they go from being members of the middle-class to the lower-class since many of them work in the factory. Since they work in the factory, many Japanese have a perception of them as being uneducated. Because of the differences in the discursive production of the Nikkei Brazilians, there is considerable dissonance in the economic subjectivities. I expected there would also be a fragmentation of subjectivity because in Brazil the Nikkei are considered to be ‘Japanese’ and in Japan, the Nikkei are labeled as ‘Brazilian.’ At least that is how Tsuda (2003), Roth (2002),

Linger (2001), and Ishi (2003). represented the Nikkei Brazilians. Ishi (2003) states that:

According to the last census, the majority of Nikkei in Brazil held ‘urban middle class’ status: 90 percent of the population lived in urban areas, with only 23 percent of them earning less than five minimum-salaries a month. Moreover, several surveys confirm that the social profile of dekasseguis was similar to that of the general Nikkei community in Brazil. One such survey, commissioned by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA 1992), found that more than 40% of Nikkei living in Japan had graduated from universities and that

most held white-collar jobs just prior to leaving for Japan (p.77).

Tsuda (2003) also represents the Japanese-Brazilians as being middle-class, but having variations in occupation and economic level:

Although a majority of the Japanese Brazilians can be broadly classified in Brazil as middle class, considerable differences still exist among them both in terms of occupational level and economic wealth. While many of them are white-collar office workers or professionals, their occupations range from factory workers, farmers, and small business owners to doctors, lawyers, and engineers (p.127).

I informed my translator about these representations of the Nikkei Brazilians, and he disagreed with these statements. He said that many of the Nikkei in Aichi and Gifu prefectures come from the countryside and are not generally well educated. At that point,

I realized that the representations in the previous literature and narrative and the representations I discovered during my stay were very different.

I am not rebuking what these writers have written, but it is clear that the discoveries I have made in my field work differ from other previous work on Japanese-

Brazilians. There could be many factors which have contributed to this difference in knowledge, such as location and the time spent in a particular location. These differences in knowledge show that knowledge is something that is situated; because knowledge is situated and is contingent on various factors, perhaps it is only natural that the Nikkei representations that I discovered and the previous constructions of Nikkei differed.

Brazilian Occupations One factor that may contribute to the difference between my work and the work

of the scholars discussed previously has to do with the occupations of the Nikkei when

they were in Brazil. According to much of the previous work, many Nikkei Brazilians

held white-collar jobs in such fields as education and engineering. Since I based my knowledge of the Nikkei on this previous work, I expected to find a lot of Brazilians who used to work in these professions; instead, I found quite the opposite. I found that the

Nikkei came from all walks of life. Some held blue-collar jobs in Brazil such as housekeeping or maintaining elevators. Others owned businesses in Brazil. There were a significant number of Nikkei who came to Japan while they were students. I also talked to some Brazilians who were engineers or worked for a major newspaper in Brazil.

Destablization of Japanese-Brazilian Subjectivities While my experience differs from Tsuda (2003), Linger (2001), Roth (2002), and

Ishi (2003), I did find that the construction of many of the Nikkei subjectivities were

destabilized along lines of nationality. Some mentioned that in Japan they are considered

Brazilian and not Japanese:

When I was in Brazil, I was considered Japanese, but when I came to Japan, I was considered to be a foreigner. I was not called a ‘gaikokujin’(more polite term for the word ‘foreigner’) but a‘gaijin’ (more derogatory term for the word ‘foreigner’).”(Alice, employee at Hamamatsu International Center)

Others mentioned that this identification was contingent on the person: while some

people called them Brazilians, others would call them Japanese. This shows that the

discursive constructions of Nikkei subjectivities are fluid. Because of the fluidity of these constructions, some of the Nikkei have trouble themselves when it comes to identifying with either being Japanese or Brazilian:

When I went to Brazil, people thought I was Japanese. When I am in Japan, people think I am Brazilian. I don’t know which one I am.” (“Kenji,” clothing store owner).

“Haruo” expressed the feeling that this fluidity in subjectivity also resulted in the Nikkei

being nation-less individuals:

After years, we get it. We know that we don’t have a nation after a few years (“Haruo,” computer store owner).

This aligns with Butler’s argument that, (1996), subjectivities are unstable and subject to

negotiation. As “Haruo” suggests, subjectivities are always changing; because many

immigrants tend to leave and return to Japan multiple times, they may experience a loss

of place in the sense of having a homeland.

Prevailing Discursive Constructions of the Japanese-Brazilians I discovered that there were three narrative themes that were prevalent in

the discursive construction of the Nikkei subjectivities; representations based on

economic relations, representations based on culture, and representations that arise due to

tensions between the Nikkei and the non-Nikkei communities.

The economic based representations focused on the notion that some of the

Nikkei worked in the factories. By being stereotyped as only being able to do factory

work, they were bound to this economic way of being. The culture-based representations

were propagated through narratives in the Japanese media. The Japanese mass media has been extremely instrumental in creating a negative perception of Brazil and of Brazilians.

In the media, Brazil is portrayed as a primitive country and these media images further

reinforce the negative perception that many Japanese have about the Japanese-Brazilians.

Finally, there were ethnicity-based representations that were constructed of Brazilians

within the Nikkei community itself. These representations are based on perceived

differences between the Nikkei and the non-Nikkei Brazilians. While some of the

interviewees state that they do not want to do anything to be recognized as Brazilian for

fears of being discriminated against, non-Nikkei are often perceived as less cautious and

having a tendency to be ostentatious about their Brazilian heritage. Some of the

interviewees also blame the behavior of non-Nikkei for contributing to the negative

perceptions of regarding Brazilians in Japan.

Ethnicity-based Representations One thing that the current work on the Brazilians in Japan fails to mention is the

various positionalities amongst the immigrants. All of the Brazilians are represented as a

unified group. However, there is an important difference in the constructions of the

Nikkei Brazilians and the non-Nikkei Brazilians. Even though such scholars as Tsuda have discussed these conflicts in Brazil, there has not been a discussion of how the issue of ‘ethnicity’ is manifested in the constructions of immigrants in Japan.

Tsuda (2003) states that in Brazil, many Japanese-Brazilians characterize themselves as being honest, intelligent and hard-working while other Brazilians are seen

as dishonest, irresponsible, and dishonest. Aspects of this discourse have been

transplanted to Japan since there are a large number of non-Nikkei Brazilian immigrants

in Japan. One reason that there are many non-Nikkei Brazilians in Japan is because many

of them are married to Japanese-Brazilian immigrants. The 1990 amendment of the

Immigrant Control Act made the process easier for non-Nikkei Brazilians to obtain a

Spouse of Japanese visa (Tsuda, 2003). Another reason is that some of them come in

order to do missionary work or they come on a tourist visa but end up overstaying their

visa and finding some employment in Japan.

As mentioned above, several of the interviewees mentioned that they try not to do

anything that will get them noticed as Brazilians, but they feel that the non-Nikkei have

no problem with publicly displaying that they are Brazilians. Because of this, these

interviewees try not to stay or work in areas with a large Brazilian immigrant population.

According to interviewee Gerson,

They want to work…especially the Nikkei, but they don’t want to get involved because there are too many Brazilians there and they will find a lot of trouble. Sometimes in Brazil, the Nikkei are called Japanese, and here they are called ‘gaijin.’ So sometimes their identification gets confused and that’s why there is discrimination. When they go to a company, they say ‘you’re gaijin, you’re gaijin.’ Because a few people make trouble.

Gerson’s statement illustrates the intersection of the ethnicity-based representations of the Nikkei and Japanese perceptions. This intersection shapes the construction of Nikkei subjectivities because of the desire not to be recognized as being

‘Brazilian,’ which would result in them, being labeled as troublemakers. Even though

Gerson recognizes that only a few ‘Brazilians’ make trouble in Japan, it is that small number which contributes to the immigrants being discursively constructed as deviant.

According to “Niko,” there are subjectivities that are enacted within the immigrant community that do not even exist in Brazil:

Because they are in this environment of Brazilians, they only people that they know are these type of Brazilians. That’s why they want to act like ‘normal’ Brazilians in Japan. Some of these Brazilians you cannot find in Brazil. This is behavior only specific to Brazilians who live in Japan.

The new subjectivities that are enacted are performances of ‘Brazilian’ culture in Japan and differ from cultural performances in Brazil. This points to the importance of place in the destabilization of subjectivities. While Brazil territorially might be static, the discursive constructions of the Brazilian country are not static. Nikkei immigrants view their country differently in Japan. These new Brazilian subjectivities are not based on enactments of Brazilian culture in Brazil, but rather of ‘Brazilian’ culture in Japan.

“Paula” felt th at these enactments of new Brazilian subjectivity were common because the immigrants change their behavior once arriving in Japan:

Some people come here…and they make problems. Why do they make problems? While they were living in Brazil, they had to seek the rules of their families and when they come here, they feel free, so that’s why they can do whatever they want. Some people act like this.

Coming to Japan seems to be more than just a change of place for the immigrants. When they leave Brazil, they are not only leaving their home, but also the social constructions that shaped their subjectivities in Brazil. In Japan, the immigrants may feel that they are

free from the rules of their families, which allows them to break the rules and cause trouble.

Economic-based Representations The major stated reason why many immigrants come to Japan is because of economic reasons. As with their parents and grandparents, the Nikkei may leave their home country because of bad economic conditions. Since the reasons for leaving and returning to Japan were based on escaping an economic depression, their experiences are shaped by narratives of the Japanese who feel that the predecessors of the Japanese-

Brazilians gave up on Japan too early instead of enduring the bad times. Thus, their descendants are repeating their actions by ‘giving up’ on Brazil and coming to Japan.

This was expressed in an interview between Tsuda (2003) and a Japanese official who worked for the Oizumi municipal government:

We Japanese say ganbare (keep trying and put in the effort) and We don’t give up easily. The Japanese are originally village people. They stay where they are born and don’t move around. So if you abandon and leave your country because of problems, this is disapproved of and not liked. One should stay and try one’s best, as a matter of necessity (p.106-107).

Not only are the Nikkei immigrants portrayed as ‘traitors,’ but of limited ability as well.

Tsuda (2003) states that:

Because most Japanese emigrants to Brazil originated from poor rural areas and left the country because of serious economic difficulties, they were seen by many of the Japanese I spoke with as uneducated people of low social class who did Not have the ability to survive economically in Japan and thus had no choice but to abandon their

homeland and emigrate abroad to escape their hopeless poverty (p.105).

These perceptions expressed by some Japanese people are incorporated into a broader narrative in Japanese society on place, culture, and people. According to this narrative, since the Japanese people and culture are tied to Japan as a place, the act of leaving Japan is considered one rejecting one’s country and people. The only people who would do such a thing are people who are considered to be poor and of low intellectual ability. The negative perception of the Japanese-Brazilians in this narrative is further intensified when many Japanese presume that these immigrants have come to Japan because they are failures in Brazil. Since the immigrants are portrayed as failures and with limited potential, it is only natural that they would work in the factories.

Some of the Japanese express negative feelings of Brazilians because of they are seem to be too motivated by money. According to “Paula,” an owner of a computer store in the outskirts of Nagoya:

Some people want to learn about the Brazilians but most do not want to. I think they see us as a people who come here to get money and go back to our country. Maybe in their minds, they have [a] concern about this.

Of course, the immigrants resist these perceptions and express very different economic- based representations. Many of the immigrants move to Japan because they can make more money working in the factories in Japan than they could with their previous job in

Brazil. As a result, life revolves around working and making money:

In Brazil, we have a life that is more comfortable and

here we have to work all the time. Here [Japan] we work to live. There [Brazil] we live to work (“Paulo,” factory worker).

However “Paulo” also elaborated by saying Brazilians had to work hard in order to send money back to their families:

We work here…we only can have basic things here. When we save money, we send it to Brazil to buy things. We always think of our family (“Paulo,” factory worker).

The economic-based representations also intersect with the previously described ethnicity-based representations. Some of the interviewees stated that the Nikkei who work in the factory are too overly attached to money, which makes them closed-minded.

One Nikkei non-factory worker had a negative perception of immigrants who work in factories.

The people who work in the factory only have the objective to save money and return to Brazil. Sometimes they are only here for one to two years, and even though they are supposed to be ‘temporary,’ they stay around for 10 to 15 years. They don’t live here and they don’t live there. These are the kind of people who work in the factory. And those who work other kinds of jobs…people are more open-minded because we have contacts with other people. We live in the center. We can go out all the time. It’s different. It’s completely different. (Maria, employee at a clothing store)

This suggests that there is not only a negative narrative regarding the factory workers within the Japanese community, but also within the immigrant community as well. In this narrative, factory workers are not only regarded as being primarily motivated by money, but are considered one-dimensional people as well. In a sense, some of the non-factory workers might feel that they are more open-minded because they do not work in

factories. My translator remarked that in some instances the people who do not work in the factory feel they are superior to the people who work in the factory. As a result, some non-factory workers tend to hold a negative perception of factory workers.

Another dimension to the economic-based representations centers on consumption patterns. While many immigrants do work in order to send remittances back to Brazil, some have also expanded their consumption activities. Scholars such as Ishi (2003) state that the consumption of goods can be considered a way to resist the negative representations of them created by Japanese. As one respondent said: “[t]he more you get, the more you want to live better in Japan” (“Roberto,” factory worker). However, not all Brazilians portrayed their ability to consume more in Japan as a positive thing.

“Niko,” an employee at an electronics store in Osu shares this sentiment:

The majority of the people who come to Japan to work here… they come from the countryside. So for example, like someone who lives in the country has the power to buy things once they come to the city. Once coming here…they start making money and they buy what they want. As long as they work…I think it changes the mind of the people and they start to get a little snobby. Because these people have become snobby, they get into problems with the Japanese. That’s what I think. When someone becomes snobby, this person has a hard time working a particular job. There’s some people who follow the Japanese way of living, like me. There’s other people who don’t understand the culture and they turn to be snobby. And that’s why there is division between the Japanese and Brazilian communities.

This point is contrary to the idea that consumption can be empowering. According to

“Niko,” consumption is the very thing that is the downfall for many Brazilians. In his

view, these Brazilians become very snobby when they are able to consume more, it results in a further polarization of social space between the Japanese and the immigrants.

Another difference that is found between my work and Tsuda’s (2003) and Ishi’s

(2003) work on the subject of consumption has to do with the consumption of Brazilian products. Much of the work on the Japanese-Brazilian immigrants argue that the Nikkei develop a sense of heightened nationalism once they go to Japan and they become proud to be Brazilian. According to Tsuda:

A common way through which the nikkeijin display their Brazilianness to the Japanese is through dress, which is among the emblems most frequently used to symbolize ethnic difference and identity. Although their manner of dress is naturally different from the Japanese, some deliberately wear distinctive Brazilian clothes to catch the attention of the Japanese (p.277-278).

As a result, they increase their consumption of Brazilian products such as t-shirts and hats with the Brazilian flag or colors.

When I asked my interviewees about this, the majority said that they do not wear these types of shirts. First of all, some of the interviewees stated that it is the Brazilians not of Japanese descent who wear these shirts. From their perspective, when Nikkei come to Japan, they usually try not to do anything that would make them stick out:

The Nikkei do not want to be explosive; they do not want to show anything. When they come here, it’s kind of a protection.(“Vitor,”owner of a Brazilian food store).

Gerson, the owner of the Takara chain of markets and the president of the

Associação Comercial Brasilera No Japão (Commercial Association of Japanese-

Brazilians) also expressed similar feelings:

The Brazilians not of Japanese descent usually wear these kinds of shirts to expose that they are Brazilians. Like Nikkei, like ourselves, we don’t want to show that we are real Brazilians. We are more worried to say we havea Brazilian background in Japan. So mostly people who wear those thingsare non-Nikkei Brazilians.

These two statements further illustrated the intersection of the ethnicity-based narratives and the economic-based narratives, suggesting that they not only shape employment, but consumption as well.

Culture-based Representations The cultural construction of the Nikkei immigrants in Japanese society is based on a number of narratives. Due to such factors as increasing immigration and economic relations with other countries, many have argued that Japan has become more internationalized in the last twenty years. Many Japanese now express an interest in other cultures and some have traveled or lived abroad. While many Japanese are very interested in North America, Europe, and Australia, there are a large number of Japanese who express a special interest in Latin and South America. One reason is because the culture and people of these areas have gained considerable exposure in Japan, such as Brazilian players playing on the Japanese national soccer team, and pop singers who are of

Japanese and Latin American heritage.

While it seems that Japanese tolerance of foreigners is increasing, on the other hand, there are still a lot of Japanese who express concern regarding the increasing presence of foreigners in Japan, especially the increasing Brazilian immigrant population.

As stated previously in this narrative, the foreigner population is a threat to peace and stability in Japan.

When I asked the Nikkei about the most negative aspect of living in Japan, the majority of them said that in Japan there is much discrimination towards them. Many of the Nikkei expressed feelings that Japan had a negative image of Brazil and of Brazilians.

One of the narratives that the immigrants responded to in my interviews was that

Brazilian immigrants are disorganized and that they are not able to follow the rules of

Japanese society. “Paula” showed hints of frustration when talking about the attempt to understand the rules:

They think that the Brazilians are not organized. The Japanese are very strict. The Brazilians are more liberal. Sometimes they don’t like the Brazilians because they make a party or something like that. Or maybe they are afraid of Brazilians. Japanese society is very closed and has very strict rules. And most of the time we don’t know the rules! Because it’s so closed and sometimes it’s hard to get to know the rules. Because they are closed. They don’t open…they don’t say what the rules are.

In this narrative, since the Brazilians are not organized and can’t follow the rules, they are seen as deviants:

They are afraid of Brazilians. Like they think we are going to do something wrong to them (“Angela,” salon owner).

This representation of Brazilians, in which all of them are potential criminals, contributes to a perceived criminalization of the Brazilian population. This representation of

Brazilians is further proliferated by the Japanese media. Many of the Brazilians do not trust the media because of the media’s mainly negative construction of the Brazilian

immigrants. According to “Angela,” the owner of an aesthetic salon in Anjo, the Japanese

media does not show the good side of Brazil:

Have you heard about the Iguazu Falls? It’s located between Argentina and the Brazilian province of Parania. Brazil has a lot of beautiful things and those things should be the things that are shown to the world. We only don’t have Carnival, raw things like that.

The media narratives are saturated with images of the Amazon and Carnival, which consequently produces a perception of Brazil as a raw and primitive place, in contrast with Japan, a place that is considered civilized and technologically advanced. “Marcos,” who worked at “Angela’s” beauty salon said that Brazil is perceived to be a country with no credibility when compared to Japan and the US:

Japan and the US are first-world countries, but they say that Brazil is a third-world country and they say ‘we Brazilians don’t have anything to offer,’ but this is not true.

Not only is Brazil constructed to be a less civilized country because of its culture and its people, but also because it is a third-world country. It seems that the immigrants feel that the Japanese not only think that they are superior to them because of their culture, but also because of their country’s economic status.

While there were some immigrants who blamed the Japanese media for contributing to the negative portrayal of Brazilians, there were other immigrants who expressed the sentiment that Brazilians themselves were just as much to blame as well.

These immigrants stated that many Brazilians have not made any effort to learn about

Japanese culture or tried to be friendly to Japanese. Instead of the immigrants playing

‘victim’ to Japanese discrimination, they felt that should make more of a concentrated effort to understand Japanese people and society:

I think that the Brazilians need to have more interest in Japanese culture and automatically once the Brazilians get more interested, the Japanese will try to help them. I have spoken to some Japanese people and they told me that they wanted to know more about Brazilians and its culture. Before I worked here, I worked in a factory with other Brazilians. And even the Brazilians there did not have any interest in learning more about the Japanese working there. The Brazilians need to have more interest…they need to try harder (“Adrianna,” employee at a clothing store).

“Angela” echoed this sentiment and stated that when the Brazilians respect the Japanese, the Japanese will respect them in turn:

We as foreigners in Japan should try to do our best and improve our life here. We have to show the Japanese that we respect them. And maybe after that, they will respect us.

There were also some immigrants who had mixed opinions on the negative representations of Brazilians by the Japanese media. These people stated that while there are an increasing number of Japanese who have become interested in Brazilians, there are also a significant number of Japanese who not want to associate with the Brazilians.

These Japanese are seen to be able to distinguish between the ‘good’ and ‘bad’

Brazilians, instead of grouping all Brazilians in one category. According to “Haruo”, who is the husband of “Paula,” things have changed in the last 15 years:

I believe Japanese have mostly a good image of Brazil, but most of the population do not know what is Brazil. They only know superficially. They know that it’s a very poor country or about the Amazon. I met people who thought Brazil equals the Amazon and that people didn’t havecars in Brazil. That was about 15 years ago. This is the

countryside of Nagoya. That’s why people think like that. Before I came here, I worked For five years as an engineer in Brazil. When I came here, I worked a littlebit at the factory. I was able to communicate with people who were at the top of the factory. The majority had problems relating to the Brazilians because they didn’t have any experience talking about intercultural matters. Now it’s changing.

Japanese-Brazilian Narratives of Japan and the Japanese

While Japanese society has produced a variety of narratives about the Brazilian immigrant population, the Nikkei have produced narratives regarding the Japan as well.

Some of these narratives have been the driving force for the Nikkei to come to Japan.

Even though the Nikkei may see some benefit of coming to Japan, it does not mean that they do not perceieve obstacles which prevent them from feeling at home in Japan. Many of the Brazilian immigrants expressed feelings of saudade (homesickness), and others have expressed difficulty adjusting to Japanese life due to the differences in culture and language.

Japan Being Safe And Secure When I asked my Nikkei respondents about the biggest benefit of living in Japan,

almost unanimously, the answer was “Japan is safe and secure.” The Nikkei also said that

the Japanese people were very honest. Japan is not only constructed as being a safe

country in the sense of personal security, but also Japan is seen as being a financially

secure country compared to Brazil. Since Japan is seen as a more financially secure

country, this is one of the main motivations for the Nikkei to come to Japan. They feel

they can come and make a lot of money working in the factories. In addition, some of the

interviewees stated that the Nikkei can double their income by working overtime. Not

only can they make more money in Japan, but also they know if they work, they will be

ensured a monthly salary.

Japan Being Organized and Structured In addition to narratives of Japan being a safe and secure country, many Nikkei

that I talked to also stated that Japanese society was organized and structured. They felt

that unlike in Brazil, in Japan, events start and end on time. The Japanese are also seen as

well behaved, respectful, and not rude. Even though some immigrants praised the

Japanese because of these attributes, others felt that the Japanese might be too strict to the

point where it leads to conformity. According to “Niko”:

This is only my point of view. Me and my friends. They are very polite. Very strict. I think they are very systematic. Something like…for example, I want to buy a Louis Vuitton bag. So everyone will buy one. So it’s kind of a closed-minded society. They are focused on what everyone else is doing.

Since Japan is perceived as being a conformist society, they felt that it can be difficult to

adjust to the rules. Because of this, space in Japan was seen as homogenous to many

Nikkei. Even though some immigrants saw this behavior of Japanese as conformist, it is

only one dimension of Japanese group dynamics. Another characteristic of the Japanese

group dynamic narrative is the sense of being part of a group and not being left out.

Difficulties Adjusting While many Japanese-Brazilian immigrants expressed the belief that Japan is a safe, polite, and organized country, many also expressed difficulties in adjusting to the

Japanese lifestyle. Since a large number of the immigrants cannot speak Japanese, it

made everyday dealings with Japanese people difficult. In addition, work conditions

were perceived to be difficult. Many of the immigrants stated that they have to work a lot

and they don’t have time to be with their family and friends. A second reason that they

have difficulty with living in Japan is because the country is perceived to be closed and

homogenous. According to some of the immigrants, Japan is not used to foreigners

compared to other countries:

This country is an island, right? That’s why this country isn’t used to foreign people. Like 20 years ago, a lot of Chinese and Koreans were here, but they are still not used to foreigners. I lived in the Amazon and when I went there, the Indians were always suspicious or worried. So it’s very difficult that you come to a place which is…Brazil is an immigrant country (Roberto, factory worker).

One immigrant even compared living in Japan to living in a society surrounded by a bubble:

I think Japan is like a big bubble. When you live here, you live in a big bubble because in other countries the reality is different” (Maria, employee at a clothing store)

For these immigrants, Japan is perceived to be homogenous because of its insularity: since Japan is an island nation, it tends to be more isolated from the rest of the world compared to other countries. While Brazil is constructed as place where immigration is part of the national norm, Japan is constructed as a place where homogeneity is part of its national norm.

Issues with Japanese People Since many of the immigrants constructed Japanese space as being polarized, they

felt making friendships with Japanese was difficult. “Maria,” an employee at a Brazilian

clothing store who can also speak English, Spanish, and Japanese, voiced difficulty in making Japanese friends:

When they first meet you, it seems okay. After that, they start to become distant. First, if you speak English, they want to practice it. Some interesting friendship. They call you sometimes and sometimes you don’t have time because we are busy and after that, they go…I don’t know. It’s not easy. We think different about many things. And the system here for lifestyle…it’s different. Just friends for some time. Not forever.

According to “Maria,” one reason that it is hard to make friends with Japanese is because she feels that many friendships with Japanese have a catch to them; to her, many

Japanese who want to be friends with foreigners do so in order to improve their English.

Also, it is difficult to make friends with Japanese because they think differently from

Brazilians. Another reason they expressed as to why they have difficulty getting along with Japanese people is because the Japanese seem fake:

Sometimes the Japanese people are a little fake. Like sometimes they look polite and seem understandable. But when you don’t follow the rules or what they say, they get angry or it opens a barrier and it turns to be difficult to deal with them. They don’t show any discrimination, but you can feel it (“Paula,” owner of a computer store).

Even though many of the immigrants I spoke with felt that Japanese were cold and fake, this is not the only narrative regarding Japanese/Nikkei relations. Other immigrants have acknowledged while these kind of people do exist, there are an

increasing number of Japanese who want to understand the Brazilians better. Alice, an employee for Hamamatsu International Center voiced this opinion:

Because there’s a lot of Brazilians living here, there’s an increasing number of Japanese who want to go to Brazil. They have friends who are Brazilians. They hear their stories, and it makes them want to go to Brazil. Those type of people are increasing. On the other hand, there are still a lot of people who think that Brazilians are criminals and that they do bad things. They don’t want to forget the bad things. In the past, Japanese only thought of soccer, Amazon, and Carnival when they thought of Brazil. But recently, there’s a lot of Japanese who understand that not all Brazilians are like that.

In this view, the increasing number of Japanese having interest in Brazil is causing a gradual integration of space between the Japanese and the Brazilians. Because of this, Japan is becoming less of a ‘bubble’ since the number of Japanese going abroad is growing; they are leaving the ‘bubble’ and expanding their understanding of different cultures through their travels abroad. To the immigrants, these Japanese tend to be more open-minded compared to those who haven’t gone abroad:

I observed that people who went outside…went abroad are a little more open-minded. People who have never been out of Japan, they are closed. I saw on TV days ago…there was an interview about the Japanese perception of foreigners. Some of them said that having foreigners in Japan is a good thing, but there are others who never went abroad and exposed themselves as closed-minded people, they said that the foreigner presence in Japan is a bad thing. (“Haruo, computer store owner)

Therefore, while many Japanese-Brazilians might feel that in general, the

Japanese are closed-minded, too systematic, and live in a ‘bubble’ society, others recognize that all Japanese are not like this.

The Creation of Brazilian Places Within the last twenty years, there has been an emergence of immigrant

businesses such as travel agencies, grocery stores, clothing stores, and restaurants. These

stores provide certain goods and services that cannot be provided at Japanese owned

establishments. Many immigrants stated that one problem with adjusting to Japan has to

do with the people and culture, but several also had problems as being able to fit into

Japanese shoes and clothing. There were complaints by a significant number of women I

talked to about Japanese pants not being able to fit their body. In addition, some

interviewees said that Japanese clothes tend to be too neutral for them. According to one clothing storeowner, Japanese tend to wear a lot of black, grey, white, and dark blue while Brazilians like to wear more colors.

Not only do the immigrants desire the food and clothes of their country, but they expressed a desire to buy Brazilian newspapers, movies, and books, in order to keep up with the trends in their country. In addition, many immigrants stated that they cannot read or speak Japanese, so some of them have difficulty in knowing what type of aesthetic products to get. Any Brazilian products which enter Japan are required to have a Japanese

label on them stating ingredient information and instructions on how to use the product.

At the Brazilian stores, the immigrants are able to get an explanation on how to use these

products since some storeowners can read and speak Japanese.

Therefore, these places are not merely places of consumption; while some

Japanese-Brazilians come to these stores in order to just buy things, other Japanese-

Brazilians stated that they come to these stores for other reasons. These establishments

are seen as places to get information about Brazil along with job and visa information.

“Vitor,” the owner of Brazilian Foods in Okazaki, realizes that his store plays a variety of

roles in the immigrant community:

Someone can really notice that here is not only a place to buy or sell things. People can come here and communicate, get information. When they come here, they can get information about new jobs (“Vitor,” owner of a Brazilian food store).

Some of the people who work at the store feel that their role of giving out information to

the Brazilian community is a big responsibility. The store owners feel that they need to

make sure that they are giving out the correct information since people are relying or

their advice, and since many immigrants who come to ask for their advice do not trust

even the Brazilian media in Japan.

Figure 5.1: Many Brazilian stores have information board displays in which Brazilians can obtain information about various events and services in the area.

Figure 5.2: One of the free publications that focus on issues that concern Nikkei.

Some stated that the Brazilian businesses are also places where friends can meet

and release stress. As mentioned before, many of the Brazilians cannot speak Japanese,

so it can be hard to make friends because they do not know who is Brazilian or who can

speak Portuguese.

Like when we go outside, we have to find someone from our country just to speak and talk…people want to relieve stress which is why many people come here. (“Angela,” salon owner).

At these establishments, they feel they are able to converse with others in their native

language, and as a result, spaces of mutual understanding are produced. By doing this,

these stores are creating a space of belonging for the immigrants, spaces which many

Brazilians feel they cannot find in Japanese society.

In addition, Brazilian places are seen as places of building friendships and creating spaces for intercultural exchange. They feel that places like restaurants and bars are especially a good way for Japanese to meet Brazilians and other foreigners as well. In

these sites, spaces of intercultural understanding are created In addition, the Japanese are

able to engage in an intercultural exchange with the immigrants by establishing

friendships with them. According to “Arturo,” a bar owner in Yokkaichi, the regular

Japanese and Brazilian immigrant customers have become like family:

Customers here…in my opinion…most of the Japanese customers would like to know about Brazil…like what it’s like over there. The most thing I get is ‘it’s like the Amazon…it’s like a jungle.’ This place is a good place to get information about Brazil too. Especially for Japanese people who are interested in Brazil. They come here to ask about Brazil and everything. It’s a good place to make friends too. When they first come here, they are kind of nervous. After they come here several times, they get used to it…they sing karaoke and everything...make friends with each other. We also go fishing on the weekends. The most important word that you can remember here is ‘amigo’ because everyone calls each other ‘amigo.’

These sites are far from just being places to buy things. They are seen as places in which they can build spaces of belonging for themselves, and spaces of understanding between them and the Japanese. While space is usually polarized outside these establishments, inside, new spaces of belonging are created. The creation of these spaces hint to a possibility that the Japanese and immigrants can co-exist.

Creation of Alternative Economic Subjectivities These places also become sites where alternative economic subjectivities are produced. As stated above, many Japanese express a single economic narrative for the immigrants in which they are is bound to the factory. While in the factory, they may be exploited and marginalized but through these sites of alternative forms of capitalistic activity may emerge and many are empowered by resisting the negative narrative put upon them. According to “Adriana”, a worker at a clothing store in downtown Nagoya,

This gives us some type of opportunity…there are some people who work at the factories who feel like a commodity. They just go home and they go to the factory to work. There are another kind of people who have a different mind and if they give some effort, they can find some opportunities that they can’t find in Brazil. It depends on the person.

These alternative economic subjectivities enacted at immigrant businesses also resist the Japanese narrative that Brazilians are not organized and shows that they do have a good infrastructure. An example of this is found at the Prime Driving Schools, a

Brazilian immigrant driving school chain that is found in Aichi, Gifu, and Shizuoka prefectures. “Vincente,” an employee at Prime Driving School, talked about how his dealings with the Japan Driver’s License Issuing Authority have improved because of the

company’s ability to show that they were just as organized as the Japanese driving schools:

At the beginning, when the Prime Staff started to go there (Japan Driver’s License Issuing Authority), they were not well treated because of the image they had of the Brazilians. And after working with them for a while, they noticed that we are doing the same thing that the Japanese schools are doing…we teach and do the proper paperwork. And now they are starting to be kinder to us.

Such alternative subjectivities often center on showing the Japanese that they have the capacity to engage in economic practices other than working in the factory.

“Angela” felt that many Japanese are impressed to see that the Brazilians are able to run a business:

One day my former Japanese co-workers asked me, ‘where are you working?’ I said that I was running this place and sometimes they don’t believe it. I show them my business card and they get impressed. Some of them…they really like to hear that I could improve my life for myself.

“Angela” had an interest in opening a beauty salon because she had previous experience with this type of work in Brazil, and she enjoyed the work. In addition, she feels that her salon can be a place which shows the Japanese that Brazilians are able to do more than work in the factory.

Multiple narratives regarding a particular site makes it subject to negotiation and power dictates which version of place is reproduced. As Angela mentioned previously, sometimes she feels that her salon is a place to release stress, and other times it can be a place in which one can get their hair done. Thus, her salon can become a site of

subjectivity construction that is contingent on how she defines it at a particular point in

time.

The interviewees also stated that many Japanese are impressed with these stores

because some of the staff are able to speak multiple languages. This is contrary to the

narrative that Brazilians can only speak Portuguese. “Maria” attributes the fact that the

Japanese are surprised because they have a limited view of the Brazilians:

They are very surprised because we speak Japanese, English, and Spanish. I think that the reason they are surprised is because they are very closed-minded. Other people can do this. But they are very closed-minded. But when they come here, they are very surprised.

Since some Japanese may have only one negative narrative regarding the Brazilians,

many of them may not believe that the immigrants are able to run a business or speak

multiple languages. Once they enter these stores, this narrative is disrupted.

The products that are sold in the Brazilian establishments are also artifacts

through which alternative subjectivities can be created. Some immigrant owners wish to

target the products they sell to a Japanese audience as well. Gerson, the owner of the

Takara Supermarket chain, wishes to attract Japanese customers through the selling of

Australian beef:

They sell the same Australian beef that they sell in the Japanese store. But sometimes when the Japanese see the price…for example, one kilo is about 1000 yen here…they are surprised. If they go to the department stores, they’re going to pay 2,900 yen. Some would rather do this because they think something is wrong with our meat.

According to Gerson, since many Japanese assume that the meat is cheap and it is sold in a Brazilian store, the meat must come from Brazil and must be of low quality. Despite

this, he stated that many Japanese customers realize that his beef is the same beef they

sell at Japanese stores, and have started to buy their meat there as a result.

Figure 5.3: Takara supermarket in Toyokawa. One of the items which attracts both Japanese and Brazilians to this store are the meat products.

Usually customers come to Gerson’s store through word of mouth. Japanese workers hear about the meat from their Brazilian co-workers and they know where to go. Gerson also wishes to attract more Japanese customers to his store by changing the store’s colors to attract Japanese customers:

Like up to now, the business people only focus on Brazilians. I am going to change that…going to change the colors of my store to a more neutral color so that the

Japanese people pay attention to the store. The beef is an item that has given me a lot of profit.

By changing the appearance of the place of consumption, Gerson wishes to expand his customer base to Japanese customers as well. This change in appearance reflects the idea that these sites of consumption are fluid, permeable, and affected by the ways in which they are imagined. Gerson is able to change his manifestation of place because he wishes his store to include Japanese clientele as well. He does not want his place to be marked as

‘Brazilian’ and to be meant for only Brazilians, so he his conceptualizing his place as being also for the Japanese. The way in which this conceptualization is materialized is through changing the colors of his store.

Finally, many people who work and own these businesses stated that they hope that their business create a positive image for Brazilian immigrants. “Paula” hopes that her store improves the image of Brazilians among Japanese:

Most Japanese, they have this stereotype of Brazilians: Because one guy did something wrong, all of us have done something wrong. So I want to show that not because one guy did something wrong, everyone is like him. By doing my business, I try to show that not everyone is the same.”

Thus, in these stores the immigrants are able to enact an alternative economic subjectivity, one in which they are capable of doing more than working in the factory.

Resistance through Entrepreneurship There are various ways to economically resist negative narratives of such as boycotting a particular product or business, but alternative subjectivities can also be enacted through entrepreneurship. These Brazilian immigrant businesses not only become

sites which through negative perceptions created of them can be resisted, but also sites which show that alternative ways of economic being can exist for them. This role of place as being a site of resistance and a site in which alternative economic subjectivities can be enacted shows that these places have multiple meanings and there is not one “true” meaning of a particular place.

Even though there is only one site, everyone has a unique version of what a particular place ought to be. Jeffrey Sasha Davis (2005) argues that “places are known, discussed and represented through language [which] legitimizes the performance of certain activities in those places as well as directs the social practices that actively shape the landscape.” For the business owners and employees of these Brazilian businesses, they conceptualize these places as sites that can make a difference in both the Japanese and immigrant community. These places transform from solely being ‘sites of

consumption’ to being sites to demonstrate that Brazilians can perform other economic

ways of being. However, the enactments within Brazilian immigrant establishments are

also unfixed and multiple as well. For example, while some people might go to a

particular restaurant because they like the food, others might go to the same restaurant in

order to make friendships.

Many of these immigrant owners hope that their businesses create positive

perceptions for the Brazilians in Japanese society. Instead of Japanese capitalism being seen as an exploitative force, many have used business to overcome their exploitation.

These new subjectivities are not only used to empower the immigrant community, but

also to create spaces of belonging for both the Japanese and immigrants. Many owners

who share this vision hope that the Japanese and the Brazilian immigrants realize that it is

better that they come together instead of being against each other.

Creation of Alternative Subjectivities through Business Collaboration Another important way that the Brazilian business people are actively enacting

alternative subjectivities is through Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs). One of the NPOs in Aichi prefecture is the Associação Comercial Brasilera No Japão (commercial association of Japanese-Brazilians) Some businesses have become part of this not only to form solidarity among the businesses in the area, but also to help improve the Brazilian immigrant community.

Figure 5.4: An article in Sinal Verde (another free Brazilian publication) about the Associação Comercial Brasilera No Japão (ACBJ). This article is about how The business owners are joining together in order to help the Brazillian community.

According to “Vitor,” who is an influential member of this NPO, one of the main goals of this organization is to create a positive image of Brazilians in Japan:

Most of the Japanese only see the bad things that Brazilians do, but they are not interested in the good things that they do. So that’s why I created this NPO, an organization with only business people, to try and show the Japanese community that we have a positive side.

Another stated goal of this organization is to strengthen cooperation between the

Brazilian businesses in the area, for cooperation is not that strong with many of the businesses:

About two years ago, we merchants didn’t talk to each other and now we are doing this. One can help another. Almost every week, we have to talk to each other. (Gerson, store owner)

In addition to this, he stated that the organization wants to build a bridge between the

Japanese and Brazilian communities to further mutual understanding and to improve both communities. By doing this, he feels that the polarization of social space that exists between Japanese and Brazilian immigrants will be reduced, which will allow them to cooperate:

This (creating a positive image of Brazilians) is one of our projects. We are going to ask the Japanese business people to join our organization. One of our wishes is that we are able to ask the Japanese to help establish businesses. We also want to talk with the province police to know what they think about us and what we could do to work in a positive way for both sides. This is what we really want to do.(Gerson).

Products also play an important role in this NPOs vision. One way in which the

organization wishes to increase cooperation between the Japanese and Brazilians is

through the marketing of Brazilian products to Japanese businesses:

Next July, we are going to hand out about 200,000 pamphlets selling Brazilian chicken. So we are going to get this pamphlet and put it in all the stores where you can buy it, but it is only written in Japanese. It is focused on the Japanese customers. For example,we are going to sell the Brazilian chicken for about 1050 yen. We are going to take 15 yen of each profit made and put it in an NPO fund to help both the Japanese and the Brazilian side. By doing this, we will see if they are going to change their mind about Brazilians in Japan. Doing good things for both sides. And also a good way to introduce the Brazilian chicken to the Japanese market (Gerson).

Another way that the NPO wishes to create positive perceptions is through promoting particular consumption practices. In addition, the NPO uses various products to help the

Brazilian immigrants is through disseminating “insider information” to Brazilian businesses about products that are in demand by Japanese businesses:

After I created this association two years ago, I knew that there are some kind of advantages that only businesspeople knew. But after I created this organization, we disseminated this information that couldhelp other people. Like when businesses buy meat, they have to throw out a lot of the meat you cannot sale. But there are Japanese companies that can buy this type of meat. Even though this meat might seem to be a waste, they can sell it, and it will help them financially (Gerson).

These products go from being just things of consumption to being products which are used to improve social relations. Through the marketing of the Brazilian chicken, the

NPO feels it can try to break down the barriers that exist in Japanese society. By giving

Brazilians businesses information about products that are in demand by Japanese

companies, they feel they are not just strengthening the surrounding immigrant

businesses, but also are helping to improve the lives of these immigrants.

Conclusion Through this chapter I addressed issues that have not been examined in previous

work done on Japanese-Brazilian immigrants, specifically the role that place has as a site

in which alternative economic subjectivities can be enacted. Knowledge is not only

situated for the ‘researcher’ but for the ‘researched’ as well. While I came to Japan with

my preconceptions of the Japanese-Brazilian immigrants, the Japanese-Brazilian

immigrants also came to Japan with preconceptions of Japan and of the Japanese. While

many Japanese-Brazilians come to Japan in response to a perception that they could

better themselves economically, they feel that they experience many obstacles in

adjusting to Japanese life. While many Brazilians feel that the harsh treatment of

Japanese is to blame for not being able to adapt to life in Japan, other Brazilians feel that

the immigrants themselves should try harder to understand Japanese culture, and that would result in the Japanese trying harder to understand the Brazilians. These narratives

surrounding the Brazilian immigrant community are not static, but rather multiple and

subject to negotiation within and outside the Brazilian immigrant community itself.

Not only do many Japanese-Brazilian immigrants lose ‘place,’ in the sense of

their homeland, but they lose a ‘space of belonging’ as well. The desire to recreate

‘Brazilian life’ in Japan is manifested through the creation of Brazilian businesses. These

places have multiple meanings and are subject to negotiation; they not only serve as sites

of consumption, but also as sites in which cross-cultural friendships can be made, and sites in which alternative economic subjectivities can be enacted.

In addition, many of the business people are engaging in collective action in order to resist the negative narrative constructions of the immigrants. Since the NPOs wish to create better understanding between the Japanese and the Brazilian immigrants, they engage in creating new economic practices that would help further their goals of social justice, such as the marketing of certain products to Japanese consumers. The

Japanese landscape has changed considerably within the last twenty yearsThese changes on the landscape are causing both Japanese and Brazilians to rethink the relationship they have between place, culture, and citizenship.

Chapter 6 : Conclusion

Overview With each passing year, the number of Japanese-Brazilian immigrants is growing

in Japan. By working in the factories, many Japanese-Brazilian immigrants believe they can make more money in a few months in Japan than they can in Brazil for a year.

Because of high demand of unskilled labor, the Japanese immigration policy was crafted in such a way that would provide a supply of unskilled labor, but limit immigration as well. This was done through the creation of the Long-Term resident visa that allowed those of Japanese descent to come to Japan to pursue any labor activity. Even though it was illegal for immigrants to engage in unskilled labor in Japan, Japanese-Brazilians can work in unskilled labor because their visa permits them to do so.

Many Japanese citizens and government officials hold various narratives regarding the Japanese-Brazilian presence in Japan. Since the Nikkei are perceived to be of Japanese ethnicity, some governmental officials and ministries attempt to create a narrative that Japan is not dependent on immigrant labor; to them, the Nikkei are not constructed as foreigners, but rather Japanese since they have some Japanese ancestry. By doing this, these governmental officials are able to uphold the Nihonjinron discourse of

Japan being a homogenous country. On the other hand, this discourse of homogeneity is disrupted on the local level for some Japanese consider the Nikkei to be foreigners

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instead of Japanese. While the Nihonjinron discourse equates Japanese ancestry to

sharing the same culture and language between all Japanese, this is not the case for the

Nikkei. Even though they might be of Japanese ancestry, many of them do not speak

Japanese or see themselves as sharing the same culture as the Japanese. In part, because

of these linguistic and cultural differences, there are conflicts between the Japanese and immigrant communities. Some Japanese also create a discursive construction of the

Nikkei immigrants in which they are poor and uneducated because they work in the factories. In addition, the Japanese media creates a narrative in which Brazil is portrayed as a third-world, backwards country which further marginalizes the Brazilian immigrants in Japan.

I have explored how Japanese-Brazilian immigrants resist such discursive constructions through the use of place and space. While the dominant Japanese narrative regarding the economic subjectivity of Japanese-Brazilian immigrants portrays them as only being capable of doing factory work, Nikkei immigrant business owners are challenging this narrative and are creating alternative economic subjectivities. The narratives regarding these sites of consumption are not fixed for these businesses, for the conceptualizations of these sites are contingent on the person who uses them. Even though the primary consumer market for these businesses may be Brazilian, some of the immigrant business owners wish to expand their consumer base to include Japanese customers as well. By doing this, not only are the Brazilian immigrant owners hoping they will increase their profits, but they hope to create a narrative that shows that quality products are sold at Brazilian stores.

Many Japanese-Brazilian immigrants not only go to these consumption sites in

order to consume various Brazilian goods, but they also go to these sites in order to perform Brazilian subjectivities. Since many of these immigrants say that they do not feel so comfortable ‘being Brazilian’ in Japanese society, they are able to perform these subjectivities within these sites of consumption. By doing this, they are creating spaces in

which they are comfortable with ‘being Brazilian.’ The Japanese-Brazilian immigrants

are not the only people who go to these places; an increasing number of Japanese go to

Brazilian places as well. Since more Japanese people have become interested in Brazil,

many of them state that they want to experience Brazilian culture. Unfortunately, they

feel it is hard for them to socialize with the Brazilian immigrants because of various

social barriers. The Brazilian consumption places give such Japanese an opportunity to

meet Brazilians and to learn about Brazil. While the Japanese-Brazilian immigrants are

creating multiple narratives regarding the Brazilian ethnicity in these places, the Japanese

may see these performances as reflecting Brazilian culture. As a result, the Japanese may

go to these places in an attempt to create spaces of cross-cultural understanding between

themselves and the Brazilian immigrants.

I also discovered that there are conflicting narratives among the Nikkei

immigrants regarding themselves and Japan. Many stated that the Nikkei Brazilians

come to Japan in order to make more money, and they envision Japan as a place that is

technologically advanced. These immigrants come from various backgrounds; while

some were white-collar workers, others come from blue-collar and unskilled professions.

There are also many Nikkei who were in high school before coming to Japan. The Nikkei

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that I interviewed also held perceptions that the Japanese people were polite, but cold.

Because of this, many of my respondents felt it was hard to become friends with the

Japanese. While some Brazilian immigrants try to make an attempt to learn the language and adapt to Japanese life, others may not. In addition, I found that some Nikkei immigrants do not wish to be recognized as Brazilians in Japan because they feel that the non-Nikkei Brazilians cause trouble.

Contribution to the current literature While much research has been done on Japanese-Brazilian immigrants in such

fields as Anthropology and Sociology, there has been no research done on this group

from a geographic perspective. Although Anthropologists such as Linger (2001) and

Tsuda (2003) have done some work on Japanese-Brazilians and their consumption

patterns, they do not really explore the connection that places of consumption and

performativity has to the creation of ethnic spaces and places.

One reason that a geographical perspective is beneficial in looking at this issue is

because of the discipline’s emphasis on the relationship between space, place, and

enacting subjectivities. Brazilian businesses are far more than solely being places of

consumption or meeting places. Through these stores, the Nikkei are creating alternative

subjectivities that not only counter the Japanese economic narratives of the Nikkei, but

also produces other economic ways of being for the Brazilians. These places are not static

for the conceptualization and use of the place is contingent on the individual. While some

Nikkei might conceptualize these places as only being places of consumption, others see

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the businesses as places in which they can perform Brazilian subjectivities in their own

way.

In addition, I produced a different representation of the Japanese-Brazilian

immigrants from the current work that has been done about this group. Exploring these

immigrants through a geographical theoretical framework I used allowed me to create

several new narratives regarding this community. Instead of primarily discussing the

marginalinity that the Japanese-Brazilian immigrants experience in Japan, I discuss the

ways in which the Japanese-Brazilians are overcoming being marginalized in Japanese

society. Instead of focusing on the narratives that portray Japanese-Brazilian as being

factory workers, I focused on the Nikkei economic narratives in which the Nikkei were

business owners or employees for Brazilian immigrant businesses. I also feel I have

contributed to the current work done on Japanese-Brazilians because I have explored

some of the conflicts that exist between the non-Nikkei and Nikkei immigrants in Japan.

Future Research Possibilities In the future, I would like to stay in Japan for a year to expand on what I did

during my six weeks of stay. If I could stay a year, I would be able to interview some

Japanese to discover their narratives regarding the Brazilian immigrants along with their

opinion of immigrants in Japan and the current immigrant policy. Since I was in Japan for

a limited period of time, I was only able to interview the Japanese-Brazilians. Because of that, my representation of the Japanese and Brazilian immigrants was produced from their narratives. During my year stay in Japan, I also would like to explore the role of

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festivals as sites in subjectivity creation. Festivals are also sites of consumption since

individuals are consuming culture and re-creating it in their own way.

I will also like to go to Brazil in order to discover the various discourses in the

Japanese community in Brazil regarding the Nikkei immigrants. Discourses are

contingent on such things as place. In Brazil, the discourses regarding the Japanese and the Nikkei might differ than those in Japan. While I am in Brazil, I will also like to explore any Japanese businesses in the area and the role that they play in the creation of

various subjectivities. I also want to interview any Nikkei who have returned from Japan

to discuss their experience in Japan and about living in Brazil after living in Japan for an

extended period of time.

There are many other avenues of this research that need to be further explored.

One example of this is the social dynamics that exist between the Nikkei and the non-

Nikkei Brazilian immigrants in Japan. Even though such scholars as Tsuda (2003)

recognize that there are some differences between the Nikkei and non-Nikkei immigrants

in Brazil, these dynamics have not been explored. Another thing that researchers should

focus on are the experiences of the Nikkei Brazilian youth who come to Japan, for a large

number who come to Japan are children. While there has been some discussion on the

Brazilian schools in Japan, there has been no work done on this from a geographical perspective.

Finally, I believe that there should be more research done on the commodity circuits created by both the outsourcing companies and Brazilian businesses. According to Crang et. al (2003), commodity circuits are one way in which a transnationalist group

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manifests itself. While I was doing my research in Japan, I discovered that many of the beauty salons and clothing stores sold products that were made from the U.S., but were imported from Brazil.

Final Remarks Through my research, I am critiquing the discourse of a homogenous Japanese culture and I have shown how Japan is becoming more of a multicultural society. While there has been some research done on such groups as the Koreans and Filipinos, there should be more research on the emerging immigrant groups from the Middle East or

Central Asia. In addition, there should be more research focusing on the impact that immigrants are making in the rural towns as well. There have been an increasing number of immigrants settling in rural areas that is due to many factors as the need for farm labor, the emergence of mail-order brides, and the attempt of rural universities to attract international students.

Not only should there be more research done on these immigrant groups, but on how Japanese society is reacting to this increasing number of foreigners. The number of foreigners in Japan might seem small in terms of numbers, but they are having a substantial impact in Japan. This can be seen on both the national and local level. TV stations such as NHK has realized the growing foreigner population and have created educational shows which not only help foreigners learn Japanese, but to help them learn more about Japanese culture. On the local level, many of the municipal governments have information regarding health insurance and other basic matters in multiple languages. Also, there have been increasing number volunteer organizations that provide

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services to help immigrants get acclimated to Japanese life such as holding various

cultural events or through teaching Japanese classes. In addition, as previously

mentioned, initiatives to attract international students such as the Monbugakusho

scholarships have changed the spatial dynamic of many towns in Japan.

It is important that there should be more geographers doing research not only on

Japanese-Brazilians, but other immigrant groups in Japan. Compared to other disciplines, the literature concerning immigration and minority groups in Japan coming from geography is very limited. Because of that, there is very little literature that has taken in consideration the spatial dynamic of the impacts of immigration in Japan. A geographic perspective will be very insightful in this subject matter because of the disciplines emphasis on the relationship between people, place, and space, and how these relationships affect the human and physical landscape. More work needs to be done in our discipline regarding this matter for it will help us better understand how and in what

way these immigrant groups are changing the Japanese landscape.

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