Privileged, Highly Skilled and Unproblematic? White Europeans in Japan as Migrants
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20048759 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Miloš Debnár (0000-0002-8523-9795, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Pages | 41-66 |
| Publication date | 2022-11-14 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | Expatriation and Migration (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Brill (PUBLISHER • NL) |
| DOI | 10.1163/9789004529526_004 |
| OpenAlex | W4318061119 |
| ISBN | 9789004529526 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
The chapter analyses the migration patterns of contemporary white Europeans to Japan and juxtapose them with their assumed categorization or representations as expat-like migrants. The empirical evidence demonstrates how Westerns or Europeans in Japan continue to be represented as high skilled, privileged, and unproblematic expat-like migrants in the media. Such representations are in contrast with the complex patterns of European migration to Japan that often resemble patterns and practices identified in the Asian migration to Japan. Particularly, the cases of Europeans holding variously skilled jobs in Japanese companies and tourism industry are discussed and demonstrate that white Europeans are increasingly accessing opportunities in Japan and using migration pathways such as working holidays or brokers that were developed for and by Asian migrants. The incongruencies of the representations, official visa schemes and reality of the white migrants in Japan thus problematizes the ways in which migration is being addressed in popular discourse as well as in academia and emphasizes the deeply political and racialized character of the categories of a migrant and an expatriate. Finally, the chapter suggests that Europeans or Westerners in Japan should be conceptualized as migrants rather than developing new typologies and labels for such mobile subjects
Categorization · Economic geography · Expatriate · Geography · Linguistics · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Tourism · Asian Culture and Media Studies · Gender Studies · Japanese History and Culture · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2024 - 2024 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |