The Replacement Phenomenon of the Ethnic Composition of Migrant Workers in the Tokai Region, Japan:

Abstract

This study aims to clarify the reorganization of ethnic compositions in industrial cities of the Tokai Region, Japan, during the late 2000s. After the global financial crisis in late 2008, Brazilian Nikkei workers returned to their homeland after losing their jobs while the number of Filipino Nikkei workers in the region increased. Filipino Nikkei replaced Brazilian workers in the manufacturing industry following the economic boom of 2013. This “replacement phenomenon” of Brazilians by Filipinos was observed in several municipalities. The author conducted field research in Yaizu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, and Davao, Philippines. People involved in the migration system and selected Nikkei workers were interviewed for the study, which revealed that certain occupations and “spaces” always required Nikkei workers who could remain in Japan for extended periods of time because of their privileged residential status. Findings include: (1) the increase in Filipinos in Japan since the 2010s is largely due to chain migration by clans whose Nikkei identity had been legally established; (2) the migration system in both countries bridged employers and workers in that manpower agencies lent travel costs to Nikkei newcomers, which establish residential enclaves within Japan; (3) compared with Filipino marriage migrants, Nikkeis live with their own relatives, thus forming ethnically concentrated residential enclaves; (4) in contrast to Brazilians who opened their own schools right after a mass migration to Japan in the 1990s, Filipino children attending Japanese schools experienced a more serious “adjust-or-go-home” situation in terms of education.