https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4102-3554
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Abstract
Drawing on data from a large-scale sample survey conducted in 2016 within the contemporary ethnic Japanese migrant community in Sydney, Australia, this article focuses on demographics and the political culture of this community to determine the context for Japanese migrants’ attitudes, with a focus on gender. Findings suggest that the Japanese community is statistically less politically involved than the wider Australian population, possibly reflecting general attitudes towards politics in Japan, and unique social profiles within the Australian community. Superficially, the lack of interest in political commitment appeared to signify less integration into Australian society. However, our triangulation of the data, combined with follow-up interviews found a new form of political engagement within the Japanese community in contemporary Australia. This article contributes to a deeper understanding of the Japanese ethnic community in Australia and overseas, as well as broadening scholarship about the political awareness and activities of ethnic communities in settler societies.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the HSC Japanese Committee Inc. for their great contributions to this study. The authors also thank The University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies for the U-M CJS Affiliate Program. This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 15KK0093.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Correction Statement
This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
Notes
1 This work was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research/KAKENHI (Grant no. 15KK0093). The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, Takeshi Hamano, upon reasonable request.
2 As of September 2021, the data are requestable through Settlement Reports by the Department of Home Affairs (Citation2021).
3 See also Fujita (Citation2009), and Takahashi (Citation2022) for similar Japanese international migration elsewhere.
4 According to the Community Information Summary (Department of Home Affairs of Australia, Citation2016), more than 80% of the Japanese migrant population is concentrated in three states: New South Wales (14,008, 33.0%), Queensland (12,402, 29.2%), and Victoria (8,515, 20.1%).
5 School students in New South Wales, Australia, generally take exams for the HSC (Higher School Certificate) in years 11 and 12 to enroll in university (NSW Education Standards Authority, Citation2021).
6 The Scanlon Foundation National Social Cohesion Survey was first conducted in 2007 and has been conducted annually since 2009. This survey was the first Australian survey that investigated annual tendencies of public opinion on social cohesion, immigration, and population issues.
7 Such a gender imbalance in the collected data can be understood as representative of the Japanese community in contemporary Australia. Participation of more women in our research would be important, considering the significance of vernacular social activism by women.
8 This study was approved by the Human Ethics Committee of the University of Sydney in July 2016.
9 This survey was conducted between November and December 2018 among the youth in six countries: South Korea; the U.S.A.; the UK; Germany; France; and Sweden. The respondents were aged between 13 and 29. The questionnaire was distributed online in each language and more than 1,000 samples were collected from each country.
10 Although the most recent Scanlon Foundation Survey is the 2022 version, we chose to focus on the 2015 version for a better comparison with the 2015 report and our 2016 survey. As for the Recent Arrivals Survey, the 2013 edition is still the latest publication, and no other surveys on migrant communities have been conducted since then.
11 No significant correlation can be found between age and gender (r = .064).
12 When three major generation groups (26 to 35, 36 to 45 and 46 to 55) were compared on volunteer participation, the eldest group (46 to 55) had the highest ratio among each group (n = 100, 65%), contrary to the 26 to 35 group (n = 75, 25%), and 36 and 45 group (n = 249, 54%).
13 It excludes those who enrolled (as a British subject) before 26 January 1984. See, Department of Home Affairs (Citation2022) for further details.
14 In the 1990s, when the JCA was lobbying on behalf of Japanese people in Australia for the right to vote in Japanese elections, developing global solidarity over Japanese communities around the world, the JCA also appealed to the Japanese government and politicians to recognise the dual citizenship of Japanese people overseas (Hosaka, Citation1998). However, as occasional public debate over Japan’s failure to recognise dual citizenship rights indicates (Abe, Citation2021), dual nationality is not recognised under the Japanese Civil Code as of 2021, as opposed to the increase in the number of multicultural or multinational Japanese diasporas in contemporary global society.
15 This citizenship status can also create a sense of distance from other family members, especially in cross-national households, as Ms B mentioned in the interview. Cross-border families are a large part of the Japanese community, and different citizenship statuses within families can highlight differences between family members for Japan-born members.
16 On 20 May 2022, the NSW Education Standards Authority announced that they removed the criteria ‘Students do not use the language for sustained communication outside the classroom with someone with a background in using the language’ (NSW Education Standards Authority, Citation2022). The HSCJC welcomed its decision and left a comment on its website as follows: ‘The removed criterion is precisely the focal point that the HSCJC has been working to correct in the 14 years since its inception. This is excellent news for families with children of Japanese heritage wanting to study Japanese for their HSC. The revision of the criteria applies to Indonesian, Chinese and Korean as well, bringing good news to families with children looking to take these courses’ (HSC Japanese Committee Inc. Citation2022).
17 In another in-depth interview with a representative of the HSCJC in September 2019, she clarified that the HSCJC is an open organisation and not necessarily restricted to women and that it also includes the participation of spouses (of Australians). It is a women-led organisation within the Japanese community but is organised as a more inclusive lobbying group.