Japanese women working in Singapore: EXPERIENCES OF THE NEW EXPATS

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Japanese women working in Singapore EXPERIENCES
OF THE NEW EXPATS
Leng Leng THANG National University of Singapore
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Japanese working women in Singapore

• Economic migrant vs spiritual migrant
• A reflection of the impact of globalization where
  the transfer of international capital and
  intensive linkages of the world economies have
  created job opportunities and facilitated the
  transnational movement of skilled transient human
  resource.
• Japanese women as new Japanese expatriates who
  are young, single and female(The Straits Times 24
  August 1994),.

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Studies on Japanese working women overseas

• Ueno Chizuko (2000) reasons that the Japanese
  working women is little-studied because their
  number is too limited to be significant.
• Sakai Junko (2000) - Japanese women working in
  London
• Ben-Ari and Yongs (2000)- study of Japanese
  women in Singapore
• twice marginalized

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Outline

• About the data
• Overview of the pheonomenon of Japanese women
  working in Asia
• Why the move? Push and pull factors
• Themes in understanding experiences of Japanese
  women fluidity, cross-cultural encounters,
  process of self discovery
• Conclusion

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DATA Survey

• N194 (47.3 response rate, out of 410 sent out)
• Single 119
• Married 75
• Singles Full time 113, part-time 6 (including
  2 illegal)
• AGE GROUP
• Age range 21-56 years old (av. 30.9 years)
• 29-39 age group 73.9

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Types of work

• marketing, sales 29
• Language teacher or Japansese school teacher 26
• Professional executive 11
• Customer service 10
• Others 5 (include diving instructor)

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DATA 2

• Singapore In-depth interviews with 12 single
  women
• JAPAN
• Survey- 270 first year students in a four-year
  womens university in Kansai (average age 19
  years old)
• interviewed 21 working women between ages 27-39
  (average age 31) in Osaka (all single at the time
  of interview)

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Working in Asia Boom
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Push factors

• Economic downturn in Japan
• 2001-2005 regular hires decreased 4 m.,
  freeter increased 4.3 m.
• unemployment of Japanese women graduates in
  first half of 2000s -20
• Media effect
• promote travel for young female
• trendy image to go overseas
• successful examples of Japanese women overseas

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Push Factors (cont)

• Work conditions in Japan
• gender discrimination, mundane job nature, ,
  lack of career prospect, stress in managerial
  track
• Pressure to get married
• ideal of marriage retirement

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Pull factors

• Availability of work visa in Singapore
• -Preferences West -gt HK -gt Singapore
• Foreign talent policy in Singapore
• Employment pass (S2500 monthly salary)
• S employment pass (SS1800, 2007)
• 2009 25 non-resident in Singapore (1.2 m)
• Economic conditions in Singapore
• -Japanese investments
• -existence of Japanese expat community

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Pull Factors (cont)

• Attractions of Singapore
• -safe, near to Japan, easy access to Japanese
  food and supplies, perceived gender equality
• Presence of recruitment agency
• -eg. PaHuma (Jan 2003- 14000 Japanese registered
  with the co. for positions in Asia-60 Female)

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Theme 1 FLUIDITY

• Readiness to job hop
• Perception of the Japanese male expatriates
  towards genchisaiyo, despite the lower pay and
  lack of expat perks You have chosen to come to
  work here. I am envious that you have the
  freedom to quit and go back to Japan anytime if
  you dont like the job. Although I have not
  chosen to come here, I cant leave without the
  order from the company (Kubo, 1997116).
•  

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• Most stay in a place for about three years, after
  which either go back to Japan or proceed to look
  for employment in another country.
•  lack of interest in permanent residency
• (4 out of 111 applied for PR)
• moving to expat status with expat perks
• Although positioned in marginal status
  structurally, overcome by managing the mobility
  made possible by their marginal status.

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Theme 2 cross-cultural encounters

• expatriates all over the world create their own
  enclave which shelters them off from the
  environment of the host society. (Cohen,
  (197716)
• Genchisaiyos informal network ties with other
  local hires who may be their fellow Japanese
  colleagues, university alumni, or members of
  informal friendship groups
• Fluid movement- Overlapping with host society
•  

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• tend to benchmark themselves against Japanese
  expatriates, and imply they are somewhat
  superior because they experience real local
  life.
• English ability - mens reliance on Japanese
  women as linguistic and cultural intermediaries,
  and due to the pressure to conform to local
  gender norms, Japanese expatriate culture is
  noticeably more egalitarian than it is in Japan
  in terms of gender.

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• You know, the surprising thing about Japanese
  men, I find, is that they change. They change
  outside Japan. You know, although theyre acting
  like kings in Japan, once they step outside
  Japan, even as tourists, they become really, I
  dont know, timid. They change their behavior
  which is amazing. So they look totally different
  inside and outside Japan (Abe, taken from Thang
  and MacLachlan 2002)
• While the Japanese expatriate men and their
  families often seen as an enclave, Japanese
  working women become more a representative of a
  part of Singapores multiculturalism.

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Theme 3 A process of self-discovery 

• An opportunity for reflexivity.
• Survey responses to the question What are the
  benefits of staying overseas?
• I learn more about myself
• I learnt that I have to be independent and
  rely on myself
• I became a proactive person.
•  Became more Japanese appreciate Japanese
  traditional culture etc.

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Conclusion

• Marginality as empowering and liberating
• Such transnational work pattern as at once
  short-term and permanent.
• stay for short term like male expats.
• Necessity of such transnational work pattern
  for Japanese women with Japanese economic dearth 
• Later age of marriage, increase rate of singles

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Related publications

• Thang, L.L., E. MacLachlan and M. Goda.
  Expatriates on the Margins A Study of Japanese
  Women Working in Singapore. Geoforum. 33539-551.
  December 2002.
• also appears as Japanese women working in
  Singapore. In Japan and Singapore A
  Multidisiplinary Approach. Tsu, Y.H. ed.
  Singapore McGraw Hill. 2006
• Thang, L.L., M. Goda and E. MacLachlan.
  Challenging the Life Course Japanese Women
  Working in Singapore. In Old Challenges, New
  Strategies? Women, Work and Family in
  Contemporary Asia. L. L. Thang and WH Yu eds.,
  Leiden Brill Academic Publisher. 2004.

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• Thang, L.L., M. Goda and E. MacLachlan.
  Negotiating work and self- experiences of
  Japanese working women in Singapore. In Overseas
  Japanese and Japanese Transnational Migrants in a
  Global World From the Past to the Present.
  Adachi, N. ed. London Routledge. 2006
• Thang, L.L., E. MacLachlan and M. Goda. Living in
  My Space Japanese working women in Singapore.
  Geographical Sciences 61 (3)28-43. 2006
• Video, The Second Wave Japanese Working Women in
  Singapore. 23 mins. 2002. (Producer)
• ?????? 2008 ??????????????????????????????????????
  ????????? ?????813 (95-120)