Brokered Homeland: Japanese Brazilian Migrants in Japan (The Anthropology of Contemporary Issues) [Paperback]

Joshua Hotaka Roth (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 11, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0801488087 | ISBN-13: 978-0801488085

Faced with an aging workforce, Japanese firms are hiring foreign workers in ever-increasing numbers. In 1990 Japan's government began encouraging the migration of Nikkeijin (overseas Japanese) who are presumed to assimilate more easily than are foreign nationals without a Japanese connection. More than 250,000 Nikkeijin, mainly from Brazil, now work in Japan. The interactions between Nikkeijin and natives, says Joshua Hotaka Roth, play a significant role in the emergence of an increasingly multicultural Japan. He uses the experiences of Japanese Brazilians in Japan to illuminate the racial, cultural, linguistic, and other criteria groups use to distinguish themselves from one another. Roth's analysis is enriched by on-site observations at festivals, in factories, and in community centers, as well as by interviews with workers, managers, employment brokers, and government officials.Considered both "essentially Japanese" and "foreign," nikkeijin benefit from preferential immigration policy, yet face economic and political strictures that marginalize them socially and deny them membership in local communities. Although the literature on immigration tends to blame native blue-collar workers for tense relations with migrants, Roth makes a compelling case for a more complex definition of the relationships among class, nativism, and foreign labor. Brokered Homeland is enlivened by Roth's own experience: in Japan, he came to think of himself as nikkeijin, rather than as Japanese-American.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Brokered Homeland is more than a book about the experiences of Brazilians in Japan. By participating in the lives of his subjects, whether it be working in an automobile factory and getting repetitive stress disorder, or flying kites in a popular festival, Joshua Roth lets readers feel the pain and joy of identity building and identity negation. Working with Japanese and Brazilian subjects and sources, Roth has opened up a world of negotiation and conflict that suggests that"home" can be close and far away at the same time. It is this kind of nuance that makes Brokered Homeland such a superb book: nothing in it is absolute. Rather Roth has grasped the real human experience of migration as a phenomenon that is both repressive and liberating."-Jeffrey Lesser, Emory University

"Joshua Roth's wonderfully vivid ethnography of the mutual negotiation of identity by both Brazilian-Japanese migrants and mainstream Japanese reveals local currents of multicultural engagement that are often obscured by stereotypical views of Japanese parochialism and homogeneity."-Theodore C. Bestor, Harvard University

"The story that was once told about citizens of foreign countries who could demonstrate Japanese ancestry was that even if they had never been to Japan, even if they couldn't speak the language, they nevertheless remained, in some essential way, Japanese. . . . Brokered Homeland focuses on the way in which these people's self-understanding-as well as other people's understanding of them-shifts as a result of their experiences in Japan. . . . Roth is an astute observer and a graceful writer."-David Cozy. The Japan Times, 11/24/2002

"Joshua Hotaka Roth's concise and readable ethnography . . . is based on fieldwork done in . . . Hamamatsu, an automobile manufacturing centre near Nagoya. Roth's fieldwork included a short stint on an auto assembly line as well as extensive interaction with Nikkeijin and their Japanese neighbors at a Brazilian cultural centre, Hamamatsu's annual kite festival, and other venues. The book's main conclusions are ironic. Far from assimilating smoothly into local society, Nikkeijin have embraced and accentuated their Brazilian identities."-David L. Howell, Princeton University, Pacific Affairs 77:1, Spring 2004

"Joshua Roth provides a perceptive and empathetic ethnography of the unique 'return' migration experience of Japanese Brazilians during the early 1990."-Keiko Yamanaka, University of California, Berkeley, Internatonal Migration Review 37:4, 2003

"There is much to enjoy in both of these books. They are both well written (Roth's three-paragraph account of the kite-flying festival in Hamamatsu sets a scene as well as any recent ethnography I have read) and well structured. . . . Roth's book is probably the one for students doing an option on Japan: punchy and to the point, easily read in a long afternoon."-Roger Goodman, University of Oxford, Journal of Japanese Studies, 30:3, 2004

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Cornell University Press (July 11, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801488087
• ISBN-13: 978-0801488085
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #354,768 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very thoroughly researched, well written book, January 19, 2004

By 

M. Katayama-Lee (Santa Monica, CA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Brokered Homeland: Japanese Brazilian Migrants in Japan (The Anthropology of Contemporary Issues) (Paperback)

The topic of Japanese Brazilian migrants in Japan is one that very few people outside of Japan or Brazil know about. I'm glad to see that there was a book written about this issue, especially since it involves the complexity of race vs. ethnicity and issues dealing with feelings of isolation, sense of belonging and cultural acceptance, something which we all strive for. Mr. Hotaka Roth did an excellent job of researching the experiences of these migrant workers and presented them in a very honest way. You could tell that he dove into this project fullheartedly by the fact that he made an effort to not only learn Japanese and about Japanese culture, but that he also learned Portuguese and the different nuances of Brazilian culture. Unlike a lot of research books, this book was not dry and did not drag on forever. It was quick paced and easy to read and understand. It keeps the reader interested and each chapter presents itself with new themes.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A view of a changing Japan, November 20, 2002

By 

Mia (Providence, RI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Brokered Homeland: Japanese Brazilian Migrants in Japan (The Anthropology of Contemporary Issues) (Paperback)

In Japan, a country that is thought to be "ethnically pure", the new phenomenon of return migration poses an interesting problem. Nikkei (those who are of Japanese ancestry outside of Japan) Brazilian nationals began migrating to Japan for economic reasons in the 1990s (the government made it particularly easy for them to enter the country, assuming they would adapt to Japanese culture better than those with no ties to the country), and many decided to stay, creating minority enclaves with a culture distinctly their own and NOT Japanese. Joshua Hotaka Roth provides an analysis of Nikkei life in Japan.

Although I read this book as part of a research project, I found that it was much, much more than a dry academic book with lots of statistics (although there certainly were plenty of statistics for anyone looking for solid numerical data). Roth didn't just write about this subject; he experienced it: he worked in a factory side by side with Nikkei Brazilians, lived and associated with Nikkei, and truly participated in his subjects' way of life in Japan. The result is an intimate view of the "return" migrant's experience, including sections on the actual factory work, injury and health insurance issues, and some ways in which Brazilian Nikkei in Japan maintain Brazilian identities while adapting to Japan.

This book is great for anyone who wants to know more about Japan in this time of internationalization, anyone who is interested in international migration, issues of national identity, or anyone who just wants an interesting non-fiction read.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good overview of today's "multiethnic" Japan, February 16, 2003

By 

Jerry Sanchez (New York) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Brokered Homeland: Japanese Brazilian Migrants in Japan (The Anthropology of Contemporary Issues) (Paperback)

Here is a short, simple book examining the role and place of the ever-growing Japanese-Brazilian population in Japan. Overall, it is a well written piece of work that I found helpful in my reseach. Although it is not the most comprehensive book on Japan's new ethnic minoritiy population,the Brazilians, Roth's work is worthwhile nonetheless.