Chapter 1 Introduction: Media, Migration, and Multi-sited Ethnography Chapter 2 The "Imagined West" in Japan Chapter 3 Encountering "Race" and Ethnic Relations Chapter 4 Gendered Japaneseness: Negotiating Images of "Submissive" and "Easy" Women Chapter 5 Local Japanese Communities Chapter 6 Transnational Media, Mobility, and Imaging "Home" Chapter 7 Conclusion: National Identity and Transnationalism
Yuiko Fujita is associate professor in the Institute for Media and Communications at Keio University.
This elegantly-constructed and methodologically-innovative
ethnography which looks at the experiences of young Japanese
transient migrants in New York and London comes up with some
surprising conclusions. Not least among these is that one of the
main effects of their overseas experience is a renegotiation or
heightening of their Japanese 'national' identity rather than the
development of a sense of transnationalism.
*Roger Goodman, University of Oxford*
Fujita has undertaken an ingenious study: looking at immigration
through the eyes of temporary immigrants. Her lively analysis
provides immigration researchers with further evidence of the
limits of transnationalism, and media researchers will be reminded
that for some young people, the realities of living abroad shatter
the initial media and other romantic images that are often created
about foreign countries.
*Herbert J. Gans, Robert S. Lynd Professor Emeritus of Sociology,
Columbia University; author of Making Sense of America*
This dense academic dissertation from Yuiko Fujita doesn't seem
like a typical summer read, but it is a sharp and illuminating
account of 'cultural migrants' from Japan, who are defined as
'people who migrate for cultural purposes other than economic or
political ones in the globalizing world today.' The result is a
smart and concise account of a group of people who re-identify
themselves instead of assimilating. The candor of each person
interviewed is refreshing, and the interviews conducted in English
are deeply personal. It's a satisfying and sympathetic read,
scholarly but accessible and interesting to anyone interested in
modern Japan...
*Nichi Bei Times, Nichi Bei Times Contributer, July 30-Aug 5,
2009*
Young Japanese migrants in the West are constantly remaking
themselves and Japanese cultural identity. With great sensitivity
and insight, Yuiko Fujita brings their experiences and visions to
life, using an attractive mix of multi-sited ethnography and
migrant life histories.
*Adrian Favell, Centre d’études européennes de Sciences Po*
This dense academic dissertation from Yuiko Fujita doesn't seem
like a typical summer read, but it is a sharp and illuminating
account of 'cultural migrants' from Japan, who are defined as
'people who migrate for cultural purposes other than economic or
political ones in the globalizing world today.'
The result is a smart and concise account of a group of people who
re-identify themselves instead of assimilating. The candor of each
person interviewed is refreshing, and the interviews conducted in
English are deeply personal.
It's a satisfying and sympathetic read, scholarly but accessible
and interesting to anyone interested in modern Japan.
*Nichi Bei Times, Nichi Bei Times Contributer, July 30-Aug 5,
2009*
Fujita's work significantly contributes to the understanding of a
current trend in international migration in which the media play a
critical role in constructing a positive image of the West….This
case study provides a detailed analysis of Fujita's subjects'
perceptions of the West, as well as the shifts in perception
produced by their migration experience.
*Journal of Asian Studies*
Fujita's ethnographic description of young Japanese people in both
cities successfully recaptures their lived transnational world….
Fujita's work should therefore be regarded as one of the starting
points of theorizing post-industrialized, individualized, and
'cultural' understandings of contemporary migration.
*International Journal of Japanese Sociology*
This book intriguingly shows how young Japanese sojourners in two
global cities develop their sense of being Japanese.... Using
detailed content analysis of Japanese transcripts from her
interviews, the author vividly describes the process of changing
identities.... Fujita's detailed explanation about the changing
identities of young Japanese abroad makes us reconsider the
relations of contemporary Japanese and the West. How can we really
communicate beyond the barriers of ethnicity, gender, and class
and, furthermore, beyond the boundaries between the powerful and
the powerless? Can a Japanese nonelite individual have a globalized
identity and find space to live between national boundaries?
Fujita's book is invaluable for beginning to rethink these
longstanding but fundamental questions.
*The Journal of Japanese Studies*
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