Marriage Migrants of Japanese Women in Australia : Remoulding Gendered Selves in Suburban Community

This book investigates the experience of Japanese women who have immigrated to Australia through marriage to a local partner. Based on long-term participant observations gathered with a Japanese ethnic association in Sydney, and on in-depth interviews with the association’s members, it examines the ways in which the women remould themselves in Australia by constructing gendered selves that reflect their unique migratory circumstances through cross-border marriage. In turn, the book argues that the women tend to embrace expressions of Japanese femininity that they once viewed negatively, and that this is due to their lack of social skills and access to the cultural capital of mainstream Australian society. Re-molding the self through conventional Japanese notions of gender ironically provides them with a convincing identity: that of minority migrant women. Nevertheless, by analyzing these women’s engagement with a Japanese ethnic association in a suburb of Sydney, the book also reveals a nuanced sense of ambivalence; a tension between the women’s Japanese community and their lives in Australia. Accordingly, the book provides a fresh perspective on interdisciplinary issues of gender and migration in a globalized world, and engages with a wide range of academic disciplines including: sociology of migration; sociology of culture; cultural anthropology; cultural studies; Japanese studies; Asian studies; gender studies; family studies; migration studies and qualitative methodologies. Front Matter ....Pages i-xv Cross-Border Marriage and Marriage Migration of Japanese Women (Takeshi Hamano)....Pages 1-21 International Migration of the Japanese in Consumer Society (Takeshi Hamano)....Pages 23-34 Japanese Immigration to Australia, 1880s–2000s (Takeshi Hamano)....Pages 35-64 Nikkei Identity in Question: A Story of National Ethnic Japanese Organisation in Australia between 1990 and 2000s (Takeshi Hamano)....Pages 65-83 Relational Femininities: Exploring the Discourse of Flexibility of Japanese Women’s Gendered Selves (Takeshi Hamano)....Pages 85-107 Becoming a Local Woman: The Logic of Ethno-Gendered Selves of Japanese Women (Takeshi Hamano)....Pages 109-122 Bridging to the Mainstream: A Challenge of a Group of Japanese Mothers in Western Sydney (Takeshi Hamano)....Pages 123-155 Conclusion (Takeshi Hamano)....Pages 157-164 Back Matter ....Pages 165-179