As with other countries, there are many foreigners living and working in Japan, each contributing to society in different ways. The total number of foreign workers (counting me) has been up quite a bit in recent years, to more than 300,000, and while this might sound like a lot, it's still tiny compared to other countries. While most of us might think of gaijin as English teachers or foreign employees of a company based overseas, the real picture of who is working where in Japan is more complex. There are foreigners from America or Europe doing web design at Japanese companies, "working holiday" travelers from Canada or Australia,
and even people from India employed by studios like Soft on Demand. One large group of workers in Japan are the nikkeijin from countries like Peru and Brazil, who have an inside track to getting a work visa for Japan if they can prove Japanese ancestry. These people work largely in manufacturing, like the large Sanyo plant in our prefecture or the Toyota plants near Nagoya, and if you drive a Japanese car there's a good change someone from South America helped make it. Incidentally, I'm asked about my visa status a lot by readers. I came to Japan on an "cultural" work visa which I'd set up ahead of time with an English school that hired me. After a certain number of years renewing a normal work visa, the authorities will consider granting you "permanent resident" status, which I got after being here for about six years. My nationality is still good old U
SA. 
12 comments:
Are the nikkeijin really considered gaijin? I thought gaijin was mostly used for someone who was Caucasian.
Are you eligible for this 12,000 yen stimulus package I have been hearing about?
Haha I agree with the guy above. Well almost. To me Gaijin is anyone who's NOT Japanese in any way: Caucasians, Indian, even Chinese.
Nikkei I still consider Japanese, even if they "lived in Brazil all their lives". It's kinda like how my whole family is Russian and I was born in Russia and if I went back to Russia I'd still be Russian even though I culturally feel American.
Hi Peter,
sorry to barge into your blog, but I'm having trouble using the new help desk.
I have a case, EOS-439251 but I can't check it, and I haven't received a response.
Please drop me a mail at juanestebansolano gmail.
Cheers!
I got a question, related somehow to this posts, just for curious.
Do you acquire Japanese nationality by marring a Japanese person? like in Mexico or USA I think, is it optional? or just don't happen?
Xacur, there is something called a "Spouse" visa (Should be here somewhere: http://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/index.html)
So instinctively, no.
Anyone know why companies in Japan are so paranoid about sponsoring ones work visa (with a COE)?
Xacur, I still have American nationality. I switched to a spousal visa for a short time (which eliminates the need for having to be working to keep in Japan), and soon after that I applied for the permanent residence status. Got it on the first time, too -- usually they make you wait through one three-year visa cycle just to keep you humble. I think it's because I was married and my wife's parents had recognized me properly, etc. I've had friends whose Japanese in-laws disliked them and took years to accept them, and I'm sure people in this case would have a slightly harder time visa-wise.
Although there's no real "definition" of what a gaijin is, none of the Japanese I know would consider people of Nikkei origin to be Japanese (unless the Japanese person in question gained some argumentative advantage in doing so).
That said, try convincing Japanese people that a person's culture is more likely to affect their outlike on life than their genetic origins (one of the argument for not giving Zainichi Koreans full citizenship) and you'll have another argument on your hands. Ahh, the wonder that is Japanese "logic" :)
@xacur: There's a visa category called "spouse or son of japanese national". Many nikkeijin fall into this category (me included). I think the most popular visa among brazilians and peruans would be the "long term resident" (eijuusha), which includes third-generation nikkeijin (sansei) and husband/wife, when not descendants.
@peterd: well, that's a long history. While nikkeijin are considered "japanese" back in their home countries, here we're all gaijin - no matter how japanese you look or speak. This sometimes cause some identity troubles among those recently arrived.
I'm sansei, grandchild of four japanese people who migrated to Brazil around the 1930's. I consider myself Brazilian, I was born and raised here, that's my culture. And my parents always thought the same about themselves, even if they had a lot of the japanese culture in them, it's not like being raised in Japan. But you will hear a lot of people calling us japz here, because that's what's on our faces. Sad thing is that when we're in Japan we are gaijin (and I've always understood that word as "non japanese person") and I know a lot of peole who get frustrated and even confused about that, because they end up feeling ike they're nothing, in the end. They're not recognized as Brazilians in Brazil and they're no Japanese in Japan...
About the visa, nisei (children of japanese citzens) get a "child of japanese national" visa and sansei may apply for "long term resident" visa (as well as people married to them). And then after a while they get a permanent visa.
Yes, this is a difficult issue for any Westerners to really understand. In America, if you're born there and speak English without an accent, they're pretty much American, unless they're doing something very unique like wearing a Kilt. Here, though, things are a little different. As usual, I wonder if Ireland/England might not be similar, with Irish treating certain "English" people differently even though their familes had lived there for 300 years.
Thanks Peter and Reverendo Eddie.
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