Abstract
In the emerging literature, research on migration and acculturation has focused on investigating return migration (i.e., migration to one’s ethnic homeland). Since the 2008 economic crisis, the Japanese Brazilian population substantially dropped in Japan. This led to a decrease in the study of Japanese Brazilian return migrants (i.e., returnees). This study aims to fill this gap in the current literature by exploring Japanese Brazilian migrants’ return migration experiences. The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to gain an in-depth understanding of Japanese Brazilian migrants’ decisions to return to Japan, and second, to gain a better understanding of migrants’ experiences acculturating to Japanese culture. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews, and a total of eight participants (ages 17-69) took part in the study. Thematic analysis was employed as a research method, and the results suggested that motivation to return migrate is multi-faceted. Based on the analysis, study results identified four key themes, which are distinguished as 1) motivation to return migrate, 2) reflections on identity, 3) acculturative experiences, and 4) motivation for settlement. It was observed that besides ethnic identification and acculturative experiences, socioeconomic factors had an influence on their return migration experiences and motivation for settlement in Japan.
Author Information
Ayşe Ilgın Sözen Ekici, Hashimoto Foundation Societas Research Institute, Japan
Paper Information
Conference: ACSS2022
Stream: Psychology & Social Psychology
This paper is part of the ACSS2022 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Ekici A. (2022) Return Migration to Japan: Experiences of Japanese Brazilians ISSN: 2186-2303 – The Asian Conference on the Social Sciences 2022: Official Conference Proceedings https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2186-2303.2022.7
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2186-2303.2022.7
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