Ksenia Golovina
Contemporary European Migrants in Japan 2020年12月 Kyoto Ryukoku University (Faculty of International Studies)
Focusing on historical processes and migration types and patterns, this study examines the history of Russian-speaking migration to Japan since the first quarter of the 20th century and up until now. The study pays particular attention to the transformation of community-building practices in light of these migrants’ “material lives” and outward, community-oriented manifestations of the latter. “Material lives” refers to practices rooted in materiality and includes homemaking, crafts, and dress. While certain areas, such as the situation of the so-called “white Russians” or post-Soviet female migration to Japan, have been researched in previous studies, a holistic approach that is intuitive to the changes of the recent years and inclusive of the material component is yet to be presented. This study attempts such an integrative approach and draws its data from home-based, object-oriented interviews with Russian-speaking migrants in Japan, cyberethnography, and literature review. In the past decade, Russian-speaking migrants in Japan have witnessed events in the country that played an important role in the launch of online groups, further prompting a rise in community activities made visible through digital sources. This study argues that besides shared communication in the Russian language, community building has been enacted through the increased visualization of migrants’ “material lives,” with Sovietness, Russianness, Europeanness, and cultural fusion emerging as common thematic orientations. Analyzing this “outward” material component in its present digital form in juxtaposition with the material practices of previous generations of Russian-speaking migrants, as early as the beginning of the 20th century, provides directions for rethinking the notion of “visibility” in migrant and community studies.