Japan: Brazilian Nikkeijin
riage agencies. Like their male counterparts,
women
Lucia E. Yamamoto
The concept of migrant women as passive fol-
lowers and secondary wage earners is rein-
forced by emphasizing labor migration as
mainly masculine and family reunification as
feminine. However, in reality, migrant women
are active participants in the migratory con-
texts when they support their family enter-
prises by performing unpaid jobs at home;
when they are employed by entrepreneurs as
part of a low-wage labor force through their
ethnic communities and work in mass produc-
tion in assembly lines; and when they are hired
as domestic workers or entertainers, or in other
jobs that are considered “feminine.”
Although women’s participation in interna-
tional migration has increased and their eco-
nomic participation as active members of the
society has also become visible in the past
century, they are limited by the job opportuni-
ties in the labor market of the host country.
Like their male counterparts, migrant women
are also overrepresented in occupations with
few opportunities for promotion and advance-
ment. Due to gender role division in the mar-
ketplace, women are clustered in more
“feminized” occupations that resemble their
family roles in the household.
The structure of the labor market is seg-
mented along gender, class, race, and ethnic
lines, and this places female and male migrants
in different occupations in host societies. For
instance, in a study of non-Japanese Asian
brides in Japan, Piper (2003) demonstrated
that, although the newly married women have
legal resident status and may work without any
government occupational restrictions, they
face great restrictions to jobs in the workplace.
If these wives manage to become full-time
workers, their positions are largely limited to
The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration, Edited by Immanuel Ness.
© 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9781444351071.wbeghm317
menial and low-paying jobs or work in mar-
migrant women also relocate in an attempt to
escape unstable economic and social condi-
tions or political or religious oppression, but
what sets women apart from men is their expe-
rience of gender discrimination: their inability
to advance in the labor market, lower wages,
sexual discrimination, and other employment
discriminations.
Migration and unequal opportunities
Are unequal job opportunities a consequence
of the migratory policies of the sending and
receiving countries? Some researchers point
out that migration laws and regulations are not
expressly discriminatory on the basis of gender,
but that gender discrimination occurs when
regulations reinforce stereotypical images of
men and women. In other words, unfairness
and inequality are the result of receiving coun-
tries admitting migrants as workers in gender-
specific jobs – such as men for agricultural
seasonal work and women for domestic
work – and of sending countries reinforcing
the inability of men or women to meet the
qualifications for particular jobs in the host
country. This perspective is useful in explain-
ing why in the past many Filipino women were
allowed to enter Japan on entertainer visas.
Mobility across national borders becomes
possible through the migratory policies
adopted by the sending and receiving countries
and the political and economic processes
involved in migration itself. In addition, deci-
sions to move are also a consequence of house-
hold decisions (Tacoli 1999). A household’s
decision to migrate is based on lack of eco-
nomic mobility and knowledge of the possible
opportunities available to them. Most of these
decisions are made in response to broader
social and economic changes in the global
2 japan: brazilian nikkeijin women
economy. Migrant workers can sometimes
leave the country independently, but the deci-
sions involved are typically made at the house-
hold level (Tacoli 1999). For instance, to attain
their goals, household members choose who
among them is best suited to migrate and
support the other family members, thus setting
the migration process in motion.
In order to understand how decisions are
made, we need to consider factors such as the
networks that migrants utilize in sending and
receiving countries, the family’s life course, the
aim of migration, the job opportunities avail-
able to them, and the legal procedures of
migration. The unstable and unequal work
conditions experienced by male and female
migrants undoubtedly influences how the
migrants and their families deal with job
opportunities in the host society. This is mag-
nified by the fact that many more job oppor-
tunities for migrant women have emerged in
the early 21st century than in the past.
Nonetheless, household decision-making is
not free of tension and conflicts. Households
tend to be organized on the basis of coopera-
tion, reciprocity, and consensus, but the deci-
sions made are often the product of conflicts
and tensions arising from the desire for eco-
nomic autonomy and traditional family roles
like the altruistic mother and the dutiful
daughter (Tacoli 1999). It should be empha-
sized that women’s migration decisions and
capacities are linked to household changes
according to their life course, as well as to their
expected contribution to the well-being of
their household. The altruistic behavior of
migrant women almost always reflects the
demand to put their family’s well-being before
their own. However, we should view such
behavior not only as self-sacrifice but also as a
reflection of acting independently in one’s own
self-interest. As Tacoli indicates, “gender ideol-
ogies exert powerful constraints over women’s
autonomous behavior by guaranteeing protec-
tion and social acceptability for those who
remain within its parameters while penalizing
those who trespass them” (1999: 674). Within
that context, migrant women negotiate their
gender roles.
Nikkeijin women and their families
In an attempt to understand how expectations
about migrant women’s roles are negotiated
through the migration experience, this exami-
nation of the life course of Japanese Brazilian
women migrants during and after migration to
Japan provides an important insight into the
practical opportunities and constraints that are
gender-specific. One question that is crucial is
how the process of women working abroad is
translated into gains in personal autonomy and
self-confidence and how these gains influence
negotiations about women’s role expectations.
The demographic profile of Brazilians in
Japan (known as Nikkeijin) has changed over
the past 35 years of migration. In the late 1980s,
the population was primarily composed of
Japanese who had previously migrated to
Brazil and were returning to Japan and second-
generation Japanese Brazilians holding dual
citizenship. As Japanese nationals, Nikkeijin
migrants could work without legal restrictions.
Since the revision of Japanese immigration law
in 1990, the Nikkei Brazilians (Japanese Brazil-
ians) who gained rights have expanded to
become second- and third-generation migrants
and their families. Until the revision of the law,
it was estimated that more than one-quarter of
the Brazilian Nikkeijin population residing in
Japan were women. Their numbers gradually
increased and, in 2010, the percentage was 45.6
percent (Immigration Bureau of Japan 2011).
In the two decades that have passed since
migration started, around 50 percent of the
Brazilian population have obtained permanent
residence visas (eijuken). It is too early still to
determine if the population is settling down
permanently in Japan. Data from the Immigra-
tion Bureau of Japan (2011) indicates that the
Nikkeijin continue to move between Brazil and
Japan. Of the Brazilians who entered Japan in
2010, 50 percent have left more than once.
The Brazilian families’ circulatory move-
ment has been described by researchers as
immigration without the concrete intention to
immigrate. Despite the long period Nikkeijin
families have lived in Japan, Brazilian workers
typically have no intention to settle down

there; yet at the same time, they do not know
when they will return home. These uncertain
living conditions discourage them from par-
ticipating in the affairs of local communities,
which drives the population to continue a cir-
culatory migratory pattern.
The Brazilian workers’ migration is occur-
ring in the spaces where ethnic business, inter-
national phone services, ethnic newspapers,
and bank services have been established in
both countries. In those spaces where migrants
find work and livelihoods, migrants and their
families maintain a strong linkage with those
they have left behind, especially as advanced
communication technologies have prolifer-
ated. These technologies, however, cannot
totally heal the emotional costs of living trans-
nationally. For instance, articles published by
influential magazines and newspapers in Brazil
speak of the suffering of children left behind
by their mothers, of family disintegration, and
of the divorces that occur as a consequence of
the migration process. However, in spite of the
emotional tensions, many transnational Brazil-
ian families feel their migration experience has
been positive. In the next section I shall discuss
how Japanese Brazilian women deal with the
gender role expectations within this transna-
tional context.
Transnational family migration and
gender role expectation: a case study
Audrey Kobayashi and Valerie Preston (2007)
point out the paradox of the transnational
family’s objective of maintaining a strong,
cohesive, and prosperous family by separating
their members to different places. Undoubt-
edly, the family unit is crucial and Johanna
Walters (2003) explains that the success
achieved by transnational families like Chinese
migrant families is built on a patriarchal struc-
ture. The success of the family’s strategy of
capital accumulation relies upon established
notions of familial loyalty to ensure that disci-
pline is maintained across borders. We find
some similarities among Japanese Brazilians.
For instance, a 39-year-old and unmarried
Japanese Brazilian woman who was inter-
japan: brazilian nikkeijin women 3
viewed worked at the family grocery store
before migrating. No matter how long or hard
she worked, her brothers would inherit the
property and she would have no rights to the
family inheritance. Anxious about her eco-
nomic future, the woman decided to move to
Japan. While she was working there, her mother
became ill in Brazil, so after working for 20
months in Japan she returned home because of
her duty to care for her mother. The inform-
ant’s behavior reveals more than a passive
acceptance of the expected gender role and the
manner in which Nikkeijin women negotiate
their family positions as daughters. At home,
the woman spent her time caring for her
mother and managing the money she had
earned while working in Japan (e.g. investing
in real estate). When the Christmas season
ended, she was ready to make her second
journey to Japan.
Through the experiences of interviewees in
these two places, Japan and Brazil, we can
understand how Nikkeijin women organize
their life in both spaces. Broadly speaking,
Japan is the place where women can work and
gainfully earn, and Brazil is where women live
or want to live, as they must negotiate family
issues and relations. Both spaces are inter-
connected and are familiar to her. Living in
transnational spaces, the woman can rearrange
economic and social conditions whereby she
enjoys a comfortable life in Brazil with the
commodities bought with the money saved in
Japan, and, supported by the co-ethnic com-
munity there, she lives in an environment
which resembles Japan as closely as possible.
The case study provides us with an accurate
description of how Japanese Brazilian women
deal with their expected roles while living in
two places. Another interviewee returned to
her home three times in a period of eight years
in Japan. Her first trip to Brazil was a tempo-
rary return. She went back for two months
with the promise to return to the same work-
place, to do the same job tasks. Although she
had lived with her family until her trip to
Japan, upon her return she found conditions
were not as they had been previously: “All the
time I was asking my mom if I can do this or
4 japan: brazilian nikkeijin women
that thing in the house. I felt like a guest in my
own home.” In fact, she was on vacation. She
brought her family souvenirs and electrical
appliances, and the money earned in Japan was
spent on buying a new house in Brazil. Her
second return home was different from the
first. Having been engaged in the same job for
three years working on an assembly line in
Japan, she felt overworked and stressed and
decided to go back home for medical treat-
ment, without any thought of returning to
Japan. During her stay in Brazil her parents
and relatives began to press her to marry. She
stayed there for eight months and again
returned to Japan. Some years ago, she returned
home to Brazil again, but now married. Her
parents’ and relatives comments’ about her
marriage were, “Yattto kekkon shita, ne” (You
have finally married) and “Mo omiai shina-
kutemo ii, ne” (You don’t need to have an
arranged marriage).
Living a married life in Japan, she feels her
life has changed completely. Now she manages
household chores and tries to balance her
job and household responsibilities. Although
household chores are demanding, she is satis-
fied with married life. Looking back upon
her experience abroad, she said: “I have matured
in a lot of ways, and I feel confident about
myself.”
Conclusion
Many scholars have explored the influence of
migrant women’s paid work on changing
gender roles. They point out that, despite
gender inequalities in the labor market and
workplaces, migrant women generally gain
personal autonomy and independence. It is
important, however, to make clear whether or
not these gains can automatically be assumed
to have changed gender roles or relations. As
the case studies have demonstrated, while the
informants felt that their experiences abroad
gave them self-confidence and autonomy, they
continued to perform according to their
expected roles. They felt strange returning to
their home country, and needed to find ways
to cope with life at home. Living abroad, they
could think about their family’s expectations
and became aware of the gap between their
lives in Brazil and in Japan, but those experi-
ences did not bring about change in their
gender roles.
SEE ALSO: Gender and migration; Japan:
collapse of empire and repatriation; Japan:
colonization and settlement; Japan: Korean
Zainichi migration; Japan: Nikkeijin migration
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