Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, June 2001. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

This thesis explores social construction of the life course of post-war Japanese immigrant (shin ijuusha) women in Canada, based on interviews with 48 Japanese women in Toronto, Kingston and Ottawa. First, why women leave Japan is explored. Their emigration occurs in contexts of tourism, Japanese longing for America/the West constructed through Western popular culture, and gender and the life course. Japanese women negotiate their lives, cleverly using multiple meanings attached to the migration experience. Second, their lives in Canada are examined. Advantages Japanese women found in Canada include freedom and different perspectives, whereas they face serious disadvantages such as language/cultural barriers and difficulty finding employment. They cannot really recognize the existence of racism, however, because of their language/cultural barriers and of subtlety of today’s racism. Though dispersed and invisible, shin ijuusha networks have developed in Toronto since the early 1970s, with a major motivation to provide Japanese language education for nisei children. Shin ijuusha mothers tend to regret that their children have acquired only basic Japanese, but some have successfully connected their children to Japan/Japanese culture. Japanese immigrant women often attach emotional meanings to immigration status. Some choose their status with their family in mind. Subjectively, they tend to feel they are “Japanese,” hesitating to claim to be “Canadian.” They have internalized the mainstream gaze and see themselves as “others” in Canada. Meanwhile, many women feel that Canada is their home. They tend to transform Canada to a homeland over their life course, establishing meaningful social relations. Third, shin ijuusha women’s transnationalism is explored. They keep ties with Japan, especially for social connections. Many women provide transnational care provision for their aging parents in Japan, which is a new gender role invented after World War II. Shin ijuusha women’s transnationalism is associated with life-course transitions. Spatial connection between Canada and Japan is still contingent in societal context, however. Finally, how migration to Canada has changed lives of Japanese women is considered. Although the migration did not necessarily empower women, they tend to view it positively, because migration helped them to acquire plural perspectives that have deeply enriched their lives. / Thesis (Ph.D, Geography) -- Queen's University, 2009-04-22 16:48:52.437

Orientador: Ethel Volfzon Kosminsky / Banca: Célia Sakurai / Banca: Claude Lépine / Resumo: Campo Grande recebeu a partir de 1909, grande contingente de imigrantes japoneses. Tornou-se assim, uma das cidades com o maior número dessa população no Brasil. Uma de suas características é o fato de possuir boa parte de seus nipônicos oriundos da ilha de Okinawa. O grupo oriental exerceu - e ainda exerce grande influencia na cidade, possuindo como uma de suas festas turísticas o Bon Odori, incorporado pela Prefeitura Municipal ao calendário de festividades de comemoração do aniversário da divisão do Estado do Mato Grosso do Sul. A cidade possui também como carro-chefe de sua gastronomia um prato japonês, chamado sobá, trazido á Cidade Morena pelos novos habitantes provenientes de Okinawa. O presente trabalho, portanto, pretende compreender qual a importância desses dois elementos diacríticos da cultura japonesa e Campo Grande na construção de uma identidade nipônica nessa cidade, levando ainda em consideração, o fato de que as mulheres orientais, possuem na família e na colônia papel importantíssimo, como mantenedoras das tradições e costumes. São as "peças de resistência" que transmitem aos descendentes os conhecimentos e informações sobre seu país de origem, através da socialização das crianças - filhos e netos - e através de sua intensa participação nos Clubes e Associações Japonesas em Campo Grande. / Abstract: Campo Grande received from 1909 large contingent of Japanese immigrants. It is thus one of the cities with the largest number of the population in Brazil. One of his characteristics is the fact possess much of its nipponics from the island of Okinawa. The eastern group exercised - and still exerts great influence in the city, having as one of its tourist festivals the Bon Odori, built by the Municipality the timing of the festivities commemorating the anniversary of the division of the State of Mato Grosso do Sul the city has also car-head of its Japanese cuisine a dish called sobá, brought to "Cidade Morena" by the new inhabitants from Okinawa. This study, therefore, aims to understand how important these two elements characters of Japanese culture and Campo Grande in the construction of an identity nipponic this city, even taking into account the fact that women east, have in the family and in the colony role important, as maintainers traditions and customs. They are the "pieces of resistance" that transmit the offspring the knowledge and information about their country of origin, through the socialization of children - children and grandchildren - and through its participation in the intense Japanese Clubs and Associations in Campo Grande. / Mestre

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In this thesis I present prose works of contemporary Japanese women writers, who made their debut at the beginning of the 21st century. For a better understanding of the transition that a position of Japanese women and women authors has gone through - and how it prepared the way for their successors, I provide a summary of women's literature of the last two decades. To make the context clear, I also included an outline of significant changes within the realm of women's rights and the image of the role of women in society. Presentation of themes, that contemporary women writers focus on in their works and that reflect recent trends in modern Japanese society, follows. I also analyze aspects of language that are shared in works of young women writers. Lastly, considering the diverse range of critical reception of contemporary Japanese women writers, I would like to think about the future of Japanese modern literature. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

The first half of my thesis are my translations from Yumi Hirosawa’s Onna O Aisuru Onnatachi. The first translation is excerpts from a high school girls journal documenting her realization and acceptance of being lesbian, and her time with her first girlfriend. The second translation is a report by a freelance writer on three different lesbian bars in Shinjuku Ni-Chome. The most notable bar is an onabe bar called Little Prince. Onabe in the simplest terms are women who dress and act like men. Onabe are important to the research portion of my thesis because they allowed me to research how masculine identities among Japanese women are formed. The documentary Shinjuku Boys interviews three onabe. From them it is made clear that being an onabe is not as simple as presenting as a man but is a complex relationship with one’s body, societal norms and parental pressures. We learn that onabe is different than being trans - which some would say is Onabe’s Western equivalent - yet various part of those identities can line up. Secondly the cultural phenomena Takarazuka and the women that play the otoko-yaku, or men's roles, makes clear the idea of what masculinity is and how women should wear it on their bodies. Even though the otoko-yaku and musume-yaku hyper-perform gender their exaggeration helps clarify how the women from Queer Japan: Personal Stories of Japanese Lesbians, Gay, Transsexuals, and Bisexuals grappled with their sexuality and gender. Lastly, the fictional stories from Sparkling Rain: And Other Fiction from Japan of Women Who Love Women coupled with the firsthand accounts from Queer Japan further develops the idea and struggles of masculine women’s bodies. In my thesis I aim to look at how masculinity is written onto Japanese woman's bodies both by themselves and others, and the struggles that they encounter because of their deviant sexual and gender identities. In my thesis these are the research questions I aim to answer: What are the modes in which queer women push away masculinity? Yet how do they perform and enforce it? How do these women view or interpret other women who are more masculine? How does having a masculine identity affect one’s perception of themselves? How do these women cope with being both lesbian and masculine of center? Why are the otoko-yaku women of Takarazuka praised for their daily performance of masculinity while onabe are scrutinized for it? And if both are forms of entertainment, mainly for other women, why is one more acceptable than another?

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:22:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2008-03-06Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:28:38Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 kubota_nfl_me_mar.pdf: 2435418 bytes, checksum: aa057b5c7896be255d9fa2b70d72a01a (MD5) / Campo Grande recebeu a partir de 1909, grande contingente de imigrantes japoneses. Tornou-se assim, uma das cidades com o maior número dessa população no Brasil. Uma de suas características é o fato de possuir boa parte de seus nipônicos oriundos da ilha de Okinawa. O grupo oriental exerceu – e ainda exerce grande influencia na cidade, possuindo como uma de suas festas turísticas o Bon Odori, incorporado pela Prefeitura Municipal ao calendário de festividades de comemoração do aniversário da divisão do Estado do Mato Grosso do Sul. A cidade possui também como carro-chefe de sua gastronomia um prato japonês, chamado sobá, trazido á Cidade Morena pelos novos habitantes provenientes de Okinawa. O presente trabalho, portanto, pretende compreender qual a importância desses dois elementos diacríticos da cultura japonesa e Campo Grande na construção de uma identidade nipônica nessa cidade, levando ainda em consideração, o fato de que as mulheres orientais, possuem na família e na colônia papel importantíssimo, como mantenedoras das tradições e costumes. São as “peças de resistência” que transmitem aos descendentes os conhecimentos e informações sobre seu país de origem, através da socialização das crianças – filhos e netos – e através de sua intensa participação nos Clubes e Associações Japonesas em Campo Grande. / Campo Grande received from 1909 large contingent of Japanese immigrants. It is thus one of the cities with the largest number of the population in Brazil. One of his characteristics is the fact possess much of its nipponics from the island of Okinawa. The eastern group exercised - and still exerts great influence in the city, having as one of its tourist festivals the Bon Odori, built by the Municipality the timing of the festivities commemorating the anniversary of the division of the State of Mato Grosso do Sul the city has also car-head of its Japanese cuisine a dish called sobá, brought to “Cidade Morena” by the new inhabitants from Okinawa. This study, therefore, aims to understand how important these two elements characters of Japanese culture and Campo Grande in the construction of an identity nipponic this city, even taking into account the fact that women east, have in the family and in the colony role important, as maintainers traditions and customs. They are the pieces of resistance that transmit the offspring the knowledge and information about their country of origin, through the socialization of children - children and grandchildren - and through its participation in the intense Japanese Clubs and Associations in Campo Grande.

Much recent scholarship is devoted to projecting Japan’s future and analyzing its prospects as a global power. After two decades of economic stagnation, alarming demographic trends, and the 3/11 triple disaster, some scholars argue that Japan is grappling with an era of precarity, marked with instability and anxiety. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe returned to office in 2012, promoting his economic reform policy, “Abenomics” and within the third “arrow" of this approach targeting structural reforms, he promoted “womenomics”, a term coined by Kathy Matsui of Goldman-Sachs. Prime Minister Abe’s objective is to create a society where "women can shine” and women can participate in the labor market more equitably. However, it is unclear if equality can be achieved when Japanese women still encounter persistent workplace sex discrimination. While labor laws, such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Law, have attempted to tackle workplace sex discrimination, many scholars and critics believe the laws have not done enough. One way Japanese women have attempted to combat workplace sex discrimination is with litigation. Starting in the 1960s, women have resorted to judicial relief to address discriminatory treatment in the workplace. However, while litigation is a powerful tool for social change in Japan, the literature suggests that Japanese women are reluctant to litigate, consistent with the larger consensus that Japan is a low-litigious society. If Japanese women have engaged in “litigation campaigns" and litigation rates are rising, yet Japanese women are reluctant to litigate, this creates an interesting paradox worth exploring. While these two conditions are not unique in and of themselves, what is curious in this nexus is how Japanese women actually relate to the law. This study analyzes how Japanese women relate to the law. Through semi-structured interviews with Japanese working women about their experiences, thoughts, and opinions, this study illustrates how Japanese women “do" law and deepens our understanding of their relationship with the law. In addition to this, this study proposes a new model for measuring litigiousness. Rather than measuring litigiousness in terms of aggregate litigation rates, this study operationalizes litigiousness in terms of personal intent. By applying this model to qualitative data, this study demonstrates that Japanese women actually do demonstrate a moderate degree of litigiousness as it relates to workplace sex discrimination. That is, the nail that sticks up isn't always hammered down.

abstract: Ascribed elements of one's self-identity such as sex, race, and the place of birth are deeply related to one's national identity among Japanese immigrant women. Spouses, offspring, friends, networks in the U.S., or even information about their local area also represent the nation they feel they belong to. The feelings of belonging and comfort are the basis for their achieved sphere of identification with the U.S. This study found that few elderly immigrants would identify only with the host county. Likewise, very few elderly immigrants would identify only with the homeland. Therefore, most of them identify with both countries (transnational), or they identify with neither country (liminal) to an extent. Developing transnational or liminal identity is a result of how Japanese elderly immigrant women have been experiencing mundane events in the host country and how they think the power relations of the sending and receiving countries have changed over the years. Japanese elderly immigrant women with transnational identity expressed their confidence and little anxiety for their aging. Their confidence comes from strong connection with the local community in the host country or/and homeland. Contrarily, those with liminal identity indicated stronger anxiety toward their aging. Their anxiety comes from disassociation from the local community in the U.S. and Japan. With regard to the decisiveness of future plan such as where to live and how to cope with aging, indecisiveness seems to create more options for elderly Japanese immigrant women with the transnational identity, while it exacerbates the anxiety among those who have liminal identity. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Sociology 2012

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