https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9029-2964
![Sample our Politics & International Relations journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5947/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Politics-International-Relations.jpg"})
Abstract
Using interview data, the article demonstrates that Uzbekistani residents of Japan understand and explain their stay in Japan largely as temporary, in line with the concept of ‘sojourning’. In contrast to previous studies that operationalise sojourning according to legal status or ‘preparations to return home’, this article claims that such ‘sojourning’ needs to be treated as a constantly changing socially shaped discursive category employed by respondents to mitigate challenges such as economic hardship, discrimination and cultural assimilation. Additionally, male expatriates may describe their sojourning in culturally specific religious terms, as wanderers (musofir) in search of life experience abroad.
Correction Statement
This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
Notes
1 For instance, Mizukami (Citation2007).
2 Given that it is more challenging to anonymise identity and personal information for a small sample of respondents (Gray et al. Citation2007, p. 86) and to anonymise respondents from the relatively small community of Uzbekistanis in Japan and the online Uzbekistani community in Japan (Saunders et al. Citation2014), snowball sampling was avoided to ensure ‘internal’ confidentiality within this community (Tolich Citation2004). Respondents were not aware of the authors’ contact with other respondents.
3 In the Japanese context, naturalisation is a very difficult process. Most foreign residents are content with achieving permanent residency—eijūken.
4 Others include long-term Chinese and Korean residents, Ainu in Hokkaido and Ryukyuans in Okinawa.
5 ‘Japan’, OECD International Migration Outlook 2019, available at: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/e025d47d-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/e025d47d-en, accessed 12 July 2021.
6 ‘Statistics of Foreign Residents (Formerly Registered Foreigners) (2006–2020)’, Immigration Services Agency of Japan, available at: http://www.moj.go.jp/housei/toukei/toukei_ichiran_touroku.html, accessed 5 October 2021.
7 ‘Statistics of Foreign Residents (Formerly Registered Foreigners) (2006–2020)’, Immigration Services Agency of Japan, available at: http://www.moj.go.jp/housei/toukei/toukei_ichiran_touroku.html, accessed 5 October 2021.
8 ‘Statistics of Foreign Residents (Formerly Registered Foreigners) (2006–2020)’, Immigration Services Agency of Japan, available at: http://www.moj.go.jp/housei/toukei/toukei_ichiran_touroku.html, accessed 5 October 2021.
9 Interview 1, Sardor, Ibaraki, 29 July 2018.
10 Interview 13, Javohir, Ibaraki, 11 August 2018.
11 Interview 16, Bilol, Ibaraki, 13 August 2018.
12 Interview 8, Anvar, online, 7 August 2018.
13 Interview 12, Tahmina, online, 10 August 2018.
14 Interview 8, Anvar, online, 7 August 2018.
15 Interview 7, Osiyo, online, 6 August 2018.
16 Interview 7, Osiyo, online, 6 August 2018.
17 Interview 1, Sardor, Ibaraki, 29 July 2018; interview 4, Gulnora, online, 4 August 2018; interview 6, Diyora, online, 4 August 2018; interview 8, Anvar, online, 7 August 2018; interview 9, Oybek, Ibaraki, 7 August 2018; interview 20, Abdulla, online, 16 August 2018; interview 21, Kamola, online, 17 August 2018; interview 30, Doston, Ibaraki, 20 November 2018.
18 Interview 14, Said, Ibaraki, 11 August 2018.
19 Interview 8, Anvar, online, 7 August 2018.
20 Interview 2, Bekzod, Ibaraki, 29 July 2018; interview 17, Ilmiyaxon, online, 13 August 2018; interview 8, Anvar, online, 7 August 2018; interview 23, Ali, Ibaraki, 20 August 2018.
21 Interview 6, Diyora, online, 4 August 2018.
22 Interview 11, Nafisa, online, 9 August 2018.
23 Interview 1, Sardor, Ibaraki, 29 July 2018.
24 Interview 10, Rustam, online, 9 August 2018.
25 Interview 4, Gulnora, online, 4 August 2018.
26 Interview 3, Tamara, Ibaraki, 2 August 2018.
27 Interview 1, Sardor, Ibaraki, 29 July 2018.
28 Interview 7, Osiyo, online, 6 August 2018.
29 Interview 12, Tahmina, online, 10 August 2018.
30 Interview 12, Tahmina, online, 10 August 2018.
31 Interview 11, Nafisa, online, 9 August 2018.
32 Interview 17, Ilmiyaxon, online, 13 August 2018.
33 Interview 17, Ilmiyaxon, online, 13 August 2018.
34 Interview 11, Nafisa, online, 9 August 2018.
35 Interview 17, Ilmiyaxon, online, 13 August 2018.
36 Interview 20, Abdulla, online, 16 August 2018; interview 21, Kamola, online, 17 August 2018; interview 14, Said, Ibaraki, 11 August 2018.
37 Interview 4, Gulnora, online, 4 August 2018.
38 Interview 12, Tahmina, online, 10 August 2018.
39 Interview 12, Tahmina, online, 10 August 2018.
40 Interview 15, Akmal, Ibaraki, 11 August 2018.
41 Interview 13, Javohir, Ibaraki, 11 August 2018.
42 Interview 13, Javohir, Ibaraki, 11 August 2018; interview 14, Said, Ibaraki, 11 August 2018; interview 15, Akmal, Ibaraki, 11 August 2018; interview 16, Bilol, Ibaraki, 13 August 2018.
43 Interview 13, Javohir, Ibaraki, 11 August 2018.
44 Interview 12, Tahmina, online, 10 August 2018.
45 Interview 8, Anvar, online, 7 August 2018.
46 Interview 14, Said, Ibaraki, 11 August 2018.
47 Interview 14, Said, Ibaraki, 11 August 2018.
48 Interview 16, Bilol, Ibaraki, 13 August 2018.
49 The National Security Service in Uzbekistan is notorious for sending its officers to work in various public agencies, in order to exercise control over such institutions.
50 Interview 1, Sardor, Ibaraki, 29 July 2018.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Timur Dadabaev
Timur Dadabaev, University of Tsukuba, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Tennodai 1-1-1, Tsukuba-city, Ibaraki prefecture 305-8577, Japan. Email: [email protected]
Mukaddam Akhmedova
Mukaddam Akhmedova, Graduate School of Business Sciences, Humanities and Social Sciences, The University of Tsukuba, Tennodai 1-1-1, Tsukuba-city, Ibaraki prefecture 305-8577, Japan. Email: [email protected]