International marriage in Japan: reconstructing cultural toolkits in marriages between Japanese men and women from the former Soviet Union

ABSTRACT

This paper analyzes intercultural issues in marriages between Japanese men and women from former Soviet Union countries. Focusing on the differences in meanings and assumptions that guide couples in their marriages and the historical-cultural roots of these differences, the paper argues that spouses adapt, negotiate, and change their expectations to each other in response to the cultural encounters that deviate from their familiar cultural patterns. The data for the research was collected by the author between 2006 and 2014 in urban areas of Japan. It consists in-depth interviews with Russian-speaking women (48) and Japanese men (20), participant observation in couples’ homes, women’s gatherings, and communication in an online Russian-language community. The analysis reveals the effects of cultural differences on relationships between spouses in international marriages in Japan, discusses the fluidity and change of cultural notions over time, and explains how spouses justify these changes.

KEYWORDS:

• International marriage in Japan
• cross-border marriage
• marriage migration to Japan
• Russian women marriage migration
• intercultural communication
• cultural toolkit

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. While there are many arguments concerning the term denoting international marriage (kokusai kekkon) in Japanese, in this paper the term ‘international marriage’ will be utilised.

2. One of the participants is listed as Russian, since she held Russian citizenship by the time of the research; however, her original citizenship was Uzbek.

3. The internet community that was created in 2005 by women from FSU countries for Russian-speaking women living in Japan was the main source of women’s information gathering, communication, and family and daily life problem solving for ten years. The author also was a member and contacted many participants via this community. However, due to the spread of Facebook and the creation of similar groups there, the community was closed in 2016.

4. Pseudonyms are used to protect the identity of research participants.

5. Takehiro used the English word ‘culture’, even though the interview was conducted in Japanese.

6. Otsukaresamadeshita is used in different contexts in Japanese. Here, it is used as a greeting towards a person who has finished work and can be translated as ‘thank you for your work’.

7. Larissa also used the English word ‘culture’, even though she was mainly speaking in Russian.

8. Russian word for ‘husband’.