- Joined
- Jul 24, 2008
- Messages
- 33,627
- Points
- 0
[h=2]My experience with new Immigrants in Japan[/h]
May 25th, 2012 |
Author: Contributions
Yokohama's Chinatown, a enclave for the Chinese immigrant community
Hello everyone,
I would like to share my thoughts on integration of new immigrants. I came back from Japan about 2 months ago after a two week business trip - mostly outside Tokyo.
Its not true that Japan does not have any immigrants. Its just that there are few and the new immigrants take pains to integrate and they do it so well that you can’t tell unless you pay attention.
I met 3 PRCs and 1 Indian during my work. Let me share my observations.
New Immigrant 1 : PRC
This is a waitress. She resembled Japanese down to the hairstyle and dressing. She speaks softly and bows like all other Japanese. She displayed none of the usual PRC traits like speaking loudly or pushy. She noticed that I was having problem ordering and she quickly asked if I could speak mandarin – much to my relief. She continued with mandarin in the same soft manner like most Japanese and waited patiently for me to decide. I found out that she is from Hebei and she came over to study Japanese and later took up a job as a waitress here. She genuinely like it in Japan and has a Japanese boyfriend. She speaks perfect Japanese. I would never has guess she is a PRC.
New immigrant 2 : PRC Engineer
I visited my supplier and he had a PRC engineer. Again, this engineer dress like a Japanese and speak perfect Japanese. In fact he even married a Japanese lady. He came over on a scholarship and had to spend 1 year studying Japanese first before starting on his Engineering course. Of course he started speaking to me in Mandarin. He again behave completely like a Japanese.
New immigrant 3 : Indian Engineer
This was at my customer’s factory. Of course he was obvious but listening to him speak to his colleagues, I was amazed that he spoke and behaved completely like the Japanese. His colleagues joke with him and was completely at ease with him.
He again came over on a scholarship, took 1 year to study Japanese. He had to go back to India after his studies to an arranged married (decided by his parents) and be brought his wife over. According to him, she had 2 years of Japanese studies but is finding it harder to integrate as she is a housewife and interactions are limited but she is making progress and is now involved in community work at a nearby school.
He shared with me over lunch that he will not go back to India because he feels totally integrated. As for number of recipients of Japanese scholarships, there are not many and he was the only Indian at that time in the Uni.
Lastly, he revealed to me that if you hire a foreigner, you have to pay the same as the locals. That’s why Japanese firms seldom hire foreigners as there is no advantage (likely to have disadvantage). He of course offer them an advantage as he is proficient in English too.
Last immigrant 4 : PRC
Train station executive. He sells Shinkansen tickets at Nagoya. Again, this guy looked and speak like any Japanese. He even has the hand gestures. Like the other PRCs mentioned above, he integrated so well. I didn’t have the time to interact with him to get any more details.
The 4 of them showed me that integration is definitely possible but must be done in such a way that they new immigrants have to adopt the new country’s way of life. You can’t really live comfortably if you don’t speak Japanese in Japan.
In Singapore, the new immigrants don’t even bother to learn English because there are so many of them that they create their own enclaves. That’s where PAP has screwed up big time. However, instead of learning from this, they think Singaporeans need to change and we need to embrace their way of life instead. Well, it just goes to show they don’t value Singapore’s way of life as much as their self serving interests.
I hope this sharing is useful. It certainly has opened my eyes about integration and what is possible and why PAP is full of bullshit.
.
Observer
Hello everyone,
I would like to share my thoughts on integration of new immigrants. I came back from Japan about 2 months ago after a two week business trip - mostly outside Tokyo.
Its not true that Japan does not have any immigrants. Its just that there are few and the new immigrants take pains to integrate and they do it so well that you can’t tell unless you pay attention.
I met 3 PRCs and 1 Indian during my work. Let me share my observations.
New Immigrant 1 : PRC
This is a waitress. She resembled Japanese down to the hairstyle and dressing. She speaks softly and bows like all other Japanese. She displayed none of the usual PRC traits like speaking loudly or pushy. She noticed that I was having problem ordering and she quickly asked if I could speak mandarin – much to my relief. She continued with mandarin in the same soft manner like most Japanese and waited patiently for me to decide. I found out that she is from Hebei and she came over to study Japanese and later took up a job as a waitress here. She genuinely like it in Japan and has a Japanese boyfriend. She speaks perfect Japanese. I would never has guess she is a PRC.
New immigrant 2 : PRC Engineer
I visited my supplier and he had a PRC engineer. Again, this engineer dress like a Japanese and speak perfect Japanese. In fact he even married a Japanese lady. He came over on a scholarship and had to spend 1 year studying Japanese first before starting on his Engineering course. Of course he started speaking to me in Mandarin. He again behave completely like a Japanese.
New immigrant 3 : Indian Engineer
This was at my customer’s factory. Of course he was obvious but listening to him speak to his colleagues, I was amazed that he spoke and behaved completely like the Japanese. His colleagues joke with him and was completely at ease with him.
He again came over on a scholarship, took 1 year to study Japanese. He had to go back to India after his studies to an arranged married (decided by his parents) and be brought his wife over. According to him, she had 2 years of Japanese studies but is finding it harder to integrate as she is a housewife and interactions are limited but she is making progress and is now involved in community work at a nearby school.
He shared with me over lunch that he will not go back to India because he feels totally integrated. As for number of recipients of Japanese scholarships, there are not many and he was the only Indian at that time in the Uni.
Lastly, he revealed to me that if you hire a foreigner, you have to pay the same as the locals. That’s why Japanese firms seldom hire foreigners as there is no advantage (likely to have disadvantage). He of course offer them an advantage as he is proficient in English too.
Last immigrant 4 : PRC
Train station executive. He sells Shinkansen tickets at Nagoya. Again, this guy looked and speak like any Japanese. He even has the hand gestures. Like the other PRCs mentioned above, he integrated so well. I didn’t have the time to interact with him to get any more details.
The 4 of them showed me that integration is definitely possible but must be done in such a way that they new immigrants have to adopt the new country’s way of life. You can’t really live comfortably if you don’t speak Japanese in Japan.
In Singapore, the new immigrants don’t even bother to learn English because there are so many of them that they create their own enclaves. That’s where PAP has screwed up big time. However, instead of learning from this, they think Singaporeans need to change and we need to embrace their way of life instead. Well, it just goes to show they don’t value Singapore’s way of life as much as their self serving interests.
I hope this sharing is useful. It certainly has opened my eyes about integration and what is possible and why PAP is full of bullshit.
.
Observer
