Persistent flows, evolving aspirations: Recent Chinese student migration into Japan

• In Event: 30225 - Changing Patterns of International Migration: Asian Perspectives

Abstract

For nearly four decades since the onset of contemporary student migration from China to Japan, Japan has remained one of the top destinations for Chinese students seeking study abroad opportunities. The number of Chinese international students has also remained the highest in Japan. However, in the third decade of the 21st Century, while educational mobility persists, who the students are, why and how they come to Japan, and how their educational journeys unfold after their arrival have changed dramatically from the early cohorts of students in the 1980s and 1990s. Students’ aspirations and their migration processes have become much more diverse. This paper presents the recent trends of student migration from China to Japan. By exploring these trends, this paper discusses how international education migration is envisioned and utilized by individuals in varied circumstances and at different stages of the life course. It shows that while good work and good life are still the dreams that motivate Chinese students to study abroad, the notion of “good” is tied less to economic conditions than lifestyles and a reevaluation of what constitutes meaningful work. Such changes are caused by the altered circumstances of migration in both China and Japan. Nonetheless, despite the changing aspirations and circumstances for education migration, the population mobility trends persist. This paper argues that a transnational migratory space between China and Japan has formed through the building of a migration infrastructure of which Japan’s immigration law, social networks online and offline, commercial interests and technology converge to produce and sustain migration flows.

Author

• Gracia Liu-Farrer, Waseda University