Chinese students are the largest international student population in the world, and Japan attracts more of them than any other country. Since the mid-1980s when China opened the door to let private citizens out and Japan began to let more foreigners in, over 300 thousand Chinese have arrived in Japan as students. The majority of them enter Japan's labor market and many have stayed on indefinitely. This book investigates this educationally channeled labor migration from China to Japan giving a comprehensive portrayal of an often neglected group of international migrants in a society that for decades has been considered a non-immigrant country. It examines the labor market outcomes of international student migration and explores how these outcomes contribute to our understanding of international migration and international education in an age of globalization.
Gracia Liu-Farrer is Associate Professor of Sociology at the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies, Waseda University, Japan.
Introduction: Japan and the Educationally Channeled International Labour Migration 1. Fuji Dongying: A Century of Chinese Student Migration to Japan 2. Parting at the Starting Point: Visa Overstaying as a Social Process 3. Labouring to Learn: Student Migrant Life in Japan 4. Careers in Japan's Transnational Economy 5. Global Economies From Below: Migrants' Transnational Entrepreneurship 6. Lives Spanned Across Borders Conclusion: International Students, Transnational Migrants