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Paper short abstract:

This paper presents ethnography of Japan’s ethnic-minority senior services for Zainichi Koreans, Japanese war-orphan returnees from China, Vietnamese refugees, and a mixture of Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Japanese elderly, who reveal the interwoven complexities of multi-ethnic aging and care.

Paper long abstract:

Historically, Japan has immersed itself in the myth of ethnic homogeneity. However, this emphasis of homogeneity has been contested by the growing presence of “others” within its midst. According to Japan’s Ministry of Justice in 2020 there were 2,933,137 foreigners, a 7.4% increase from 2019. With a growing number of foreigners, the fact that many will settle permanently, age, and die in Japan is a reality. As of 2019, there were approximately 260,000 foreigners 60 years and older. Although Japan ranks among the highest in the world for its elderly population, the presence of aging minorities has received little attention. Currently, the “foreign” elderly within Japan’s peripheries face another kind of challenge in their aging process. The historical realities of forced occupation, colonization, poverty, migration, and tragic consequences of war, separation, refuge, and unexpected “homecoming” presents another dimension – aging in a foreign land. Witnessing a need to care for their elders, younger generation of Japan’s minority communities have begun to build multi-cultural, multi-ethnic care services. In senior daycare facilities, home-visiting services, and community outreach, the care-givers and minority seniors highlight crucial factors such as ethnic identity, language, food-culture, gender, familial relationships, socio-economic status, education-level, religious beliefs, and communal memories of migratory experiences as an integral part of “ethnic care”. Knowing the barriers that minority elderly face – illiteracy, discriminatory experiences, isolation, and stigma of being different – have direct influence on the quality of care provided, as well as mental health and physical wellbeing of foreign seniors. This paper presents ethnography of minority senior-care services of Zainichi Koreans, Japanese war-orphan returnees from China, Vietnamese refugees, and a mixture of Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Japanese elderly, who reveal the interwoven complexities of aging in a supposedly homogenous Japan. The multicultural, multi-ethnic spaces serve as a place of belonging “ibasho,” where difference is the norm, which promotes dignity, well-being, and quality of life and aging.