Paper short abstract:

This paper aims to identify which theoretical model best describes the adaptation process of immigrant-origin youths in Japan. The typology, drawn from the analysis of 61 semi-structured interviews, provides a theoretical-oriented contribution to assess the Japanese immigrants’ integration stage.

Paper long abstract:

The steadily growing immigration phenomenon in today’s Japan is showing a tangible and expanding presence of immigrant-origin youths residing in the country. International research in the migration studies area has underlined the importance of focusing on immigrant-origin youths to shed light on the character of the way immigrants incorporate into countries of destinations. Within this framework, the school is a privileged site to observe and analyze immigrant-origin youths’ integration. In school, children learn norms and rules and acquire the necessary tools to eventually compete in pursuing an occupation, determining their future socioeconomic standing. This contribution aims to identify which theoretical model articulated in the North American and European area of migration studies best describes the adaptation process of immigrant-origin youths in Japan. In particular, it examines whether (and to what extent) any of the pre-existing frameworks can help explain the Japanese occurring circumstances, or whether further elaboration and adjustment are needed. This contribution draws its argument from the thematic analysis of 61 semi-structured interviews collected in 2020 and 2021 and conducted with immigrant-origin youths residing in Japan. Brazilian, Chinese, and Korean-origin youths, together with a native Japanese group of control, were included in the study, according to the criterion of numerosity. Interviews strongly focused on recipients’ past school experiences and present socioeconomic positioning and the degree of integration of immigrant-origin youths is here observed through the creation of a typology. Defining a typology is a widely used sociological tool within qualitative methodological research. The selection of two variables – 1) the retrospective educational and academic aspirations of interviewees and 2) the degree of support that youths received from their family members to pursue their educational and academic careers – has allowed the identification of four immigrant-origin youths’ pro-files (types), which conjugate the empirical evidence with the theoretical framework of reference. Preliminary findings lead to arguing that Alba and Nee’s (1997) new assimilation theory is the most appropriate theoretical model to interpret and predict immigrant-origin youths’ integration destinies in Japan. This study provides a theoretical-oriented contribution to the (mainly descriptive but maturing) literature on immigrant-origin youths’ integration in Japan.