The Birth of the Burmese-Japanese Citizen? Examining Family Ties and Identity

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K01901
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Area studies
• Research Institution: Osaka University of Economics and Law
• Principal Investigator: KAJIMURA Miki 大阪経済法科大学, 国際学部, 准教授 (00534421)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 陳 天璽 早稲田大学, 国際学術院, 教授 (40370142) ; 根本 敬 上智大学, 総合グローバル学部, 教授 (90228289)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): NEMOTO Kei 上智大学, 総合グローバル学部, 教授 (90228289)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 地域研究 / ビルマ系日本人 / アイデンティティ / 家族のつながり / 無国籍

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study aims to clarify the birth of Burmese-Japanese Citizen and its significance by examining the process through which people with such an identity has emerged among Burmese residing in Japan for a long term. In examining their identity, we, the research members, paid attention to the question of how those Burmese-Japanese Citizen have actually utilized their Nationality and/or Passport in forming their identity rather than merely accepting the established idea of how the Nationality and/or Passport have had a nominal effect on forming their identity. Unlike other studies that deal mostly with the refugees who crossed Burmese borders since the 1988 democratic uprising in Burma, we included in our study even those who crossed their Burmese borders as early as in the 1960s, and who eventually established their community after settlement in Japan. Finally, the study concludes by delineating the process through which how Burmese-Japanese Citizen have being emerged in today’s Japan.

Free Research Field

地域研究