The Enpirical Study of "Mosaic Culture" Formation in Contemporary Japan : Everday Life of International Marriage Family

1998 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 08610311
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: 文化人類学(含民族学・民俗学)
• Research Institution: TOHOKU UNIVERSITY
• Principal Investigator: NUMAZAKI Ichiro Tohoku Univ, Faculty of Arts and Letters Associate Professor, 文学部, 助教授 (40237798)
• Project Period (FY): 1996 – 1998
• Keywords: international marriage / mosaic culture / the Philippines

Research Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the formation of new type of everyday culture of the intercultural family of Japanese husband and Filipino wife in Sendai. In this study, the newly formed culture that combines the elements of both Japanese and Filipino cultures is conceptualized as "mosaic culture" in that different cultural elements constitute pieces of a mosaic. The "Filipino dance" performed as part of the Tanabata Festival procession by a group of Filipino wives is analyzed as an example of the "mosaic culture." The dance performed by a team of Filipino wives and Japanese college students and presented to the Japanese audience as a representation of Filipino culture is itself a mosaic of different elements of Filipino cultural traditions. The dance also functions as a constitutive piece of a larger mosaic of Sendai Tanabata Festival, hence Tanabata Festival also becomes a mosaic of different cultures. Finally, the dance taped in a video and shown to Filipino relatives back home functions as a representation both of Japanese culture in Sendai and of the Filipino wives married to Japanese husbands. The "Filipino dance" in Tanabata Festival, a "same" cultural performance, a "single" piece of a mosaic, therefore acquires different meanings in different constellation of pieces.