Japanese families in the American wonderland: Transformation of self-identity and culture.

Abstract

This study investigated the meaning of living abroad for Japanese children and their parents by examining twelve Japanese families who had lived in the USA for more than three years. Particular attention was paid to the children in these families who attended the Japanese Supplemental School of the Midwest (JSM) between 1989 and 1995. The study highlights existing myths about Japanese culture and the impact of these myths on the expectation held for these families. The effects of the children's learning experiences in American and Japanese schools are presented and analyzed. The experiences of these families in the USA were like being in a Wonderland. Things were seldom what they expected. Surprises, often unhappy ones, were frequent. Particularly for the children and their mothers, the learning of English became a major source of hardship in their everyday life. To deal with the problems that life in the USA presented, they relied on family and friends for help and support. Human relationships, called kizuna, are fundamental in everyday life in the Wonderland because they are key to learning the ways of a different culture, ibunka. The Japanese families exhibited ambivalent behavior toward the Wonderland. The ambivalence resulted from unmet expectations, which derived from a combination of traditional and modern social values, as well as from a habit of honne (private self) and tatemae (public self) relationships. The paradox of these social values affected the families' cultural identity making these identities less clear, and therefore ambiguous. Recommendations at the end of this study are offered to parents of future Japanese students in the USA, teachers and administrators of the JSM, and the Ministry of Education in Japan in the form of a series of letters designed to forestall future problems for these families in the Wonderland called the USA.