Transnational migrants and the socio-spatial superdiversification of the global city Tokyo

Abstract

Tokyo illustrates a particularly interesting case of differential inclusions of transnational migrants in urban spaces, as the novel turn in migration policy in coordination with urban economic development has induced the arrival and diversification of migrant populations into the city. With the recent historic opening of the country to lower-skilled labour migration as well as measures to (re-) attract the global economy, thus incentivising transnational corporate professionals to relocate to specific national economic zones within the city, Tokyo is in a new socio-spatial diversification process. With a non-ethno-focal lens on transnational migration and focusing on upper-class transnational corporate migrants, this article discusses diversification regarding the newer arrivals of migrants who are differently included in the urban spaces as compared to older generations of migrants. It delivers novel accounts of a diversifying transnational migrant groups’ socio-spatial patterns within Tokyo, which illustrate the dynamics of differential inclusions resulting from the superdiversification of urban societies. The article gives new insights into the socio-spatial diversification dynamics of transnational urban spaces in a long-neglected but highly topical Asian arrival city, and conceptually reflects such localised superdiversification of urban spaces on a global scale.

Migrant-led diversification and differential inclusion in arrival cities across Asia and the Pacific

“…Focusing on Tokyo, Yamamura’s (2022) contribution speaks to the saturation of migration-driven urban change across the superdiverse global city. Examining high-status migrants in a city that is often assumed to be homogeneous, she illustrates how and where different transnational spaces are produced beyond the commonly known ethnic towns in the city.…”

Arrival cities and the mobility of concepts

“…This includes a city-state with sustained migration-led demographic growth, transient labour migration and institutionalised differential inclusion (Bork-Hüffer, 2022; Goh and Lee, 2022; Yeoh and Lam, 2022; Ye et al, 2022); a post-earthquake city undergoing unexpected forms of migrant-driven diversification (Collins and Friesen, 2022) and cities shaped by the specificities of education-based migration, deterritorialisations and cross-border mobilities (Koh, 2022; Leung and Waters, 2022). It also covers the affective hospitality of forced migrants who may or may not be offered permanent settlement to remain (Sidhu and Rossi-Sackey, 2022); the complex reconfiguration of suburban spaces by new settlements and generational diversity (Robertson et al, 2022); the elite transnational migrants that are shaping the socio-spatialities of a city haunted by the myth of homogeneity (Yamamura, 2022) and the urban transformations of island archipelagos that are facilitated by the interacial relationships of foreign investors (Ortega, 2022).…”

“…As many of the papers show, the very status of any arrival city is continuously under revision. This includes historic turns in migration policies that respond to labour shortages or weakened economies such as those seen in Japan (Yamamura, 2022); close relations between national elites who pave the way for deterritorialised higher education spaces as seen in Malaysia (Koh, 2022), or national policies for attracting foreign investment through tourism and retirement visas as in the Philippines (Ortega, 2022). Economic downturns and uplifts, whether global or industry-specific, changes to labour policies, state imaginaries and public cultures of negotiating difference – whether fragile or progressive – all play a role in the lived and fluctuating experiences of the arrival city, as do global events such as the recent pandemic.…”

“…The notion of transience – of passing through – is a consistent feature of the issue and captures a state of impermanence at the same time as it alludes to mobility, whether it be in relation to the ‘ephemeral hold’ that non-residential migrants have on public spaces in Singapore, where they are bound to low-waged, temporary contracts and regimes (Goh and Lee, 2022; Yeoh and Lam, 2022); the temporal constraints on residence experienced by low-waged labourers in Christchurch, where they are frequently reminded of their temporariness (Collins and Friesen, 2022); the asylum seekers that are refused leave to remain (Sidhu and Rossi-Sackey, 2022); or even the highly mobile, transnational migrants who undertake short-term overseas assignments, or find themselves unexpectedly redundant following an economic downturn (Yamamura, 2022).…”

“…Alongside the state policies and economic conditions that shape these intimacies are an extraordinary array of actors that play a pivotal role in their formation. This includes: the dating agencies and holiday resorts that facilitate encounters between Filipinas and would-be foreign investors (Ortega, 2022); the nannies that escort border-crossing children and support their socialisation and the flows of information (Leung and Waters, 2022); the personalised, domestic support offered by real estate agents to transnational migrants and the spouses of co-workers who provide them with advice and connections (Yamamura, 2022); and the employers who shape worker mobilities and socialities through the adoption of disciplinary tactics (Goh and Lee, 2022; Yeoh and Lam, 2022).…”