Singapore's Japanese community : a study in migration, acculturation, and transforming identities (1920-1942, 1970-1995)

Most studies on the Japanese in Singapore focus on the occupation period and Japan’s economic push into Singapore during the post-war period. Absent from these discussions, however, is the focus on the migratory experiences of the Japanese coming to Singapore during the pre-war (1920-1942) and post-...

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Main Author: Yuri Yamaguchi
Other Authors: Zhou Taomo
Format: Final Year Project
Language:English
Published: Nanyang Technological University 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/137635
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1376352020-04-07T04:47:52Z Singapore's Japanese community : a study in migration, acculturation, and transforming identities (1920-1942, 1970-1995) Yuri Yamaguchi Zhou Taomo School of Humanities tmzhou@ntu.edu.sg Humanities::History Most studies on the Japanese in Singapore focus on the occupation period and Japan’s economic push into Singapore during the post-war period. Absent from these discussions, however, is the focus on the migratory experiences of the Japanese coming to Singapore during the pre-war (1920-1942) and post-war (1970-1995) periods. Neither has there been research comparing the socio-economic differences between the pre-war and post-war generations of Japanese in Singapore. Where Japan had once been an expanding imperialist power, it became an economic powerhouse after the war. Singapore transformed from a British colony to a trading and financial centre. This paper aims to question how such transformations impacted the experiences of the pre-war and post-war Japanese in acculturating into Singapore’s society, with interest in how changes in concepts of their identity influenced these experiences. It argues that the pre-war Japanese acculturated to Singapore to a larger extent than the post-war Japanese. Before the war, the motivations behind Japanese expansion into Southeast Asia, the favourable political and economic climate in Singapore, and the Japanese identity being predicated on assimilation facilitated a greater degree of Japanese acculturation. Conversely, the post-war Japanese were largely short-term expatriates and their families who tended to keep within the Japanese community. This is due to Japan’s economic expansion into Southeast Asia, the stringent immigration policies in Singapore which favoured professionals, and the development of a Japanese national identity that stressed homogeneity and conformation. Bachelor of Arts in History 2020-04-07T04:47:51Z 2020-04-07T04:47:51Z 2020 Final Year Project (FYP) https://hdl.handle.net/10356/137635 en application/pdf Nanyang Technological University
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
country Singapore
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Humanities::History
spellingShingle Humanities::History
Yuri Yamaguchi
Singapore's Japanese community : a study in migration, acculturation, and transforming identities (1920-1942, 1970-1995)
description Most studies on the Japanese in Singapore focus on the occupation period and Japan’s economic push into Singapore during the post-war period. Absent from these discussions, however, is the focus on the migratory experiences of the Japanese coming to Singapore during the pre-war (1920-1942) and post-war (1970-1995) periods. Neither has there been research comparing the socio-economic differences between the pre-war and post-war generations of Japanese in Singapore. Where Japan had once been an expanding imperialist power, it became an economic powerhouse after the war. Singapore transformed from a British colony to a trading and financial centre. This paper aims to question how such transformations impacted the experiences of the pre-war and post-war Japanese in acculturating into Singapore’s society, with interest in how changes in concepts of their identity influenced these experiences. It argues that the pre-war Japanese acculturated to Singapore to a larger extent than the post-war Japanese. Before the war, the motivations behind Japanese expansion into Southeast Asia, the favourable political and economic climate in Singapore, and the Japanese identity being predicated on assimilation facilitated a greater degree of Japanese acculturation. Conversely, the post-war Japanese were largely short-term expatriates and their families who tended to keep within the Japanese community. This is due to Japan’s economic expansion into Southeast Asia, the stringent immigration policies in Singapore which favoured professionals, and the development of a Japanese national identity that stressed homogeneity and conformation.
author2 Zhou Taomo
author_facet Zhou Taomo
Yuri Yamaguchi
format Final Year Project
author Yuri Yamaguchi
author_sort Yuri Yamaguchi
title Singapore's Japanese community : a study in migration, acculturation, and transforming identities (1920-1942, 1970-1995)
title_short Singapore's Japanese community : a study in migration, acculturation, and transforming identities (1920-1942, 1970-1995)
title_full Singapore's Japanese community : a study in migration, acculturation, and transforming identities (1920-1942, 1970-1995)
title_fullStr Singapore's Japanese community : a study in migration, acculturation, and transforming identities (1920-1942, 1970-1995)
title_full_unstemmed Singapore's Japanese community : a study in migration, acculturation, and transforming identities (1920-1942, 1970-1995)
title_sort singapore's japanese community : a study in migration, acculturation, and transforming identities (1920-1942, 1970-1995)
publisher Nanyang Technological University
publishDate 2020
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/137635
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