Here’s this week’s Media Mix, which is about the documentary Lonesome Sparrows. In the column, I mainly discuss the nature of Japan’s immigration policy and use examples provided by the movie to show that immigrants, while hardly invisible, are forced to the margins of society because they are perceived as being nothing more than components of the economy. They are not expected to participate in society and thus can only relate to one another, even if they were born and raised in Japan. What should be pointed out, however, is that while the Brazilian immigrants and their children featured in the film express frustration at being marginalized, they understand their position perfectly and to a certain extent accept it. For me, this was the most confusing aspect of the movie because I wanted the filmmakers to investigate this seeming paradox. Though all the subjects were discouraged, some to the point of anger, that they were being indirectly forced to leave Japan after the economic downturn of 2008 and move to a country, Brazil, they knew of only secondhand, they didn’t blame anyone specifically, not even the faceless authorities who carry out the policy from a remove. However cold and implacable these authorities are, and however uninterested the Japanese populace is in their situation, these young people are, for want of a better term, “Japanese” enough to know that they have little recourse. The situation also speaks to the basic civility of Japan, a word that may sound strange when talking about such a mercenary social dynamic, but it’s what the majority of non-Japanese find attractive about Japan. Several of the subjects in the film have run-ins with the law–off-camera, of course–and therefore their amiable demeanor on-camera, bolstered by the use of polite Japanese, is probably at least partially a front, a means of evoking sympathy. But it’s also in their nature because they’ve grown up in Japan and understand that interpersonal dynamics are not the same as social ones. Japan’s social dynamics force them to associate almost exclusively with other Brazilians, but Japan’s interpersonal dynamics persuade them to be decent to one another and treat even people they don’t know with a certain degree of deference. When the gangbanger Yuri talks about not getting enough respect while attending public school, he’s talking about the social dynamic, but it’s obvious from his deferential attitude that he knows how the system works, and, deep down, it’s a system that he appreciates. If he caused problems it was because he wasn’t accepted by society; the stealing that landed him in a juvenile corrections institute had less to do with rebelling than with getting caught up in the only lifestyle where he could find companionship. Once you understand this paradox, the situation of immigrants becomes even more perplexing. Here are young people who not only understand Japanese society, but appreciate what’s special about it, and the fact that they are not appreciated in return seems a tragedy. Not to be too mercenary about it, but to me the saddest revelation of Lonesome Sparrows isn’t so much the marginalization, which as a foreigner I have some direct experience with (though, being white and American, that experience is vastly more positive than these young Brazilians’), but rather the idea that these young people could contribute so much to Japan. If they are really just economic tools, then they are also a wasted resource.
-
Recent Posts
Archives
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
Categories
Meta
Blogroll
“…being white and American…” and male, you forgot to add. I have a great deal of sympathy for people who have a foot in two countries, and yet fully belong to neither. It’s not a comfortable place.
Here in Kobe there’s a new-ish free museum that documents the experience of the original immigrants to South America (quite a lot of them set sail from Kobe Port). The exhibits are very touching … and the museum is always empty. I go there often to use the immaculate lavatories.
Hello Philip
Reading your posts is always a pleasure. Please keep it up.
You might want to correct the title of the documentary: “Lonely Swallows”. I’ve had a hard time trying to find some more info about it using “Lonesome Sparrows” as title.
Thanks