5. The New Overseas Chinese in Japan: What Case Studies Tell Us

According to statistics from the Ministry of Justice of Japan (as of December 2015, Immigration Bureau, Ministry of Justice), the number of long-term foreign residents in Japan exceeds 2.68 million, and the number of Chinese is more than 785,000, accounting for 30.9% of foreign residents of Japan. Study abroad students and ordinary students account for 105,000 of this total and a majority of the remainder consists of a group commonly referred to as the new overseas Chinese or Chinese. Their number is estimated to exceed 500,000. How do these people living in Japanese society exist, and how do they relate to Japanese society? What is the state are their identities? This chapter explores these questions through an examination of the life histories of some new overseas Chinese.