Introduction

The authors explain their motivation for editing this book and how their backgrounds influenced the direction the project took. They also give a brief overview of the themes, research methods, and the contributing authors. The book aims to answer the following questions: How can non-Japanese or mixed-race Japanese children navigate their identities in school? How can a single father fit into the predominantly mother-dominated culture of schools? How do children fare in Japanese schools overseas? What issues exist for parents whose children have challenges? How can third-culture children navigate family culture, religion, and different school cultures? How can intercultural parents cope with the demands of homework when they are not fluent users of Japanese? How can intercultural parents cope with minority culture and language? What can intercultural parents do when schooling in Japan is not the best fit for their children?

Foreword

Originally from Oregon in the USA, the author shares a part of his own story starting with when he arrived in Japan for the first time in 1977. He relates his own story to the themes presented in the book which he summarises in this foreword.

An American Mother Raising a Deaf Daughter in Small-Town Japan

In this chapter, I describe my struggle, as an American mother in Japan, to understand and adapt to the policies of the local school for the deaf, and the possible effects of being bicultural on my deaf daughter’s educational development. As Sikes and Goodson (2017) posit, we make sense of our lives through the telling and retelling of stories of our lived experiences. As such, “personal narratives have a status as personal, as well as research, data” (2017, p. 64). In the case of parents of children with disabilities, such as myself, “the potentialities or limits of a narrative plotline are contested; the available narratives are considered inadequate, and narrators turn to counter-narratives with alternative plotlines” (Shuman, 2017, p. 244). Here, I will employ personal narrative, incorporating personal memory data and self-observational and self-reflection data to explore some of the differences regarding attitudes toward and practices of education for deaf children from a bicultural background (specifically Hispanic/Latino) in the United States and my own experiences in Japan, and to suggest areas for further study.

Transferring Literacy and Subject Knowledge Between Disparate Educational Systems

This is a retrospective longitudinal study of the education of two Australian third culture kids who attended local Japanese schools from preschool to the first year of high school. This is a postmodern account, set in the 21st century, of transition to a radically different educational system. Many postmodern accounts describe obtaining an education in a new country due to migration in order to escape persecution (e.g. Antin, 1997; Hoffman, 1989). In contrast, the current study explores an alternative educational choice made by parents who had relocated to a remote region of Japan for employment. The choice to educate their children locally was due to both an interest in and respect for the local culture, as well as convenience. This account concerns their daughters’ experience of the Japanese public school curriculum from the first year of primary school to the first year of high school, and how this equipped them for the final two years of high school and beyond. In particular, it addresses the ways in which they viewed their learning in Years 11 and 12, and at the tertiary level in Australia, to have been influenced by their experiences of the Japanese curriculum.

The Teacher Called Me “Okasan”: Experiences of a Non-Japanese Single Father With Bicultural Children and Japanese Education System

This chapter offers a glimpse into an atypical genre of single-parent family in Japan – a view from the perspective of a single non-Japanese father with young bicultural children. Interactions between the family members and systems of education in Japan can shed new light on cultural gender-based biases and traditionally held stereotypes. The confluence of connections between individual participants, gender role expectations, dominant cultures, and education, are explored in this study through autoethnographic methodology (Ellis et al., 2011; Strauss & Corbin, 1998) and the process of organizational sensemaking-the process by which people give meaning to their collective experiences (Weick, 1995; Weick, Sutcliffe, & Obstfeld, 2005). Educational settings bring together Japan's diversity within one setting, making intercultural encounters routine. Situations where there are perceived microaggressions (Pierce, 1970), cultural bumps (Archer, 1986), as well as examples of ethnocentrism and ethnorelativism (Bennett, M. J., 1998b) are examined and discussed within cultural, gender, and dominant culture privilege (Kimmel & Ferber, 2016; McIntosh, 2003) frameworks. I will make a case that intercultural sensitivity (Bennett, M.J., 1998a), as well as shifting into other perspectives or worldviews, can lead to enhanced intercultural understanding resulting in win-win outcomes. I will make a second case that autoethnography and organizational sensemaking are particularly well-suited methods for initial inquiry into fringe cultures, such as non-Japanese single fathers raising bicultural children.

Coping with Homework: Two Intercultural Mothers’ Experiences with Their Children’s Schoolwork in Japan

In this autoethnographic comparative case study, the researchers examined the parental involvement of two immigrant mothers in Japan in their children’s schoolwork. The Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler theoretical framework (Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1997; Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005) was used to investigate the influence of motivational beliefs, invitations to involvement from others, and life context variables on their involvement. Using qualitative data from surveys and interviews, the study found that additional linguistic and cultural factors specific to the mothers’ immigrant status negatively affected their engagement and attitudes toward homework and school. This chapter provides implications for school policies and support for minority families in Japan. Strategies for immigrant parents’ successful involvement are also suggested.

Japan’s Overseas School System

This chapter will be of interest to families with children who plan to leave Japan; especially those that intend to return and have their children re-enter the school system. In this chapter, I will outline a brief history of the system of Japanese schools (nihonjingakko or nihongakko for short) and the Japanese supplementary schools (hoshujugyoko or hoshuko for short). I will also touch upon the matter of private schools (shiteizaigaigakko). Nearly all of these schools have been set up overseas under the auspices of the Japanese Ministry of Education, and those set up independently have typically sought its approval and support. While some countries support and provide schooling overseas, none appear to match the sheer scale of Japan’s centrally controlled network of overseas schools. For Japanese and international families living outside Japan, these schools serve as a valuable means for their children to maintain and develop their Japanese literacy (kokugo) and to keep them in touch with Japanese culture. In this chapter, I will focus on the re-establishment of Japan’s overseas schooling network in the 1970s and explain how it operates. I will then identify key changes that have taken place since the 1990s. Understanding this recent history will profit sojourning and migrating families who are considering what educational path to take for their children.

One Family’s Personal Account of Linguistic Challenges of Bringing up Children in a Third Culture

In this chapter, we focus on the challenges of bringing up three children in three different cultures in two languages. We attempt to raise the issue of Japanese heritage inherent to the Japan-born foreign nationals and the difficulties encountered in trying to maintain and further L1 and L2 bilingualism. We introduce difficulties associated with L1 fluency as dictated by the necessity of living in a predominantly monolingual society and the desire to maintain and further L2 proficiency within this environment. Through the language struggles, we also attempt to highlight issues of identity that arise through the monolingual culture of Japan. We raise the question of which language the L1 language is and which language becomes the L2. We question perceptions of this, in particular in relation to parental views. Finally, we introduce some of the solutions to these difficulties in the hope that parents in similar situations may find them of benefit.

Leaving Room for Minority Culture

This chapter is targeted at families raising bilingual and bicultural children in the Japanese school system. In it, I will discuss how one bicultural family approached fitting into Japanese school and society while still developing the minority-language mother’s culture and language. Since one family’s experience could be attributed to unique circumstances, to provide additional insights and perspectives eight other expatriate parents were interviewed either face-to-face (four parents) or via an online survey (four parents) to highlight some of the common strategies and experiences they used over time. For this study, the minority language is English as the international families all have an English first-language (L1) speaker or a bilingual (Japanese/English) parent. Each child in this paper has been educated primarily in Japanese public elementary, and public and private junior high and high schools. However, depending on the circumstance, some families have also chosen to embrace education outside the Japanese system. For some, this was a few weeks or months during elementary school, and for others it was for university or study abroad. For all the families who participated in my research for this chapter, education included an organized social and educational support group for raising bilingual children outside of school. Specifically, this chapter will explore the following: (1) how expatriate parents supported their own culture; (2) the importance of support from other families raising bilingual English/Japanese children while living in Japan; (3) what parts of these families’ experiences can enrich the lives of other bicultural families; and (4) how families can balance Japanese school clubs (bukatsu), supplementary education, school, and finances to support a family while still maintaining a minority language and culture.

What to Know and Do to Help Your Adopted or Foster Child Succeed in Japanese Schools

In this chapter, I begin by giving background information about adoption and fostering in Japan, detail how adopted and foster children feel, and explain seven core issues faced by children in care. I then examine the root cause for such issues, trauma, and how it affects adopted and fostered children’s performance in school. Next, using my own family’s experiences as well as others’ in a similar position to mine that I have studied, I illustrate issues faced by non-Japanese adoptive and foster parents and how we can mitigate against them. It is my hope that this chapter will inform prospective and current adoptive and foster parents and encourage them to work with social workers, case workers, and educators to make our children’s experiences of schooling as good as they can be.