Anqi quit the company where she worked for six years when she obtained her permanent
residency. She went to UK to study English. After returning to Japan, she changed several
jobs and eventually found a job as the head of a small personnel department in an Italian
Apparel Company.
Not all Chinese immigrant women believed in fighting for a career. Some, in the
course of stay in Japan, embraced the feminine culture in Japan. Lin Ying was such a case.
Her first job after she got out of college in Japan was an overseas representative position in
a small Japanese trading company. She soon applied for naturalization. Her citizenship
status provided access to a wider range of jobs. She left her first job and found an
administrative assistant position at a big firm working for its China Department. Ying made
such a choice because she didn’t consider herself an ambitious person. She wanted more
time to herself. Doing what she was doing at this big trading company, she was guaranteed
to leave the company at 5:30pm to do whatever she felt like doing. “If you are in sales
position, you have to work long hours. There is also a lot of stress. I don’t think it is
something I want.”
In addition, some Chinese women follow the gendered division of labor and quit
their jobs upon getting married. Lin Yueling obtained a master’s degree in a Japanese
university and started working for a Japanese firm as an overseas rep. Although a natural
career choice of a Chinese person with her background, Yueling did not like sales and
found her work environment stressful. Feeling miserable, she accepted the first marriage
proposal that came her way. She didn’t love the man she married, but marrying him meant
she could leave her corporate job and still live in Japan. As much as she dreaded working in
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Convention