among Chinese women. Compared to urban China, Japanese cities are perceived quite,
clean and orderly—qualities my women informants found desirable. Some also found the
social life in Japan endearing. Chinese women are more comfortable with social etiquettes
such as gift giving and ritualistic visits than men. During interviews, they frequently
accounted experiences of being taken care of by Japanese families, whom they sometimes
taught Chinese to, worked for or neighbored with. As a matter of fact, it is acknowledged
among Chinese immigrants in Japan that women like Japan more than men do. Some male
interviewees reported that their decision to return to China was often objected to by their
wives.
Chinese women students choose to be employed in Japan also for the freedom to
travel the world. My women interviewees frequently mentioned this advantage. Young
women world travelers all over the world are on the rise. According to Ministry of Justice’s
number of Japanese citizens going abroad in 2006, among people in 20s, 160 percent as
many Japanese women went abroad as men did.
Chinese women, I found, were also more
enthusiastic about overseas traveling than men. However, until recently, it was extremely
difficult for individual Chinese citizens in China to go abroad as tourists. Being in Japan
with a formal employment, Chinese can get tourist visas to foreign countries relatively
easily. The freedom to travel also becomes an important motivation for Chinese immigrants
to naturalize. Guan Jing, a Chinese woman working for a big Japanese watch company,
explained,
For me, (naturalization) is just like changing your household registration
in the country. One advantage is you can travel easily. Lingling (her
4
, accessed on January 16, 2008.
7
Convention