The changing perception and status of Japan’s returnee children (kikokushijo)

This chapter examines how the mainstream perception and social status of the group of children known in Japan as kikokushijo have changed over the last 40 years. Few groups in Japan in recent years have been as intensively studied as the kikokushijo, and no other group’s image and status have changed as rapidly. Examining this research, therefore, has important implications for the studies of migrants as well as for understanding changing attitudes towards newcomer groups in Japan.