ABSTRACT
This final part consists of a chapter that explores what happens after Japanese self-searching migrants hit the glass walls in the Anglophone West. As one possible compromise, some have moved to work in the Anglophone East, Singapore. In this new stage, are the migrants able to find their true work and self? To answer these questions, interviews were conducted with Japanese visa workers in Singapore who had sojourned elsewhere, typically in the Anglophone West. After introducing the field and the participants, the chapter presents cases of those who are almost post-self-searching (the minority) and still self-searching (the majority). It argues that many of the migrants still feel unable to affirm their true work and self because of their perceived lack of specialty (real or not) and the high presence of workers from Japan, as well as Singapore’s foreign workforce policy that facilitates the quick turnover of workers. At the same time, the chapter spotlights their acquisition of new affirmative forms of identification—“Asian,” which relativizes the West and the Japanese workplace culture, and “mobile worker,” as their experience in Singapore has helped them regain their self-esteem and fostered their desire to continue working in other countries. It concludes that West-centrism, hierarchical Asianism, and the quest for a vocational specialty nurture the migrants’ desire to return to the West, thus further prolonging their self-searching endeavors.
