An Ethnographic Inquiry into Being an Asylum Seeker in Japan

Japan has long been under criticism for its low refugee-recognition rate, which has been at the lowest end of the spectrum among developed countries. Especially after providing working rights to legally-staying asylum seekers in 2010, the number of asylum applications has increased sharply. Since it is possible to re-apply for asylum after receiving a negative decision, it is possible to stay within the application process for years. The academic literature on asylum seekers and refugees in Japan has been primarily focused on the country’s refugee law and asylum policy; therefore, asylum seekers’ experiences have largely remained unexplored. Based on a year-long ethnographic research in Tokyo, including participant observation and in-depth semi-structured interviews, this study explores how asylum seekers experience, negotiate and cope with life within their liminal status as asylum seekers in Japan. Of course, these experiences vary, based on their legal status, personal traits and social networks. While those who applied for asylum while having a legal status enjoy a renewable six-month-long residence, which also provides a work permit, asylum seekers who apply for asylum without having a legal status are faced with restrictions on mobility, employment and even detention. Drawing on asylum seekers’ lives in the arenas of detention, work, love and marriage, this study shows how asylum seekers exercise limited yet powerful subjectivity within the Japanese asylum regime. Detention, work, love and marriage are chosen for examination because they represent and constitute the main stages of the experience of being an asylum seeker in Japan. The thesis concludes that the concept of productive liminality encapsulates asylum seekers’ experiences in Japan, and it underlines the limits of state power regulating migratory movements.