A Trajectory of an International Student’s Boundary-Crossing to a Local Community in Japan

Roles of “Brokers”

Abstract

This study explored a case of an international student in Japan who was successfully involved in a local community from the aspect of Boundary-Crossing’. Boundary-Crossing views learning occurs in moving from one social setting to another. This paper thus focuses especially on how his experience was assisted by brokers. Brokers are persons who possess valued knowledge and skills in two social settings and introduce their practices in a social setting to another person. A semistructured interview was conducted and the data were analysed based on a framework by Ishiyama (2018). The data show that the international student met brokers and received support from them in crossing a boundary. When there was no broker, he discovered an equivalent of brokers and gained their support. As his boundary-crossing proceeded in two steps (from his home country to graduate school in Japan, and to a local community), he managed to cross a boundary of local community by himself using his own experience from first boundary-crossing.