在日タイ人越境者たちの職業生活 : 新宿区大久保のタイ料理店従業員を事例として

抄録

Okubo district in Tokyo is well known as a place where many Asian people live and Japanese residents in Okubo district have been trying to find the way of living with them. However, they have found difficulties with knowing the lifestyle and the way of thinking of especially those who came from Southeast Asian countries mainly because of a historical lack of cultural and social interchanges. This paper tries to describe the occupational life of Thai immigrants living in Okubo district based on the interviews with the owners and employees of Thai restaurants. The fact revealed with the research is that they do not have a sense of community member in Okubo district and live with relatively weak and functional social ties. This is mainly because they regard their status in Japan as a mere temporary one. Their main purpose of living in Japan is to make a substantial amount of money for improving their future life in Thailand. However, at the same time some of them seems to develop a new lifestyle where come-and-go between Japan and Thailand becomes a foundation of their life design. Therefore, it can be said that understanding such a new identity of Thai immigrants is the first step for the successful cohabitation.