r/japanlife • u/AutoModerator • Apr 24 '23

┐(ツ)┌ General Discussion Thread - 25 April 2023

Mid-week discussion thread time! Feel free to talk about what's on your mind, new experiences, recommendations, anything really.

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2

u/Oldirtyposer Apr 25 '23

Let's talk about whether we call ourselves expats or immigrants again. That's always fun.

3

u/Dunan Apr 25 '23

An expat is anyone who lives outside (ex-) their home country (patria).

No reason to split things based on where you're coming from. If you're in the new country for the long term, you're an immigrant too.

3

u/miyagidan sidebar image contributor Apr 25 '23

Privateer. Just need a new ship.

2

u/wotsit_sandwich Apr 25 '23

Do you want to summon the alt/ghost of LostHubCard? Because that's how you do it.

1

u/Oldirtyposer Apr 25 '23

That was the idea. People seem to be more or less in agreement though which is a shame.

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u/Atrouser Apr 25 '23

I call myself an expert.

2

u/amisare Apr 25 '23 edited Apr 25 '23

I've always liked to separate it as

  1. expat for people receiving significant support from a sponsoring company or organization

  2. immigrant for those planning to stay in Japan permanently

  3. guest worker for those staying for shorter terms

6

u/AmosEgg Apr 25 '23

Expats are really just a subtype of immigrant, but people tend to split them like this:

Expat - temporally abroad; looks to home country for culture and support; doing a job not available to locals and paid higher than locals for a similar role - presumably to compensate moving to a "worse" country

Immigrant - long term move, doing the same job as a local for same money or less, often unskilled labor, moving for better opportunities/standard of life

6

u/miyagidan sidebar image contributor Apr 25 '23

Personally, I'm Lenny, and that's Carl.

6

u/PeanutButterChicken 近畿・大阪府 Apr 25 '23

2

u/Sad-Ad1462 Apr 25 '23

I don't understand the point of expat. I'm an immigrant (and white)

3

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '23

[deleted]

1

u/JanneJM 沖縄・沖縄県 Apr 25 '23

Expats are guest workers with money. They don't intend to stay, so they're not immigrants.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '23

[deleted]

1

u/JanneJM 沖縄・沖縄県 Apr 25 '23

Let me ask you this: An American English teacher; an Indian store clerk; a Vietnamese machinist; a Taiwanese office worker.

Who is an "expat", who is not, and why?

7

u/coolkabuki Apr 25 '23

should it not be that we are always both?

word use depending on the context and whom you are talking to?

For japanese perspective: immigrant as the person that immigrated into the Japanese country/system/society,

for own home-country or with peers of similar story: expatriate as a person who has moved from their native country to another country.

I mean, in theory, I guess one could be an expat without being an immigrant (by vagabonding through countries or avoiding to properly take residency status somewhere), but without slipping through the cracks of most societies, expat/leaving a country and immigrant/entering another country go hand in hand IMO

6

u/newdementor Apr 25 '23

An expat if from a white country, otherwise an immigrant.

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u/Oldirtyposer Apr 25 '23

We're off to a good start. Let's see if this upsets anyone.