Rosalia AVILA TAPIES Konan University, Kobe, Japan Email: avila@konan-u.ac.jp

1. Building friendship networks and intercultural spaces: the case of Japanese women in Spain Rosalia AVILA TAPIES Konan University, Kobe, Japan Email: avila@konan-u.ac.jp 31st IGU, Tunis 2008

2. Overview • Research project • Conceptual approach • Research contribution • Research questions • Object of analysis • Source of data • Method of analysis: narrative analysis • Research findings • Pending research 31st IGU, Tunis 2008

3. Research project The causes and impact of the rapid increase in international marriages in Japan Group Research Project (JSPS: 2006-08) • Multilevel research on Japanese-Spanish marriage through transnational love relationships: Immigration and residence of young Japanese women in Spain and their intercultural transformation through an analysis of their associationism and new transcultural social spaces 31st IGU, Tunis 2008

4. Conceptual approach • Humanistic approach The research is interested in the perspectives of the association members and hopes to give prominence to human agency and imagination: • Members’ cultural experience, behavior, thoughts, feelings, priorities… • Members’ interpretation of events and coherent representation of reality 31st IGU, Tunis 2008

5. Research contribution • Social Geography • Studies on ethnic feminine associationism • Gender studies • Cultural studies: non-Western collectives in Spain 31st IGU, Tunis 2008

6. Research questions • What are the reasons behind associationism among Japanese women married to Spanish men? • Does this associationism really exist at a national level and is it geographically dispersed? 31st IGU, Tunis 2008

7. Object of analysis • The associationism of Japanese women living in Spain with Spanish husbands and their new transcultural social spaces • TANPOPO Association たんぽぽの会 • 1994: group formation (4 members) • 1995: Tanpopo Bulletin and newsletter • 1996: circulating notebooks • 1999: official registration as Sociedad Tanpopo • 2001: 46 members • 2008: 26 members 31st IGU, Tunis 2008

8. Source of data • Numerical data • Narrative data: in the association bulletin (1995-2008) • Format: • Short • Style of an essay, reflections, comments, anecdotes, conversations… • Japanese tradition • Contents: • Many topics: basic life experiences, femininity, family relationships, multiculturalism, identity… 31st IGU, Tunis 2008

9. Pleased to meet you . I am the Tanpopo bulletin The foreigners’ feelings - Spring 2008 Issue:summary of questionnaire responses- 31st IGU, Tunis 2008

10. Method of analysis I • Narrative analysis: for a systematic study of the women´s personal transnational experiences and the meaning of these experiences This identifies how the events are constructed, what they reveal and how are determined in terms of culture • Narrative analysis method elaborated by the Finnish geographer Hannu Sirkkilä in the form of questions 31st IGU, Tunis 2008

11. Method of analysis II • Why have the narratives been written? • Who are the authors and readers? • Who is speaking? • What is the literary genre and style of the narratives? • What is the internal structure of the narratives? • What type of plot do the narratives have? • What issues are dealt with in the narratives and how do they change? • How do the authors deal with their experience of immigration and the evolution of their identity? 31st IGU, Tunis 2008

12. Research findings I: • What are the reasons behind associationism among Japanese women married to Spanish men? (the insider’s view) • “exchanging information and building friendships between Hispanic-Japanese families and Japanese residents in Spain” • “place of communication” • “means of sincere communication” • “honne” → 31st IGU, Tunis 2008

13. Research findings I: → use of the word “honne” • “honne” =sincere communication of a person´s most inner feelings and desires 31st IGU, Tunis 2008

14. Soto / Outside Them Tatemae Uchi / Inside (the locus of Japanese identity making) Us Honne Research findings I: → Two spaces or domains in Japanese culture Spain Internal, private and relaxed space Exterior, public, and most stressful space 31st IGU, Tunis 2008

15. Research findings I: (the outsider’s view) • Internal factors: • Need for ethnic interpersonal communication, to share the experiences of those who are going through the same processes of transcultural adaptation and formation of an intercultural identity, as well as the experience of a transnational family life • Transmission of the Japanese language and culture to their children • External factors from the alien milieu: • Lack of a large ethnic Japanese community in Spain or institutions • Indifferent or negative host receptivity 31st IGU, Tunis 2008

16. Ahh! Chinese About being called Chinese 31st IGU, Tunis 2008

17. Research findings II: 2. Has associationism at a geographically disperse and national level really been established? The association had a national vocation thanks to the use of modern communication technologies, facilitating the dispersion and relocation of its members. However, the association has gradually become regionalized within the Barcelona region and there has been a fall in the total number of association members. Effects of spatial location are important, transforming electronically mediated relationships into place-based relationships. 31st IGU, Tunis 2008

18. Research findings II: Distribution maps of members of the Tanpopo Association 31st IGU, Tunis 2008

19. Research findings II: The regionalization of Tanpopo would seem to indicate that spatial and location considerations remain a part of social relations Thus confirming the hypothesis that "friendship and distance are closely related, although some friendships are created despite a lack of geographical correlation" This calls into the question several contemporary ideas such as: "the end of the tyranny of distance" or "the end of geography” within the global information society. 31st IGU, Tunis 2008

20. Bibliography • Heikkinen, Hannu L. T. (2002): Whatever is narrative research?. • Johnston, R.J. (1987): Theory and methodology in Social Geography. • Kim, Young Yun (2001): Becoming Intercultural. An integrative Theory of Communication and Cross-Cultural Adaptation. • Kurotani, Sawa (2005): Away from Home. Japanese corporate wives in the United States. • Lauth Bacas, Jutta (2002): Cross-border marriages and the formation of Transnational Families: A case study of Greek-German couples in Athens. • Polkinghorne, Donald E. (1988): Narrative Knowing and the Human Sciences. (1995): Narrative configuration in qualitative analysis. • Riessman, Catherine Kohler (1993): Narrative Analysis. • Sarno, Emilia (2007): Geography of group association and Italian emigration: a case study. • Sirkkilä, Hannu (2007): Finnish Men and Their Masculinity in Long Term Intermarriages. • Smith, Christopher (1980): Social networks as metaphors, models and methods. 31st IGU, Tunis 2008