Both Thailand and Japan are receiving countries of migrants. Unlike most studies that focus on the economic side of migration, we focus on the social/ cultural side - how migrants build their lives in the place of destination, their relationship with the communities in receiving countries, and how can their social reproduction (their generational reproduction, education of children, healthcare, maintenance of their cultural practices and identities) be supported. Also, unlike most studies on migration policies that focus mainly on national policies, we give special attention to local governments - provincial and municipality level. This project compares the two countries' national migration policies as well as the efforts and practices at the local government level and discuss what policies/ programs/ practices facilitates support for migrants' assimilation process and their management of their social reproductive activities. It will take Yokohama City in Japan and Tak and Samut Sakorn Provinces in Thailand as case studies. It will also share policy recommendations with other ASEAN scholars and practitioners to discuss the relevance of the recommendations to other countries in the region.

The project started off as a comparative study between integration of migrants in Yokohama and Samut Sakorn. The commonalities are that both cities have one of the largest concentration of immigrants/ migrants, and historically been accommodating to outsiders coming in to settle in the communities. Both are port cities and both are near the capital – Tokyo and Bangkok. Both municipalities are active in integrating non-nationals to the local communities. However, the similarity stops here. Yokohama’s immigrants are long term (life-long), legally registered and hail from various nationalities. Samut Sakorn’s migrants are mostly Burmese migrants and many are short term migrants, and many do not have proper legal documents that would allow them long term stay. The Samut Sakorn provincial administration organization is not an independent body. Its migration management runs under the state powers. However, the administration organization of the Yokohama city has a certain level of autonomy to manage and monitor its own migrant citizens.

Our focus in this project was to identify actions that local municipalities can take to support migrant populations. Yokohama initially focused on the issue of support for non-Japanese children, while Samut Sakorn had difficulty selecting the focus. Deeper awareness has developed through the exchange between the two cities. With the visit of Thai group to Yokohama, the Thai group decided to focus on migrant children’s education issue. On the other hand, group from Yokohama, after the visit to Samut Sakorn has expanded their focus from support to children to a wider family and community support for non-Japanese families. Through our exchange, we were able to come up with a clearer understanding of the issues that our area is facing. Although both cities have approached the issue from a different angle, both policy briefs reaffirmed the important roles that local government can take, unlike a common perception that migration policy is an issue by the national government. The policy briefs also emphasized the importance of involvement from everyone in the society – community, family, business sector, NGOs, schools and employers.

Along this process, we have produced the following outputs:

(1)    Background papers (one overall, two on Japan, one on Yokohama, one on Thailand/ Samut Sakorn)
(2)    Workshop proceedings (twice in Thailand and twice in Yokohama)
(3)    Two conference presentations
(4)    Policy brief for Yokohama (in Japanese)
(5)    Policy brief and video clip for Samut Sakorn

Policy briefs and video can be accessed at
http://www.toyotafound.or.jp/english/topics/topics03/2015-0116-1019-6.html

Project team:
Kyoko Kusakabe, Asian Institute of Technology (project leader)
Thai members:
Sureeporn Punpuing, Mahidol University
Chalermpol Chamchan, Mahidol University
Charamporn Hulumyong, Mahidol University
Niphon Darawuttimaprakorn, Mahidol University
Yokohama members:
Chiho Ogaya, Yokohama National University
Kayoko Ishii, Toyo Eiwa University
Yoshiyuki Sekiguchi, City of Yokohama