Can heterolocalism explain the residential patterns of small populations of foreigners in Japan? The cases of Afghans, Laotians, Bolivians and Turks

Abstract

This paper examines whether the residential patterns of small nationality-based ethnic groups in Japan, such as Afghans, Laotians, Bolivians and Turks, can be successfully explained by the model of heterolocalism, which is well-known for comprehensively explaining the patterns of new immigrants. This verification work is conducted based on census microdata, mapping and interviews with the foreigners. The model is characterized by five propositions, two of which are found not to apply to the Japanese case. Namely, regarding the ‘spatial dispersion’ proposition, a series of small-sized clusters of foreign inhabitants was confirmed, suggesting that nodal heterolocalism as a modified model is better than the original model. As for the proposition of ‘spatial disjuncture between home and work’, we find that the places of work and residence show spatial proximity rather than separation, reflecting the fact that most of the foreign inhabitants are engaged in blue-collar occupations. The obtained results serve as criticism of the heterolocalism model, which emphasizes that it is valid not only for the relatively privileged but also for certain lower-status groups.