ADRN

On May 31, EAI held a roundtable discussion with Professor Lan Pei-Chia of National Taiwan University under the title of “Negotiating Care Culture and Ethnic Difference: Recruitment and Training of Migrant Care Workers in Taiwan and Japan.” Highlighting first that there exist societal similarities between Taiwan and Japan, such as aging population and declining birth rate, ethnic homogeneity, and low proportion of foreigners, Lan made a comparison between Taiwan’s “Guest Worker” program and Japan’s Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) program. Describing migrant care workers in Taiwan as “deferential surrogates” and those in Japan as “professional others,” Lan traces the different perception and treatment of migrant care workers in two countries to the different attitudes toward care regime; while care is seen as a filial duty in Taiwan, it is perceived as institutional profession in Japan. Because care is treated as a family matter in essence, Taiwanese tend to accept ethnic difference in migrant workers as it is a boundary marker for status hierarchy whereas in Japan, ethnic difference acts as a barrier to cultural assimilation. Because of different perception towards care culture and migrant care workers in Taiwan and Japan, Lan suggests that the ways to improve care culture in two countries should be different; in Taiwan, professionalizing care culture is of utmost importance while in Japan, efforts should be made to address cultural and ethnic bias. Topic
“Negotiating Care Culture and Ethnic Difference: Recruitment and Training of Migrant Care Workers in Taiwan and Japan” Presenter
Lan Pei-Chia, National Taiwan University Moderator
Jaeyoun Won, Yonsei University Discussants
Joo-Youn Jung, Korea University
Claire Seungeun Lee, Inha University