The Opportunity Structure for the Local Employment of Japanese Workers in Hong Kong:
A Perspective from Staffing Agencies 1

Kenji Ishida*1, Shin Arita*1, Keiko Genji*2, Mei Kagawa*3*1: University of Tokyo, *2: Meisei University, *3: Daito Bunka University
ISS Discussion Paper Series
F-190
December 2018
Abstract
In this paper, we investigate the career opportunity structure of Japanese self-initiated expatriates (SIE)
who live in Hong Kong. Many Japanese people feel familiarity with Hong Kong, and it remains oneof the major destinations for Japanese migrants. In the field of migration studies, there are mainly two
research frameworks, namely the economic model and the lifestyle migration model. Pointing out thelimitations of these conceptual frameworks, we highlight the importance of placing further emphasison the structural aspects. After the literature review that examines previous findings, we pose thefollowing questions: first, the reason their opportunity for upward mobility does not expand, andsecond, whether there is any SIE’s career process which we can positively evaluate. To investigate
these questions, we propose tentative hypotheses which focus on the relationships between individualand organizational factors. Based on these research interests, we conducted interviews with staffing
agencies in August 2018 and utilized the interview data to obtain tentative answers. Through ourinterviews, we found that the interdependent relationships between Japanese firms and SIEs might beto the disadvantage of the latter group. Japanese SIEs have to remove themselves from the Japaneseworking context if they are to find opportunities for upward mobility. We also describe the ways inwhich the socioeconomic circumstances surrounding both Japanese firms and SIEs have changed, andhow its change has affected the labor supply-demand relationship in the Hong Kong labor market.
Under the structural change in labor market situations in Hong Kong, staffing agencies asintermediaries will keep playing an essential role in the Japanese SIE’s opportunity structure.

1

This work is supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP18H00922. We thank Prof. Leng Leng

Thang for her helpful comments and advice on our project. We also appreciate our informants in Hong
Kong for their interviews.

1 Introduction
1.1 Japanese Expatriates in Asia and Hong Kong
The population size of immigrants has increased globally. According to the Trends in International
Migrant Stock by the United Nations, the total number of immigrants in 2015 was over 240 million,
which is about 1.6 times larger than in 1990. Immigrants in Asia occupy around 30% from 1990 to

100 millions

2015, and Asia is one of the major immigration regions along with Europe and Northern America.

20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

14%
12%
10%
8.7

9.9

6.5
2.9

3.7

8%
6%

4.9

4%

4.0

4.7

5.4

6.2

7.1

1990

1995

2000

2005

2010

7.6

2015

2%
0%

Year
Eastern Asia

South-Eastern Asia

Eastan Asia (% in Asia)

South-Eastern Asia (% in Asia)

Figure 1 Immigrant Population Sizes and Proportions in Eastern and South-Eastern Asia
Source: Trends in International Migrant Stock: The 2015 Revision by the United Nations

Asia comprises six sub-regions in these statistics, and Southern and Western Asia take about
70% of the total immigrant population in Asia. In contrast, the proportions of immigrants in Easternand South-Eastern Asian societies were only 10% and 13%, respectively, in the 2015 data. As Figure
1 shows, however, both the actual numbers and their proportions in these regions are increasing, andthe immigrant population size has doubled since 1990.
Examining societies within Eastern Asia, it is clear that Hong Kong has the largest immigrantsociety. According to the United Nations’ statistics, the population size of immigrants in Hong Kongwas 2.4 million in 1990, which was over 60% of all immigrants in Eastern Asia. Though its sharedecreased to about 40% in 2015, the actual number increased to 3.2 million, and it is still the largest
among Eastern Asian societies.
For Japanese people, migrating to Asia, particularly Eastern and South-Eastern Asia, isbecoming a significant option. From the foreign residents statistics of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
it is shown that the number of Japanese residents in Asia has quadrupled from the early 1990s to 2017.
That proportion to the number of Japanese residents in the world has also increased from 14.9% in
1992 to 29.1% in 2017. At a micro-level view, there are two factors to distance with regard to migration.
1

One of them is geographical distance. Migrants usually need less money if they move to a destinationthat is close to their point of origin (King 2012), and Japanese people can travel to most other Asiansocieties in a few hours. Cultural distance is also a substantial factor. Japanese people are more familiar
with Asian cultures than they are with European societies (Thang 2006). With regards to social andgeographical propinquities, Asia has become famous for its Japanese youths and middle-aged people
to emigrate to.
At a macro-level view, it is notable that Japanese firms have increased local organizations morein Asia than those in other global regions. In 2017, about 70% of Japanese firms outside Japan are in
Asia, which is the most substantial part for Japanese companies across the world1. From a temporalperspective, Japanese firms are more concentrated in Asia (Miyamoto 2009). When Japanese firms
develop local branches overseas, they usually dispatch Japanese staff as corporate expatriates (CEs)to local organizations (Belderbos and Heijltjes 2005.). The number of Japanese self-initiatedexpatriates (SIEs), who usually find employment in the destination societies, has also increased
alongside Japanese firms and CEs. CEs are often costly, and it is difficult for Japanese firms tomaintain a supply of CEs to satisfy vacant positions to start up local organizations. Instead, Japanesecompanies increase their staff size from Japan by a local employment contract. This type of
employment enables firms to hire Japanese workers inexpensively compared to CEs, and Japanese
SIEs accept those job offers because they do not always pursue the goal of socioeconomic statusattainment (Nakazawa et al. 2012). They often want international or transnational career experiences,and the socioeconomic reward is not their primary object (Abe 2015).

30,000

18%
16%
14%
12%
10%
8%
6%
4%
2%
0%

25,00020,00015,00010,000
5,000

1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017

0

Actual Number (The Left Axis)% (The Right Axis)

Figure 2 The Population Size of Japanese People in Hong Kong
Source: Annual Report of Statistics on Japanese Nationals Overseas by the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs1

See the foreign residents’ statistics by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2018 edition.
2

14,000
12,00010,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000

1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016

1993
1995
1997
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
2009
2011
2013
2015
2017

0

Male

FemalePermanent Resident

Employee in Private Company

Freelance / Self-employee

Figure 3 The Number of Japanese Residents for Each Category in Hong Kong
Source: Annual Report of Statistics on Japanese National Overseas by Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Hong Kong is a famous destination for Japanese emigrants. Figure 2 shows the trend in thenumber of Japanese people in Hong Kong and its proportion to Japanese people across all of Asia.
Although the percentage of Japanese expatriates in Hong Kong has decreased because of increasing
more and more Japanese people in other Asian societies like mainland China and Thailand, the size of
the Japanese in Hong Kong has increased for this 25 years. The number has remained at about 25,000
and it is the 6th largest group among Asian societies in 2017.
The overall number of Japanese residents in Figure 2 includes family members. We can also see
detailed information by this statistics. Figure 3 indicates the number of Japanese male and female
residents in Hong Kong for several residential types, and we exclude family members here. It isremarkable that the number of male employees is much more than that of the female employees
because CEs mainly consist of male workers. According to JILPT (2008), 98% of corporate expatriates
are male. Dispatching corporate expatriates is often a way of career advancement within private firms.
The majority of Japanese expatriates work for corporate entities, and it is possible to attribute thedifference in the population size between male and female workers to the number of corporate
expatriates.
Another point of interest in Figure 3 is an increasing trend in female employees. While thenumber of male employees fluctuates, that of the female ones has increased 4.38 times between 1992
and 2017. Given that most CEs are usually male, we can attribute the increase in female workers inHong Kong to the change in the number of SIEs. As mentioned about the interview in the following
section (see 4.1.1), it may be possible to infer that the number of self-initiated expatriate men in Hong
Kong has also increased.

3

1.2 The Purpose of this StudyIn the present study, we focus on the labor market opportunity structure for the SIEs in HongKong. Because of the small number of SIEs, scholars in Japan have not had much interest in theircareers except for a few studies (Kato and Kukimoto 2016; Kamiya and Niwa eds 2018). The SIE
worker’s opportunity structure, however, can reflect how Japanese society and firms evaluate theirtransnational experiences. The framework defining the meanings of the transnational career
experience also relates to the perspective of the ideal career trajectory in the Japanese labor market.
Although the SIE is a minority in the Japanese population, the findings made in a study on them will
provide some implications for the entire Japanese society.
Hong Kong is a substantial case for our study. It is still a favorite place for Japanese people tomigrate to, and there are many Japanese expatriates including SIEs who live there, as shown in Figure
2. However, it is also true that the share of Japanese expatriates in Hong Kong has decreased, and that
their position in the Hong Kong labor market may have change in this 25 years. It is possible thatJapanese SIEs in other Asian societies will undergo similar experiences in the future, and Hong Kong’s
case will prove to be a preceding example.
The original point of departure in this paper is the investigation into the SIE’s labor market
opportunity structure in Hong Kong from the viewpoint of staffing agencies. While researchers ofJapanese SIEs mainly rely on the migrants’ standpoint, few studies have focused on the employment
agencies2. However, the staffing agency plays a role for both Japanese SIEs and firms. In most cases,
it is difficult for SIEs to find employment without the assistance of an agency. Japanese firms also
depend on staffing agencies for reducing their recruitment costs. The staffing agency as anintermediary player will know both sides of the labor supply and demand market well, and it will bepossible to see the opportunity structure for the Japanese in Hong Kong from a better vantage point.
In the following sections, we review the findings of previous studies on Japanese expatriates
and discuss what we should additionally investigate. In this paper, we mainly focus on young andmiddle-aged Japanese SIEs. The contexts of migration are different among the various life stages, andcareer opportunities are of less concern for older expatriates. Based on the literature review, we set our
focal points in this paper and introduce an interview we conducted. We then describe the result of theinterview and discuss its implications.

2 Previous Findings on Japanese SIEs’ Careers
2.1 Conceptual Arguments
In migration studies, there are two models which explain the migration of people from one country to

2

Yui (2018) is an exceptional case.
4

another. One approaches the issue from an economic point of view, and the other is sociological.
Through a brief introduction, we point out the similarities and differences between these twoframeworks and suppose a structural view which answers the further question.
An economic approach sees international migration as an allocation process of labor forces
across international boundaries (Borjas 1989, 1993). In the economic model, international migration
is a human capital investment, and it occurs when people can expect high returns with low costs. Thiseconomic explanation also assumes income inequalities among societies and predicts that theemigration rate is higher the greater the income difference is between origin and destination societies.
In a high-income society, for example, a lower socioeconomic status worker’s wage will be higher
than that of the same SES in a low-income society. In some cases, it may be possible that manual
workers in a high-income society earn more than non-manual workers in a low-income society do.
High economic returns are pull-factors for migrants in the economic model. This particularly helps
migration scholars to understand the immigrant inflow process of unskilled workers.
However, some sociologists propose an alternative framework to explain international migration(Benson and O’Reilly 2009). The economic model successfully specifies the likelihood of emigration
across an entire society, but how and why people in an affluent society move to equal or less affluent
societies is out of its scope. Instead, what Benson and O’Reilly (2009) called the lifestyle migration
thesis suggests that the migrant’s motivation should be the search for a better way of life. Ordinary
people in an affluent society do not have urgent economic matters but face issues in their social lives.
Strong social norms and dense interpersonal relationships in the origin society often restrict one’s
freedom, and they can be stressful in daily life. These negative aspects of the origin society are pushfactors for emigration for some people. From the lifestyle migration perspective, migrants seek the reorganization of their work-life balance, an improved quality of life, and freedom from prior constraints(Benson and O’Reilly 2009: 610). Emigration is a means of pursuing self-realization for migrants.
The economic and lifestyle models explain the reasons why people migrate well. Both models
offer contrasting motivations for migration, and the implicit assumption about migrants differ between
them. The primary target of the economic migration model is the manual class of migrants because
their economic returns depend on the labor market situation and the industrial structure. In contrast to
this economic model, the lifestyle migration model focuses on middle-class migrants. Most of them
do not face any economic disadvantages in the origin society, but social and cultural factors makethem migrate to their destination across borders. The theoretical arguments behind each model are notexclusive but complement one another.
Though the types of migration are different, these models are similar in respect to the migrants’
actions. In both models, migrants look for the best way to realize their objectives to the fullest extent,
regardless of their original motivations for emigrating. At the expense of other aspects, economic
migrants seek societies that offer more well-paid jobs and lifestyle migrants pursue circumstances free5

from social pressures and burdens. Both models regard migration as a process of accomplishingmigrants’ purposes, and that is an individualistic view rather than a structural perspective.
The preceding models can indeed theorize the migrants’ motivations and their actions from anindividualistic perspective, but they are not as straightforward in explaining the subsequent careers of
those migrants or expatriates. This is because the opportunity structure in the destination society
affects migrants’ career consequences as well as the individualistic factors such as their motivations
and actions. The opportunity structure is not accounted for in either the economic or lifestyle migration
thesis since it is merely a given or exogenous condition. In the economic model, the mean income inthe destination is always higher than the origin’s average when migration occurs, and this model
regards exceptional cases as deviances or attributes them to some institutional barriers between theorigin and destination. Even in the theoretical world of the lifestyle migration model, people do nothave to emigrate unless they find a better society, and this model does not consider the possibility ofthe migrant’s life situation becoming worse. Sometimes, the lifestyle migration model may alsopreclude the discussion of downward career mobility as far as migrants realizing their primaryobjectives other than socioeconomic status attainment. However, such a point of view will hide thesocial inequality surrounding the transnational career experience. As we will mention in the following
section, previous studies repeatedly report that Japanese SIEs face challenges in their career
opportunities. It is slightly too simplistic to interpret their difficulties as individual matters ofmotivation and quality, and it is, therefore, worth investigating the opportunity structure for SIEs in
destination societies.
Concerned with the above-mentioned conceptual matter, we emphasize the impact that theopportunity structure for Japanese SIEs in Hong Kong has on their subsequent career mobility in thepresent study. The opportunity structure is a classical concept in sociology, and it generally refers to
the distribution of opportunities that are beneficial to one’s life course (Merton 1995). In this paper,
we examine the local labor market structure for Japanese SIEs in Hong Kong by using this concept.
For one’s transnational career trajectory, the opportunity structure in a destination society affects
one’s social position not only there but also in the origin society. Many Japanese SIEs do not always
stay in that destination as permanent residents, but they have much potential to return to Japan several
years after emigration3. Upon their return to Japan, those returnees have to find employment in theexternal labor market. In Japan, which has a long-term employment tradition as a social norm, it is not
yet common practice to change one’s job through the Japanese external labor market for careeradvancement. Japanese employers will strictly evaluate candidates in their mid-career stages because
they need to ensure that those candidates are already capable of starting working with existingcolleagues soon after the appointment. One’s previous career experience is thus crucial for the3

Unfortunately, we do not have any reliable official statistics for return migrants in Japan.
6

employer’s decision-making, and the impact of a transnational career trajectory will attract academic
and social interest since it is still unusual to most Japanese employers.
In the next part, we review the previous literature and examine how these studies have engaged
with the social statuses of Japanese expatriates. In addition to Japanese SIEs who find employment
with a local contract in their destination societies, we also include literature on corporate and workingholiday expatriates. They are substantially different, but there are not many previous studies of theemployment opprotunities for the Japanese in the destination society. Moreover, all expatriation types
face a similar situation in their evaluation by Japanese society. Our discussion and further question
will follow this review, and we set some tentative hypotheses in this paper.
2.2 Japanese SIE’s Career Experiences
For young and middle-aged Japanese SIEs, earning money is not the primary motivation for migration.
A fieldwork study, which focuses on Japanese expatriates in Australia, points out the existence of thelifestyle migrants from Japan (Nagatomo 2013). Japanese society’s circumstances changed in the
1990s, and social lives became more individualistic than before. Young and middle-aged expatriates
who avoided self-sacrificing work ethics sought to live out the lives they wanted for themselves, andmigration was an attractive way of pursuing a new lifestyle (Nagatomo 2013; Kawashima 2017). The
1990s was also an era of a long-term economic recession in Japan. Even though they could get higher
education degrees, it was considerably harder for young people to start a full-time first job after
graduation at that time. The harsh labor market situation in Japan put the eyes of young and middleaged Japanese workers on other societies like Australia, Hong Kong, and Singapore, where there
seemed to be less discrimination based on age and gender, as well as individualistic working conditions,and a sense of openness (Thang et al. 2006; Nagatomo 2013). They did not want to attain a higher
socioeconomic status, but ways of working that were worthwhile for themselves.
Individual motivation cannot be the one conclusive factor for explaining the transnational career
process, but it is necessary to pay attention to the structural conditions in destination societies. In the
1980s, Japanese firms increased direct investment in Asia (Urata 1993). The number of local Japanesecompanies has also increased since the late 1980s (Miyamoto 2009). The headquarters of Japanesefirms usually dispatch existing staff to managerial positions of local branches in their start-ups(Belderbos and Heijltjes 2005). The demand for other staff that assist CEs follows the establishmentof the local organization, and Japanese firms are likely to prefer Japanese speakers for smoothcommunication with managers. Because many local people cannot speak Japanese, the labor market
niche for Japanese SIEs emerges. By the increase in Japanese firms, the number of restaurants andgrocery stores for Japanese customers increases, especially in global Asian cities (Thang et al. 2006;
Abe 2015). The economy for Japanese expatriates also creates some business opportunities for theJapanese. These working and living circumstances enable Japanese SIEs to expect that they can
7experience a transnational career while maintaining the living standards of Japan.
In other words,, the opportunity structure dedicated to Japanese expatriates is a kind of ethnic
enclave (Portes 2010). While immigrants can securely preserve their social and economic resources
within an ethnic enclave, they spend an enormous opportunity cost at the same time (Massey 1995;
Portes 1998). Japanese SIEs tend to keep their distance from the Japanese community in thedestination society (White 2003; Nagatomo 2013), but their employment opportunities depend on thelocal labor market situation for Japanese speakers. They need to utilize their ethnic advantages to holdonto those opportunities. However, that “reduces the incentives and opportunities to learn othercultural habits and behavioral attributes” (Massey 1995; 447).
The above-mentioned structural constraint results in a situation wherein Japanese SIEs do nothave many occupational opportunities in the destination society. In some cases, Japanese firms replace
Japanese CEs with SIEs because they “explained their preference for Japanese managers as given thesubtle and unique nature of communication between headquarters and subsidiary” (Beamish andInkpen 1998: 37). The rapid increases in the number of branches and in personnel expenditure were
motivations for Japanese firms to make use of the local employment. However, these managerial
positions comprise just a small part of the entire local employment. Most positions available to
Japanese SIEs are supporting role for managers, and SIE employees usually work for Japanese people
in the destination societies. They are likely to get stuck in a Japanese linguistic enclave, and thosesituations are similar across Asian societies (Abe 2015; Yui 2018). Those small opportunities
consequently prevent Japanese SIE’s from accumulating their transnational human capital. That is tosay, Japanese firms do not give much regard to their experience of a transnational career (Kato andKukimoto 2016).
Japanese SIE workers have negative recognitions about their career experiences in destinationsocieties. Some SIEs accept fewer career advancements or even downward mobility because theyshow a preference toward a way of living that they desire (Thang et al. 2006; Nagatomo 2013).
Meanwhile, there is another type of SIE who expects to develop their own career, and they do notalways satisfy their career situations due to low evaluations by local Japanese firms (Abe 2015;
Kawashima 2017). Furthermore, studies on working-holiday expatriates point out that they are
disappointed with their transnational experiences sooner or later (Kawashima 2010; Suzuki 2015).
Even among Japanese CEs, there is a concern over their careers after returning to Japan because they
are afraid of losing social contacts, skills, and knowledge that are resourceful in the Japanese labormarket (Ben-Ari 2003). These previous findings imply that Japanese expatriates broadly doubt
whether their overseas working experiences contribute to their careers in Japan, regardless of the typeof expatriates that they are.

8

2.3 Further Questions and Hypothetical Perspectives
These previous findings illustrate that Japanese SIEs’ career opportunities depend heavily on the local
labor market structure formed by the increase in Japanese firms and their communities, and theyusually have to accept marginal positions. This overall tendency of Japanese SIEs’ opportunity
structure raises additional questions. The first question to ask is why their opportunities for upward
mobility does not expand. The shrinking number of CEs would increase the incentive of offering abetter job to SIEs, but previous studies do not always support this view. Secondly, is there any SIE’s
career process which we can positively evaluate? It is necessary to compare as many as possible ofthe variety of career patterns to describe the characteristics of Japanese SIE workers more precisely.
Because of the lack of empirical data which enables us to answer these questions directly, it is
not possible to set concrete empirical hypotheses toward them. Instead, in the present study, we
propose some structural factors that we should take into consideration. These hypothetical arguments
are merely tentative but will contribute to constructing a systematic research framework for an inquiry
into the opportunity structure available to Japanese SIE workers.
The first thing we focus on is the employment practices of Japanese firms, and we have aninterest in the degree of similarity between non-regular employment in Japan and the local
employment in the destination societies. Since the late 1980s, Japanese firms have increased thenumber of non-regular employments, which is a marginal position in the Japanese labor market.
Japanese employers exclude non-regular employment workers from the opportunity structure which
the regular-employment workers have access to. Non-regular workers cannot enjoy wage growths
based on seniority, promotions, and other fringe benefits, and they are also out of restriction of
employment protection in general. These elements are characteristics of the Japanese occupational
trajectory, and it is a social norm for (mainly male) Japanese workers to follow that trajectory. It is stilla transitional case to be a non-regular worker in Japan, and Japanese employers are generally reluctant
to foster non-regular staffs’ skills because they are likely to leave their jobs within a few years.
Although there are variations across local contexts, Japanese firms do not have to apply theiremployment practices for Japanese SIEs in destination societies. In other words, Japanese firms maytreat Japanese SIE workers like the non-regular workers in Japan by relying on the membership-based
employment framework.
The second factor is the relative importance of Japanese workers, and here we should focus on
the labor market localization. Prior research points out that the longer Japanese firms have been in
operation, the more they are likely to employ local people (Belderbos and Heijltjes 2005). Following
the localization trend of Japanese firms in Asia (Beamish and Inkpen 1998), job availability forJapanese SIEs in destination societies will also decrease. Japanese SIEs have been attractive toJapanese firms because they are Japanese speakers, but its advantage dissolves when Japanese firms
can find local workers who can also speak Japanese. It is more efficient to hire local people than9

Japanese because it takes more time, as well as the immigration costs involved, for Japanese firms torecruit Japanese staff.
In this paper, we utilize the interview data from staffing agencies in Hong Kong. We will
investigate the structural aspects which may affect the opportunity structure for Japanese SIEs’ careers
through these interviews. It is necessary to obtain more cases in other Asian societies to examine thealready-described hypotheses in future research. However, our discussion through the interview data
will demonstrate the significance of emphasizing these points.

3 Data
The authors conducted an interview survey in Hong Kong in August 2018. Our targets were staffing
agencies in Hong Kong, in order to grasp a complete picture of the opportunity structure for Japanese
SIEs there. We conducted interviews by directly sending a request and via other contacts. We
completed interviews with eight persons in three agencies. Interviews were conducted in a semistructured manner, and each took about two hours. We recorded the conversations with interviewees’
consent and made transcripts. In the following part, we will discuss and interpret the transcripts.
Table 1 The Profile of Interviewees
Agency Interviewee
A

1

Sex
Male

Current Position and Short Biography
General Manager. He was a corporate expatriate of aJapanese trading firm before his current position.
Business Development Manager. He has worked in Hong

2

Male

Kong for more than five years after working in Japan forabout four years.

3

FemaleMarketing Executive. She is a Hong Kong woman and has
working experience in Japan.
Manager. She has stayed in Hong Kong for nine years after

4

Female the completion of a graduate degree in Japan. She is incharge of the recruitment division.

B

1

Male

C

1

Female2

FemaleManaging Director. After working for Japanese staffing
agencies, he has run his company for about 20 years in total.
Senior Recruitment Consultant. She has been in Hong Kongfor about four years and started her current position in 2017.
Senior Recruitment Consultant. She came to Hong Kong in2017 and was searching for a job in Japan before emigrating.

10

3FemaleRecruitment Consultant. She was an international student in
mainland China and has stayed in Hong Kong for one year.

Table 1 shows the profile of interviewees. Alphabet capitals in the ‘Agency’ column andnumbers in the ‘Interviewee’ column are symbols to identify the individuals. We describe eachinterviewee’s name by the combination of ‘Agency’ and ‘Interviewee’ in Table 1 in the subsequentdiscussion, and we quote transcriptions with italics. Interviewees other than A3 and B1 are all Japanesepeople and are also self-initiated expatriates. A3 and B1 can also speak Japanese quite fluently.
All the agencies we visited mainly run recruiting services, and agency A and B are small- or
medium-sized local firms. Agency C is a local organization of a large Japanese company which is
successful in the human resource (HR) service. While C specializes in recruitment service, A and B
provide other HR services like consultation of personnel administrations in addition to recruiting
businesses.

4 Career Opportunity Structure of Japanese Self-initiated Expatriates in HongKong
4.1 The Treatment of Japanese SIEs in the Hong Kong Labor Market
4.1.1 Demographic Composition of the Labor Demand
Because they are not familiar with their destination society before migrating, most Japanese SIEs needstaffing agencies. Even after migration, Japanese SIEs enquire at agencies for any offers of a betterjob. Informants told the authors that there were still measurable job offers available to a number ofJapanese people in Hong Kong.
A1: It depends on the situation, but we introduce job offers from 200 to 300 firms on average in one
year. We introduce them not only to Japanese people but also for those who can speak Japanese. We
call them ‘Japanese Speakers,’ or JS. JS consists of about 70% of the total number of candidates.
Interviewer: How many cases do you handle per year?
C3: For Japanese people?
Interviewer: Yes.
C3: We handle perhaps about 100 offers or less per year.
Interviewer: How about job offers for workers who are not Japanese?
C1: We introduce two or three offers to those candidates per day.
Interviewer: Are those offers from Japanese firms?
11

C1: Mostly.
Regarding gender composition, the number of male SIEs has seemed to increase since the late
1990s from informants. Moreover, C1 said that job offers for Japanese people preferred male workers
in managerial positions.
A4: There had been an increasing trend of female Japanese workers since the mid to late 1990s.
However, I feel that the gender composition is equal through having contacts with many Japanesecandidates. The number of female Japanese people appears to be more than male people because
many of them are likely to marry Hong Kong men or be spouses of Japanese corporate expatriates.
C1: Many Japanese firms prefer male staff. Women’s socioeconomic advancement has proceeded in
Hong Kong, and there are many women in managerial positions. However, Japanese firms still prefermen. We do not tell candidates that because it is discriminatory treatment, but we treat Japanese menwith priority.
Given that their impressions are correct, the number of male Japanese SIEs will be the same asthat of Japanese women. As Figure 2 shows in the previous section, the number of Japanese womenin Hong Kong is about 2000, and most of them are SIEs. Thus, it is possible to assume that the
population size of male Japanese SIEs in Hong Kong is also about 2000. Considering the number of
job offers, about 5% of Japanese SIEs find employment through staffing agencies every year, although
this is just a rough estimate.
The labor demand for Japanese people is concentrated in the youth and middle-aged. According
to B1, Japanese CEs in Hong Kong are becoming younger. Japanese managers are concerned with age
gaps with subordinates and managerial CEs prefer younger subordinates in general.
B1: Workers in firms in Hong Kong and other countries do not mind age gaps, but Japanese people
do. Japanese managers complain that it is not comfortable working with older subordinates. Even
though we introduce excellent candidates, they often refuse our recommendations when thosecandidates are older than the Japanese CEs.
The gender- and age-based preference of Japanese firms in destination societies will affectJapanese SIE’s labor market opportunities. Female SIEs cannot get mobility chances for middle- andupper-class positions. Even for male SIEs, Japanese firms want younger expatriates. Following thelowering trend of the age of CEs in Hong Kong means that less-skilled workers will be hired out of apreference for much younger expatriates because the length of the labor market experience is usually12

proportional to age. It is possible to see similar situations in Japan, and the inequality of opportunity
by demographic factors is also reproduced in Japanese firms in Hong Kong.
4.1.2 Activities of Recruitment Services
Staffing agencies in Hong Kong make an effort to provide better job offers to SIEs and introduce as
many as possible talented workers to Japanese firms. In general, it takes at least two months tocomplete a set of the recruitment process. In that process, they check the language skills andpersonalities of the applicants. After the screening stage, they introduce job openings that areappropriate for the applicants. We obtained similar statements from B1 and C2, and staffing agencies
are often dedicated to Japanese SIEs’ job searches.
Interviewer: Although it depends, what activities do you work on in the recruitment process?
A1: We usually check the language fluency first. Then, we meet all applicants online or face-to-face.
After the personality check, we decide what job openings to introduce to applicants.
Interviewer: Can applicants always get the job offers they want?
A1: No.
[…]A1: If one has a VISA in Hong Kong which permits working, he or she can get a job immediately. If
not, it takes four to six weeks to finally get an approval. It takes two months in total.
[…]
A2: Many Japanese people change their jobs in Hong Kong. We maintain a long relationship withthem. For example, we repeatedly introduce job offers when he or she steps into the next stage.
Staffing agencies also keep in touch with the labor demand sides. There is severe competition
among agents for possible vacancy positions in Hong Kong. It is essential for agents to cultivate abigger labor demand in firms as well as to increase the number of those who register as potential
applicants.
C3: Marketing is a vital activity in Hong Kong. Under the situation where many agents emerge one
after another, we must continuously make an effort in marketing so that firms recognize us.
C1: Employers almost always offer their job openings to about three agents handling Japanese
workers. It is natural for them to ask the agent who regularly keeps in touch. So we provide information
about applicants to create and maintain good relationships with customer companies.
As a result of their efforts, it is possible for them to have stable connections with firms. In an
intensely competitive environment, it is also necessary to increase the number of job offers from13companies with whom they have prolonged relationships with. Small but trusted agencies like A andB show their uniqueness by utilizing such connections.
A1: We often acquire customers by word of mouth and do not actively engage in marketing activities.
So, our business depends on job offers from companies which we already know.
B1: I used to expand our customer base too actively. However, I changed my mind and made an effort
to characterize our business. We keep connections with selected customers and try to increase their
incentives to offer job openings of various positions within their organizations.
These processes in the recruitment services indicate that the labor market for Japanese SIEs inHong Kong is a social construct. Staffing agencies do not only compensate the information gap
between Japanese expatriates and firms. Moreover, they cultivate and create the labor market itself
through their enormous efforts. The labor supply-demand relationship and the marketing activities of
agents are interdependent, and their perceptions will be a key to understanding Japanese SIEs’
opportunity structure and its dynamics.
4.1.3 Recognition of Staffing Agencies in Hong Kong Toward Employers and Employees
From an intermediary standpoint, it seems that staffing agencies in Hong Kong have some concerns
about Japanese SIEs and firms. Similarly to previous studies, informants indeed pointed out the lackof readiness of some Japanese SIEs.
A4: Some Japanese people do not try to accustom themselves to Hong Kong society. For example,
those who stick to Japanese hair salons are never able to successfully adapt themselves to Hong Kong.
Another type of person keeps having a dream which never comes true. […] I think those who believe
in rosy overseas lives are always problematic.
[…]
A1: Also, it is a disadvantage to have neither any motivation or will to understand the strength of one’s
own career experiences.
[…]
A2: Japanese people must have relevant working experiences for three to five years in order to get a
VISA. They are foreigners in Hong Kong, and it is necessary to have some professional skills for the
VISA application.
Meanwhile, some Japanese SIEs do experience upward mobility in the Hong Kong labor market.
However, most upward mobility means finding employment in non-Japanese firms. A2 said it is notalways impossible for Japanese SIEs to enjoy career advancement in Japanese firms, but the Japanese14

personnel system often functions as a barrier.
Interviewer: What do you think of as an ideal career path in Hong Kong?
A4: There are few opportunities for upward mobility in Japanese firms. In non-Japanese firms like
multi-national companies, […] wages increasingly grow and positions also become higher.
[…]
A2: Another career path is to get promotions within Japanese firms and to have a job as a corporate
expatriate. However, it is not easy to experience that because of the intentions of the headquarters andthe rigid personnel system. After all, excellent SIEs leave Japanese firms for foreign-capital companies.
As well as institutional and organizational backgrounds, cognitive aspects of Japanese firms’side constrain career opportunities for Japanese SIEs. In general, Japanese firms devalue SIEs’ skills
and experiences. While they sometimes accept the job-hopping of the Hong Kong youth, they neveroverlook the same behavior from Japanese SIEs. The interview data indicates that Japanese firms
require Japanese workers to retain their ‘Japaneseness’ much more.
Interviewer: Does it lead to a negative image to hop from one job to another?
B1: Indeed. It is not appropriate to quit a job soon, but it may also mean that that person is industryready.
[…]Interviewer: Is that person from Hong Kong?
B1: Yes. He is not Japanese. Japanese firms severely judge Japanese people.
A1: Many Japanese people say that Japan is stressful, or they want to challenge new things with theirexperiences in Hong Kong. However, it is true that Japanese firms require a certain ‘Japaneseness’ ofJapanese applicants. Asking them to understand that situation, we introduce job offers to them.
These statements imply that Japanese firms still have a typical image of Japanese workers andapply it to Japanese SIEs even in the Hong Kong labor market. Nevertheless, there is no system inplace for fostering workers’ skills and knowledge in local organizations in Hong Kong, as C3 said.
The cognitive framework toward Japanese workers and the lack of a training system will jointly
reproduce a stereotyped image of Japanese SIE workers.
4.2 Structural Change in the Employment Opportunity
4.2.1 Decreasing Advantage of Japanese Speakers
In the previous part, we refer to the statement that Japanese firms prefer Japanese speakers. It is the15

biggest and only advantage for Japanese SIEs, but its advantage has decreased according to staffing
agencies. Because the number of Japanese speakers in Hong Kong people has increased, Japanesefirms consider Japanese SIEs as more costly when compared to Hong Kong people who can speak
Japanese.
A1: After the Lehman Shock, the localization has proceeded. […] Japanese firms decreased thenumber of corporate expatriates because of the budget constraint. Someone had to engage inmanagerial works instead of them, and Japanese firms employed Japanese people with local contracts
at first. However, Japanese firms gradually became to think some Hong Kong people could do thesame work in Japanese.
Japanese expatriates have also changed. As the number of Japanese people who can speak
English increases, minimal requirements for Japanese SIEs shift upwardly. There are a limited numberof positions for Japanese people who are not adept at English these days.
C3: It is expertise with the Japanese language that many Japanese firms want. Customer support,
clerical, and secretary works are the examples, and they are not fast-track career positions.
Interviewer: Does the Hong Kong labor market positively evaluate these positions?
C3: Keeping these jogs is not useful for the subsequent career.
A linguistic barrier used to protect Japanese SIE’s career opportunities, but they cannot enjoy
that linguistic advantage anymore. Other languages such as English and Chinese have taken the placeof the Japanese language in Hong Kong, and Japanese people who are fluent in these languages cansurvive with upper mobility opportunities at present. However, the case of the Japanese language
implies that any language skill cannot keep providing socioeconomic returns in the long run. It is not
sufficient to merely depend on language skills, but Japanese workers have to be conscious of therelevance of their career trajectories.
4.2.2 Overall Changes in Hong Kong Society
Living costs in Hong Kong have rapidly increased since the end of the 2000s4. The growth rate of
housing prices exceeds that of the wages of Japanese SIE workers. People from Hong Kong can choose
to live with their parents to reduce living expenditures, but Japanese expatriates do not have thatprivilege. The high housing prices often make Japanese SIEs leave Hong Kong, and it is not easy forless motivated Japanese people to keep on staying there.
See the property market statistics in Hong Kong
(https://www.rvd.gov.hk/en/property_market_statistics/index.html).
16
4

A4: Those who stay in Hong Kong for a long time cannot help but come back to Japan because therent is too high. While income stays the same, the rent increases. I feel there are such people in thepast several years. […] The rent for a shabby apartment in Hong Kong corresponds to that for astandard rent in the Roppongi area in Tokyo.
Another change is in the decreasing significance of Japanese firms. Agents mentioned adifference in the speed of change between Japanese firms and the global market. The change in thesituation, as well as the budget restrictions, may motivate Japanese firms to proceed to theirlocalization. A1 said that Japanese firms in Hong Kong have also gradually changed their governancestructure.
B1: Hong Kong has shifted from a global production center to a global marketplace, and theimportance of Japanese firms has been declining. […] A weakness of Japanese firms is in the low
speed of their decision-making. […] I understand the pace of the Japanese firms’ business, but notother global companies. Thus, they are less likely to have time for Japanese firms, and it is a waste ofan opportunity.
C2: Japanese workplaces did not suit me. It was because it always took too much time to decideanything.

5 Conclusion
These findings from our interviews demonstrate that the structural constraints that generate andreproduce the overall career disadvantages of Japanese SIEs in the Hong Kong labor market are social
constructs. Japanese firms seem to treat Japanese SIEs by a membership-based employment practice,
but the SIEs also used to enjoy their job opportunities merely for the fact of being Japanese speakers.
This prolonging interdependent relationship has rationalized the marginalization of Japanese SIEs onboth labor supply and demand sides. If Japanese people want a globally competent career, they needto challenge a different context from Japan immediately.
Meanwhile, the global competition will change the opportunity structure for Japanese
expatriates. The change in opportunities may result in more severe labor market situations for Japanese
SIEs in the short run because the localization is probably inevitable. However, when it comes toreconsidering the legitimacies of the organizational and cognitive schemas in career opportunities
under the labor market change, it is possible to find a more resilient opportunity structure. Staffing
agencies in destination societies will play an important role at that time. Furthermore, it is possible for17

Japanese SIEs in other Asian societies to have similar career experiences in the future. Our structural
approach has the potential to develop our understandings about the global careers of Japanese people.

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