Linguistic and Cultural Adjustments and Navigations for Japanese Expatriate Children in South East Michigan

With the growth of the Japanese economy in the 1970s and 1980s and the following rapid business globalization, many Japanese companies started to seek more business opportunities overseas (Kanno, 2003; Tamiya et al., 2014; Yoshida et al., 2009). This tendency was prominent, especially among Japanese major automotive companies, such as Nissan, Toyota, and Mazda. One of the most popular destinations targeted by these automotive companies was South East Michigan, which is the heart of the American automotive industry, particularly in cities such as Detroit, Farmington Hills, and Ann Arbor. Since then, many automotive companies and related manufacturing, machinery, electronics, and chemical companies started to open their American branches in South East Michigan (Consulate-General of Japan in Detroit, 2017). Accordingly, these Japanese companies sent many Japanese employees and their families to this area. According to the survey on the status of market entry of Japanese companies in Michigan, most Japanese populations are concentrated in South East Michigan, such as Novi (3,826), Ann Arbor (1,915), West Bloomfield (1,211), and Farmington Hills (711) (Consulate-General of Japan in Detroit, 2017). Among these cities, Novi has the largest Japanese population and functions as the center of Japanese communities in South East Michigan. Therefore, several Japanese schools and supplemental schools (called hoshuko) are also located in Novi for Japanese expatriate children living in South East Michigan. Responding to the growth of the Japanese population in South East Michigan, one of the crucial issues in these areas is to provide educational support for Japanese expatriate children.