Residential Clusters of Foreigners by Nationality in the Twenty-three Wards of Tokyo: Their Socioeconomic Characteristics Related to the Structure of the Residential Areas

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  • Kirimura Takashi
    Postdoctoral Fellow, Kinugasa Research Organization, Ritsumeikan University

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  • 居住地域構造との関係からみた東京23区における国籍別外国人集住地区の社会経済的特徴
  • キョジュウ チイキ コウゾウ ト ノ カンケイ カラ ミタ トウキョウ 23ク ニ オケル コクセキ ベツ ガイコクジンシュウジュウチク ノ シャカイ ケイザイテキ トクチョウ

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Abstract

<p>The purpose of this paper is to reveal the socioeconomic characteristics of residential clusters of foreigners by their nationality within the residential area structure of the 23 wards of Tokyo. The paper utilizes areal classification of the characteristics of residents, based on small area statistics in the 2005 Census.</p><p>In general, small area statistics related to the foreign population in Japan are unavailable. However, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has compiled statistics for a number of separate nationalities of foreigners, based on the results of the 2005 Census. The author constructed an areal classification of residents’ characteristics, using statistics published by both the Statistics Bureau and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. The classification reveals socioeconomic characteristics of foreigners’ residential clusters for each of four major nationalities: Koreans, Chinese, Americans, and Filipinos.</p><p>There are three significant findings about the distribution of the foreigner population according to ten different nationalities and the socioeconomic characteristics of each residential cluster.</p><p>First, patterns of residential distribution differ according to nationality. Among the ten nationalities for which there is data, the British, Americans, Koreans, and Chinese can be recognized as residing in cohesive cluster patterns. However, the Asian foreigner population appears in sectorial patterns, whose residential differentiation seems defined by the socioeconomic aspects of the traditional structure of the residential areas in the 23 wards of Tokyo.</p><p>Second, each cluster area by nationality shows different socioeconomic characteristics. White-collar workers and wealthy people dominate where American residents cluster. Meanwhile, many gray-collar workers live where Chinese and Korean residents cluster. This polarization by nationality was pointed out in the early 1990s, and still exists in 2005.</p><p>Third, socioeconomic characteristics among Korean residential cluster areas vary. This phenomenon seems caused by differences in the kinds of Koreans who have recently been migrating to Japan. While many gray-collar workers live in the newcomers’ clusters, the occupational composition in south-central Adachi Ward, whose foreign population has recently remained the same or decreased, is similar to that of Japanese residents.</p>

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