Cross-border Lives: Exploring the Transnational Mobility Between Romania and Japan
Cross-border Lives: Exploring the Transnational Mobility Between Romania and Japan

Summary/Abstract: This paper examines transnational mobility between Romania and Japan by focusing on Japanese people in Romania and Romanian people in Japan. Through an analysis of these two groups, it highlights a mobility nexus that has received limited scholarly attention. Mobility between the two countries reflects their economic, political, and social conditions and demonstrates how these factors shape cross-border movement. Based on a pilot interview with a Japanese student in Romania, this paper explores how the participant experiences life in Romania and what these experiences mean in a broader social context. The participant’s settlement experience also informs our understanding of race and ethnicity in a globalizing world, particularly how Japanese migrants are positioned as Asians within predominantly Western social environments. This pilot study provides preliminary insight into the experiences of Japanese nationals in Romania and serves as a foundation for a larger-scale study. In addition to the pilot interview, this study also analyzes videos posted on two YouTube channels run by Japanese residents in Romania. The analysis of these videos offers additional insight into how Japanese migrants narrate their experiences of mobility, settlement, and everyday life in Romania.

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