Racism in the Structure of Migration: A Case Study of Vietnamese Temporary Migrant Workers' Migration to Japan and Taiwan

Based on the data of semi-structured interviews with 156 Vietnamese people with labor migration experience in Japan as technical intern trainees under the Technical Intern Training Program (TITP) and Taiwan as domestic workers and factory workers conducted between 2014 and 2019, this study will identify the presence of racism in the structure of migration from Vietnam to Japan and Taiwan. Previous studies on racism have often discussed discrimination against visible minorities from the perspective of Western societies, such as discrimination based on skin color. However, in the current migration trajectories between Vietnam and Japan and between Vietnam and Taiwan, temporary migrant workers from rural Vietnam are deprived of fundamental human rights such as the right to family ties and freedom of workplace mobility due to their nationality, ethnic origin, and residency status, and are placed in exploitative labor markets in the host societies. The structure of migration itself is racialized, categorizing populations with specific nationalities, ethnic origins, and residency statuses as those who can be deprived of their fundamental human rights. In particular, in the case of Japan, since the purpose of the TITP is to transfer skills to developing countries, a narrative is being developed that Japan benefits from "skill transfer" with people from "developing countries" and that the technical intern trainees are inferior to Japanese citizens. This narrative justifies depriving the fundamental rights of migrants and mobilizing them into low-wage sectors.