Cultural Adaptation : Vietnamese Sojourners in Japan

Abstract

Annually, many Vietnamese come to Japanese colleges and universities for their higher education, work or to follow their family, which requires them to adjust to a new environment, often accompanied by experiences of culture shock. This research investigates and identifies some of the significant factors affecting Vietnamese sojourners’ adaptation through their acculturation process, which includes changes at both cultural and psychological levels. Acculturation happens in various ways : integration, assimilation, separation, and marginalization. The conceptual and empirical relationships between how acculturation occurs and how well people adapt are examined in this research. The research collects survey data among four groups of Vietnamese residents : students, working people with and without a study/working background in Japan, and dependents who follow their family members to come to Japan, measuring aspects of their cultural adoption. This study clarifies two types of acculturation for Vietnamese sojourners : Integration and Separation. Additionally, these Vietnamese sojourners see integration as the most appropriate form of acculturation for adaptation. This means people engage with Japanese society while still maintaining Vietnamese' values. The main factors contributing to Vietnamese sojourner adaptations are the language, attitude, and host cultural expectations. Another interesting finding is that individuals mislabel their acculturation strategies. The results will contribute to research and curriculum design in diversity education, explicitly concerning study abroad program design and preparation.