Public Anthropological Study of Cross-Cultural Coexistence : A Comparison of East Asia and North America

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This research aimed at applying theories and methods of cultural anthropology for policy making regarding the contemporary problem of cross-cultural coexistence and at constructing a public forum across governments, NGOs/NPOs, and universities. First, we found out that Japan, South Korea and Taiwan all face the common problem of increasing foreign guest workers and international marriages but Japan lags behind South Korea and Taiwan in formulating and implementing multicultural policies, and that no coherent policy has been formulated for foreign residents in areas such as Tohoku where foreigners are few and sparsely located while local governments with concentrated foreign population have attempted to implement multicultural policies at local level. Second, we therefore attempted to organize a cooperative relationship between the cultural anthropology department of Tohoku University and Sendai International Relations Association including an internship program for our students and thus developed a foundation for public forum including our university, Sendai city, citizen groups and foreign residents.