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

本研究旨在将文化人类学的理论与方法应用于当代跨文化共存问题的政策制定，并在政府、非政府组织/非营利组织和大学之间建立一个公共论坛。首先，我们发现日本、韩国和台湾都面临着外来工增加和国际婚姻的共同问题，但日本在制定和实施多元文化政策方面落后于韩国和台湾。在日本东北等外国人稀少的地区，没有制定连贯的外国居民政策，而外国人口集中的地方政府则试图在地方层面实施多元文化政策。其次，我们因此尝试组织东北大学文化人类学系与仙台国际关系协会的合作关系，包括为我们的学生提供实习计划，从而建立了包括我们大学，仙台市，公民团体和外国居民在内的公共论坛的基础。

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.