Kaoru Sonoda: To Capture the Diversity of Minorities

Until now, I have analyzed the intentions of both labor and management—specifically, how talented foreigners working in Japan and the Japanese companies that hire them enter into, maintain, and eventually terminate their employment relationships, and what their respective motivations are. One conclusion is that the root of the mismatch lies in the fact that employment relationships are established while both parties misinterpret each other's expectations, remaining in a state of "strange bedfellows." This is becoming increasingly apparent as companies attempt to incorporate human resources with characteristics that can lead to them being placed in a disadvantaged minority position (minority status) in the employment society, as the terms DEI and diversity have become more prevalent recently. As these conclusions became clear, I began to feel strongly that I needed to thoroughly consider minority status from my own position, having always been part of the majority.

The society woven by human beings is diverse and complex, and it cannot be easily explained in its entirety. We must be aware of the violence and arrogance of assuming that we have understood others. Nevertheless, the economy continues to move, and even at this very moment, someone in the employment society is feeling the difficulty of working, being alienated, and living an unstable life. It might be a foreigner, a woman, a person with a disability, or perhaps a foreign woman with a disability. What commonalities exist among those "someones"? While we must avoid pre-limiting the attributes of people with concerns, if we can continue to think honestly about this point, we may be able to share that suffering even a little and change the current situation together. I have an intuition that the key can be found by thinking through the boundaries between the majority and minority and the relationships created between the two.

Currently, I want to be someone who continues to stand in the "middle" with the pride of a researcher, constantly struggling to understand relationships. The individuals and companies I have dealt with so far have been limited, and in the future, I want to expand the scope of my analysis to more industries and occupations. While specializing in the employment of foreigners, I want to approach the question of what minority status is, without limiting it only to differences in nationality. To do so, I need people to think about this issue with me from more perspectives. In order to capture the diversity of those called minorities and to find some common ground there, it would be a great pleasure if I could have the opportunity to engage in dialogue with all of you.