This thesis examines the joint effect of media and migration on national identity. It particularly aims to explore (1) how people conceive the idea of migration to Western countries for symbolic reasons; (2) how migrants experience their sense of national identity in their host country. To answer these questions, I conducted a case study of twenty-two young Japanese. By using 'multi-sited ethnography', I followed their migration process from Tokyo to New York City/London (and to Tokyo) over three years.
The first question is based on Arjun Appadurai's theory of the relation between media and migration. Following this theory, I show how the media lead potential migrants to construct their 'imagined worlds'. Having been exposed to a large quantity of images conveyed by the media, some respondents begin to imagine NYC to be very 'similar' to Tokyo and believe that they can live a 'normal' life with better prospects; others imagine London to be the place where they can acquire 'cultural capital' for their art careers. Thus, they conceive the idea of migration to these particular regions of their 'imagined West'.
As for the second question, however, I argue that the media do not always enable migrants to develop transnational identities, and here I challenge the emerging orthodoxy in theories of transnationalism. In this case, the key is the 'homogeneous' Japanese national identity which the young migrants bring with them. Because Japan is generally considered 'racially homogenous', they are not much aware of issues concerning 'race' and ethnic relations while living there. After arriving in NYC or London, however, their race becomes 'marked', and various obstacles become visible to them in their everyday lives. Consequently, they renegotiate their sense of Japaneseness in significant ways, and often develop a stronger attachment to their nation of origin than they had prior to migration
