Using any social and cultural yardsticks as an indicator, Singapore is a cosmopolitan city. Besides the native Chinese, Malays, Indians and Eurasians, it is not different to find people of other nationalities living and co-existing in harmony in Singapore. Among these are the Americans, British, Japanese, Australians, Hongkongers and Malaysians, among many others. The Japanese are one of the largest expatriate groups residing in Singapore. According to the Japanese Embassy figures, there are 25, 521 Japanese expatriates (14, 521 males and 11, 000 females) residing in Singapore as of 01 Oct 98. And as a proportion of the local population, Singapore has more Japanese than any other country.

Of particular interest to this paper will be a discussion of the Japanese community in Singapore and via an in-depth study of the Japanese Services Department in the Metropolitan Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) Singapore, hopefully be able to shed some light on whether the negatively laden labels applied to the Japanese such as “exclusiveness”, “aloofness”, “withdrawn”, “failure to localize” and “discriminating” are valid.

THE BEGINNINGS OF THE METROPOLITAN YMCA

Sir George Williams founded the YMCA in London in 1844 with the objective to develop a humanistic society via the youths. The symbol of the YMCA is an inverted triangle that represents the spirit, mind and body which are to be developed simultaneously to achieve equilibrium. This movement mushroomed and in the span of 150 years has given rise to 106 branches all over the world, thus being known as the Metropolitan YMCA to reflect its global, all religions and inter-racial standing cum commitment.

THE METROPOLITAN YMCA SINGAPORE

The seed of the Chinese YMCA in Singapore was sown on 25 Nov 1945 soon after the Japanese surrender. After World War II, social recreation constituted gambling and other forms of vice. Dr. Chen Su Lan, a member of the British Administrative Council, saw that a majority of the youths who were Chinese-speaking were without moral direction, or avenue for meaningful recreation.
The Chinese YMCA was inaugurated in Singapore in 1946 together with leaders from various churches. Despite facing problems such as rivalry with the Orchard Road YMCA which catered strictly to the English-speaking, lack of facilities and manpower, the Chinese YMCA flourished remarkably under the perseverance of the pioneering batch under Dr. Chen. In 1974, the Chinese YMCA changed its name to the Metropolitan YMCA Singapore, in line with the Association’s changing constitutional needs. Its wide range of activities encompass physical education (which includes the Japanese Services Department), enrichment, child care centres and hostel services.

ENCOUNTERS WITH THE JAPANESE COMMUNITY IN SINGAPORE

As compared to the prewar Japanese community which was an immigrant community comprising mostly of the Japanese prostitutes (karayukisan) who were deemed the social outcasts, the postwar Japanese community is largely made up of young middle ranking businessmen and managers who have been sent to Singapore on an overseas posting. Most of them come on a three to four year stint and if the company provides special allowances for their family, they will bring their wives and children along.

The wives of these Japanese businessmen are usually housewives. Most do not work for two reasons. First, it is the expected social norm in Japan for women to quit their jobs when they get married or are pregnant, in order to re-focus their energies and time on looking after the family and children. In addition, owing to the fact that the companies give special allowances to the spouses, these Japanese wives are entrusted with the task of serving their husbands and catering to their needs.

It is the commonly held perception that the Japanese tend to be a very exclusive community as they choose to mix only with other Japanese, thus exhibiting a passive redrawal from Singapore society. The case study below is an attempt to determine the extent to which this comment is valid.

THE JAPANESE SERVICES DEPARTMENT AND ITS ACTIVITIES

The Metropolitan YMCA Singapore established the Japanese Services Department in 1980 in view of the increasing number of Japanese living in Singapore. Its dual aims are to create an avenue for the Japanese to interact with the locals and to allow them to be familiar with life in Singapore. This can alleviate their stress levels, provide activities for their children and give advice during the child’s developmental stage. All these will hopefully be achieved through the group activities and sports planned for them. The ultimate aim is for the child to enjoy play, yet imbibe the ideals of group living (shudan seikatsu) and the workings of it. Group life is to be fostered not as regimented and restrictive, but as a happy time of playing and sharing for the children. This is evident as most activities organized are group activities, such as soccer, baseball and outdoor activities like camping, although solo activities like swimming and PE are immensely popular too. Soccer is the most popular among the children.

THREE MAIN GROUPS OF PARTICIPANTS

My male informant remarked that all these activities could only find participants from three groups – the children, who form the bulk of the participants, the housewives in their 30s to 50s (who make up the second largest group) and a small percentage of younger generation of Japanese women, mostly single and in their late 20s or early 30s. The male group, characterized by the businessmen was nonexistent. Three reasons could be given to account for this observation. Firstly, all activities during term time were conducted in the afternoons (the children would come in straight after school) and the latest activity ended at 6:30pm. This is in line with our understanding that since the Japanese businessmen do lots of overtime, they will still probably be cooped up in the office at this hour. Or, many would be at the karaoke lounges, pubs or night golf courses busy entertaining and socializing with clients. Social interaction within the Japanese group is intense.

Second, even if they had the time to participate, many still preferred to participate in the activities organized by the Japanese Association. This would have provided another opportunity for businessmen alike to rub shoulders and discuss potential contract deals while participating in the activities. After all, not all the Japanese residing in Singapore could afford to join the Japanese Association as members. The Japanese Association, though in name was for all Japanese residents, in practice proved to be a high and exclusive place only for the rich Japanese. Compared to the exorbitant entrance fees charged by the Japanese Association for both its corporate and ordinary members which are $3,000 – $10,000 and $1,000 respectively which helped maintain its status, the fees set by the Japanese Services Department are very affordable indeed. Entrance fees for adult and child are $30 and $10 respectively. Membership lapses after one year and renewal fees are pegged at $60 and $20 respectively. In order to participate in any activity, one has to become a member first. It was also a surprise when I learnt that the fees charged by the Japanese Services Department were three times cheaper than those charged back in Japan (Tokyo or Osaka), thus even making it worthwhile for the Japanese housewives and children to join more activities during their stay in Singapore.

Thirdly, the primary agent of socialization in Japanese society is between the mother and child. We hear of terms such as “kyoiku mama”, “mother fixation”, “mazakon” and most importantly the close physical contact between mother and child (skinship) and the emphasis on ittaikan. Of special mention is a particular category of activity labelled “PE for mother and child”. This fully illustrates the close amae situation between mother and child and will aid in the overall socialization process. The image of the father is almost nonexistent, leading scholars to label Japanese society as a “fatherless society”. The children hardly get to see their fathers who come home very late from their night entertainment or are posted away from their hometown (as in the case of Japan). As such, the father is like a shadow to most children – someone whom they know exist but they hardly get to see.

FUNCTIONING OF THE ACTIVITIES

The current number of members under the Japanese Services Department stands at around 650. Two Japanese instructors on special assignment (two-year assignment) from Osaka YMCA and Yokohama YMCA respectively are in charge of the wide range of twenty-eight physical education programmes and outdoor activities. Despite the enthusiasm showed by some of the Singaporean volunteers, the criteria remains for a native Japanese to be sent over to take up the post of instructor. Manpower is lacking but both my informants are not complaining. They told me that many Japanese housewives and high school students have come forward as volunteers for activities. This is especially common during the spring and summer holidays when special programmes such as soccer competitions, island hopping trips to Pulau Tioman and camps are organized. The camps being divided into the normal camp (lasting two days and one night) and the adventure camp (lasting four days and three nights), are immensely popular during the holidays. They have been initiated as a means of getting the Japanese children to explore the different parts of Singapore and to come into contact with nature. The maximum number of students allowed at each camp is thirty-five, not including the six Japanese volunteers.

From Chart 1, it can been seen that the activities of Japanese Services Department, are second only to the aquatics sports in terms of overall programme participation of YMCA Singapore. From the list of activities, I noted a distinct two-way division. Each activity, for example swimming would have classes for the kids and the youth. Kids are taken to mean children from the age of three to five years old. Youth stands for children of primary school-going age, from six to eleven years old. Activities for the housewives and single Japanese women include swimming and aerobics, which is the all time favourite.

Chart 1: YMCA Singapore Programme Participation
 
Breakdown

The housewives and children do promotion and publicity works for the various activities via word of mouth or simple “salesman recommendation technique” as my female informant puts it. As each activity comprises of at least three levels to cater to the different age groups, for example a four year old may after having gone through the PE class for three to four years old proceed to join the next class for five to eight years old, under the strong recommendation of the instructor (see Table 1).

Name of Class	Who can join	Quota	Day & Time	Fees
PE (Kids A)	9 – 11 yrs old	25	Thursday 17:00 – 18:00	1st Term $155  2nd Term $155 3rd Term $125
PE (Kids B)	5 – 8 yrs old	20	Friday      15:30 – 16:30
PE (Stretch Class)	3 – 4 yrs old	15	Thursday  15:30 – 16:30

Table 1: Programme Sheet of PE for Kids (translated)

A LEARNING EXPERIENCE

Both my informants emphasized many times during the course of the interview that all activities were not restricted solely to the Japanese. However, Japanese still dominate or even monopolize strongly. I was told that in any one class, not more than four Singaporeans take part in the activities. In a class of about thirty-five participants, one would be happy to find two or three Singaporeans. The main drawback was pinpointed to the fact that Singaporeans could join but they must be able to converse smoothly in Japanese. If they are not able to meet this first and only prerequisite, they will be barred from joining for fear of not understanding the instructions of the Japanese instructor. This is strong evidence to show that language and cultural differences remain a difficult barrier to overcome. With this existing obstacle, it is very difficult to encourage more Singaporeans to participate in the activities, alongside with the Japanese.

The minute number of Singaporeans who participated in the activities did enjoy themselves and established good friendships with their Japanese classmates. Most joined together with their Japanese friends. I was brought to note the fact that contrary to their husbands’ aloofness and strong discrimination towards women, (Singaporean women included even though sexual equality is more balanced here than in Japan) the Japanese housewives and especially the younger women were all very eager to get acculturated or assimilated into Singapore society, and that meant getting to know more about Singapore through their Singaporean classmate(s); not forgetting the opportunity to use a little English mixed into their sentences.

There has been much criticism that the Japanese do not socialize outside their community to make new friends. This would definitely impede the establishment of deeper contacts. Returning to the issue on language difference, I feel strongly that most Singaporeans would not bother to take up Japanese language just to be able to converse with the Japanese. English is and remains Singapore’s language of trade, commerce, law, government and education – the important pillars supporting any economy with the rest of the world. Similarly, the Japanese language performs these same functions for Japan. There is no doubt speaking Japanese and being Japanese retains prestigious status in the life of every Japanese. Even though all Japanese have learnt English during their schooling years, most Japanese still prefer to converse in their native tongue.

CONTINUATION TO AND FROM THE JAPANESE SERVICES

The international Metropolitan YMCA network of branches is complex and intertwining. Short-term foreign exchange programmes have been initiated with Tokyo YMCA and Osaka YMCA, though the frequency is not high owing to the lack of manpower. But what is amazing is that the Japanese housewives and children were already members of their respective city’s YMCA organization and had been participating actively in the activities before they resided in Singapore. And when they return home, they will continue this link with the YMCA.

NO LOCALIZATION

Despite being based in Singapore, the Japanese Services Department adheres very closely with the Japanese system. This seeks to remind one of the numerous complaints one hears about Japanese companies located in Singapore trying to do things the Japanese way and still having a Japanese manager in control of the locals. For instance, activities for both kids and youths correspond to the Japanese school system. All activities start in April and end in the following March. There is a total of three terms with each term lasting for four months. This is done so as to allow the children to re-fit into the Japanese school system effortlessly when they return to Japan. What is more remarkable is that the Japanese Services Department follows the public holidays of Japan. The only exception is that the department observes a one-week holiday during the Chinese Lunar New Year period. The membership application form, guidelines and all programme brochures are also in Japanese.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS OF THE JAPANESE SERVICES DEPARTMENT

When questioned about the future directions of the Japanese Services Department, both my informants envisaged great ambitions. As most of the activities are centred around the children presently, they see a possibility of creating more activities to involve the adults and perhaps the whole family. They also wished for more overseas camps, more facilities and to maintain constant upgrading of the present equipment. On the list was also the hope to see more Singaporeans participating in the activities.

However, four reasons still exist which may not make the last wish come true. Firstly, allowing only Singaporeans who can speak good Japanese to join the activities has subconsciously filtered out the other interested Singaporeans who fail to meet this prerequisite. Although the instructors mean well, most Singaporeans would find it hard to meet this requirement as they do not speak the Japanese language. Conversely, getting a Singaporean instructor to conduct the class would also not solve the problem, as the majority of participants are still the Japanese. This is closely related to the issues on cultural and language differences.

Secondly, the timings of the activities are not flexible. The Japanese Services Department schedules all its activities in the afternoons. This will again rule out the Singaporean women (as more Singaporean women work as compared to Japanese women) and the children (who attend school or are preoccupied with their ECAs, class remedials and other projects).

Thirdly, a quick check with the personnel staff of YMCA Singapore has revealed that most Singaporean participants are not aware that a Japanese Services Department actually exists, let alone know of what it offers.

Lastly, Singaporeans can find other alternative sources. All activities that are organized by the different departments of YMCA Singapore can also be found at schools in the form of ECAs, community centres, churches and other social organizations. These places are in fact cheaper and more accessible to the prospective participant.

WHITHER THE JAPANESE COMMUNITY IN SINGAPORE?

Sad to say, although the Japanese remain one of Singapore’s largest expatriate communities, they have also been the least acculturated into Singapore society. Inability to speak the local languages and unfamiliarity with prevailing local customs cum mannerisms have hampered social interaction between them and the dominant society. While the labels with negative connotations are used to describe the Japanese, it is not fair to say that all Japanese behave in the same stereotyped patterns. There are exceptions and this trend is becoming more obvious as increasingly more begin to buck the system and question its values and applicability in an ever-changing world. This is also evident in the case study of the Japanese Services Department.

The most striking development in the 1980s and 1990s was the emergence of a new generation of Japanese residents in Singapore who are not businessmen working in Japanese companies. This new generation of Japanese include a wider spectrum such as Japanese females married to Singaporeans, professionals, Japanese students coming to Singapore to learn Mandarin, Japanese language teachers, singles, artists etc. Many are young and single (mostly in their mid 20s and 30s) and have come on their own accord. They are much more interested in learning the local culture and befriending Singaporeans, as we have seen.

In conclusion, while Japanese businessmen are real life testimonies of the negative labels, there is still much hope abound in the new generation of Japanese who have come and the Japanese housewives who participate in the swimming and aerobics classes organized by the Japanese Services Department. They have taken the initiative to socialize with Singaporeans and are indeed the true pioneers of internationalization. Although they constitute only about 5-10% of the total Japanese population in Singapore, this is a positive sign and perhaps is an indication of even better things to come in the near future if more Japanese of this nature settle down in Singapore.

Bibliography

Benjamin Ng, “The Japanese Association and the Kowloon Club: A Study of the Japanese Community in Singapore from a Comparative Perspective” (Senri Ethnological Studies, No. 50, forthcoming)

Kwok Pek Har, “The Japanese Community in Singapore: A Study in Social Geography”. Honours Thesis, 1977
Metropolitan YMCA Singapore 50th Anniversary 1946 – 1996

Metropolitan YMCA Singapore Annual Reports 1996, 1997 and 1998

The History of the Chinese YMCA of Singapore (1945 – 1956) (Chinese Young Men’s Christian Association, Singapore)

Special Thanks to

Mr. Shigetaka Nakahara and Ms. Megumi Nagira, my two informants from the Metropolitan YMCA Singapore Japanese Services Department for the interview.

Mr. FL Chan of the Japanese Embassy for providing me with the statistics of the number of Japanese expatriates residing in Singapore.

Ms Phyllis Tan, Assistant Executive Director of the Metropolitan YMCA Singapore for posting the Annual Reports to my house.  

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