Yuki, 7, zooms around the school lounge in her neon T-shirt, hugging teachers, gesturing wildly, making jokes and chattering away in perfect English. Yuki is Japanese and learned English when her family lived in Los Angeles for two years. She is affectionate and expressive, or at least she is on Saturdays when she attends Kikokushijo Academy, a school for returnee children. But after her day at K.A., when she sets foot on the Tokyo subway, Yuki's demeanor changes. Her shoulders hunch inward and she becomes reserved and shy, whispering occasionally in English and constantly monitoring the people around her. Even at seven years old, she knows how to alter her behavior to fit into Japanese society.
"Kikokushijo" are children of Japanese nationals who have spent a period of at least a few months abroad, usually because of a parent's job. They come not just from the U.S., the U.K., and Australia, but also Singapore, India, Brazil and Dubai. What they have in common is that they have been educated — usually in English — in Western school systems or international schools.
Coined in the 1970s as a special government dispensation, the category of kikokushijo was established to help returnees reintegrate into the Japanese school system. With the economic boom of the 1980s and amid a growing interest in internationalism, kikokushijo children began to be seen as an economic commodity — children who were bilingual and, more importantly, bicultural, comfortable with the social norms of the West. The government has shown an eagerness to cultivate this group of elite workers, authorizing alternative tests for universities and high schools to accommodate these students. However, this has not been backed up with corresponding measures to address returnees' emotional needs: Most schools lack counseling or other programs to ease the difficult transition, and there seems to be little interest in fostering the second culture that children have absorbed through their time abroad.