Precarious Safety: Migrant Women and Urban Belonging in Japan
My master’s thesis examined how young Indian women in Japan navigate the paradox of feeling safe as women yet insecure as migrants. Through interviews and urban ethnography, the study situates their everyday experiences within debates on gender, migration, and public space.
2023
Migrant Studies, Urban Issues
This project began as my master’s thesis at the University of Tokyo (ITASIA program), where I examined how young independent Indian women experience public places in Japan. Through qualitative interviews and reflexive thematic analysis, I explored the paradox of feeling ‘safe as women but insecure as migrants’ in a society often regarded as exceptionally safe.
The research investigates how safety and insecurity are negotiated in everyday spaces such as trains, stations, and streets, and how these experiences shape emotional integration, identity, and belonging. While participants compared Japan favorably to India in terms of crime and harassment, they also described insecurities tied to structural barriers such as language, differences in cultural norms, and the challenges of being visibly marked as migrants in public space.
This study contributes to wider debates on gendered migration, public space, and emotional integration, highlighting how both socio-cultural and structural conditions shape women’s everyday experiences of urban belonging.
Full thesis available on request.
Cover Photo by Arthur Tseng on Unsplash.