The 102nd WIAPS Seminar (Jan. 19th)

Date & Time

Jan. 19, 2026 (Monday) 12:25-13:00

Venue

ZOOM Webinar

Intended Audience

WIAPS Full-time Faculty/Research Associates, WIAPS Exchange Researchers/Visiting Scholars/Visiting Researchers, GSAPS MA/Ph.D. Students

Presentation

Presenter

Aimi Muranaka (Assistant Professor [non-tenure-track], WIAPS)

Presentation Theme

Bricolaging Transnational Remote Work: Vietnamese IT Professionals and the Recalibration of Skills in Post-pandemic Japan

(Conducted in English)

Abstract

Research on how foreign professionals in a host society implementing remote work is scant. Nonetheless, foreign professionals are highly demanded in many host societies, including emerging immigration countries such as Japan. This study examines how Vietnamese IT professionals, an emerging foreign population, establish a transnational remote work, in which they work with a team in both Japan and Vietnam. Drawing on the bricolage framework, the study explores the process of mobilising various resources and migrants’ skillsets to implement (transnational) remote work. The job characteristics in this sector allow Vietnamese professionals to work remotely. However, this working mode demands migrants to shoulder various costs, without relying on any financial or family support. The study highlights that transnational remote work is not a linear process of merely providing a ready-made package to make remote work possible and that foreign IT professionals bear multiple costs in creating this work environment by themselves.