Transnational Marriages in Japan and Taiwan: Issues and Challenges

日本與台灣在面臨跨國婚姻中所遭遇的議題與挑戰

尤登煌(Teng-Huang Yu) ； 劉中翔(Chung-Hsiang Liu)

《勤益人文社會學刊》 2期 (2010/12) Pp. 95-121

https://doi.org/10.6470/CIIJWSHHK.201012.0095

摘要

本文探討一個全球化的衝擊下，分別受到日本政府及台灣政府極度關注的社會問題：現代國際通婚所面臨的問題與挑戰。我們以日本男性與外籍配偶結婚的數字為例，在過去的二十多年間，一直都很穩定地快速增長。因此，不難看出造成這一趨勢的原因是：低生育率，人口老化，農村的勞動人口外移及工商業大量往大都會區集中。其中造成的一個結果就是，為數不少的農民或漁民，無法在適婚年齡找到一個合適的婚姻伴侶。此情形在日本及台灣則屢見不鮮。但是，在網路的普及之後，郵購新娘或外籍新娘的現象在　通過網上配對或通過電子郵件的交往下，則無所不在。如雨後春筍般的的婚友社，更是此種現象背後的推波助瀾者。這種結合被稱為‘商業婚姻移民’、‘跨國婚姻’、‘跨國婚姻移民’或‘國際婚姻’。絕大比例的新娘，來自日本和台灣以外的亞洲女性，帶著另一個文化背景融入了日本及台灣社會。
一般而言，台灣的婚姻國際化的過程與日本的情形大致相類似。然而其內容則更加多樣與豐富。隨著民主化進程的發展、台灣的經濟成長、對中國大陸的大量投資禁令解除、和在眾多的單身榮民在20世紀80年代末回大陸探親。結果，很多大陸籍配偶移居台灣。從此也開啟了更多想追求夢想與生活的東南亞女性，在90年代初，藉由台灣開放外勞的機會，飄洋過海加入了台灣的社會。其中有一些就成為了外籍新娘的先趨者。如同生活在日本的外籍配偶所面臨的問題與挑戰，台灣的情況也不惶多讓。其中對社會國家造成的問題與挑戰有以下數個：假結婚真移民、真打工、家庭暴力事件、文化認同問題、新台灣人的下一代教育問題等等不一而足。
因此，希望藉由本文，喚起雙方政府，更加重視這個來自於全球化下的產物。同時，樂見更多的學者把此現象當做研究東南亞的文化之一，以促使台灣與東南亞地區做更多和諧的交流。

關鍵字

外籍配偶 ； 外籍新娘 ； 郵購新娘 ； 低生育率 ； 人口老化 ； 人口外移

並列摘要

The number of marriages between Japanese men and non-Japanese women has been steadily and rapidly increasing. The reasons for this trend are not hard to discern: low fertility, an aging population, depopulation in the rural hinterland, where single farmers or fisherman cannot find a suitable marriage partner (Shukuya, 1988;; Knight, 1995; Chiou, 2005:87).
The ubiquitous use, however, of the inter-net has facilitated this tendency for Mail-Order Brides (MOBs) through on-line match-making or correspondence by email or even text messaging. Nevertheless the use of individual or professional matchmakers are more the rule, the more especially since they conform to the traditional established steps leading to arranged marriage after a very short courtship (Hsia, 2000). Yet, they are different in this respect: the bride, although Asian, comes from outside Japan and another cultural setting. In consequence, such unions are known as 'commercial marriage migration' (Lu, 2005), 'cross-border marriages' (Wang and Shen, 2003), 'cross-border migration marriages' (Piper 2003) or 'international marriages' (Hwang and Saenz and Aguirre 1995; Barclay 2005).
Now, let us turn our attention to Taiwan. As the process of democratization progressed and Taiwan's growing economic investment on the Chinese mainland, the lifting of the ban in the 1980s on visiting relatives in the People's Republic of China permitted Taiwanese who fled the mainland after 1949, to return as tourists. Taiwan shares a similar social context as Japan, and so, has faced the same challenges when it came to marriage. Therefore, rapid economic development created conditions which contributed to marrying foreign brides from mainland China, Vietnam, and Southeast Asia. Despite much unfavorable social problems resulting from cross-border marriages, the number kept increasing until the central government tightened restrictions on such unions. For example, Taiwanese authorities imposed rigorous interviews in order to determine the future spouse's eligibility, be he a groom or she a bride (Chen, 2005:34; Nagamochi, 2005). Consequently, newer regulations (see Table 2) have hindered sham marriages, reduced the trend to illegal work, and pushed brides to tend to the hearth in a normal and more traditional family setting.

並列關鍵字

Mail-Order Brides ； low fertility ； aging population ； depopulation