Beyond Gateways: Unraveling Residential Mobility and Integration In and Out of Chinatowns

This article examines immigrant residential mobility patterns in and out of ethnic neighborhoods, focusing on the effects of both socioeconomic attainment and coethnic preferences. Using a recently conducted survey sample of Chinese immigrants in Japan, the study reveals four distinct mobility patterns that lead to residence in and out of ethnic neighborhoods. The four types are a combination of mobility between ethnic and majority neighborhoods, including remaining in ethnic neighborhoods, moving from ethnic neighborhoods to majority neighborhoods, remaining in majority neighborhoods, and moving from majority neighborhoods to ethnic neighborhoods. Varying levels of socioeconomic resources and coethnic residential preferences influence these patterns. They show that ethnic neighborhoods, while serving as essential gateways that offer an initial foothold for newcomers, also act as hubs for cultural affiliation for those with high coethnic preferences, leading some immigrants to move from majority to ethnic neighborhoods. The results also highlight the role of ethnic housing agents in securing housing for socioeconomically disadvantaged immigrants and underscore the importance of language proficiency in achieving spatial assimilation. These results emphasize the significance of mobility pathways in residential integration and suggest potential differences in the integration processes between traditional and global new destinations.