When Japan Embraces Pure Swedish Living

More than a handful of Japanese have taken the idea of cultural fusion to the next level.

Tucked in the hills about 30 kilometers from Sapporo City, Japan, and some 8,000 kilometers away from Stockholm, a small village called Sweden Hills is home to some 2,000 Japanese residents who live in Swedish-style houses, Svenska Dagbladetreports.

These Japanese locals have fully embraced Swedish culture — speaking the language, celebrating Midsummer, throwing crayfish parties, adorning the some 500 characteristic houses with the blue-and-yellow Swedish flags and dressing up in traditional Swedish clothing.

The town's construction began in 1984 after the then Swedish ambassador visited Tobetsu Town and remarked how similar the atmosphere and scenery were to his native country. Today, Sweden Hills has a sister city in northern Sweden, a relationship meant to promote cultural and commercial ties between the countries.

On its webpage, Sweden Hills is presented as the right place for those who seek "perfect life quality."

Similarly, in China, the "Swedish" city of Luodian is just 25 kilometers from downtown Shanghai. Luodian, or "Chinese Sigtuna," is one of six European-style towns that were built a decade ago to absorb Shanghai's growing population. Though these outposts still constitute an attractive destination for Chinese vacationers, China's slowing economy has left them otherwise deserted today.

SVENSKA DAGBLADET

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Migrant Lives

Migration

What's Driving More Venezuelans To Migrate To The U.S.

With dimmed hopes of a transition from the economic crisis and repressive regime of Nicolas Maduro, many Venezuelans increasingly see the United States, rather than Latin America, as the place to rebuild a life..

Photo of a family of Migrants from Venezuela crossing the Rio Grande between Mexico and the U.S. to surrender to the border patrol with the intention of requesting humanitarian asylum

Migrants from Venezuela crossed the Rio Grande between Mexico and the U.S. to surrender to the border patrol with the intention of requesting humanitarian asylum.

David Peinado via Zuma Press

Julio Borges

-Analysis-

Migration has too many elements to count. Beyond the matter of leaving your homeland, the process creates a gaping emptiness inside the migrant — and outside, in their lives. If forced upon someone, it can cause psychological and anthropological harm, as it involves the destruction of roots. That's in fact the case of millions of Venezuelans who have left their country without plans for the future or pleasurable intentions.

Their experience is comparable to paddling desperately in shark-infested waters. As many Mexicans will concur, it is one thing to take a plane, and another to pay a coyote to smuggle you to some place 'safe.'

Venezuela's mass emigration of recent years has evolved in time. Initially, it was the middle and upper classes and especially their youth, migrating to escape the socialist regime's socio-political and economic policies. Evidently, they sought countries with better work, study and business opportunities like the United States, Panama or Spain. The process intensified after 2017 when the regime's erosion of democratic structures and unrelenting economic vandalism were harming all Venezuelans.