Craving Jobs? Revisiting Labor and Educational Migration from Uzbekistan to Japan and South Korea ACTA VIA SERICA Vol. 5, No. 2, December 2020: 111–140 doi: 10.22679/avs.2020.5.2.005 This paper focuses on the emerging patterns of educational mobility and unskilled labor migration from Uzbekistan to Japan and South Korea. Labor migration and educational mobility are becoming the next “horizon” in the expanded relationship between East and Central Asia, powered by several factors, including the efforts by Japan and South Korea to build “original” people-oriented policy engagements with the region and the demand from Central Asian states, such as Uzbekistan, to provide more labor opportunities to their young and growing populations. This paper presents the initial fndings of a pilot survey that explores and occasionally compares the experiences of Uzbek migrants to Japan and South Korea, using datasets of face- to-face interviews related to various aspects of life in Japan and South Korea. The interviews were conducted face to face and online (Telegram, Skype, etc.) with 66 migrants and Japanese language school students (whom this paper treats as labor migrants masquerading as students) in Japan from November 2019 to January 2020 as well as online with 30 laborers and students in South Korea from August to September 2020. TIMUR DADABAEV and JASUR SOIPOV* * Dr. TIMUR DADABAEV is Professor of International Relations and Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Tsukuba, and JASUR SOIPOV is PhD. Candidate at the Graduate School of Social Sciences and Humanities of the University of Tsukuba. ** This paper is part of the research projects supported by the following two grants: Grant-in-Aid for Scientifc Research (B), 17H04543 “Regional Governance of International Migration: A Comparative Perspective” (PI Associate Professor Akashi Junichi) Grant-in-Aid for Studies on Sustainable Development Goals, Nippon Foundation Central Asia Project, University of Tsukuba (PI Prof. Toshinobu Usuyama)