Beyond economic reductionist narratives: Alienation, nostalgia, and desire for ‘freedom’ as push factors for Japanese migrant husbands in the Philippines

College

College of Liberal Arts

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Source Title

Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference

Publication Date

2020

Abstract

Both Japan and the Philippines are profoundly affected by the migration phenomenon, albeit in two opposing directions: Japan as a not-so-porous host country for migrants, and the Philippines as an abundant source of migrants. Both countries are also experiencing profound demographic changes, again, in two opposite directions— Japan being affected by aging society and population decline; the Philippines being affected by overpopulation and young population. These demographic and migration trends are manifested in contemporary researches of scholars not just from the Philippines and Japan but also from migration scholars from other regions. It is only logical and understandable that the focus of such researches is on issues of labor, marriage, women, and children caught in the south-north migration flows.

Given these premises, the necessity for a more nuanced and holistic approach in interrogating these transnational movements is of utmost importance. Men, as traditionally a dominant group, are not silenced but rendered invisible in the migration discourses, avoiding scrutiny. This study takes off from the opposite direction of both the migration flow and subject of research by examining Japanese men and masculinities in the context of their southbound migration to the Philippines. In particular, this research primarily investigates the motivations for Japanese men to engage in north-south migration by looking at several narratives from selected informants. This paper unsettles the economic reductionist and women-centered discourses of intimate migration by looking at the experiences of Japanese migrant husbands and their motivations to live in the Philippines. Theorizing about the push and pull factors of migration tend to be economic reductive in nature, discounting several other plausible reasons for why people, especially men, move across borders. The key objective is to show how affective dimensions of alienation and nostalgia come into play with their experiences and meaning-making as Japanese men in the host country, i.e., the Philippines, and how culture and economics are entangled, making it difficult to discern their mutual exclusivity. The more appropriate approach then is to understand and make sense of these complications.

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Disciplines

Migration Studies

Keywords

Men (Japanese)--Philippines; Nostalgia; Immigrants--Philippines

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