JAPANESE RETIREMENT MIGRATION IN CHIANG MAI THAILAND

This study contributes to research on retirement migration by focusing on Japanese seniors in Thailand. My subjects for this research were both Japanese expatriates and sojourners who either came to Thailand to live permanently or who moved between Japan and Thailand and will eventually return to Japan. I investigated their migration life and experiences through their subjective lens. My interests covered three main focuses. The first main theme was motivation and migration experiences: what drove them to migrate at a late stage in life? what challenges did they encounter and how did they respond to the difficulties? and in what way has their life changed through migration? Secondly, I shall shed light on the interrelationships between people’s interactions and migration: what sort of dynamism has arisen between the numerous Japanese retirees making Chiang Mai their home and how has migration altered relationships between the seniors and relations in Japan. Lastly, I would like to shift my attention to the migratory retirees’ perceptions of Japan and Thailand. Understanding the phenomenon of Japanese late-life migration, which develops from a confluence of economic, cultural, political and social causes, will help us comprehend how present day Japanese elderly people deal with achieving their retirement aspirations, and also how contemporary migration becomes enmeshed in retirees’ lives during the period of globalization.