Migration as Transnational Leisure

Book excerpt: In Migration as Transnational Leisure: The Japanese Lifestyle Migrants in Australia Jun Nagatomo discusses a new type of migration in which “lifestyle” is at the core of middle class aspirations to migrate. Traditionally, international migration has been commonly seen as resulting from economic, political and religious causes. However, this book studies an intriguing new dynamic between the social transformation and the Japanese engagement with tourism and migration. Since the 1990s, when Japan was struggling with the recession, increasing numbers of young middle class Japanese began to drift from the safe and assured life course model and chose to live abroad. This book explores how lifestyle values affect migration decision of Japanese migrants in Australia and settlement processes in the migration destination.