2010 Volume 11 Pages 47-66
In any post-industrial society today it is common for "youth," including those who are in their 30s and 40s, to keep searching for "what I really want to do" and to cross national borders in pursuit of their personal searches. Japan, where the idiom of "self-searching" (jibun-sagashi) has become a cliche, sends thousands of youths to various parts of the globe every year, including to Vancouver, Canada. Two characteristics are notable among Japanese sojourner-migrants in that city: seeking identification of their "true self' and doing "the work they really want to do." The gender imbalance in the population (80% women, 20% men) is also remarkable. Based on eight years of fieldwork, this study will clarify: (1) what motivates young Japanese people to pursue their search for their true selves overseas, especially in Vancouver, and (2) why this phenomenon is heavily defined by gender. By exploring Japanese women and men's respective relationships with work, this study critiques simplistic popular views of "oppressed Japanese women fleeing from male-dominant Japanese society" and also problematizes a peculiar form of patriarchy in Japanese society that hinders young Japanese men from searching for self-identification and work overseas.
