Abstract
While most studies on international retirement migration have dealt with migration patterns
from the home country to the host nation, this study focuses on the stage in which retirees mayor
may not return to their native lands. Based on interviews, participant observation, and questionnaires
administered in Chiang Mai, Thailand, this study highlights care strategies among Japanese retirees
who opt to stay in the host country, even after their physical and cognitive state declined. The author
analyzed structural factors such as constraints on medical insurance and residential care, coupled
with an uncertainty over currency exchange rates and the living costs in the host country. The author
observed the strategies that Japanese retirees in Chiang Mai anticipated or used at three different levels.
On the individual level, retirees might rely on a local spouse, a child from this conjugal relationship,
a landlord, or a network of friends or local care givers. At the group level, Japanese retirees might
share accommodation (religious or secular). At the organizational level, Japanese retirees may strive to
establish care services. On all levels, the crucial factor for turning Chiang Mai into a permanent nesting
ground for Japanese retirees is social capital, which retirees build and mobilize locally. Care strategies
are described in terms of the local way of life, self-help, and de-professionalized care, that which leads
to Japanese retirees living in Chiang Mai to collectively adopt these strategies. The author concludes by
placing our findings in the context of a global care drain.
