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Quality of Life in Japan pp 193–214Cite as

Quality of Life in Japan and Emigration: The Perspectives of Japanese Skilled Immigrants in Australia

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Part of the book series: Quality of Life in Asia ((QLAS,volume 13))

Abstract

The number of Japanese citizens living outside Japan has been increasing in the last four decades: it has risen almost threefold since the mid-1980s. What drives Japanese nationals to move away from their home country? Drawing on the narratives of 32 Japanese skilled immigrants in Australia , this study argues that their perceptions of QOL haves played a major role. These perceptions differ across individuals’ life stage and gender, and particularly the time of immigration . This study found distinctive differences in the QOL perceptions between those who arrived before the Great East Japan Earthquake and Fukushima disasters in 2011 and those who came after 2011. Many studies have already pointed out the significance of “lifestyle migration ,” where non-economic factors have attracted Japanese immigrants to Australia . While acknowledging its importance for those who arrived before 2011, this study found that the most prominent drivers for the post-2011 Japanese immigrants were not lifestyle, but rather their acute perceptions of environmental, economic, and socio-political risks that could undermine the long-term QOL for themselves and their families.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This index is based on the “Expat Insider” survey of “more than 12,500 respondents representing 166 nationalities and living in 188 countries or territories” who answered the questions about leisure options, travel and transport, health and well-being, safety, and security, as well as personal happiness (InterNations 2017).

  2. 2.

    This is an aggregate index of 11 indices, including housing, income, jobs, education, life satisfaction and health (OECD 2017a, b).

  3. 3.

    The category “long-term residents” encompasses a wide variety of Japanese citizens: some are the employees of Japanese corporations and their family members, while others are students, researchers, working holiday makers, and so on. Although this category is often perceived as temporary migrants, it actually includes prospective permanent migrants who are currently working on temporary skilled visas while waiting to receive permanent residency .

  4. 4.

    For instance, the English proficiency requirement for permanent skilled migrants was raised from IELTS 4.5–6.0 (Australian Government 2010, 2018). The salary threshold for a skilled visa also increased from $34,075 in 2001 to $53,900 in 2013 (Azarias 2016), and the “minimum market salary rate” has also applied to the assessment of each application since March 2018 (Australian Government 2017).

  5. 5.

    The emergency measure that governments could take to stop their citizens’ withdrawal of money from their bank accounts. It happened in Japan at the end of WWII, as well as in other countries such as Greece and Malta in more recent years.

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Acknowledgement

Dr. Nana Oishi is Associate Professor in Japanese Studies at the Asia Institute, The University of Melbourne. Dr. Iori Hamada is Lecturer in Japanese Studies at Monash University. We would like to thank the Editorial Board and three anonymous reviewers for their valuable advice and insightful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.

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  1. Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

    N. Oishi & I. Hamada

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  1. N. Oishi
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Correspondence to N. Oishi .

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  1. Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan

    Ming-Chang Tsai

  2. Osaka University of Commerce, Osaka, Japan

    Noriko Iwai

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Oishi, N., Hamada, I. (2020). Quality of Life in Japan and Emigration: The Perspectives of Japanese Skilled Immigrants in Australia. In: Tsai, MC., Iwai, N. (eds) Quality of Life in Japan. Quality of Life in Asia, vol 13. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8910-8_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8910-8_9

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