‘Worklife Pathways’ to Singapore and Japan: Gender and Racial Dynamics in Europeans’ Mobility to Asia

Helena Hof

Social Science Japan Journal, 2018, vol. 21, issue 1, 45-65

Abstract: Professional migrants’ numbers are rising throughout the world, but the phenomenon itself is changing. Research on professional migration often examines the situation in ‘Western’ countries. In contrast, this paper investigates the rising numbers of (mainly) young, educated, middle-class EU citizens who relocate to Singapore and Japan. Singapore, as a hub for the Asia-Pacific region and forward-looking industries, attracts career-oriented professionals seeking challenges and adventure. Japan lures with its cultural abundance but is hardly accessible for people without Japanese language proficiency. Despite these differences, migration to both places results in similar outcomes as it introduces migrants to a mobile life involving destinations that are significant for their labor market characteristics. It further demonstrates how a generation that grew up with the concept of borderless Europe construct their individual ‘worklife pathways’ beyond the European continent. Depending on the socio-cultural context, the intersections of race and gender shape their migration experiences. Such dynamics have to be understood in relation to recent global developments including the challenges that the European Union is currently facing and Japan’s struggle to cope with a declining workforce.

Keywords: mobility; skilled migration; global cities; European youth; whiteness; orientalism; intersectionality; gender; Japan; Singapore (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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