In search of fulfilment : Japan's lost generation and the Australian working holiday

Abstract

Temporary migration has seen tremendous growth in recent years, and a variety of forms and trends have emerged. The Working Holiday (WH) is a new and novel form of temporary, international youth migration, increasingly popular among people from developed countries. The Australian WH scheme invites young people to temporarily live, study, work and holiday in the country for up to two years. It has steadily grown to accommodate tens of thousands of youths every year. Since the reciprocal agreement was established in 1980, Japan has become one of the major source countries of Working Holiday Makers (WHMs) in Australia, which in turn has consistently maintained its status as the top destination for the young Japanese.

This thesis understands the mobility of Japanese WHMs to be a form of youth sojourn, and explores the role it plays in young people's self-making. My focus is on the particular period called the 'lost decade' (ushinawareta junen), involving the gradual collapse of the 'bubble' economy since the market crash of late 1989, from which the country has never fully recovered. The Japanese WHMs in this study belong to what has been termed the 'lost generation' (rosuto jenereshon, or rosujene), those whose life trajectories have been heavily influenced by the massive socio-economic changes associated with this era. My discussion draws on fieldwork conducted in Japan and Australia, where I engaged in participant observation and gathered interview narratives from people at various stages of their mobility, including prior to departure, sojourn in Australia, and return migration.

My analysis ventures into several under-researched, yet fascinating areas: The WH as an exemplar of contemporary international mobility, which challenges the dichotomy between work-as-toil and leisure-as-pleasure; youth temporary migrants from a post-industrial society as occupying classed , gendered and ethnicised subject positions; intersection of economic and non-economic factors in migratory decision-making and experience; and the treatment of different phases of migration as a cumulative whole, as well as part of a wider life trajectory. In particular, I bring to the fore the issue of labour in an unlikely context of youth mobility between develop ed economies . Through a micro-level study of motivations, desires and agency, this thesis highlights the ways in which certain discourses and socio-economic practices are shaped by global forces, and how individual WHMs reproduce, conform to and resist such forces. My case study is a portrayal of how young people proactively and continuously seek to explore and develop their selves, as they search for an elusive sense of fulfilment in the late modern neoliberal world.