ABSTRACT
This chapter elucidates how Japanese self-searching migrants in Vancouver and Sydney blur the boundaries between sojourning and immigrating, youth and adulthood, and work and holiday. It also examines the double standards the host countries impose on the migrants, in welcoming them as sojourners while placing glass walls between them and the employment market. At the same time, the chapter claims that those who have hit these walls are ready for global roaming, with a newly acquired independent self-view. After presenting the general patterns that the migrants follow on their path toward indefinite sojourning, the chapter examines the migrants’ narratives to elucidate how their lives blur the boundaries, as well as how subjective their youth is. In addition, it points out that border-blurring, which encourages indefinite sojourning, is a joint product of the migrants, the host countries, and the act of sojourning. Finally, it highlights two points pertinent to the discussions in Part I: first, how the sojourners (partly) acquire an independent self-view from being inspired by the Western environment and from their sojourners’ status; and second, how the independent self-view can facilitate the migrants’ global roaming as well as their indefinite sojourning, both as unending youthful projects.
