ABSTRACT
This study examines the experiences of Japanese working holiday makers in Australia and their return migration, drawing on an ethnographic study conducted in the mid- to late 2000s. This period followed the burst of Japan’s economic bubble in the early 1990s, when the country was grappling with a deepening recession. Living in a neoliberal, late modern society, the young sojourners made a proactive decision to develop a cosmopolitan identity and master the English language—the two most commonly cited reasons for choosing Australia. I argue that while this popular form of international mobility helped forge new subjectivities and life possibilities, it ultimately reinforced, rather than challenged, Japan’s consumer and labour markets, which capitalised on youth labour and the spending power it generated. This chapter provides rare empirical evidence to critique dominant discourses surrounding internationalisation in recession-hit Japan, while also offering a point of comparison with contemporary Japan.
