Part 1

• “Fleeing from a Sinking Japan”: Recent Tendencies of Japanese Lifestyle Migrants to Europe Miyako Hayakawa Université Libre de Bruxelles

  Over the past few decades, Japan has become one of the world’s largest economies and a super-aging country, making it a significant destination for immigration in Asia. At the same time, an increasing number of Japanese nationals have settled abroad, not as economic migrants, but as lifestyle migrants, whose migratory motivation is individual and lifestyle-oriented. In this paper, I will explore the life history of three individuals who aspire to migrate to Europe. How has the desire for migration emerged among these three Japanese nationals, who have a solid place in Japanese society? What are the social settings of the target destination country and the country of origin that facilitate their migration project? By introducing the diverse motivations for migration to Europe in this study, I aim to analyze their sense of being trapped – the second or third reason for migration, rarely examined in the literature on Japanese international mobility. I argue that, besides the stagnant economy, an increasing number of individuals are choosing to move abroad to escape social constraints and seek greater personal freedom, as well as to provide opportunities for their children.

• Aspiration, Imaginary and Women’s Agency: Transnational Migration of Thai Women Laksamee Kaewwongyai Patcharin Lapanun Khon Kaen University, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

  Migration of people in Southeast Asia, including Thailand, to European Union (EU) and other wealthier/more developed regions in the globe is a long history phenomenon. Migration is a multi-faceted and dynamic reality. Why people migrate, where they decide to go and how migration flows grow or decline are among the major themes in migration studies. Scholarly explanations of this phenomenon have remained underpinning the interplay between structure and agency and the merit of models based on rational choice with a presumption about economic motivation. More recently, an alternative conceptualization focusing on desire and aspiration as drivers of migration provides a new approach to migration scholarship that pays attention to subjective conditions of migrants. Applying the new framework, this paper explores how aspiration and imaginary compelled women in rural northeastern Thai communities to actively engage in transnational migration. Drawn on experiences and narratives of female marriage and labor migrants, this paper reveals that inspiration does not only emerge from the process of thought inside their minds, but is socially constructed and institutionally embedded. Our analyses highlight gender culture as an important aspect of the social grounding of aspirations and imaginaries stimulating migration, apart from economic, socio-cultural and individual characteristics. The findings contribute fresh insights to the new conceptualisation of migration.

• Aspirations to migrate to the EU: How have Vietnam citizens aspired and decided to migrate? Nghiem Thi Thuy Institute of Sociology Prof. Dr. Dang Nguyen Anh

  Vietnam’s market transition has successfully accelerated its modernisation and international integration. The country’s drastic reforms and open-door policies with all countries in the world are reflected in the sharp increase in the trend of Vietnamese citizens migrating to many regions in the world. Although the EU is not a new destination for Vietnamese migrants, very little is known about their aspiration and decision to migrate.
  Utilising the qualitative data collected within the AspirE research project, the authors scrutinise the motives of aspiring migrants from Vietnam to Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Italy and Portugal (AspirE countries). With different channels (labour, education, tourism and family reunification), these migrants have tried to realise their aspirations to migrate. Three questions can be examined: (i) How do perceptions on the EU shape the people’s aspiration to migrate? (ii) Why do they decide to migrate to the EU? (iii) To what extend do the social networks influence the decision to choose the AspirE countries?
  Answers to these questions will provide better understanding about the people’s aspiration and decision to migrate from Vietnam to the EU. In addition, the authors also take into account gender differences in aspiration and migration decision. Findings from the analysis serve to draw policy-makers’ attention to the migrants’ aspiration and decision, and help address the today’s persistent and emergent challenges of migration from Southeast and East Asia to the EU.

Part 2

• Lifestyle aspirations of Chinese migrants in Portugal: a threefold temporal approach analysis Carol Wang Olga Cojocaru Sofia Gaspar Iscte - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa

  Chinese migration to Portugal has been a constant phenomenon for some decades now. Among the diverse social backgrounds of these migrants, wealthy and highly educated Chinese moving to Portugal have been commonly associated with the Golden Visa channel. After this policy has been almost scraped by the Portuguese government just recently, the D7 policy (also known as passive income visa) has been presenting itself as an alternative entry route for aspiring (high)middle-class Chinese. Based on five in-depth interviews with Chinese holders of D7 visas in Portugal, we examine the emergence, sustenance, and materialization of their migration aspirations through a threefold temporal framework: pre-arrival (past/retrospective recollections), post-arrival (present making and navigation strategies) and future making plans.

  By analysing their migration projects according to these three stages, we look at the factors playing into their decision-making in terms of reasons to move, choice of destination, visa application process, the role of intermediaries (preparations, arrival), as well as the assessment of their decision and planning once in the country. It appears that their migration endeavour is not prompted by the desire to move to a certain country, but it starts first with the aspiration to move, and the choice of destination is made only thereafter a complex process of rational calculations and complex deliberations. All in all, the accounts signal a move towards mobilities motivated by lifestyle preferences whether they include more education opportunities for children, freedom to travel throughout Schengen, or access to healthcare and a pleasant climate in Portugal.

• Gender Dynamics and Migration Patterns: Exploring East and Southeast Asian Migrants’ Experiences in Belgium Laure Sizaire Université libre de Bruxelles

  Although the population from East or Southeast Asian countries in Belgium is not the largest, their proportion has more than doubled between 2000 and 2023, and these migratory flows are highly gendered. Indeed, with only 10,328 men for 18,222 women, the gender ratio is 0.5 men per woman. These differences can be partly explained by family reunification and transnational marriages, much more common for women than men. However, these elements are not sufficient to fully understand the trajectory of these migrants, especially how they arrived in Belgium, as this destination is never mentioned as a first choice. How does Belgium appear in these migratory paths? What opportunities bring these migrants there, and why do they want to stay? Based on 25 semi-structured interviews conducted with individuals from China, Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam residing in Belgium, this paper explores the specific experiences that bring people to Belgium, revealing a strong desire to access “freedom”, often linked to gender expectations.

• Driving forces of highly-skilled Japanese to migrate to Germany Vanessa Tkotzyk Goethe University

  As part of the AspirE project, which focuses on Asian (re)migration to/within the EU, this German case study analyses the mobility of highly skilled Japanese. The study is based on over thirty semi-structured interviews conducted mainly between February and April 2024 with Japanese individuals from the five largest communities in the country (Dusseldorf, Munich, Berlin, Frankfurt, and Hamburg), and Japanese individuals living in areas with a low population of Japanese immigrants. This presentation explores the micro- and meso-level factors that drive Japanese migration to Germany, both in general and in specific regions. Unlike other migrant groups discussed in this panel, Japanese migrants are predominantly classified as highly-skilled. Thus, this study will consider their experience of the administrative process of entering, staying, and remaining in Germany as highly-skilled migrants in general and against the backdrop of global challenges such as COVID-19, the strengthening of far-right parties, and ongoing wars.

Abstract