The Liminal Family: Return Migration and Intergenerational Conflict in Japan

Abstract

The central aim of this article is to explore, from the perspective of return migrants, the interplay of power and multiple obligations that shapes the experience of return migration from major metropolitan areas to rural areas in Japan. I suggest that for many, return migration means inhabiting a liminal social position between the neolocal and stem family ideologies that co-exist in Japan. I examine the narratives of two return migrants, with specific reference to the interplay of power relations within the family that contributed to their returns. This article also presents an example of how quantitative demographic data taken from a national census can be used by anthropologists to inform traditional qualitative data. Employing a demographic technique known as cohort analysis, I examine inter- and intraprefectural migration patterns in Japan. Data from the Japanese national census are analyzed to consider the relationship between population distribution and age structure.

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