Care Strategies among Retired Japanese Residents in Chiang Mai

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  • 国際移住高齢者のケア戦略
  • 国際移住高齢者のケア戦略 : チェンマイでの調査から
  • コクサイ イジュウ コウレイシャ ノ ケア センリャク : チェンマイ デ ノ チョウサ カラ
  • チェンマイでの調査から

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Abstract

While most studies on international retirement migration have dealt with migration patterns from the home country to the host nation, this study focuses on the stage in which retirees mayor may not return to their native lands. Based on interviews, participant observation, and questionnaires administered in Chiang Mai, Thailand, this study highlights care strategies among Japanese retirees who opt to stay in the host country, even after their physical and cognitive state declined. The author analyzed structural factors such as constraints on medical insurance and residential care, coupled with an uncertainty over currency exchange rates and the living costs in the host country. The author observed the strategies that Japanese retirees in Chiang Mai anticipated or used at three different levels. On the individual level, retirees might rely on a local spouse, a child from this conjugal relationship, a landlord, or a network of friends or local care givers. At the group level, Japanese retirees might share accommodation (religious or secular). At the organizational level, Japanese retirees may strive to establish care services. On all levels, the crucial factor for turning Chiang Mai into a permanent nesting ground for Japanese retirees is social capital, which retirees build and mobilize locally. Care strategies are described in terms of the local way of life, self-help, and de-professionalized care, that which leads to Japanese retirees living in Chiang Mai to collectively adopt these strategies. The author concludes by placing our findings in the context of a global care drain.

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