Yamashita et al., eds. Transnational Migration in East Asia Senri Ethnological Reports 77: 151–162 (2008) Long-Stay Tourism and International Retirement Migration: Japanese Retirees in Malaysia Mayumi Ono University of Tokyo Introduction This paper explores a new trend in Japanese outbound tourism, namely long-stay tour- ism, as it is seen in the case of Japanese retirees in Malaysia.1) Long-stay tourism, which is known as rongusutei in Japanese, is a new type of tourism in which people stay in foreign destinations for long periods of time in order to experience living abroad. It generates a fl ow of people for whom the distinction between tourism/tourists and migra- tion/migrants has become blurred. Under the current acceleration of the declining birth- rate and aging society, increasing numbers of Japanese pensioners are interested in retiring abroad and actually move to foreign destinations in pursuit of a better quality of retirement life. In 2005 the number of Japanese overseas tourists above the age of 50 rose above six million; these upper middle-aged tourists are a signifi cant potential market in international tourism. The word rongusutei is a registered trademark of the Long Stay Foundation (Rongusutei Zaidan), which was established in 1992 as a public interest corporation authorized by the former Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI). Accord- ing to the Long Stay Foundation, long-stay tourism is “a style of staying abroad for a relatively long time in order to experience the life and culture in a place of destination and contribute to the local society while leaving the economic resources in Japan” (Long Stay Foundation 2002). In contrast to conventional international tourism in which people visit several sites for a short period of time, “long-stay” tourism aims not at “sight seeing” but at “staying” and experiencing “life” in a particular destination. From a wider perspective, long-stay tourism is related to international retirement migration (IRM). As an example, Northern Europeans such as British and German retirees started to move to the Mediterranean in the 1970s (cf. King, Warnes and Williams 2000). After the establishment of the European Union, international retirement migration has been expanding within the EU. The international migratory movement of citizens within the EU is stipulated as a right in the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and freedom of movement has long been central to the very idea of EU citizenship (Ackers and Dwyer 2002: 1). Furthermore, there has been considerable international retirement migration in the EU that has involved “amenity-led moves” (Williams, King, Warnes and Patterson 2000: 29). Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand and Malay- sia have become receiving countries for foreign retirees since the late 1990s. They have also been attracting international fl ows of patients through promoting health/medical 151 tourism (cf. Chee 2007). IRM therefore entails not simply a move of non-laborers who do not work but also a move of service and care seekers who need people to work for them, especially in the fi elds of domestic work, medical treatment, and care for the elderly. This paper examines how Malaysia, one of the most popular long-stay destinations among elderly Japanese, receives a fl ow of foreign retirees under the “Malaysia My Second Home” (MM2H) program. This program encourages foreign retirees to reside in Malaysia by issuing a multiple-entry social visit pass. The paper will also describe how Japanese retirees and long-stay tourists experience their new transnational life- style. Socio-Cultural Background of Long-Stay Tourism and IRM The rapid aging of Japanese society, caused by a falling birth rate and increased longevity, is having a serious impact on the overall structure of Japanese society and its labor force. Estimates show that those aged 65 and over reached 20.8 percent in 2006, a record-high rate,2) and that percentage will increase to 35.7 percent by 2050.3) This increased percentage of elderly within the overall population has caused changes in the labor force, particularly a shortage of young laborers who are able and willing to sup- port the aged. To address this problem, Japan has been considering “importing” more foreign labor from neighboring Asian countries, especially for jobs in the medical care service sectors. These demographic changes have also generated anxiety about the long-term via- bility of the post-war social welfare system in Japan. The current pension system and social welfare policies for elderly people will not be able to deal with this growing population of elderly people, and this has become a serious issue for individuals as well as for the government. Moreover, the individual burden of medical expenses is increas- ing while pension amounts are limited. Many of the upper middle-aged are therefore concerned about how they can survive on their pensions. Under such socio-economic conditions, current pensioners and people retiring soon may consider living abroad, where the cost of living is lower than that of Japan, as an alternative strategy to secure their retirement lives. According to a survey done by the Research Institute for Senior Life, quite a few pensioners are motivated to move overseas so that they can live a fi nan- cially comfortable life within the range of their pensions (Research Institute for Senior Life 2005: 107). Longevity is also having a considerable effect on individual lifestyles and life- courses in contemporary Japanese society. The increase in life expectancy has stretched the span of individual post-retirement lives in which retired people have a considerable amount of free time. Long-stay tourism provides the retirees an opportunity to pursue their own ikigai, which Gordon Mathews (1996) has translated as “what makes a life 152 Ono Long-Stay Tourism and International Retirement Migration: Japanese Retirees in Malaysia worth living.” The Long Stay Foundation claims that long-stay tourism is effective for self-actualization and creating ikigai (Long Stay Foundation 2005: 18). Before retire- ment, work and raising children are typically the major objects of ikigai. After retire- ment, people search for something that can provide them an alternative ikigai, such as hobbies and volunteer work. In addition, there is an increasing number of people who choose early retirement in their fi fties. Those retirees who are “wealthy, healthy, older people”—fi guratively called “whoopies,”4) explicitly consider how to live their second life with affl uence and a sense of satisfaction. Retiring abroad is therefore not only a socio-economic but also a cultural phenomenon. In this sense, long-stay tourism and IRM are part of what Machiko Sato (2001) has called “lifestyle migration” through which people settle overseas to improve their quality of life in various spheres. Evolution of Japanese Long-Stay Tourism and IRM The history of the Long Stay Foundation goes back to the “Silver Columbia Plan ‘92” launched by the former Ministry of International Trade and Industry in 1986. It was a government-led project to promote residing overseas as a way to live a prosperous second life after retirement. The project aimed to build “overseas ikigai towns” or “Japanese villages” for retirees with a lower cost of living, nicer climate, and better living environments (MITI 1986). This plan was part of a stream of policies the govern- ment initiated in the 1970s to inject a sense of social and external creativity through the spread of leisure activities into the work-centered culture that developed in Japan’s post- war economic expansion. However, the plan received severe domestic and international criticism that Japan was “exporting” its elderly. Authorization was therefore transferred to the private sector, though still supervised by the government. The plan was reformed and proposed not as “migration” but as a new style of leisure activity, namely as a form of long-stay interna- tional tourism. While the Silver Columbia Plan focused on retired elderly people only, long-stay tourism included a wider variety of people such as seasonal visitors, artists, and volunteers among the targeted groups (MITI Department of Industrial Policies 1988). Since the latter half of the 1990s, many non-profi t and social organizations pro- moting long-stay tourism have been established, accelerating the development, social penetration, and increased acceptance of long-stay tourism. The Japanese mass media have also promoted long-stay tourism. Television com- panies have broadcast shows on this theme. In the print media, there are many publica- tions regarding Japanese IRM and long-stay tourism. For example, since 2003 Ikarosu Publications Ltd. has published a quarterly magazine, Rashin, which focuses on long- stay tourism. Diamond Inc., known for its popular travel guidebook series Chikyu no Arukikata (“Globe Trotters’ Travel Guide”), started to publish a new series of guidebooks featuring long-stay tourism called Chikyu no Kurashikata (“Global Residents’ Travel 153 Guide”). In these TV shows and guidebooks, economic aspects and the pursuit of ikigai are often emphasized as incentives. Ministries of tourism and tourism bureaus in receiv- ing countries also support these Japanese mass media companies and their promotional activities. Long-stay tourism is not typically conceptualized in these media as a form of international tourism that only targets retirees or the elderly. The term has, however, become socially embedded as a word implying a pensioner lifestyle that involves living abroad by making use of pensions. Moreover, long-stay tourism has become one of the commodities marketed among Japanese seniors as part of a lifestyle that seeks quality of life, nature, and health. Such phrases as suro raifu (“slow life”),5) LOHAS: Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability, inaka gurashi (“rural life”)6) and teinen kino (“return to farming after retirement”)7) are the focus of much public attention these days.