Constructing “Home” across National Boundaries: A Case of Pakistani-Japanese Marriage

Abstract

This paper explores the process of transnational family-making by Pakistani-Japanese couples. This type of mixed marriage increased in number during the 1990s following a rise in labor migration from Pakistan to Japan. Marriage with local Japanese women meant that the Pakistani men could acquire a visa to stay and work in Japan, a country which had thus far maintained a policy of restricting the immigration of “unskilled” laborers. Marrying local women, however, did not necessarily mean that these migrants became more rooted in Japan. Rather, my research reveals that in some cases, their family-making has expanded over national boundaries as their life course evolved. Based on longitudinal data collected since 1998, this paper examines the complexities involved in the transnational dispersal of family members and contends that this process reflects both the possibilities and the constraints that these mixed marriage families experience in Japan and beyond.