Changing family structures of Nepalese transmigrants in Japan: split-households and dual-wage earners

摘要

Based on surveys and interviews conducted in Japan and Nepal, this study of Nepalese labour migration to Japan examines the changing patterns of family responses to international migration, the increasing participation of married women in the global labour force, and the implications of these changes for households, communities and the Nepalese economy. The split-household family has long supported sojourning males of Tibeto-Burman linguistic groups as Gurkha soldiers in Indian and British Armies before returning to Nepal upon retirement. As women have increasingly left Nepal to take advantage of overseas employment, a pattern of husband-wife migration has emerged, with children being left in the hands of relatives - the dual-wage earner family. Thus, Nepal has recently witnessed the development of transnational families and individuals whose work, residence and life trajectories extend beyond the nation-state.