Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the layers of meaning of "mobility" through the narratives of Japanese who moved to the US to redirect their lifecourse. For them mobility becomes the core of life and livelihood as they study physical therapy to align self-fulfillment and gainful work through helping others.

Paper long abstract:

Bodies and minds are intrinsically intertwined and for many moving one's body becomes symbolic for moving on in life, be it through travel, migration or physical exercise. In this paper I explore the different layers of meanings of "mobility and movement" through the narratives of two Japanese in their mid-thirties who migrated to the United States to redirect their life courses by mastering movement-based alternative forms of healing. Mobility for them thus goes beyond changing their address; it becomes the essence of their life and livelihoods. The alternative medicine practice of choice bases on "structural integration," and by attempting to realign the bodies and minds of their patients to ease discomfort, they try to realign and re-embody their own priorities, livelihoods and community. For them and in the skills they learn, healing starts by journeying back to uncover potential sources of imbalance, which adds another layer and direction of movement. Helping others is not just affective labor, but becomes a way to help themselves and to push back against isolation and lack of creative agency they had felt in their previous roles in their home society. It is also a form to overcome a sense of missing meaning and precarity that is not merely economical. Engaging in the discussions of culture and self from the standpoint of embodiment, this paper explores what drives these Japanese in their thirties to leave their secure employment at home to venture into insecurity of unknown territories, languages and practices they had never experienced first hand. By elaborating on the connections between self-fulfillment and gainful employment through the lens of care, this paper thus offers a compelling example why it is important to think beyond the visible in discussions of global and local movement of people, ideas and practices.