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Paper short abstract

This paper examines the domestic migration of Filipino-Japanese in Japan, focusing on Toyooka City as one ‘node’ in this migration process. It argues that the precarious nature of their employment compels future movement and making settlement always conditional, with impacts on life planning.

Paper long abstract

This paper examines the settlement strategies of Filipino-Japanese (Nikkei Filipinos) in rural Japan by focusing on their continued internal mobility after migration to Japan. Drawing on a case study of Toyooka City in Hyogo Prefecture, it argues that Toyooka should not be understood as a final destination of migration, but rather as a node within a wider network of domestic migration shaped by Japan’s flexible labour regime.

Based on questionnaire surveys, in-depth interviews with Nikkei Filipino residents, and interviews with a labour dispatch agency, the paper demonstrates that most Nikkei Filipinos in Toyooka relocated from other regions of Japan rather than migrating directly from the Philippines. Their movements are largely mediated by staffing agencies that provide employment, housing, and daily-life support. These agencies concentrate workers in specific workplaces and residential areas, producing dense Filipino social environments that reduce the immediate need for Japanese language proficiency but also limit broader social mobility.

While many Nikkei Filipinos hold relatively stable residence statuses—such as “Long-Term Resident,” “Spouse or Child of Japanese National,” or permanent residency—their everyday lives remain highly precarious. Short-term employment contracts and company-provided housing tie their right to stay in a particular locality directly to continued employment. As a result, settlement in Toyooka is conditional and reversible: migrants remain as long as work is available, but are compelled to move again when contracts end. This situation is particularly acute for families with school-aged children, for whom repeated relocation disrupts education and long-term life planning.

By conceptualizing Toyooka City as a node of internal migration, this paper contributes to the panel’s broader discussion of migrant mobility in rural Japan. It highlights how mobility and immobility coexist: Nikkei Filipinos are highly mobile across regions through staffing networks, yet locally constrained in terms of occupational choice, housing, and interaction with local Japanese. Their experiences challenge binary views of migrants as either freely mobile or fully settled, revealing instead a pattern of “conditional settlement” sustained through repeated internal movement.