Samoan Pioneer Wives and ‘Home’: From the Experiences of Living in Japan more than 20 years

Abstract

‘Place’ is a core concept in human geography and scholars have focused on how globalization has affected ‘place’ since the 1990s. Despite findings that ‘place’ is socially re/constructed under globalization’s fluidity, the relationship between ‘place’ and migration, which certainly shape and are shaped by globalization, has not been the subject of much academic attention from a perspective of migrants themselves. Within this context, this article aims to explore the relationship between ‘place’ and migration—particularly that between ‘home’ and marriage migrants— through life stories of three Samoan pioneer wives, who married Japanese men and have been living in Japan for over 20 years. As a result, the following three findings were identified. First, creating a ‘home,’ in the sense of crafting a new life in Japan, has been a long and challenging process, and a good relationship with their husbands’ families and acquisition of the Japanese language were necessary for Samoan wives to create a ‘home’ in Japan at an early stage. Second, the Samoan wives made a ‘home’ of their Samoan network, which enabled them to communicate with other Samoans and maintain connections to their home country. Last, creating or recreating a ‘home’ is a personal experience, influenced by how they grew up in Samoa and how they became accustomed to Japanese society.