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Since the early 1990s, pushed by domestic economic recession and uncertainty of their life paths, young Japanese have been flying to Canada and Australia not only for holiday experiences, English learning, and temporary work, but also in the quest to find oneself. Searching for “international” work they really want to do, they often prolong their sojourning. Host countries often keep them in temporary resident status, postponing their career development. Suspended in foreigner status, the migrants themselves extend their “subjective youth” – what they see as an ongoing preparatory period in their lives. Based on fieldwork in Vancouver and Sydney, this paper elucidates how the emerging population of self-searching migrants blurs the conventional boundaries between youth and adulthood, and work and holiday, as well as sojourning and immigrating, thus extending “youth experience” indefinitely. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Elders in Canada, Japan and Australia are an increasing proportion of the population. This research focused on (1) the expected familial roles for care provision of frail elderly and (2) the relationship of expected familial roles to social policy toward elder care. Using a case study method, analysis of government documents such as annual reports, white papers, and Web sites was undertaken. Results show that elders in Australia and Canada desire independence from offspring, whereas filial responsibility for elders in Japan is a cultural ideal. In all three countries, societal expectations fit the current federal governmental policies of shifting the burden of care to families, but families in need find limited societal assistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]