This presentation examines cross-border marriage through the lens of gendered mobility and transnational intimacy. Focusing on Japanese men–Thai women marriages and American men–Filipina women marriages, it asks why certain international marriage patterns emerge strongly between particular countries. Rather than explaining these marriages only through personal attraction, cultural exchange, or women’s migration to men’s home countries, the presentation highlights the institutionalized mobility of men into strategically important regional sites.

Using a comparative qualitative approach based on secondary data, including official marriage statistics, foreign resident data, government reports, and existing ethnographic and historical studies, the presentation compares two distinct routes of gendered mobility. In the Japan–Thailand case, Japanese men’s mobility is closely connected to corporate dispatch, Japanese-affiliated business networks, regional management, and expatriate residence. In the U.S.–Philippines case, American men’s mobility is historically rooted in colonial rule, military bases, servicemen’s mobility, retirement, tourism, and migration networks.

The comparison shows that Thailand and the Philippines are not simply destination countries where foreign men happen to arrive. Rather, both have occupied strategically important positions within larger regional systems shaped by more powerful countries. These institutional routes create contact zones in which economic hierarchy, geopolitical power, gendered desirability, everyday interaction, and personal agency intersect. The presentation argues that cross-border marriage should be understood not only as a private relationship or a result of women’s migration, but also as an intimate outcome of gendered and asymmetric mobility across borders.

Authors:
Kenji Kaneko, Kyoto University of Advanced Science, Japan

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Kenji Kaneko is a University Associate Professor/Senior Lecturer at Kyoto University of Advanced Science in Japan

See this presentation on the full schedule – Tuesday Schedule

Bookmark